Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Job Tips: Cleared Jobs on Youtube–Lots of Good Info!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Training: Tactical Impact TV, With Larry Vickers and Aaron Roberts
Wow, talk about a cool show! Larry Vickers is an incredible force of influence in today’s combat arms and training, and it is just a treat to be able to listen to what these guys have to say. The link I provided below has a bunch of episodes to watch, and they will easily keep you captivated with all the industry best practices for shooting and tactics. Check it out. –Matt
Edit: Be sure to check out more episodes on Youtube here.
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Tactical Impact TV
From clearing a house to mounting a night assault on a fortified enemy, each episode of Tactical Impact will examine a real life tactical problem and the arms, accessories and tactics to prevail. Unlike traditional shooting shows that focus on gun reviews, features and interviews, Tactical Impact looks through the eyes of the guys who have really been there to tell the intriguing stories about the guns that have changed our world.
Watch the Episodes Here.
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Larry Vickers is a retired career special operations soldier, having served more than 20 years in the Army’s most elite forces. He is a longtime firearms industry consultant, firearms trainer and a founding member of IDPA.
Aaron Roberts is a former U.S. Army soldier. After the military he went on to become a Texas State Police Officer and was a Primary Firearms and Tactics Instructor at Blackwater Training Center. He is a highly regarded firearms and tactics instructor.
Iraq: A Quiet But Undeniable Cultural Legacy
There is a part of this article that is missing. That part is the cultural legacy of Iraq on all of us that have been deployed there. I find myself using the Iraqi arabic lexicon all of the time. Hell, I gave my blog a name that came from that experience (Jundi is Arabic for soldier), complete with a photo of an Iraqi Jundi. I personally know of two contractors that have married Iraqi women. Even drinking tea is viewed differently after working in Iraq, because tea is such an important drink for business and interactions there. There is much that has worn off on me and the thousands of us that have interacted with the Iraqi population during this war, and I think that would make for a great follow up article to this story. –Matt
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Mark Apram is the most popular tattoo artist in Baghdad, and his room is a potpourri of American influences. “Anything American, I love it,” he said. (Nada Bakri – The Washington Post)
A Quiet but Undeniable Cultural Legacy
U.S. Occupation of Iraq Will End, but a Host of American Influences May Linger
By Anthony ShadidWashington Post Foreign ServiceSunday, May 31, 2009
BAGHDAD
Across the street from the tidy rows of tombstones in the British cemetery, mute testimony to the soldiers of an earlier occupation, Mustafa Muwaffaq bears witness to the quieter side of the United States’ six-year-old presence in Iraq.
In wraparound sunglasses, shorts and shoes without socks, the burly 20-year-old student waxes eloquent about his love for heavy metal of all kinds: death, thrash, black. But none of it compares, he says, to the honky-tonk of Alan Jackson, whose tunes he strums on his acoustic guitar at night, pining for a life as far away as a passport will take him.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Film: Captain Richard Phillip’s Story Will Be Produced by Kevin Spacey and Company
This is the latest thing I guess, and we will see if they actually produce a good film about Captain Richard Phillip’s ordeal off the coast of Somalia. –Matt
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Heavy hitters are on board for piracy drama
Rescued freighter captain’s story will be produced by Scott Rudin, Michael DeLuca and Kevin Spacey.
By PATRICK GOLDSTEIN
May 30, 2009
Earlier this week, Sony announced that it had acquired the rights to the story of Richard Phillips, the captain of the Maersk Alabama freighter that was captured by Somali pirates, prompting a tense showdown that resulted in Phillips’ rescue by Navy SEALs on the high seas. The studio also purchased the film rights to Phillips’ upcoming memoirs.
The interesting angle, for those of us who follow the inside workings of Hollywood, is the lineup of producers attached to the project. It’s quite a murderer’s row of talent, notably Scott Rudin, Michael DeLuca and Kevin Spacey, along with his producing partner Dana Brunetti.
How did that formidable team manage to converge? Mark Roybal, who heads Rudin’s production company, had approached Sony about doing a movie about Phillips while events were still unfolding. Meanwhile, Spacey and Brunetti, who had shared producer chores on the film “21” with DeLuca, made contact with Phillips’ family shortly after he was rescued. “Kevin went to Vermont to meet Phillips and his family, who agreed to work with us on a film project,” DeLuca told me during a recent conversation. “We developed a take on the framework of the picture, went to Sony and they put in an offer to lock up the material.”
Since Rudin had already approached the studio as well, the Spacey-Brunetti-DeLuca group agreed to link up with him. As it turns out, the producers were already in business together, having teamed up to make a film at Sony about the creation of Facebook, with a script by Aaron Sorkin. “We’ve had such a good time working together on the Facebook project that it was an easy call to team up again,” DeLuca said. “No one has access to top of the line A-list talent the way Scott does, so his involvement will really be a big benefit for the project.”
Cool Stuff: The Bionic Shirt, by Ranger Up
This is a great shirt, and for you war machines out there, this one is for you. I am also amazed at the development of prosthesis these days. The rate things are going, more and more amputees will be able to join back up in their units because of bionics and these advances. Even contractors will be able to continue to work with these types advances, and as this war continues, I think we will see more and more of this type of thing. I guess my point is, if soldiering or contracting is in your blood, then an amputation should not stop you from continuing. Especially when bionics actually start to enhance capability.
I can even attest to some body modification/enhancement. I had laser surgery for my eyes back in 2002, and it was the best thing ever for this kind of work and for smokejumping. My vision sucked before hand and I had to depend upon eye glasses. That wasn’t good for parachuting, and I wanted to kick my dependence on those things. I got the surgery and now I have 20/15 vision! The outcome was way better than I ever expected, and for contracting, your eyes are extremely important for the observation part of your OODA.
In my leg, I have a titanium alloy rod holding together my femur. This does not really enhance my capabilities, but I guarantee that my femur won’t break there anymore. ha ha Now that is nothing like actually losing a leg or arm, but it does give me a profound respect for those that have prothesis and have to live with that metal and plastic in them and on them, just in order to walk or grip something. It is my hope that all of you guys and gals out there that are amputees or wheel chair bound, will one day not only live a normal life based on the advances of bionics and prosthesis, but be enhanced by it. It will happen, just like it happened for my vision. –Matt
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Bionic Shirt
This shirt goes out to all the folks in Ward 57 at Walter Reed, and to the men and women that have weathered far more than we can imagine and kept driving on. Whether they managed to stay in the service or not, these men and women are our heroes, and we thank them with the full measure of our hearts.
Buy Shirt Here.