ETA: Since when is 1911 considered "Cowboy Days"?
This week I got stuck with a 23 year old 'Expert' for about 4 hours that informed me I was 'Obsolete'...
He is a 'Competition' pistol shooter and a supposed 'Expert' on combat handgun tactics.
I know I'm old, nearly 60, and I'm disabled, but I had no idea I was 'Obsolete'.
Glad someone told me... I was under the delusional belief I was still working & making contributions.
I got told that the trusty 1911 was 'Unreliable', and antique, under powered 'Relic' from 'Cowboy Days'.
I got told the M1A/M14/M21 and AR10/SR25 that I like were 'Useless' in a modern battlefield (keep in mind he's a civilian).
He said an M40 would make a nice lamp, but bolt action rifles have no place on a battlefield.
I kept a pleasant tone and asked about his military/combat experience, of which he has none, but said he had seen 'A Lot Of Videos'.
Never been in a war zone, never been in the military, but he does have an 'Honorary' badge from Homeland Security as a rep for a contractor.
I was wondering when the lethality of a 1911, M40, M14, SR25 went to zero?
I'm aware I've been out of the Marines since 1995, have things changed that much?
I was also wondering when actual experience became useless and 23 year olds became 'Experts' in things they didn't study in school and have zero experience in?
At 20, I thought I knew everything. At 42 I am well aware that I was in fact an idiot at 20. I really think I’ve gotten smarter.
I have no doubt that a pistol speed shooter *Could* teach some things... *IF* he were teaching how to use US issue handguns drawn from US issue holsters mounted on US Issue LBE.
The 'FNG's can use all the instruction & range time they can get.
I'm equally sure that guys using non-standard issue (read special forces) could find a better combat handgun instructor than this 23 year old guy with zero combat or law enforcement experience.
'Call Of Duty Commando' is what one of the guys called him...
(I had to ask what 'Call Of Duty' is...)
I know he is a rep for a firearms contractor, but only someone extremely misguided believes their product is so advanced it makes all other firearms obsolete, right along with everyone that's ever used them...
There is a reason Japan didn't invade the west coast during WWII and that reason was a million hunting licences issued per year, even with the war raging.
Japan considered the 1 million (plus) civilians an 'Irregular Reserve' that was self armed, self mobile, self supplied and could be nearly anywhere on the west coast in 36-48 hours.
A trained, formally educated man in the military all his life decided that even a bunch of civilians with hunting rifles were going to be WAY too much for the 'Japanese Empire' to establish a beachhead on the west coast of the US...
I have to go with 'Non-Professional'.
I don't own a .338 Lapua, (or any of the other 'Super Duper' rifles/rounds), I don't have a ballistics computer built into my optics, I'm not reliable past about 800 yards anymore.
I don't have drones, smart bombs etc.
I wouldn't consider myself 'Obsolete' or 'Useless' simply because I rely on civilian legal versions of military firearms, or even hunting rifles.
I more or less remember a quote I heard way back when,
"The young are cannon fodder, the experienced are dangerous survivors, the old will just kill you and never retreat or surrender."
I think it was from a very old book called "The Rear Guard", but I'm not sure anymore.
What baffled me was he was attending the same seminar I was, so I'm not sure why I was there in the first place since I'm 'Obsolete'...
Maybe I should play 'Call Of Duty' more, or watch more videos...?
I haven't played a video game outside of an arcade in the early 80s, didn't see much point to it... Maybe I missed something...?
I didn't find out I was "Obsolete" til I got married.
I still read, I try to observe more and talk less, but am quite unsuccessful at that.... peed on an electric fence when I was 5............haven't done that since.......Seems like almost everyone starts their adult life at 18 and thinks they know everything. They spend the rest of their life finding out that they most certainly don't.
“There are three kinds of men. The ones that learn by readin'. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.”
I still read, I try to observe more and talk less, but am quite unsuccessful at that.... peed on an electric fence when I was 5............haven't done that since.......
My 17 year old thinks I know nothing, and have no way of knowing what he's going through........
I didn't find out I was "Obsolete" til I got married.
I just blew tea out of my nose!
It would have been beer on a Sunday afternoon, but my choices in beverages have been limited...
I'm so glad someone FINALLY told me my taste in EVERYTHING was crap and I'd been doing EVERYTHING WRONG for 35 years...
Pretty good biscuit, but I'm not a huge fan of buttermilk.
It takes me about 20 minutes to set up the mill grinder, mill flour, tear down and clean the mill,
It takes her about that long to proof yeast & make fresh bread or biscuit to rise.
Anyone that can, and WILL make bread from scratch is a keeper!
Cooks & home cans, picked up extra hours when I wanted a new rifle, buys Harley parts & reloading machines for my Christmas!
She knows her way around a sewing machine too!
Women today can't figure out why men are so reluctant to marry, are always getting divorced, etc but SHE thinks it's because women aren't raised to work and make a home anymore...
Her version of it is, man meets woman, man courts woman, man & woman get married, man works extra hours to support woman & kids, woman spends too much money on crap and gets bored because man is working all the time, and when he does get time off, woman beats him over the head about being at work so much, marriage falls apart...
I'm no marriage expert, but I've seen the exact thing she describes happen over & over again...
She maybe onto something!
When she gets mad at me, she cans & cooks, does craft projects that make money until she cools off.
When I get mad, typical man (man, not boy), I blow off steam, then work twice as hard that day to work it out.
I'm not the sharpest guy around, she could have done better...
I have no doubt that a pistol speed shooter *Could* teach some things... *IF* he were teaching how to use US issue handguns drawn from US issue holsters mounted on US Issue LBE.
The 'FNG's can use all the instruction & range time they can get.
I'm equally sure that guys using non-standard issue (read special forces) could find a better combat handgun instructor than this 23 year old guy with zero combat or law enforcement experience.
'Call Of Duty Commando' is what one of the guys called him...
(I had to ask what 'Call Of Duty' is...)
I know he is a rep for a firearms contractor, but only someone extremely misguided believes their product is so advanced it makes all other firearms obsolete, right along with everyone that's ever used them...
There is a reason Japan didn't invade the west coast during WWII and that reason was a million hunting licences issued per year, even with the war raging.
Japan considered the 1 million (plus) civilians an 'Irregular Reserve' that was self armed, self mobile, self supplied and could be nearly anywhere on the west coast in 36-48 hours.
A trained, formally educated man in the military all his life decided that even a bunch of civilians with hunting rifles were going to be WAY too much for the 'Japanese Empire' to establish a beachhead on the west coast of the US...
I have to go with 'Non-Professional'.
I don't own a .338 Lapua, (or any of the other 'Super Duper' rifles/rounds), I don't have a ballistics computer built into my optics, I'm not reliable past about 800 yards anymore.
I don't have drones, smart bombs etc.
I wouldn't consider myself 'Obsolete' or 'Useless' simply because I rely on civilian legal versions of military firearms, or even hunting rifles.
I more or less remember a quote I heard way back when,
"The young are cannon fodder, the experienced are dangerous survivors, the old will just kill you and never retreat or surrender."
I think it was from a very old book called "The Rear Guard", but I'm not sure anymore.
What baffled me was he was attending the same seminar I was, so I'm not sure why I was there in the first place since I'm 'Obsolete'...
Maybe I should play 'Call Of Duty' more, or watch more videos...?
I haven't played a video game outside of an arcade in the early 80s, didn't see much point to it... Maybe I missed something...?