Schützengeek - Blogging by John Buol

armyreservemarksman.com is NOT the official Army Reserve Marksman site

2012-01-14T10:43:00.004-06:00

Do NOT visit armyreservemarksman.com

armyreservemarksman.com is a spam site hawking pills and has nothing to do with the US Army Reserve Shooting Team

I registered http://armyreservemarksman.info because Army Reserve Marksman is an informational site. Top-level domains were intended to reference the site to the type of organization/activity it represented. For example, .com (commercial site), .net (networking technology, such as ISPs) and .org (non-profit.)

.mil would be most accurate, but that is a restricted TLD managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency

Once OCAR (Office of the Chief, Army Reserve) again officially circulates Army Reserve Marksman,as required by published Army regulation, we can possibly get armyreservemarksman as a .mil TLD.

For now, Army Reserve Marksman is officially armyreservemarksman.info

Firearm User Network and blog move

2011-11-02T10:54:00.000-05:00

I'm finding it superfluous to maintain a personal blog when most of my online efforts are already divided among FUNshoot.com (my startup company), American Gunsmith (my editing job)and the USAR Shooting Team.

http://FirearmUserNetwork.com is the online equivalent of a magazine (news, articles, etc.) for the Firearm User Network service at FUNshoot.com.

I will post all future news at http://FirearmUserNetwork.com.

Altrutising

2011-11-01T13:34:00.000-05:00

I invented the word altrutising, a portmanteau of altruism and advertising, as it represents the only form of sponsorship accepted by the Firearm User Network.

We only accept advertising that altruistically benefits our membership, or altrutising.

Altruism
al·tru·ism [al-troo-iz-uhm]

- The principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others.

Advertising
ad·ver·tis·ing [ad-ver-tahy-zing]

- The act or practice of calling public attention to one's product, service, need, etc., especially by paid announcements: to get more customers by advertising.

When considering options to accept sponsorship and support from third party companies, vendors and manufacturers I wanted the ensure that it served to help Firearm User Network members. Traditional advertising, paying to place interrupting messages in front of readers, viewers and/or members, rarely does the end user any good. We avoid this by only accepting Altrutising.

Any outside source of support is returned to the FUNshoot membership in a way that directly and obviously benefits them. Sponsors offset our operating costs, making it less expensive for members to benefit from our services.

For example, a vendor wishes to advertise with us. Rather than broadcast an ad to our membership in exchange for money, sponsors cover our overhead expenses which is passed on altruistically. Members hosting FUNshoot events agree to allow the company to be listed as an official event sponsor in exchange for an 80% discount on event processing fees. Individual premium memberships are extended free of charge. Thus, every sponsor dollar is passed directly to the membership.

Rather than spending money to interrupt people with an ad, sponsor companies are forced to think how they can directly benefit the people they are trying to reach. The advertising becomes altruism. Altrutising.

Warren Buffett erases the deficit

2011-07-14T10:32:00.001-05:00

“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP all sitting members of congress are ineligible for reelection.”
—
Warren Buffett giving us a quick lesson on incentive in an interview on CNBC.

Truth About Gun Control

2011-07-13T08:33:00.000-05:00

"Gun control is like fighting drunk driving by making it harder for sober people to buy cars."

- Ken Hartman

Ted Nugent on Hunting Marksmanship

2011-07-05T09:35:00.000-05:00

Ted Nugent weighs in on marksmanship and its importance to hunters.

The HunterShooter program was created to develop and promote effective field marksmanship for big game hunters. The lack of shooting skill for any hunter demonstrates a lack of preparation and respect for the hunted animal. Ted Nugent echoes this sentiment:

“Accountability is right up there with safety and the law! The same basic principle applies to all “projectile management”, really. Whether it’s arrows from my bow, rocks and marbles out of my wristrocket slingshot, BB’s from my Red Ryder, handguns, open sight rifles or scoped target guns, good marksmanship will only come with certain and intense disciplines.

HunterShooter is the only formal discipline promoting field marksmanship for hunters. Follow Uncle Ted’s advice and get involved today.

Army Marksmanship Training Facts

2011-07-01T07:48:00.002-05:00

The 82nd Airborne Division has a chorus group that travels and sings but does not have a rifle team. The US Army Reserve has several bands as well. The Army recognizes band members by MOS. Previously, each instrument was a separate Military Occupational Specialty. Currently, 42R is the Band MOS and each instrument is an ASI (Additional Skill Identifier.)

There is no MOS or ASI for marksmanship instructor in the US Army. There isn't even any specified, published skill requirement to teach (or attempt to teach) marksmanship to Soldiers.

USAR Shooting Team Articles in GunReports.com

2011-06-30T13:56:00.002-05:00

http://www.gunreports.com/special_reports/special_purpose/US-Army-Reserve-Shooting-Team-USAR-Marksmanship-Program-Service-Rifle3115-1.html

http://www.gunreports.com/special_reports/special_purpose/Soldier-task-FM-7-0-Training-marksmanship-Military-Occupational-Specialty3114-1.html

Army Reserve Competition

2011-06-26T07:51:00.002-05:00

http://myarmyreserve.dodlive.mil/2011/06/24/and-the-winners-are-4/

Well, at least every Army Reserve competition has not been temporarily ceased in the middle of the season for no good reason until further notice.....

