This weekend's training (Page 3 of 4)
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Thunderstorms pushed back my start time today. I had to brave the mud, but the sky was scenic: Attached File Started out shooting Bullseye Pistol aggregates. Since I ran out of TQ-7 targets, I printed some 50ft B-3 Bullseyes: Attached File Had some success: Attached File Attached File As the sun got lower it was more challenging. 3 aggregates down, 1 more to go. Next I did a movement drill. Start at 15 yards. On the beep, draw, shoot 2 shots at each of 2 targets, run to the 10, repeat, run to the 5 and repeat. 12 rounds total. It's a fun one that helps you learn to pick up your dot in a dynamic environment. Venom ammo gave me plenty of practice clearing malfunctions. Then I ran some Bill Drills from concealment at 3, 5, 7, and 10 yards. Running 2.7 to 2.9 sec depending on distance. Finally I did some initial testing on a SuperSafety: Attached File Still waiting on an H3 buffer, so bolt bounce got me a few times. Also going to add a flat spring. |
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This weekend I did a nightvision shoot with Kranz FTG. They generously provided loaner equipment to those who didn't have everything they needed. The weather was unpredictable, but in the end the storms left us alone and got a couple hours of nightvision range time. There were 13 shooters and 3 cadre. The focus was on rifle, but we squeezed in a little pistol at the end. This was one of the cadre's rifles: Attached File It has a custom built clip on nightvision unit. I loved the camo! The owner indicated that nightvision allowed him to take shots out to 700 yards in the dark. Had the chance to put some rounds through it and was very impressed. Very much on my want list. The other cadre rifle had thermal: Attached File Thermal is great for hunting, threat detection, etc, but it absolutely stunk for shooting standard targets. Looking down the optic I could see where other shooters bullets were impacting at the moment of impact, but very little else. We started standing with rifles engaging paper targets at around 20 yards. It was dark but my iphone camera was able to capture these: Attached File Attached File This was a pop quiz on who knew who to run their rifle and laser/illuminator in the dark. Can you load your rifle by feel? Operate the safety, switches and clear the rifle by feel? We ran strings of 10 rounds at one paper silhouette. I shot a mix of passive and active. Next up was target transitions. 2 shots on target 1, 2 shots on target 2, and 2 shots on target 1. The IR lasers let everybody know who was rushing and mussing their shots. I shot this one active. |
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Attached File Next we moved out to 100 yards. Attached File Attached File Attached File We shot the cadre's rifles and our own at steel plates down range. I ran a combination of active and passive aiming. This was a real benefit to me because this was the first time I had to run my NGAL with live fire and at such distances. Absolutely love the illuminater! NGAL gave a solid performance. One of the weird features of the NGAL is it does not do low power laser with high illumination. It will do high illumination or high power laser with high illumination... but not low power. High power lasers aren't really necessary with modern NVG. Otherwise a solid piece of kit. My Surefire weaponlight is a high priced Vampire light that does both IR and white light. Had seen some reviews that it's IR was not great at distance and I confirmed that. It was pretty useless at 100 yards that night. I was running 55gr ammo with a 77gr zero and it showed a bit at 100 yards... but that only slowed me down slightly to find my hold. Ended up running through around 100 rounds of rifle ammo. Only hiccups were wishing I had a defogger for my eyepro and my surefire light tailcap coming slightly unscrewed. Practice was good confirmation of my airsoft and dry training. Built confidence in my skills and equipment. Next we moved to 5 yards to shoot pistol on steel: Attached File I blasted through around 100 rounds of ammo quickly. Shooting rapid fire at a single target, knocking it down, and then engaging other targets, and switching between targets. Used both my red dot pistol sight and pistol laser/illuminator. Recommend the Streamlight TLR-VIR® II. When it is a bit dark for passive aiming, Streamlight is a great tool to help you confidently ID targets. At 5 yards I was banging the steel almost as quick as I could pull the trigger. Was grateful for the red dot training I had been doing over the last several months. Using the experience I gained with the TPC Cross of Truth drill I would know where my dot would be even before it got there, accelerating my rate of fire. For the money this event was a no-brainer. Was also interesting to see what gear everybody else was running. |
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Rucking this weekend. Got in 6 miles at Cedar Ridge Preserve: Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Weather was perfect. |
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When I was in the Guard monthly training was about learning new skills, sustainment of existing skills, getting the new guys up to speed, verifying that your organization and equipment were equal to the task, and building relationships. This weekend I did a INTERMEDIATE SURVIVAL class that pretty much checked those same boxes. Camped all weekend on the scenic Lake Tawakoni: Attached File Took the 8yo along for his second go at camping/Survival Training. Weather was much more cooperative than last December. Sunny Highs in the 80s Friday and Saturday. Early Sunday morning a front rolled through and the real feel temps dropped around 40 degrees with the wind. I had upgraded some of my equipment in anticipation. Weight savings was the main goal. The big one was leaving a tried and true Coleman Stove at home for a dramatically lighter and smaller BRS 3000T Titanium Ultralight Backpacking Stove with a propane converter. Even without a heat reflector, the BRS 3000T boiled water quickly. And the titanium also cooled down quickly. Very happy with it. Will try running it with the smaller Butane cans later on. Also updated the cookware to titanium. Wanted to do this for a long time, but stainless was doing such a great job I couldn't justify the upgrade. Titanium is great. Strong, lightweight, and cools rapidly. Per instructions we arrived to the campsite after dark. Setting up a tent is always more interesting in the dark, but the Princeton Tec Remix 300 Headlamp worked like a charm. Class began with making char cloth:  Each roasted a similar tin containing small pieces of cotton over the fire for more than 15 minutes... Attached File then let it cool. Easy day. Next up was to make our own ranger beads using a 3ft length of paracord and some beads. That was a bit more effort in the dark. Woke up the next day and realized I'd miscounted the number of beads, but was able to go back and fix it: Attached File Had a few moments to get away and walk around with the NVG. Superpowers can be purchased: Attached File |
