From the Cop and Soldier side: In the many years I’ve been both a cop and a Soldier, I have found that in both professions there are some folks who get paid to do the job, but are not professionals….and there are many who actually master the trades and are true professionals.
Take Firearms for example. No firearm was ever designed to enforce the law or win a war, they were only designed to help protect those who’s job it is to defend. (Can we explain that to the politicians? No weapon will win a war, it’ll always be the troops who do that.)
CI Roller showing rookie how Para LDA .45 shoots
Since I am a firearms instructor in both areas (police and army) I get to see varying degrees of competency. I’m not talking about the rookie cop or the new private who’ve just been issued their firearm, but I am talking about the people who’ve been in either profession for years, and still have no idea how to properly handle and shoot a weapon.
And, the problem compounds the longer these people stay in either business. They continue to build on bad habits and lack of skill.
My next few postings will be some stories about such folks.
In Telafar, Iraq 2005
Take “Norm” the cop. In the days I worked with him, we were still being issued the Smith & Wesson Model 66 Stainless Steel .357 Magnum revolvers. A fine weapon for it’s time, but lacking in that it only held 6 rounds, but almost idiot proof. But, remember my saying: “Whenever they make something Idiot Proof, they will always make a better Idiot to overcome the features.”
Norm liked to pull his pistol out whenever he could. In those days, nobody seemed to care…no citizen’s complaints and such. He’d pull it out so often, that we thought maybe he was afraid to deal with crime without it. “It’s not the gun that enforces the law, it’s the cop…the gun only protects the cop.”
Norm had so many negligent discharges that everybody was afraid to walk in front of him. One time he cranked off two rounds whilst kicking open a bathroom door and fired into the ceiling. The worst thing was, when the watch commander conducted a roll-call inspection two months later, Norm hadn’t replaced the two rounds he’d fired…thus only having four live bullets in his pistol. Does the word “retard” apply here?
More stories to follow….
9 comments:
"Idiot proof {....} they'll always make a better idiot"
Love that line!
Sadly though, its funny because its true.
I know guys just like that, makes you wonder how they've managed to avoid killing themselves, or worse yet, someone else.
If they make them idiot proof, I won't ever be able to shoot someone's foot off or put a slug in their ass. Humm...I guess that's a good thing.
uh, yeah the word "retard" definitely applies... I completely agree that no weapon will win any conflict, it's up to those who have boots on the ground to that! But it is nice to know that there are very good weapons to protect those wearing the boots :p
I was married to one,'cept, know what? he has an I.Q. of 200 and qualified for MENSA. The smartest dumb person you ever met. Everyone has stories about him - a book could be written. It took me about 15 years to quit asking husband #2 if he set the brake on the truck and a million other little safety tips. Never owned a fire extinguisher until I figured out I needed it. Used it twice before I bailed. Love these people - they are special and need protecting and God help us we need protecting from them. Thank you for your service and blog. lorraine
Lor, Smart and common sense don't usully end up in some folks. Too bad, I'd trade somebody with a lot of "book learnin'" for somebody with a lot of common sense. Commonsense will keep you alive.
When fist, feet, knives or bullets are flying, you don't need a college degree to save your ass-- you need common sense and some good training.
If I'm driving, and somebody ask me "did you set the brake?" I'd ask them if they wanted to drive, or walk.
R, the best weapon in the world is only as good as the person holding it.
Being in BCT with soldiers that were holding a weapon for the first time in their lives was scary. :) But it could be worse! Our DS told us a story of an 11B in Iraq who had a negligent discharge with an AT-4. Yikes!
I would respond to this with an exclamation if I hadn't seen or heard of even dumber incidents of poor weapons handling.
Maybe pre-qualification should start on the paintball field when they're kids. I took 6 pre-teens paintball shooting today. The 2 kids that I will never take to a range are the 2 who shot each other from 2 feet away. (the rule is 15'or more, but they "forgot")
One kid has a nice bulls-eye on his head.
The other had a mole removed on his back.
Man... People never cease to amaze me.
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