The weather is way too pretty in the fall for couping up in a blind... plus... They uh, face the wrong way ;)


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That's how I felt about it. I think the most I have had back there was a 250 gal water tote full during our last drought, roughly 2000 pounds, and it handled it fine, so I just measure everything off of that.


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^^^ What happens in the combat areas, stays in the combat areas!

You mean the mig incident?? We were cleared... It's all good... ;)

I'll stop for now... hope you get a chuckle Nate...

Here's me, sporting my honorary specialist rank (Carl incident) by a really big tree...

I assume it's cool to just DOT the heck out of this if it's all about keeping Ninja Nater awake??

Just found some coolish pics!



Outlaw 6, this is SOG, we have a baboon on the hesco barrier over....

It's going to be a while... Prolly spring. HVAC has a lot of work to do, electrician about 75% done, plumbers haven't started yet! Lol


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spud guns, my favorite past time!

The dawg is on point here. I will come out and say that I have never found any issue with "gay marriage". It's not my place to have an opinion. We can cherry pick bible verses in opposition to "gay marriage" along with other sins. There's an interpretation of a verse for and against basically anything we can do. I don't go to church. I believe and I worship in my own way. I catch people post bible study making out with people they don't belong to on a regular basis. I worked a case involving a catholic priest who drugged little boys and sold them by the hour to other parishioners and otherwise "upstanding" members of the community. Most recently I arrested a youth pastor for beating his wife and defended himself with versus from the bible. Blackened both her eyes. When I *do* go to a church, I cant go locally, because I look around and see a mope in every pew, who I have busted for one thing or another that would otherwise be sinful pretending they are upstanding citizens. I have a really difficult time with it. Every church I have ever attended, I have been let down in one way or another by the leadership there. I find myself on Monday morning investigating an elder for embezzling money or a pastor who uses hotel vouchers meant for homeless people to meet prostitutes. I am continuously let down. Maybe satan just works mysteriously around me to keep me away from organized religion, but I have found myself the closest to God, sipping a blue moon, watching the sun rise after a long shift. Or laying my hand on someone in distress and praying for them. I have confided in some of you how my life has come about. There was a good period of time, I was an un-believer. Sometimes I find I'm peeling myself from the fence even and I know that is most likely satans work.

I realize our country was founded fundamentally on Christian values, but above that we cherish our ability to live as we see fit, bathed in liberty and constantly pursuing happiness. In my utopia, we would worship as we saw fit without critique from the government or choose not to worship at all and be constitutionally protected in it. I don't think the government should have any part in marriages or unions or whatever we wish to call them. There should be no monetary benefit or eligibility for tax deduction or whatever for marriage. Marriages should take place between two individuals and whatever entity they claim if they wish to claim one. When the electorate votes solely on issues of morality ignorant to actual policy, we all lose and we are divided. We can be "United" and different at the same time.

If we truly believe God gave us free will, who is our government to legislate for or against the acts of consenting parties? I realize this discussion will most likely illustrate a generation gap between us all and be proof of our evolving society. But I think it's an important discussion to have. You guys wont be around much longer! ;) no offense and us young bucks will be at the helm. I have never personally been effected negatively by "gay marriage". But infidelity has turned my life upside down on a couple of occasions! Can anyone present any evidence where "gay marriage" has personally effected them negatively? 

I'm not personally all about it based upon my personal views on legislating morality. This shouldn't even be a thing. I don't agree with her being jailed indefinitely until she has a change of heart though. If we decide to go this route, give me some time to sanitize.


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Hey private, go tell Top we have a "prick E7" that's ate the f' up and we need a new one!


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Koot,
I don't intend to change your mind. You have good reason to be skeptical about us. It's an indoctrinated effect. I *too* have had horrible experiences with cops AND have witnessed cops do terrible things.

The science however is this-
There are nearly 1m sworn LEO's in this nation and if you had a bad contact every day, for ten years with a different cop, you would *still* only be talking about an infinitesimal percentage of all cops and at best you could sustain, you have really bad luck with cops! ;)


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The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, HMMWV, Humvee, Hummer, doesn't have a keyed ignition, just a rotating switch.


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Mr TRN..... if I may reply in like fashion.