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Saturday started out with a review of knots: Overhand, slippery half hitch, square knot. I had been practicing so these were easy. Kid didn't remember them at all. Then we covered some other knots: Bowline, Double sheet bend knot, Tautline hitch, Clove hitch. Some of these were new and I needed more practice with the Bowline and Clove hitch anyways. KnotGuide app had all of these knots and was a handy reference. Practiced until I could do them all without a reference. Next we got into primitive fire-making using the Bow Drill: Attached File I'll say it wasn't pretty. Perhaps the cottonwood that most of us were given just wasn't right? After a lot of effort the instructors got it. One student brought his setup and got it right away. Perhaps one other person out of the class? I had previously seen videos on the Bow Drill and did a half hearted attempt to craft my own setup, but ran into various difficulties. The one bright spot is my ESEE-5 Knife was built for this. It is great at chopping wood and I learned it even has a notch on the grip designed to hold the spindle. Reminds me I always need to be carrying proper tools to create fire. Need more bow drill practice and to use Willow next time. Next topic was primitive water. This covered a wide variety of possibilities from digging a hole in the ground near a water source to let the soil filter water, to vegetation bags, to solar stills, Hard Rock Boiling, to recovering waste bottles from the environment to use as containers for boiling water. Very interesting discussion. Attached File Next the cadre demonstrated the proper way to clean fish. I was shocked at the number of people in the class who had never cleaned a fish in their lives... over half of the large class. For me it had been over 30 years, so good refresher. Kid loves fishing and loved it. Next topic was medical. Did a short refresher on stop the bleed and delved into wound packing and chest seals. Then we jumped into primitive traps. Instructors demonstrated a simple dangle/strangle trap. They estimated you would need 20 to 30 traps to catch something and indicated that if fishing is an option fish was preferred. Next as a class we built a primitive shelter: Attached File Attached File Attached File Not much, a lean to with a bed of leaves...but it can keep you alive. One guy in the class spent the night inside that... and it got cold without a fire. That evening the cadre broke out some flint, chert, and other rocks with firestrikers and char cloth and we went about making sparks to ignite the char cloth... not nearly as reliable as ferro rods... but some people had success. I believe I needed a larger piece of char cloth to more reliably capture the sparks. Sunday started with a brief land nav refresher along with using the box technique to go around obstacles. Kid resisted all attempts to get him to wear the proper clothes... claimed he couldn't find his hat, etc... and predictably got cold... so had to call it there. Once again the young child was the toughest part of survival school. Teens seem to do a lot better. Native American tribes that still teach their kids the old ways will bring the kids along which they consider essential for preparing kids to live in nature as adults... and kids certainly learn to appreciate living outdoors...but at that age they definitely don't appear to master fundamental survival skills. Overall kid had a great time and was ready for more. I learned some new skills, maintained my existing skills, taught the kid something, made sure my equipment was equal to the task, and built relationships. Attached File Looking forward to doing this class again. |
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Originally Posted By JoeDevola: Seems like an experience jam packed with knowledge. Outstanding. For knots, no Fishermans Bend, or Prussik? I use the heck out of those. We did the Prusik in Level 1. They mentioned Prusik in Level 2 but no refresher. Prusik is one knot I didn't need a refresher in because I've found it both practical and easy to remember. It's essential. Was really surprised that they did no Double Fisherman's Bend, because Dave Canterbury teaches that knot and I find it one of the coolest knots out there. Funny part was that even though we covered a lot of ground I just wanted more. Loving this stuff. Already starting to upgrade more of my camping equipment. MSR Titan Ultralight Titanium Spork is so light and worked so well I'm getting a second one to replace the stainless the kid used. I've seen great reviews on these rugged Slimline Battery Cases, plus a backup Princeton Tec Headlamp. My self inflating air-mattress is ancient but still going strong after all these years. The new pumps are crazy small and light: Ultra-Light 2.8oz Rechargeable Mini Air Mattress Pump. Looking at getting modern inflatable ultralight sleeping pad and pump to drop a bit more weight. Until I can get out to another survival class or set up backpacking trip I've been reading Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why which is truly the best book I have read on the subject. |