Wikipedia Information Accuracy

2011-06-15T10:59:00.000-05:00

How does Wikipedia compare to a traditional encyclopedia?

From Time magazine:

In a study in the journal Nature, researchers chose articles from a wide range of topics from both Wikipedia and the knowledge standard-bearer, Encyclopedia Britannica. The experts sent those entries to "relevant" field experts for peer review.

The verdict? The journal found eight serious errors in the articles — four from each side. However, they also discovered many more minor factual errors, like omissions and misleading statements — 162 in Wikipedia and 123 in Britannica.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2042333_2042334_2042491,00.html #ixzz1CuqnTOqa

M60

2011-06-05T07:35:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/FUNshootVideo#p/u/1/P68zcqASpSI

SFC Sanderson on Dry Practice

2011-05-25T07:36:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/FUNshootVideo#p/u/0/620LlSK3Oyo

United Airlines = SHIT

2011-05-19T07:49:00.005-05:00

I was flying United Airlines from Melbourne, Australia to San Antonio, TX on April 10 2011. On the day of the flight United had a mechanical problem with their plane and could not fly us out.

No problem there, as mechanical problems are a reality. I'd rather experience a failure with a plane while on the ground than in the air.

Being unable to take our regularly scheduled United flight, we were instead directed to fly via Virgin Blue to Sydney. This connecting flight was later but should still get us to our originally scheduled leg as United was going to delay our connecting flight in Sydney rather than leave so many people stranded and fly out a half-full plane.

Reporting to the Virgin Blue counter I was informed that I had to pay an additional $150 due to excess baggage. My International flight originally scheduled through United allowed two checked bags but domestic flights only allow one and my second bag cost $150 extra. I explained to the Virgin Blue agent that the original leg of my International flight with United was canceled due to mechanical error and that we were routed through Virgin Blue and was told to take the issue up with United for a refund. She billed my credit card and handed me a receipt.

Arriving in Sydney, we learned that United did NOT delay the leg from Sydney and it had departed half full and on time. We had to find a different flight. The United agent found a flight into Austin instead of San Antonio so we would still arrive in Texas on the same day, just several hours later. OK, no big deal.

Addressing the excess baggage issue with the United agent, we were informed that United would issue a refund due to their mechanical error. She filled out a receipt with the customer service contact info.

After arriving home, I scanned both Virgin Blue and United receipts and forwarded them to the United Customer Service department that handles refunds with a full explanation of what happened. This began a nearly two month odyssey of useless back and forth.

United refunds typically take about seven business days to respond to any contact. The first response I received said they couldn't do anything without the receipts, despite the fact I already had sent them. I re-sent the receipts again with the full explanation.

More waiting...

It took nearly two months to get three emails back from these clowns. The receipts I had proved my claim. The receipt from United clearly stated that this entire issue stemmed from a mechanical error on their plane and that I was routed via Virgin Blue because of it.

The chief clown at United Refunds is one Surinder Singh, United Airlines Passenger Refunds. Mr. Singh also needs a spell checker as his very slow responses typically contained a few typos as well.

His final response to me was that I need to go through Virgin Blue for a refund as it is their fault! He claims that my request was forwarded to them, but gives zero details as to who or where, nor does he indicate to whom I should address this issue.

Problems happen. It is how a person or company responds to them that matters. United completely failed to address this issue, failed to take responsibility for their fault, and took two months to finally decide to blame another company.

United Airlines and Surinder Singh: Fuck you.

Army Learning Management System (ALMS) comments

2011-05-06T11:59:00.001-05:00

I HATE many of the Army's mandatory online courses! The idea of online courses is great, but the Kindergarten approach of mandatory video/multi-media viewing is STUPID. This slows anyone with a room-temperature IQ or higher because humans read about three times faster than they speak.

Sometimes, I don't have a good high-speed Internet connection available or am on a Linux machine that doesn't run Windows software. Other times, I would rather read and learn off line.

How about offering a text-only version of the tests along with a PDF text book of the task and learning objectives? There are a few Soldiers left that are literate and capable of learning and passing a test from text book instructions. We don't all require spoon feeding via cartoons or movies.

Oh, and the last-minute suspense dates from units given for completing these online classes needs to stop NOW!

Benefits of Competition Shooting

2011-05-05T07:33:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/FUNshootVideo#p/u/2/RBrMnKzk1VE

Trigger Control drill

2011-04-25T07:32:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/FUNshootVideo#p/u/3/pMQtc9RHnyA

Rapid Fire Kneeling demo

2011-04-07T07:31:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/FUNshootVideo#p/u/5/h1rooUOLTCg

Heraclitus revisited

2011-03-07T17:58:00.003-06:00

If you've been in military circles for more than five minutes than you've likely seen that infamous quote attributed to Greek philosopher Heraclitus circulated. Having seen it ad nauseam I have updated it.