My position on LE self policing is not at all derived from TV. (I refuse to call today's "news" news)  I have not always been a farmer, I will leave it at that for now.

Law Enforcement goes far beyond the patrol officer, the detective, or even his superiors. Your local BLM officer, your Judges, the Mayors, Governors, and even a president all sworn to uphold the law......

I will leave it at that thought...

That's an entirely different story. And one I have gone in to depth on before. But the jest of your post put a spot light on policing in every paragraph as it rebutted to my own stance on policing. I don't agree that any of what you just listed, save the poor BLM guy, should fall in to "law enforcement" at all. "Enforcement" stops with the prosecutor.

When prosecutors are motivated by anything *but* upholding the law, there is a miscarriage of justice, (Freddy Grey). When executives of the government involve themselves where they shouldn't, it's an issue, but it's an issue ABOVE, the pay grade of your lowly patrolman or any of his/her bosses. I would say most Judges do the best they can with what they are presented. There are however cases of judicial impurity. When judges operate in regard to political affiliation they fail us.

Mayors and governors, they're elected executives and the entire electoral system needs an "overhaul" as you put it. All should be held to term limits and there should be a cap on candidate spending and contingent donations to even the playing field. This would be a healthy start to repairing our system.

We need not debate semantics as long as we both agree it's *not* a policing/enforcement issue but rather an issue specific to corruption in politicians and law *makers*.



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I disagree Redneck. A lot of nights I'm out on beat alone patrolling higher crime areas riddled with property crimes and catalyzed by drug abuse. I know the actors on my beat and I know the locals.

As a LEO, on patrol, I notice an individual on the stroll at a quarter past three carrying a back pack through a nicer neighborhood where he doesn't belong that has experienced an uptick in criminality recently, (vehicle burgs, home burgs, misc thefts etc...) I can articulate based upon my familiarization with my beat, the recent activity, and the time of night, whether or not facts and circumstances exist to lead me, a reasonable officer, to suspect there is criminal activity afoot and make a temporary detention to confirm or discredit my suspicion. The "stop". Once I've made that stop, I may or may not be able to articulate whether this individual is armed or not. Or I *may* have spied an inherent trait exhibited by an armed person, (change of gate, weapon bump, sagging pocket, familiar bulge, known to be armed actor, etc...) At that point if again, if i, a reasonable officer, can justifiably articulate, again based upon, facts circumstances and evidence at hand, suspicion this dude is illicitly armed, I can do a limited pat down, (not a search) of his person, to protect myself while I conclude my investigation. If and when at any point my suspicions become invalidated, the detention is over.

I really *do* understand people's reservations with stop and frisk but I can only hope that the boys patrolling my neighborhood protecting my family as they sleep at night are operating in the same capacity. While you and I are more than willing and ready to investigate the bumps in the night without LE intervention, the fact remains, as I pointed out in my reply to mr Mullen, there are many that aren't emotionally or physically capable for that.




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That is just plain scary and I have seen it coming. Heard someone on a conservative radio show saying how we don't need the police anymore,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Gunned down while filling up, I am so glad I retired when I did!

Is this the article?

http://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Ftom-mullen%2Fa-practical-solution-run-police-departments-like-fire-departments_b_7871434.html&h=KAQEqZWDC&s=1

Here is my letter to that guy-

Mr. Mullen,
I recently read your piece, “A Practical Solution: Run Police Departments Like Fire Departments”. I have served as a Peace Officer in the United States in several capacities for over a decade. I am also a US Army veteran as are many of my brother’s and sister’s in blue. I preface my rebuttal with this only to inform you through our service we have a unique perspective on policing and the balancing act of defending our constitution.

Many of your arguments have a certain merit; however I would like to invite you on a ride-a-long some night to bear witness to why the “Practical Solution” isn’t very practical at all. Only then would you gain a clear understanding of the populace we are sworn to protect. Although I am sure you don’t live in a bubble, the experience is best in person. While our Supreme Court has held statutorily we have no duty to protect and thus are generally protected from liability when our efforts fail, the fact a case to this effect reached the Supreme Court is my first presentation of evidence to you.

