Defenseless

The AF needs to think about second and third order effects before releasing PR footage. Little news stories that are supposed to inform the public and our fellow servicemembers about Airmen can actually make our life much worse.

I guess the AF was doing some type of silly PR stunt having a bunch of Airmen play with guns. I'm all for Airmen using guns and being very familiar and competent with weapons.

But the conventional Air Force has bred an attitude amongs most Airmen where the reaction to seeing a gun is "OH MY GOD! A GUN!"

And the reaction to the idea of using that gun in combat is that it is some one else's job... despite the large number of Airmen securing bases and running convoys in-lieu of Army personnel.

So I guess the Air Force, trying to show how hardcore it can be, had some Airmen hit a range at Balad. They record it. They make a little story about it for the Pentagon Channel. It airs on AFN. We see it in the JOC.

Oh. No.

Everyone looks at me to explain what the Air Force is trying to show and what training is being accomplished in this piece.

I have no idea.

Why are they firing a sniper rifle on a 25M range?

I have no idea.

I just shook my head and said I had nothing.

But today was a good day. I got to work and found an email waiting for me that said one of the manufacturers I'd contacted about equipment tests is going to put in me in touch with their National Guard sales rep so that we can work it. Awesome.

Tonight we are doing our review ahead of the Level I Combatives Assessment. This means that we will do all the drills over and over, talking each other through each step, so that the test is easy.

We'll finish with either a round-robin series of 2 minute grapple-for-position/submission or each of going up against the instructor. The instructor is feeling a little beat up so I wouldn't be surprised if he supervises the students fighting tonight.

The fights are a great test of endurance and force you to remember the drills. It is a lot like chess as you anticipate where your opponent will be moving various pieces and try to set him up... but you don't want to sacrifice any pawns in the process. It hurts.