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Range day today. Started out with the Appleseed PQT for a warmup. I re-shot the first 2 stages, so stages 3-5 were prettier: Attached File A little more work and I'll be ready to go for Distinguished Pistolseed. Next I ran some Bullseye pistol aggregates. Finished up the NRA Bullseye aggregate course with a 271/300: Attached File Next I shot "The Test". 10 rounds at 10 yards in 10 seconds: Attached File Attached File Perfect score. Outdid Larry:  The Test: 10,10,10 - Master Class Ep. 07 featuring Larry Vickers And Ken:  Ken Hackathorn's Drill of the Month THE TEST Then I did a move and shoot drill. Start at 15 yards, draw, fire 2 on a USPSA target, run to the 10, fire 2, run to the 5, and fire 2. Running at speed while getting everything in the A-zone is harder than it seems. I messed up and did a little dot focus that showed on the target. Point shooting at 5 yards sometimes ended with shots drifting to the neck/head... not terrible, but not what I was going for. Next I ran CSAT Rifle drills: -Ready 1 shot 1 target 7 yards 1.00 sec. -Ready 2 shots 1 target 7 yards 1.50 sec. -Ready 2/1 Body/Head 7 yards 1.75 sec -Ready 5/1 Body/Head 7 yards 3.00 sec. -Ready 2 shots /2 targets 7 yards 3.00 sec. -Ready 1 Rifle /1 Pistol 7 yards 3.25 sec Attached File Except that CSAT standards are so easy for me I decided to run them at 10 yards. Even at 10 yards first drill was .70 sec and second drill was 1.02 sec. 3rd drill was just over time at 1.90 sec the first time I ran it. Redo was inside 1.75 sec, but 2 of my shots were out. 3rd time was the charm (clean run inside the time limit). 4th drill was GTG (4 of 5 body shots hit). 5th drill was easy... and I made several runs to be sure. 6th drill I was drawing from concealment and fumbled the concealment so I ran over time. Repeated the 6th drill several more times successfully just to be sure. |
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Attached File Some headshots were higher than I would have liked, but still count per CSAT scoring standards. Great thing about CSAT standards are they quickly let you know where you need work. Next I tried out the Super Safety. I ran a little...but the mechanism adds some friction and even with an extra power spring the bolt was locking back when it shouldn't have. Will add some lub and re-inspect to see if there is anything I can do. Switched to the Rare-Breed Trigger and it was Rock and Roll: Attached File Attached File Attached File As you can tell I'm getting used to firing this on FRT. Loading the bipod, rear-bag, and forward shoulder pressure make the groups go where I want them. Still working to be consistent firing 3 rounds... sometimes its only 2. Times for these were ~20 sec, easily under the 40 seconds in the Army qual. Finally went out to the 400 yard range with the Rare Breed for some precision fire. Engaged steel at 200, 250, 300, 350, and 400. Started at 200 and went out, then worked back to 200. Hit down to 8 inch steel at 400. Gun was hot and dirty by then, so perhaps some drift was why no hits on 4 inch steel today.Attached File I was rested and the weather was amazing, so that made it a range day to remember. |
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Weather was perfect. Mid 60s and sunny. Rucked two lakes this weekend. Today was White Rock Lake: Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File 6 miles each day. The science is showing that wearing some extra weight is effective at reducing body weight/fat in surprising ways Increased weight loading reduces body weight and body fat 11% of body weight...weight vest for eight hours per day for three weeks. This approach actually reduces appetite and leads to sustained weight loss long after you stop carrying the extra weight. |
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Last weekend I took advantage of the short days to do a little white-light carbine live-fire: Ready 1 shot 1 target 7 yards 1.00 sec. Ready 2 shots 1 target 7 yards 1.50 sec. Ready 2/1 Body/Head 7 yards 1.75 sec Ready 2 shots /2 targets 7 yards 3.00 sec. In my experience, Whitelight tends to be a bit slower than daytime or NVG. So good ones to practice. Also did a bit of NVG active and passive shooting and minted two Level 2 Defensive Pistol Skills 3 Seconds or Less shooters during the day. |
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Christmas Day was a nice 5 mile ruck at White Rock: Attached File Attached File Warm day. 70s... but the clouds kept it from being too hot. |
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Christmas Eve turned out to be a great day on the range. 70's and Sunny, with a few people around. This year has been an intense focus on marksmanship, somewhat neglecting my gun handling skills. Finally got back to Bill Rogers style reactive shooting on steel: Attached File Attached File Worked at 15 yards, downing 8 inch plates from the low ready position in around .50 sec. Sometimes better: Attached File Then I moved onto shooting 2, 4 and 6 shots at a steel plate for time: Attached File Then ran the up drill from Position 3 and finally from the holster. Accuracy was great, and got a lot of great reps, but need to spend more time on steel to improve times. Should be a major focus in 2026. Then I broke out the LaRue with Rare-Breed FRT: Attached File Ran the Army Auto Rifle Qual from 10 meters. Round count was 108, with 51 for score. |
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Having used Wipeout on my LaRue to remove the copper build up, a re-zero was in order: Attached File For score, Marksmanship was good, but not perfect: Attached File I used up all 40 seconds of my time on this, because I had an unexpected reload. Steel HK mag felt full, but those things are heavy even when they aren't fully loaded: Attached File Easily a pass for Table 1 (minus CBRN gear). Hope to get my accuracy up to 90% in the future (the usual Army Expert standard, although percentages from DA Form 7304-R suggest 85% is expert for the MG course of fire). Then ran some CSAT Standards: Ready 1 shot 1 target 7 yards 1.00 sec. Ready 2 shots 1 target 7 yards 1.50 sec. Ready 2/1 Body/Head 7 yards 1.75 sec Ready 5/1 Body/Head 7 yards 3.00 sec. Ready 2 shots /2 targets 7 yards 3.00 sec. Ready 1 Rifle /1 Pistol 7 yards 3.25 sec Ready 5 shots/1 target 25 yards/stand 8 sec. Easy day: Attached File Tried a little kneeling an prone from 25 yards. Magazine prone (target 4) went well... need to spend more time kneeling with my service rifle: Attached File |
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Finally did a little prone KD range work: Attached File Refined my 100y zero: Attached File Then took it out to steel at 200, 250, 300, 350, and 400. Trying to use up some old 55gr Wold Gold. Wolf Gold is certainly not in the same league as 69 or 77gr match, but good enough to hit 8 inch plates at 400. Training for this coming year will include lots more pistol and carbine falling steel, kneeling, fitness, medical, long range rifle, and survival. |
