ARTICLES

FR and Moisture Management clothing

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Category: Articles

Created: Monday, 25 April 2011 15:50

(Non-review guest article: Great intel on the basics of FR clothing)

Flame Resistance and Moisture Management in Comfortable FR Wear
Resisting flames and managing moisture – these are two capabilities at which your military wear should excel, so you can focus on the challenges in front of you without worrying about the clothes on your back. The fibers and fabrics that make up flame resistant (FR) T-shirts, undergarments, pants and head protection worn day in and day out aren’t like your normal cotton garments. The right, comfortable FR wear is specially designed, engineered and tested to withstand the everyday rigors of training and combat in any condition, whether you’re running through the heat of the desert or crawling through the mud with a load of armor on your shoulders.

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ShotShow 2011

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Category: Field Trips

Created: Friday, 04 February 2011 21:18

Ahh, slow as usual, but we always come though. It was a nice change to not be rained on the whole time (in the friggn desert no less). For a new frustration, phones especially sucked on the show floor this year where I would have been better off with smoke signals. We still managed to make a good pile of videos, but always wish there was more time to see all the cool new stuff. If I had to summarize this year's theme into one word, I'd say it would be: ambidextrous. As a high note we managed to be cool enough to make it to the Crye party this year, 80s sitcom zombies on go-carts, how ya gonna get anymore rad than that!? Check out the ol' youtube channel for the video blitz:
http://www.youtube.com/user/milspecmonkey
I'm still trying to milk my old HD camera, but we tried some dual camera action this year.

My ol' buddy Pye came along this time to rock out on the still pics, and Tear helped out again as well:
http://milspecmonkey.com/gallery/shotshow2011/

Lone Star Medics - Medicine X

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Category: Field Trips

Created: Friday, 15 October 2010 06:39

I've taken a grab bag of Tac classes and pretty much all of them were primarily about putting holes in bad guys, so I got to thinking diversifying a little bit with a medic class would be a good idea. No one really likes to think about themselves or their buddies getting seriously injured, but when the time comes, wishing it away is not going to do a lot of good. Thus getting a least some sort of basic medical education can go a long way which will be helpful outside of tactical situations as well. Having first met up with Lone Star Medics at Shotshow, I jumped at the offer to check out one of their classes this summer. Although I'm decent with a gun, my medical skill didn't go too far past Band-Aids and fortunately the 2 day Medicine-X class fits that skill level quite well.

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Corps Strength - Book Review

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Category: Articles

Created: Friday, 30 July 2010 20:53

Clearly I don't read as much as I should hence there not being a perfect category on my site for this review; none the less I wanted to share one of my self improvement experiences. If I remember correctly Paul read my SWAT Basic article (likely got a good laugh) and was generous enough to offer to get his latest book out my way to help get in better shape. Paul Roarke, aka Master Gunz, is a former U.S. Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant and currently works as physical / leadership trainer which after reading Corps Strength brings a lot of insight on how he came up with the system and is great to see he continues to practice what he preaches. (Expanded Bio) Being 50 and still being able to smoke youngsters at PT says a lot to me about the results of his fitness concepts and proves long term sustainability.

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SWAT Basic Class 410

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Category: Field Trips

Created: Saturday, 22 May 2010 21:39

Recently I had the chance of a lifetime to attend a 7 day basic SWAT class thanks to the good word from a tactical buddy of the DC area. Of course he had to toss a good Blue Falcon my way and his only prep for me was "There are going to be times where it's physically challenging." Coming from what I expect from most training, that merely meant OMG we might actually have to run around with guns a little. I had an idea something might be up since it was the first time I saw PT specifically on the course outline, however as with all the others who attended, we found out this was a class we had to earn and not just show up. Starting the fun in Fredericksburg, VA we met up at the Rappahannock Regional Criminal Justice Academy. Things began easy with a class overview, instructor introductions, and even a quick SWAT history movie to get in the spirit. With a little under 30 students we broke up into 3 teams with a good mix of agencies such as NCIS, local SWAT, and Marine SRT. I was happy to end up in Charlie team which was mostly comprised of the Marines as I knew they wouldn't be messing around, yet had concern at the same time of making sure I wouldn't stick out as a big weak link.

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Shotshow 2010

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Category: Field Trips

Created: Saturday, 06 February 2010 00:44

Finally had a chance to process all the friggn media. As always Vegas does not disapoint. Having to run around to get videos setup can be a bit of a drain, but seeing all the cool people and gear is always a blast. I always wish there were more days so I can see more stuff! It certainly rained a lot for being a desert. Apparently is abnormal as our glamourous Imperial Palace Hotel parking lot was flooded the majority of the time. Nothing says class like walking into a Chinese theme'd hotel casino with Kung Fu Fighting playing. I'd post a big string of youtube embeds, but that may slow some computers down so just drop on by my channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/milspecmonkey

Tear and I had a chance to double fist photo duty to give a good assortment your way:

http://milspecmonkey.com/gallery/shotshow2010/

And as a special treat we stayed an extra day with our new buddies and hooked up with www.bentwoodgunsmithing.com and www.deserthillsshootingclub.com to get a sweet grab bag of weapons familiarization on. If you end up in the area, don't be shy as the general public can arrange to have the same treatment!

http://milspecmonkey.com/gallery/lasvegastan/