The Tactical Life

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3075

Good to hear from you, know you are on the front lines, brother.

I own two. A Marlin 336 and a Winchester 94, both in 30-30. The round has been around since 1895 and has probably killed more American big game animals than any other round. Low recoil, moderate muzzle blast and accurate for a lever. Optics are out on the Winchester unless you use a special set of high scope rings, since it ejects the brass from the top of the receiver. I love lever guns, but, they can be a little tricky on ejection and feeding, if you “short stroke” the lever and don’t follow through with good movement.

  • A word of caution:

I am not bashing Henry Repeating Rifles, just relaying my personal experience. I own two. A .22 Golden boy and a.44 magnum. Both had feeding problems out of the box and both had to be sent to a gunsmith for polishing and removing burrs. Maybe I was just unlucky, but, Henry’s are off my list.

Three added benefits of the lever and 30-30 round. The ammo can be found anywhere in U.S. and probably most other countries. I even saw it sold in a gun shops in several South American countries.

One aspect of the lever that is overlooked is the rifle is not looked upon by the public as an “assault rifle” if flies under the radar of public scrutiny. I would not feel naked with a good lever and the round if bad things started to happen.

A good functioning lever gun is plain fun as hell. Pick one up and you are immediately transported to riding the plains looking for bad guys.

Trained as much as I can in Kali as long as I can remember, great art, especially developing foot work.

I have noticed this a little to with some people I work with and we are not even working the street, just investigations. Since I am one of the trainers now, I have no work but raid planning. I have mentally marked down the ones acting like this, put them on the list of never going through a door with them. You can’t handle this, then you can’t handle bad shit later.

You too brother, keep checking in.

3076

Thought for the day:

Thank

Mike Pannone said it best:

Say thank you … a little verbalized appreciation means a lot to those currently shouldering the thankless burden during these trying times. Every time I go to the grocery store, Home Depot, the auto parts store or sign for a package from UPS, I say “thanks for showing up to work. You’re the ones holding it all together and at least you’ll hear it from one person today … thank you for showing up.” I said that to a young girl bagging my groceries yesterday and she stopped, looked at me with big tearful, glassy blue eyes and said "thank you for saying that … I needed to her something nice today.

" h*e’s taking 1000%+ higher risk than we are, all while some old, self-entitled a-hole with a truck-stop “I Served” hat on gives her a ration of shit for putting the cheese with the frozen corn. (that’s a true story) Whatever is still on the shelves is there because people you don’t know and (be honest with yourself) sometimes look down on, are standing in the breach … because regardless of age, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual preference, education and socioeconomic status, they are good and decent people and they are what make America great…and in times of trouble and strife, they step up and make all the difference.

**“But who now is more important than the trucker who drives 12-hours straight to deliver toilet paper to Costco? Or the mid-level manager of Target who calibrates supply and demand and is on the phone all day juggling deliveries before his store opens? Or the checker at the local supermarket who knows that the hundreds of customers inches away from her pose risks of infection, and yet she ensures that people walk out with food in their carts?”

The Virus is Not Invincible, But It’s Exposing Who’s Irreplaceable

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3077

Yes, I showed for work today in pharmaceutical packaging. Products that people are going to be using while lying in bed to ease their suffering.

Still, the agency contact said that because I mentioned I coughed a little bit after our health questionnaire yesterday night, and again a couple of times into the crook of my arm at lunch today, not to go in tomorrow.

The limited bus space available is ridiculous these days, and I wonder if I qualify for Employment Insurance so soon into an assignment after having been off work waaaay too long for my liking.

3078

Thought for the day:

jj

Training:

sand bag carries and kettle bell work in the local park. also, a new agility drill: It seems with the increase in people at the park walking their dogs, they have forgotten to use a lease. Evidently , carry a sandbag over your shoulder triggers a dog desire to chase you. Fuck, get a lease.

Question of the day:

Are you into the outdoors? have you ever read any stories by Russell Annabel? If not, check him out, Most are fiction stories, but, damn, what a writer of adventure.

Russell Annabel (1904 - 1979) is Alaska’s best known outdoor writer of over 300 articles, many featuring his most memorable character, Tex Cobb. His articles regularly appeared in Sports Afield, Outdoor Life, Field and Stream and many other magazines for over 40 years.

https://www.outdoorsportinglibrary.com/the-authors-2/russell-annabel/

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3079

This drives me nuts. Unless you’re in a dedicated dog park, or your dog is well behaved with EXCELLENT recall, don’t let it off lease.