Jurisdictional administrators and governments, even Police Officer’s themselves have been party to litigants who fell victim to crime when they felt they should have somehow been protected from it. I know you are aware enough to realize a growing faction of our society today values its entitlements over earnings tenfold. A growing populace demands the government not only offer them services needed for daily sustenance but also that of protection. While I myself, like you, whole heartedly support the second amendment and local legislation which offers us a means to self-protection, we are embattled with a growing opposition who wishes the only protection afforded to them are afforded by the government. While I believe personally this is merely a means to re-direct the blame away from their failed utopia, the fact remains the burden of their defense is ours to bear.

These “sheeple”, as they are commonly referred, are by no means prepared to defend their selves physically or psychologically. So while the black robes sit in high courts determining in mostly obscure circumstances policing should be Ex post facto. Locally the majority of the populace, while not lying awake at night worrying about it, is appreciative of their friendly neighborhood Police Officer.

Therefore, I concede your “practical solution” is, as you admit, “radical”.
The reactive policing model failed us exponentially every year from the 1960’s until the 1990’s when more proactive measures were introduced to curb an increasingly violent society. As we became more modern and more evolved, we got softer and less apt to defend ourselves. Thusly we were more apt to falling victim to crime. Rather than at that time, placing an emphasis on self-defense, policing was changed to make up for the evolving society. Some would opine our moral decay had a lot to do with the problem. The issue here with reverting to a reactive policing model overnight is the simple fact that while people don’t lay awake at night worrying about fires, people do roam the streets at night looking for targets of opportunity and those targets aren’t ready or willing to combat them.

There are literally no statistics on the number of crimes which didn’t happen because I was in the right place at the right time. The would-be criminals simply fail to report this bit of information to the FBI. However, an argument can be made for the decrease in criminality over the last twenty years and it’s co-witness to a proactive policing model. Secondary to this, I can only imagine the use of radar detectors, police scanners, and diversions represent strong evidence as mitigation to police intervention and most importantly show us in some capacity, our patrols are deterrent in nature.

My second rebuttal to your piece is in reference to your comments about warrants. While judges may sign off on warrants, you would be hard pressed to find a judge out collecting evidence, determining facts and witnessing circumstances which culminate into probable cause to write the said warrant. This is job of the police. A reactive police force, only available for call out would be hard pressed to come up with enough pieces to amount to a reasonable belief criminal activity was afoot therefore in order to pursue some sorts of criminal activity we must be slightly less restrained.

This is most certainly true in drug crimes as well as crimes involving child pornography and child and adult exploitation or trafficking. These are not by your definition emergencies and the general public lacks the resources to counter or curb these offenses. Most of these operations are clandestine in nature and would go un-noticed without a proactive approach from Law Enforcement. There are actually quite a few crimes which fall into this category where there is a clear and present risk to public or personal safety that is not readily apparent.

Many people refer to drug crimes as victimless crimes. In my experience, drug abuse leaves a wake of victims. Growing up to a drug addicted mother I myself was placed as a small child into dangerous situations of which I had no control or ability to defend myself. I believe the same could be said for my mother, had she been un-polluted and within her clear mind, my sister and I would never have been placed into the danger we were. I have never met a recovered meth addict who told me they didn’t want me to do everything in my power to eliminate the drug from existence.

Prostitutes contract disease and pass it on to their customers who pass it on to their innocent spouses. It’s not just the guy travelling “66 in a 55 and getting away with it”. It is about the truck driver with 90,000 lbs of freight driving 75 high on speed. It is about the guy driving the wrong way down a divided highway who smashes in to your wife and kids. I don’t go to a whole lot of bars anymore but when the bug gets in folks ears there is a drunken driving enforcement lane in the area, people listen. They call cabs and otherwise find safer rides. You take away the fear of being caught driving while intoxicated; you are the catalyst to an epidemic of drunken driving fatalities.