Of every one hundred people circulating this email on AKO, ten should not even be here. Eighty are nothing but targets or random tools and douchebags. The nine that are the real fighters are off doing actual training. Ah, but the one - one is the Warrior - and he brings the others home... but probably never receives awards and can't get promoted.

Reticules, Roman name for the Greek Reticles, the demigod of precise vision.
.495 BC (absolutely apocryphal)

Advanced Rapid Fire Kneeling

2011-03-07T07:30:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/FUNshootVideo#p/u/4/gOH7NrZNvdM

Alvin Toffler on Marksmanship

2011-03-01T09:34:00.000-06:00

The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.
- Alvin Toffler

I don’t know if Mr. Toffler, author of Future Shock, was a marksman but he summed the problem up nicely. “Literacy” in this field increases only when shooters seek out new and advanced marksmanship challenges.

Consider a person that only reads the same, simple children’s books over and over for twenty years. He has done nothing to improve his literacy or ability to learn beyond an elementary level. Many gun owners, including military, police and hunters, have a very similar shooting “experience.”

Police and military qualifications are designed for novice marksman at the academy and/or basic training. Twenty year veterans continue to qualify on the exact same low-level course and are able to pass with the same low-level results. Hunters take hunter education once (if required) and don’t even have the benefit of this.

Look beyond these limits! Find new courses and events to test your skills against.

ACOG Setup

2011-02-25T07:29:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/FUNshootVideo#p/u/8/CHXvUffrw6Q

Major General Julian Hatcher on Competition Shooting

2011-02-15T09:33:00.000-06:00

Julian Hatcher was a true authority on firearms and shooting.

Regarding competition shooting, MG Hatcher, who was Double Distinguished (both rifle and pistol) commented on “conventional pistol shooting” in his book, TEXT BOOK OF PISTOLS AND REVOLVERS. Low level shooters won’t like this but it matters not. They and their comments played into Hatcher’s hands proving he was right. Note this was written before practical shooting was its own formal, established competitive and training discipline, so Hatcher’s description of “practical” users here refers to gun owners with no competition experience and little to no training (military, police, most gun owners, etc.)
Quote:

Many so-called practical users of pistols or revolvers are fond of making fun of target shooting, and of advice given on how to learn this branch of the sport. Such an attitude is well understood by the psychologist. It is founded on the unconscious jealousy and feeling of inferiority that the poor shot feels when he sees a well trained marksman making scores out his power to equal. Unconsciously he will try to belittle that accomplishment that he does not possess, so that he will seem to his audience to be just as important and well equipped as the good marksman whom he ridicules.

Julian Hatcher; “Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers” 1935

Camp Perry History

2011-02-07T07:28:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/FUNshootVideo#p/u/6/aCfUxpFZwAc

Ross Seyfried and Champion Shooting Skill

2011-02-01T09:33:00.000-06:00

This from Jim Higginbotham.

[O]ne does not want to get the big head about performance. I was once walking around the U.S. Region IPSC Championship (this was before the days of USPSA) with Ross Seyfried, a gentleman of the first order! A vendor asked him how it felt to be the best pistol shot in the world (Ross would become World Champion the next year). His response was:

“I have no idea. The best pistol shot in the world is probably some farmer out in Colorado or someplace who we never heard of.”

It was a point I took a lesson from. Both as to one’s attitude and probably as to the factual reality that there are indeed great shooters who are unknown to the press and public.

Interesting point. As a plinker-type once pointed out to me, a National champion is someone who has only beaten everybody at that match, not everyone in the nation. It is possible that somewhere, some unknown gun owner has managed to independently develop skills and/or never-before-seen techniques that would demolish the very best known champions.

It is also possible to win the lottery twice in the same week. Champion shooters use the best known techniques, training methodologies and equipment to build their skill. Events evolve over time as new ideas are found that prove consistently successful. Continuing on the practical shooting theme, at one time Jack Weaver and Jeff Cooper were unknown gun enthusiasts. Rob Leatham and Brian Enos were as well. Their ideas, radical at the time, proved to be a better way.

What if Cooper and Weaver chose to remain at Big Bear, and Leatham and Enos tucked away in an unknown Arizona gravel pit, content to plink on the weekends and never stepping forward? There are no talent scouts in the marksmanship world. We only know of them now because they created and/or attended shooting events where their skills could be compared and measured. Only after stepping up and consistently demonstrating a high level of talent in open competition did people take notice.

There are several valuable lessons here:

* At no point, regardless of past success, can you assume to know everything. If you do, you’ll likely meet that Coloradan farmer (or Big Bear Leatherslapper or Arizona speed shooter) one day.
* For every single “Coloradan farmer” truly possessing the skill to beat a champ, there are thousands of pretenders willing to claim they can. Find a metric to measure against, or create your own, so you can effectively separate all that chaff from the rare grain of wheat.
* The unknown expert might as well not even exist unless he is willing to at least occasionally shoot somewhere besides his own back forty. The world will never know without his courage and willingness to come forth.

Bullet Hole Drill

2011-01-25T07:27:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF-AZOBE8J0&feature=related