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Perfect weather this afternoon for some time on the rifle range. Started out with a little AK47 action, shooting groups at a silhouette at 25, 50, and 100 yards using magazine support. Next up was some AR15 action with a LaRue with 55grn Wold Gold: Attached File Downing spring loaded poppers at 100 yards was awesome... then I moved out to steel at 200,250,300, and 400. Tried the ALT-C qual at 100 yards, instead of the usual 25 meters: Attached File Normal times and reloads were accomplished, but I did have a bipod and rear bag for all 40 shots fired. Dropped 1 out of 12 on the D-targets at 400y. Dropped 2 of 4 on the 1,000y and 3 of 4 on the 1,200y target. Overall 92% accuracy against prone targets at 400y, 100% accuracy against standing targets at 800y, 50% at 1,000y, and 25% at 1,200y isn't too shabby. Hit sharpshooter at ~4x the distance. Worked on the old NRA F-Class qual, shooting 5 bullseyes at 200y to earn Marksman 1st Class. Best was a 49-3X: Attached File And finally broke out the PA-10 to confirm my zero at 100y: Attached File 5-shot group was right at 1.25 inches. Flat spring in the stock and a properly adjusted gas system make it a fun gun to shoot. Looking forward to adding a silencer. With the PA-10 engaging steel at 100, 200,250,300, and 400 was easy. 6.5CM always has a satisfying hit on steel. New stakes on the poppers kept them fairly secure in the ground. |
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This weekend I did a short ~3 mile ruck at Eisenhower Park in San Antonio. Weather was perfect for it (low 60s). Combining fitness and nature is glorious. Attached File Attached File Attached File The reward for making it to the far end of the park is a lookout tower. This was the view of the hill country to the North: Attached File And with the view to the south, if you look closely on the horizon, you can see San Antonio: Attached File |
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Originally Posted By JoeDevola: Be great to get a 2m handheld up there and call out on 146.520, and see what repeaters can be hit. I had occasion to do some 300 yard shooting on steel last weekend, looking to do some night shooting this coming day off. Nice about the 300 yard shooting on steel!! Always fun, as is night shooting. For sure about bringing a 2m radio. Had never been to the park before. Next time a handheld and my SIG KILO10K would be interesting. |
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Got hit hard last weekend with the snow/ice, so no range day. But on the plus side had some time to put the finishing details on a Carbine course(closed) that I will be teaching next month. If you've followed this thread you know I'm a fan of Paul Howe's CSAT drills which are what he developed for the Unit when he was in. What I will be teaching is a mixture of SEAL Team Six and Delta quals:  Special Ops Shooting Tests CTEs | Tactical Rifleman Apparently these CTE's are what Coach Jimmerson uses to train the Aggie Cadet marksmanship team. I've competed against Aggie Cadet team and they are good. A few even beat me back in the day. Added back the CSAT doubles and failure to stop. Course would not be complete without zeroing, malfunction clearances, 2+2 reloads, various turning movements, VTAC barricade 9-hole drill and more. What I like about the CTE's is that they include several El Prez variants and the check drill that integrate various skills. Turning, weapon presentation, doubles, target transitions, reloads, weapon transitions, changing shoulders, etc. Research shows that being able to effectively transition from skill, to skill, to skill is the best indicator of ability. |
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I've been running the squadron drills dryfire. The ones from the CSAT standards are second nature at this point (Rifle Low Ready, Transition Drill), but there are some differences between Pistol reloads (CSAT is perfection: Ready 4 shots 2 Reload 2 (1 target) 5 SEC), but the Squadron drill version is only 1+1 and from the holster... sure hope I never have to reload after firing only 1 shot from the holster... Rifle reload drills are good practice, but I think I gained the most from the Check drill and Rifle switching shoulders... as I practice that stuff less. Looking forward to some range time this weekend do get in some livefire. |
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Lots of training this weekend. Saturday was Day 1 of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Attached File The manual has some background: citizens are likely to be on their own during the early stages of disaster. Under these circumstances, family members, co-workers, and neighbors will often spontaneously come to the aid of each other. While untrained volunteers can be very effective in aiding others, their lack of training puts them at risk for injury or death. For example, during the response to the 1985 Mexico City earthquake that claimed more than 10,000 lives, untrained volunteers saved 700 lives, but unfortunately, 100 volunteers died in the process. The goal of the program is that during and after future disasters volunteers will be able to assist in a safe, responsible, and effective manner. I'd done this training 15 years ago, but went back for a refresher. These 20 hour courses cost you nothing to enroll. Many local governments do CERT training. This one was held at the Dallas Fire & Rescue Training Center. The training Center has a Fireman's Monument, dedicated to fallen Dallas Fireman that the public does not typically get to see: Attached File Attached File Attached File It was surprising how many names there were. Class started out with a discussion on preparedness and local potential hazards. The course was run by volunteers who were enthusiasts on the subject to put it mildly. Then we got into Fire safety. Some hands on training included practice switching off natural gas lines and using a fire extinguisher. Fifteen years ago we used real fire extinguishers to put out real fires. Outstanding experience. This time they had us do a walk through and then practice with an electronic simulator: Attached File We coordinated as a pair to move into a video display and "Spray" our laser extinguisher on the video of the fire. The video reacted appropriately... so if you screw up, it keeps "burning". They cranked up the difficulty level as they saw me coming... but still moved in as a team and put out the "fire" in 12 seconds... best time I saw. That afternoon we covered Disaster Medical. If you've never done medical before or your only medical training is First Aid/CPR... this is good training. If you are a medical professional, its probably a little basic. One thing I liked about the training 15 years ago was how they taught you to improvise with whatever was available. This time we used basic medical equipment like nitrile gloves, gauze, Israeli bandages, Mylar blanket, and a SOFT TQ. With hands on training they teach you how to properly remove gloves, chin tilt head lift, jaw thrust, recovery position, some basic wound dressing, a little bit of Stop The Bleed, how to split an arm. It's how to treat airways, bleeding, and shock in a disaster that includes a discussion on triage. Apparently they don't do a walk thru of head-to-toe assessments anymore, but they do have a video:  CERT Head-to-Toe Assessment The final exercise was to have half the class play victims while the other class had 3 minutes to diagnose and treat as many victims as they could. That was total chaos and made us move fast. |