The people will not self-police as much as we would like them to. Your statement regarding people being able to call 911 when they see a reckless driver is a scenario which is too good to be true. People just don’t report like you would like them to. It’s not in their nature. The populace as a whole overwhelmingly does not wish to get involved in that capacity. For example, I was on patrol several years back on an interstate in Southwest Missouri. We had a single call of a wrong way vehicle on an interstate moderately involved with traffic. My assumption is every other driver felt as if one of the other driver’s was calling in the infraction. With several officers on patrol, I was the closest to the interstate; I quickly closed on and intercepted the driver who was intoxicated and oblivious to his error. How many extra miles could that vehicle travel had we all responded to the incident from our bunks? Chances are he would be outside of our jurisdiction and inside and even more rural jurisdiction where there would be no officer’s able to respond. How many more near misses would you accept if your family was traveling the same interstate?

I appreciate your arguments were not “anti-cop”. You made that clear and did your best not to bash us. You do however have it wrong. We didn’t just join the job to protect the public from crimes you consider as real, “murder, assault, rape and robbery”. With your policing model, we wouldn’t be a protective force at all. We would be an investigative force. These crimes, you mentioned, would still occur and we would be powerless to avert them. I can speak for a lot of cops when I say this; it’s not always about making the high profile collars. It is about making a difference every chance you get. We are inherently protectors by nature. The few bullies in our ranks are the exception, not the rule. If you are half as intelligent as you appear in print, you can surely come to this conclusion on your own.

There is a way to accomplish our mission of maintaining public safety while still upholding our constitution. I along with thousands of other officers operate in this capacity every day. Don’t let yourself fall victim to or perpetrate the sensationalism of a handful of high profile policing incidents.

Thank You for your time,
Blaine Cornelius


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Haha! Thanks guys! I'm not sure where it comes from. After some events in my own life, here and over there, I found it very therapeutic to free write. I have a running note in my phone of ideas or topics to write about some day... But when something "moves me", I often find time to knock out a few lines. I honestly used to be kind of shy about it. My wife is actually the one who encourages me to share the less sinister stuff. Sometimes you gotta let your demons out. I have often thought about starting a program of sorts that encourages those who suffer from PTSD to write their hearts out. It's pretty liberating, for me anyways, to put it on paper. You can almost feel yourself tingle as you let it go. You can in a sense put your nightmares on a thumb drive and stick them in your safe. And it doesn't have to be incredibly elegant. Sentence structure grammar and punctuation are all irrelevant. It's toxic, corrosive and damaging when you hold on to it. It may not work for everyone, obviously, but if it works for a few that's awesome.


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Felt inspired-

Take seat and let me tell you about these grunts. I never knew of these unadulterated battles until I bared witness from their intimate perspective. They hump their packs over hill and dale as sure-footed as the wisest mountain pack mule. They traipse through water and mire clandestine to the most skilled tracker as they recon the nights patrol base. I watch them utilize the tools of their craft in consternation. Their rifles, their mortars; their machine guns speak to each other in symphony. They are the nightmare of battle. The proficiency with which they engage in combat tests the tenacity of the hardest insurgent.  They are truly artisans of death dealing. For this I am at a loss for words because one of them I could never be. My hands would not guide my rifle to fire fast enough and my feet would not carry me to cover soon enough. The trained ear of the infantryman guides his eyes to the sound of gunfire and through his iron sights he visualizes the fall of his foe and so they do fall… one by one… by one. Until the resolve of the last enemy fighter has been conquered the infantryman will stand. If he falls, which is uncommon, one more will stand in his place without the slightest cease of report from a rifle. There is no joy in witnessing the work of the infantryman. However, I must admit, I wept with admiration for these men, for they are cut from the rarest of cloth.

Maybe under a hoodie gangsta style!


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I had a local guy who runs a gun shop. He does pretty good work for sure and he's reasonable. you could prolly search for him on facebook. Freestyle Firearms Finishes, I think? He also cerakoted my slide after machining

I'll break it down-
Used G17 350.00
Framework 150.00
Glove reliefs, scalloped mag catch, magazine well reliefs, stippling
Slide machining and re-coating $100
Suppressor sites trijicon $150
Trijicon RMR reflex site $475

Been working in stages. Next is a threaded barrel and trigger job

Then when I move in to Camelot a suppressor!


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Yeah 9mm gunpowder driven air soft!


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DohhhhhT^^^


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Well that center section is a griddle and "we" are talking about putting a standalone griddle on the bar as well...


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When I was but a wee lad dad made us cans for our .22's and we sat on pond dams picking off snow geese in wheat fields.


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