3080

IMO depends on the area. Some areas the culture is very dog friendly and the large majority of dogs are offleash even if against ordinance.

As always, it’s up to the owner to correctly judge the situation. Parks are shared community resources, so if you don’t like dogs, it’s also up to you to avoid parks/areas notorious for offleash mutts.

I’m seeing a lot of “non-regulars” out in the park by my condo recently. Some understand a section of it is treated as an offleash dog park, others get very mad. As always, dont be a dick… Goes for your dog too haha.

3081

The problem is most dog owners are complete idiots when it comes to reading the situation, especially in regards to their own dog. Most have no clue how to read the body language the dog is exhibiting. For example, I had to explain to my mother years ago why a dog will roll on their back and show the belly when they know they did something wrong. She literally said she thought they were hiding their butt so you couldn’t spank them, and was amazed that it was a sign of submission.

For that reason, I have always kept our dogs on leash when out in public, and do everything I can to avoid other dogs whether they are on leash or off. I have seen multiple dogs that I knew (both other people’s and my own) change behavior when on leash. The best I can describe it, is being on leash (connected to owner/alpha) and out of their own yard (territory) seemed to put them on the defensive automatically. Seen this even in dogs who were super friendly to other people and other animals normally, but on leash they feel they have to make the dominance show.

Having said that, off leash in a designated dog park usually isn’t a problem in our experience. We stopped going to dog parks though, because all of the ones I have been to require that the males be neutered and we have never done that to ours. The justification being that it makes them less aggressive. In reality, the most aggressive dogs I’ve come across have been neutered males, usually going after one of my unclipped males. First pit bull I had, a male bred out of a champion fighting dog in Guam (found that out well after the fact, best dog I’ve ever had), would literally have green swirl marks on his ass from getting chased by neutered males. The marks would come because while running, he would do this weird sit and spin maneuver to turn and face them for an instant before continuing to spin around and keep running. Would have been pissed at the other dog owners but it was damn funny to watch. And yes, we (the other owners included, who were typically apologizing profusely) would separate the dogs and go our separate ways.

3082

Called leash aggression. Caused b/c the leashed dog feels handcuffed and scared of not having it’s full capability to defend itself if needed… So they act out as a warning. Perfectly nice dogs can turn aggressive (not dangerous) on a leash.

My dog has learned to be very wary of leashed dogs and approaches very cautiously.

I love pitties. The way they look, temperament, everything. But owning one comes with a ton more responsibility, and societal issues e.g. limits housing options.

Agreed that people are bad at reading canine body language. It can be frustrating.

3083

I keep my dog on a leash unless there is no one around and we want to play fetch or use the bite pillow.

I have had unleashed dogs approach and the owners say their dogs are friendly, only to have them attack. They all say the same thing, he never did that before. I’ve read that neutered dogs can get aggressive towards intact dogs and since most dogs are neutered, mine is not, it may have never happened before. Those dogs always regret it though.

3084

I got a dog 6 months ago from a couple owners who obviously crated him all day because they were gonna put him in a shelter, but they didn’t mention that he whines whenever he sees a person, and when he sees another dog he goes absolutely batshit crazy.
He’s had one nice interaction with an old beagle, and then a lab wanted to play with him one time and it took about 2 seconds before he got aggressive and started snarling and almost attacked the dog. I’m a former tech, my wife is a vet tech of 15 years and we’re kind of at a loss as to what to do with him. I walk him all the time and he’s incredibly sweet, kind, and wonderful to our family, but it’s just embarrassing to walk him around other people and especially if others are walking dogs.
Any pointers? We were recommended a stim collar (NOT a shock collar, like the stim that the chiropractor uses to relax your muscles), and I’ve seen people have good success with them, plus they genuinely don’t hurt the dog, but I’m obviously still hesitant to use anything like that, especially with how opposed to shock collars or any sort of negative reinforcement tech I am. This is supposed to be for positive reinforcement, but again- I’m just not quite informed about it.

3085

Gee whiz, I can finally be of use for once!

I’ve prefaced advice with this statement before: My wife has been an animal trainer for over a decade, working with everything from penguins, to sea lions, reptiles, cats, but specializes in dogs.

Her advice: before using ANY type of device, find a qualified trainer to help you. You don’t want to start using something like that without understanding exactly when and how it should be applied.