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Fire Training Center had this on the wall: Attached File Good words! This is our homework assignment: Attached File I took it upon myself to also check my fire extinguishers and replace the ones that were aged out. |
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Today was range day. With a pistol/carbine class coming up I needed to practice the drills. All are at 7 yards. Targets were 6 inch dots. Ran the Squadron drills first for accuracy: Attached File Attached File Was surprised at how much the 6 inch dots slowed me down over the standard CSAT ~A-Zone box. A few went out "Switching shoulders". I realized that my WarComp is optimized for the right hand, but it messed me up shooting from my left. Practicing left side doubles (aka recover drill) helped a bit. Next ran all the drills for time. These drills are very difficult cold, but after getting warmed up and running a few iterations many weren't bad. The 1.5 sec strong side pistol draw and 3.5 sec pistol reload are unforgiving. El Prez pistol isn't one of my standard drills, so that one needed a fair amount of work to hit the standard. For rifle the switching shoulders and high ready were challenging. I can do high ready in 1 sec no problem on an A-Zone at 7y, but the 6 inch dot was not easy. This class will be a legit challenge for the students. The dot array makes El Prez drills easy to setup and should work well for a class full of students. Digging through the ammo fort I found some old Tapco mags with green followers loaded with Wolf. That stuff hadn't seen the light of day in a long time. At least Wolf is good for something: Attached File Attached File Unity magnifier is great, but loved to fall off on the 31 round "Rifle Now" drill. |
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Finally I headed over to the 400 yard range for some serious marksmanship. Attached File LaRue with Wolf Gold cleared the course of steel... all the way out to 1st round hits on 5 inch steel at 400y. The 1/3 USPSA at 300y also took a first round hit. I finished up a NRA MQP F-Class Sharpshooter Bar 1 qualification. Sadly they messed up the prone shooting, adding a mound of dirt in front of the shooting positions for an event and I had to run the qual from the bench. 5 x 5 round groups at 300y, and 5 x 10 round groups at 300y: Attached File Attached File |
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Training this weekend was CERT part 2. We started the day with a briefing on light search and rescue and then got into practical skills like lift & carries. There were 3 kinds of team lift & carries practiced. The basic 2 man carry: Attached File The chair carry: Attached File And then using a flexible litter: Attached File We practiced coordinating movement and getting casualties through doors. Next we practiced cribbing to extract casualties who are trapped under debris: Attached File Cribbing required a little bit of basic equipment and some training, but the method can be used to safety lift tens of thousands of pounds. Got the chance to apply our disaster med skills in a mock disaster in the dark, using white light. That was an experience. There were around 30 casualties we had to find in the dark and provide basic airway, bleeding and or shock treatment to as many as we could in just a few minutes. Got further briefings on medical triage: Attached File The disaster psychology portion was gold. We covered valuable subjects like how to talk to people after trauma and of course self care as a responder. Next time will be a full up disaster exercise putting everything together. |
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Lots of training this week. During the week I traveled to Florence TX to certify as an instructor to train First Responders and Tactical Medical Professionals in a Texas Armed First Responder Certification Course. This is a 28-hour (3-day) intermediate - advanced course where statute requires physical demonstrations of proficiency in techniques learned in training. Students must already have basic handgun fundamental skills and proficiency. Physical elements of the training include: - Tactical shooting - Shooting while moving - Shooting in low light conditions Can't share all the details, but it was far more rigorous than what regular Texas LTC students get. In the class there were a shocking number of equipment failures. Some were correctable. My equipment failure was not correctable. My Streamlight TLR-VIR II attachment bolt sheared and the light fell off the gun during my shooting qualification. Luckly the loss of the weaponlight didn't hurt my shooting any, but will be sending into Streamlight for warranty service. I was told I am not the only owner of a Streamlight weaponlight who this failure happened to. {ETA 3-16-26 Streamlight repaired the failed weapon light for the cost of shipping it to them, back in action, for now} Friday I taught a Close Quarters Carbine class. It went well. Students seem to love high round count carbine courses. We covered some high level tactics and zeroing before we got to the Squadron Drills. Even the zeroing discussion and application was eye opening for a lot of students. Special Ops Shooting Tests CTEs | Tactical Rifleman By the end of the day some of the more advanced students could pass most of the standards. But everybody was challenged and not only learned new skills, but also how and what to train on. We conducted some other muzzle discipline skill drills to be able to safely work around non-threats, and then ran some barricade drills on a VTAC barricade. We worked both strong and support side standing positions as well as a variety of positions running the 9-hole rifle drill:  VTAC 9-Hole Rifle Drill Saturday was the final exercise in my CERT training class. There were seven stations we had to complete to pass the course. There were around 100 volunteers serving as casualty role-players, as well as looters working hard to steal our gear. It was intentional mass chaos. First station was conducting an building exterior search. With just a few minutes we worked to evaluate and map out the exterior of a building that also happened to have numerous casualties scattered around. We were overwhelmed simply providing initial ABC medical treatment. Next up was putting out real fires with a fire extinguisher. Had to work in teams of 2 to accomplish that. Then we conducted an interior building search as a team. We found multiple casualties and quickly provided ABC medical treatment while properly documenting the search at the doorway. Then we did another interior building search to practice lifting and carrying victims out of buildings. My buddy and I had no issues lifting and carrying their heaviest dummy out of the building as a team. Moving to the cribbing station we rescued a man who was trapped under a fallen brick wall. We had to coordinate as a team of 8 to provide medical treatment to the victim while safely lifting the wall using our cribbing and a metal lever. MedOps was chaos. We had to set up a rudimentary field hospital with colored tarps and provide initial ABC medical treatment, a secondary head-to-toe assessment, and then evacuate victims while making sure everything was documented. My buddy got his backpack "stolen" by the looter while we were working on a casualty. Finally our team of eight conducted an exterior search to locate and provide ABC medical treatment to victims in a large field. Our team found and rescued a "baby" which had been blown into a tree. We all earned our certificate at the end of the exercise and it was a satisfying experience knowing we could perform under stress in total chaos. After all that I'm taking next weekend off from training 
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One note from the night shoot last week is that in 2026 there are tons of flashlights to choose from and major uncertainties on what to do with that flashlight when reloading or otherwise using your support hand for something besides holding the flashlight. This setup was gold: Attached File Surefire Tactician with a ring to hold the light without impairing the use of my support hand worked brilliantly. Much better setup than using a lanyard or stowing the flashlight. |
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This weekend took the 14yo to Intermediate Survival class. Similar to the previous class, it is a weekend class focused on primitive survival: Lake Tawakoni was as beautiful as ever: Attached File Attached File Attached File Got the tent setup just before dark. That evening we made Ranger beads and char cloth. I'm getting better at making Ranger beads. Even in the dark it went easy. Brought some new camping gear. Greenbelly Backpacking Meals are quick and easy and don't taste bad either. Sea to Summit Lightweight Dry Bag was perfect for packing cloths. Hi Viz reflective Trail Markers are handy for marking your location. Protect your Power battery cases worked great to keep spare batteries safe and organized. Nitecore Carbon Battery 6K is lightweight and just enough to keep my battery hungry phone powered. Tried out my dual fuel stove with butane: Attached File Butane tanks are very much lighter than propane, and the BRS Stove BRS 3000T was able to squeeze enough performance out of butane to boil in a reasonable amount of time. Minor changes but it make for better organization, robustness, and a lighter load. It's great just to get outdoors and get familiar with your gear and to make sure it works well for YOU. |
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Saturday was a full day. Covered tons of subjects, including a discussion of the 5 W's of Wilderness Survival. A fun one apply this was building a primitive shelter out of available materials: Attached File Attached File Attached File Shelter was sized for multiple people. By the time we finished it was hard to tell what it was from a distance: Attached File As before we covered knots, cleaning fish, primitive water (like coyote wells and rock boiling), primitive traps, Bow Drill, and Land Nav. Land Nav was a brief discussion on handrails, backstops as well as Boxing and Drift exercises. The cadre demonstrated leap frogging to counteract drift and discussed using reference points to stay on course. Would love to do more Land Nav. My ESEE Model 5 knife was great. Kid's $15 "survival knife" died quickly when put to work doing actual survival tasks. Full tang knives are the only way to go. One of the cadre is a Marine and discussed how even his K-bar failed him during advanced survival training. Rat tail tangs (ie K-bar) are not enough. This time we used Willow for the Bow Drill, with MASSIVELY greater success than the cotton wood last time: Attached File Lots of people succeeded at the Bow Drill for their first time. Wish I could say the same, but I still have a long way to go. I made lots of sparks with flint and steel this time, but we had such small pieces of char cloth that getting the spark to land on the cloth was an extreme act of persistence. Like 1 hour of constant effort for some. Dave Canterbury uses a sizable piece of char cloth to catch random sparks and that's a good way to go. The cadre put us through this stuff in part to emphasize the point of carrying a lighter. On Youtube "Strapped Woodsman" recommends a Bic lighter wrapped in duck tape... duck tape ignites easily and is a great fire starter... I'd say the dude is spot on. Brought the SIGKILO10K to use during the downtime and it was fun ranging objects. Measured a tower on the other side of the lake that was just under 6,500 yards away. The Surefire Tactician E2T-MV was an amazing light at my recent live fire night qualification, but could also clearly identify deer at 50 yards. The Tactician was well worth the money it ways that are hard to describe in words. The Tactician has no "hot spot" in it's beam, but instead throws a wall of light at everything within handgun range. Needed the practice at my knots. Feeling much more confident in my wilderness skills and equipment. Not ready to pass advanced survival testing yet, but it now feels in reach. |