I also asked her about this. It comes from an innate instinct for survival/breeding/competition/etc etc. Intact males have way more hormones coursing through their bodies, which other dogs can pick up on. This is seen as a threat and so sometimes neutered males will try to take the intact male “down a notch”, so to speak. This is especially an issue for males that were neutered late in life, because that competitive drive they would’ve had while intact seems to stick around. Our old-man dog is like this; he was a street dog for most of his life, clearly was neutered late, and will automatically get competitive if he sees an intact male, usually resulting in a fight if we don’t get him away immediately.

Another thing to remember is that sometimes intact males can be… haughty. They naturally have more testosterone and this can give them a bad attitude, which to us might not be noticed, but other dogs see it and get confused as to why the intact dog is such an asshole, and they respond accordingly.

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3086

It comes down to having your dog pay attention to you, not the other dog. Much easier said than done and can take months-years to train it out of them if you do it consistently. Training a behavior is not nearly as easy as training a command. I got my dog to a point I’m comfortable with onleash and stopped there haha. He is super good offleash, which is how we roll most of the time anyways so I’m not too concerned- MTBing, skiing, digging trail in the mtns, etc.

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Basically, every time you see another dog, have your dog come to the side and focus on you… Usually by shoving treats into his face. It’s all a progression, so you start by getting your dog comfy while sitting 20yards away from a popular dog walking path. Only move closer when your dog will still focus on you/your treats. It will likely be shockingly slow progress. You want the dog to focus on you and/or associate other dogs with treats from you. You gotta remember the treatbag the same way you remember poop bags haha.

Disclaimer I’m not a dog trainer, and my dog doesn’t look like he can do damage so his acceptable level of behavior is lower than if he was a pittie/gsp/rottie/doberman etc.

To get this somewhat back on track, I was told the safest way to greet a strange dog is to turn sideways and without bending down let the dog sniff the back of your closed fist. Also realize that running/biking triggers their chase response, so keep that in mind when traveling by strange dogs… They may lose interest if you simply slowly walk away. This does not go for stray packs.

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3087

You haven’t thought of a prong collar?

3088

We do exactly that with treats when other dogs pass, but he gets so worked up I’m wondering if I’m reinforcing the bad behavior.

I think @kdjohn has a good point - if I’m out of my element, find a pro. I could be doing what you suggest but in such a way that it’s hurting. Dunno.

Your dog looks like mine, too.
image

3089

His past owners gave us a prong collar with him and said he tugs incessantly. I threw it in the trash. He tugs less with a harness that attaches from the chest to redirect and walks mostly at heel now. I highly doubt a prong collar is the solution, but if it was, I wouldn’t use it. I’m adamantly against them. No offense to anyone who uses them.

Anyhoo, thanks guys, if I need more advice I’ll start a thread. Already derailed this enough.

3090

No, you did not, that is what this thread is for: to learn new skills. I know nothing about dogs, just those I have been exposed to in the military and law enforcement. Good information for me. I also learned that carrying a sand bag really seems to piss dogs off. I had to deal with three “aggressive investigations” and like someone said" he has never done that before" I had one dog owner tell me that I should " go to a gym to do that". Yeah, ok.

Funny side note: This park has a series of little league fields, all with fences. So, I threw the bag yesterday over the fence and was walking around inside the field. I saw a woman walking a German Shepard on the path and thought, " ha, out smarted your ass". The dog took off running and jumped the damn fence, came straight for me across the field. I dropped the bag, jumped the fence and hauled ass up to the top of the field bleachers, figured I would make my last stand there, since there was no way I was out running that dog. The dog stopped at the bag, looked up at me and promptly pissed all over my bag, took another look at me and ran back to its owner. Talk about being bitch slapped:))

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3091

Thought for the day:

fight

Some good pandemic advice from Mr. Green. Always good to review the basics.

Situational Awareness- No longer just a platitude, knowing your immediate surroundings is a critical component to personal security, and this means getting your face out of the personal electronics while out and about and actually checking your surroundings. When arriving at the grocery store / gas station (insert destination of choice here) take a second to examine your surroundings. Does anyone look out of place? Is there anyone loitering about who appears to be hassling patrons for money? My rule of thumb is “if it feels wrong, it probably is”, and that little axiom has kept me out of more trouble over the years than I can recount. There’s no shame in taking stock of your surroundings, spotting possible trouble, and departing the scene. Remember, discretion is the better part of valor, and you going home to your family is what ultimately matters.