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This weekend training was rucking around Hot Springs, AR Lake Hamilton was as beautiful as ever: Attached File did about 4 miles there Lake Catherine is also amazing: Attached File Above, you can just make out the powerplant behind the tree limb. I ranged it at ~800y Attached File Falls Creek Falls: Attached File Attached File Knocked out another 4 there |
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Then we hit West Mountain Overlook yesterday and again today: Attached File The SIG KILO10K showed that building below was just over 1800y. That was the furthest object I've been able to range in the daytime with the SIG KILO10K. Evening and night time performance is much better. Attached File Attached File Attached File Several deer were out by on the trail this morning. Knocked out another 2 miles each day. It was interesting the difference in speed each day varied a lot with temperature. Rucking hills is a lot slower in the afternoon heat near 90. We were moving at a fast walk most of the morning due to low 60s temps this morning. Rucking with a proper rangefinder is nice as you can practice your Range Estimation skills. |
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Since my last update, I've been doing dry pistol practice, transitioning the pistol from my right to left hand and shooting with my left hand. It's something I needed to work on for a while. Yesterday I ran a pistol class shooting falling steel using reactive marksmanship. It included the important reasons for doing that kind of training as well as various starting positions including low ready, Position 3, from the holster. We practiced 2 round, 4 round, and 6 round strings of fire on static steel. We practiced side stepping and shooting, as well as ball and dummy exercises. Students were Marine vets. One had served with the FAST team and had an extensive amount of formal pistol training. They all learned a ton. I shot some demos like this one from low ready: Attached File My fastest time was .40 sec. Also explained and demonstrated how to shoot from position 3 on a half size USPSA target at 10 yards (simulating a silhouette at 20 yards). Took me 3 rounds to walk my fire in and subsequently had 100% hits. It's not a technique I recommend for 20 yards, but it certainly has it's place at 3 to 5 yards. After class I had the chance to hit the rifle range to try out my new Athlon radar chrono. So much easier than the old chronos: Attached File I found that while the SOCOM-RC3 did change my zero, it did not substantially change the velocity of my bullets (20rd avg 2699fps vs 2708.5fps) (IMI 77gr Razor). Attached File Attached File Was impressed at how much velocity difference there was between a LaRue 16 inch (2708.5fps for 20 rds) and PSA 16 inch (2668.4 fps for 35 rds). IMI 77gr Razor didn't print as well as ADI World Class or others, but it was respectable at 100y: Attached File It's always fun to bang steel out to 400y with 77gr and Razor worked great for that. |
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CPR/AED recert done. We did a great exercise at the end to mimic an actual response. In teams we simulated the entire process, from finding someone down, summoning help, performing CPR, using the AED until EMS arrived (6 minutes). The ladies seemed to be pretty fatigued by the end. Switching out with partners, I wasn't even breathing hard after performing compressions for that long. Moral of the story, if you have a choice, get big dudes to do compressions. |
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Been on travel but since I'm thinking about advanced survival training next year, decided it was a good time to re-read Les Stroud's Survive!: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere - Alive I'm a fan of his TV show and he's got a lot of experience getting through very diverse survival scenarios. The more experience you have, the more you get out of the book/shows. It's given me some new ideas. Spent over a week in Ireland. One interesting part I learned was that in Ireland security and most police are unarmed. Only a small number of Irish civilians have firearms permits. There are a vanishingly small number of civilian centerfire pistol permits in Ireland. The armed police units "Garda" drive around in cars specifically denoting their status. But near Dublin Castle there were a group of men in civilian attire, one open carrying a SIG pistol in a holster on his hip. They all looked fit and clean cut, with others wearing vests which likely served as concealment. At first glance I wanted to say the pistol was a P220, but as this is Europe quickly decided it had to be a 9mm. Used ChatGPT to do some intel work as to what I saw. ChatGPT was quick and gave me a surprisingly reasonable answer. It confirmed that the armed Irish Garda do use SIG P226's in addition to G17s, and that the P226 is actually slightly wider than a P220. And that it is not typical to see something like that on the street, but Dublin Castle regularly has VIPs, which are protected by units such as the armed Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and Special Detective Unit (SDU). ChatGPT indicates it is not at all common to have plainclothes Garda open carrying, so this may have not been a normal protective operation, but something more improvised. While ChatGPT is very prone to hallucinations, it quickly pointed me to some likely possibilities. Poor man's Palantir. Also made me proud to be an American where my EDC (M&P ShieldPlus, 15rd mag & optic or M&P Fullsize with 17rd mag & optic) are more capable guns than protection the VIP's in Ireland get. |
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Training lately has been dryfire. Worked on some known weaknesses. Firing pistol with strong hand only, then transitioning pistol to support hand and firing support hand only is a known problem, made worse by the optic. After dryfire sessions I'm getting better trigger pulls with support side and finding the dot more reliably. Another issue I found was working barricades with the pistol optic is a bit different than irons. For whatever reason my brain interprets the pistol dot differently than pistol irons or rifle dots. There are a number of ways you can work a barricade on the support side. You can (1) just use your standard grip and dominant eye... which is simple but exposes a lot of you. You can (2) switch eyes while retaining your standard grip. Or you can (3) switch both your shooting eye and grip. After some practice with the optic, option 2 works well for me for pistol. Minimal exposure, but I keep my well practiced grip and trigger finger. Recently acquired some dummy rounds for 6.5CM. Live fire with 6.5CM match ammo adds up quick and dummy rounds helped keep my dry practice realistic. Loading, unloading, reloading, tac reloads. John Plaster has a few precision rifle drills which seemed simple enough, but can mess you up under time pressure: •Tactical Reload Drill -start rifle and mag loaded, reload, check brass is in chamber[0] •Speed Reload Drill- 2 shots, empty mag, reload and fire 1 [3] •Support Side Drill – start with rifle on support side. Strong hand manipulates bolt handle [3] Was good to practice with both the RPR and PA-65 |