Beware of transitional spaces- Transitional spaces can be defined as parking lots, parking garages, or similar venues where a criminal might seek to close the distance from them to you via a ruse (asking for the time) or by ambush, due to you being preoccupied with another task, such as fishing for car keys, loading groceries, etc. I prefer to park in well lit areas, and am constantly checking my surroundings. If someone is making a direct approach, you have to ask your self why. If feasible, use the buddy system, where one person keeps watch and the other completes the task at hand.

Securing your homestead- While we like to think of our homes as our respite from the bustle and worries of modern life, there are steps that we can take to ensure that our sanctuaries are safe from those with nefarious intentions in these difficult and uncertain times. Here are some of the steps that I take to keep my family safe while at home;

  • Lock your doors- This sounds simple, but many people like to keep their doors unlocked while they are at home. It takes very little effort to lock the doors, denying a criminal easy entry into your abode. Also, if you have a drive in garage with door, keep the door down at all times, unless you’re leaving or returning with your vehicle.

  • Social Media- Avoid the temptation to “virtue signal” or be boastful of your foodstuffs or preparations. There have been cases where criminals have used social media to identify potential target homes. Also, keep any preps to yourself. Don’t brag to the neighbor or colleagues about how much _____ you have. It’s no one’s business, and you have no idea how far that intel will spread.

  • Check your exterior lighting- Having a well lit exterior of your house denies criminals obvious hiding places or blind spots, as well as potential ambush points.

  • Answering the door- We’ve been conditioned as a society to be “nice” to everyone, and many criminals are quick to take advantage of this. If someone knocks on your door (or rings the doorbell) that you don’t know, I do not open the door for them. we can converse through the barrier that the door provides. Some criminals will attempt a ruse by which they gain entry to your home (and family). If someone asks to use your phone, offer to call the police for them. Having a remote doorbell camera offers additional security, and affords you the opportunity to share info with neighbors / law enforcement regarding suspicious persons going door to door in your neighborhood.

Travel Smart- If we must travel during a pandemic, these pointers will help ensure that you stay safe.

  • Keep your vehicle fueled & maintained- As a general rule, I refuel my vehicles if they are at 1/2 a tank. Don’t run the risk of running out of fuel, and having the cars at your homestead fully fueled affords you options should you have to leave in great haste and travel for an extended distance. Also, keeping your vehicles in good working order minimizes potential mishaps with regard to their function. Cheeping out on vehicle maintenance means YOU will be stuck on the side of the road at the most inopportune time.

  • Have cash on hand- In the event that credit card readers are down / compromised, cash is king. Maintaining a supply of cash (the amount determined by you) in small bills beats not having any on hand for those emergencies.

Have IFAK / white light- You DO have an Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) and flashlight in your vehicles, don’t you? If not, it might be time to remedy that.

Training:

carrying bags in he park
fence jumping and bleacher climbs (see post above)

Question of the day:

Where can you improve with Mr. Green’s list?

3092

That made my day.

I wonder of the dog was trying to protect you from the bag or wanted to play with you and the bag.

3093

Hahaha thanks man, that creased me up visualising you being chased and the dog stopping and doing that.

My dog hated anyone carrying ladders. Never saw any reason for it.

3094

For vehicle flashlights/headlamps, and or most emergency lights that use AA or AAA I highly recommend using energizer lithiums. They store better than Alkalines, and they never leak which can ruin your light. They also function much better in the cold. This is especially important for lights that stay in your vehicles.

We had to check a car abandoned in flood water a few months back and noticed some of our helmet lights were flickering and crapping out. On the next shift I did an experiment where we dropped two lights, one with alkaline and one with lithium bayteries into 5 gallon buckets of ice water. The Alkalines crapped out at the 4 hour mark and the lithiums lasted almost 16. Hopefully you’re not bobbing around in ice water that long, but if you are, at least the light will help them find your body.

I also highly recommend only buying lights that were made by companies that make lights. Streamlight, Surefire, PrincetonTec, Maglite. Petzl is known for climbing gear but their lights are awesome. Black Diamond is also known for climbing gear, but their lights are not great. Pelican makes great storage boxes, lights I would recommend avoiding. I could go into detail, but don’t want to highjack the thread with a wall of text.

If you have an old Surefire or Maglite that used to be top of the line but looks pretty dim these days you can refurbish them; check out Darksucks and Malkoff Devices.