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It was too long since I had done live fire, so I took the time to get out to the range today with lots of ammo in hand. Initially setup with pistol at 10 yards on steel silhouettes: Attached File TLR-VIR-II is back in action, but long term I may pick up a Surefire replacement Started with 1 shot draw and shoot from concealment drills. Strongside, starting with my hands together in front of my chest ran around 1.5s: Attached File Then ran some multiple target drills, left-to-right, right-to-left, center-right-left, etc. For fun I did some draw and shoot with the Point Shoulder technique(1 hand point shooting). It's what Han Solo did in Star Wars:  I don't really recommend the 1-hand technique at 10 yards, but had a ~1.3sec draw and around 80% hits: Attached File Switched to a "Half hip" 1-hand technique, which is true hip shooting. Fun but takes lots of practice to use it outside of 3-4 yards. Lots of misses at 10 yards. Since we've been talking about metal-on-meat (aka back plate) shooting on the other thread, and I was ready to shoot lots of rounds I loaded up two 17rd mags and did some runs. This is 2-hand shooting at eye level, using only the outline of the pistol to aim. At 10 yards my pistol was as wide as the target. Results were 100% hits on steel: Attached File Attached File My pistol was hot before I started these, and I could not hold on to the hot metal, so my grip was less than 100%, but still managed splits around .23 sec and accurate fire with a full mag dump in under 5 seconds. Faster times (.15-.17 splits) are possible with a better grip. My dot was visible but mostly a blur. |
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Next up was the 400 yard rifle range. Recently moved a holosun optic from my PA-65 to piggyback ontop of the ACOG. Zeroed at 50 yards and got some more ballistic data: Attached File Attached File The little 508T pistol optic didn't have the ability to dial into an eyeball size 1 inch block at 50 yards, but those shots are what the ACOG is for. Also did some zeroing and got data for the PA-65: Attached File Attached File Attached File Wanted to make sure I could get 1.5MOA groups at 100y, because that's what North East Texas Tactical (NETT) requires for their 1-mile range. Solid ballistic data gives me some confidence that the qualifier will go well with the PA-65. Then I shot steel from 200y out to 400y. Cleared everything but the 4 and 6 inch steel at 400y. Had first round and repeat hits on the 1/3 USPSA target at 300y (simulating a 900y target) which is what I need to be able to do at NETT... so I feel I'm ready for it. |
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Attached File 5rd Zero group from PA-65 at 100y: Attached File Not the most accurate AR-10 out there, but it runs well and is a great deal for the money. Very happy with the flat spring in the buffer tube and LaRue Trigger. You need some serious strength to run the charging handle with a flat spring, so it's not for everybody. |
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Next up was a drill I dreamed up. Situation: Red Dawn has happened. Due to infiltration Chinese and North Korea now have troops occupying America. They are patrolling your AO in platoon size elements (~30 soldiers). Chicoms patrol routes have become predictable. You and your buddy have a carefully prepared ambush site ready. From concealed and covered positions, you have the ability to lay down crossfire on the Chicom's at 400 yards, inside danger close range, so artillery will need extra time, but outside the range that the typical Chicom infantryman qualifies with his rifle. It is assumed that after the initial shots are fired all the Chicoms will go prone, but will be visible to at least one of you. You are both well trained rifleman, running supported silenced rifles, with 77gr loads, and magnified optics. Attached File Task: Hit and fade. Attrite the enemy force to the maximum with one 30 round mag as quickly as possible and use your prepared and covered exfil route before they can properly respond. Target RTO and leadership with the first rounds. Action: Targets with hits in the circle or 2 hits completely in the black are KIA. Targets with no hits in the circle, but hits at least touching the black are WIA. Near misses count as suppression. Ran the drill myself with scaled targets at 100y twice, each run taking about 75 seconds. Shots were trending a little high, probably should have confirmed zero with the ACOG/Silencer before doing this  :Attached File Attached File Results: 17 KIA, 11 WIA, 2 Suppressed. Chicom Platoon is combat ineffective. Some of the Ballistic data for Razor 77gr: Attached File Attached File |
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Long weekend with the July 4th holiday started early. Acquired a new Airsoft AEG rifle and needed to test and zero it: Attached File It grouped nicely at 7 yards and then I proceeded to run some standard drills: CSAT drills: Ready 1 shot 1 target 7 yards 1.00 sec. Ready 2 shots 1 target 7 yards 1.50 sec. Ready 2/1 Body/Head 7 yards 1.75 sec Ready 5/1 Body/Head 7 yards 3.00 sec. Then some Squadron drills: Rifle High Ready: [1r] Raise rifle from high ready(tucked under armpit), fire 1 round inside target (1 sec) Rifle Now: [31r] Load 30 rounds in rifle, load 1 round in spare mag Raise rifle from high or low ready, fire 30 rounds inside target, reload, fire 1 round inside target (13 sec) 0.5 sec penalty for misses {skipped the reload} Rifle El Prez: [12] variant Load 12 in rifle Back towards 3 targets, rifle at high or low ready, turn 180 degrees, fire 2 shots at each target, repeat. (10 sec) Rifle switching shoulders El Prez: [12r] Load 12 in rifle. Back towards 3 targets, rifle at high or low ready, turn 180 degrees, fire 2 shots at each target, switch shoulders, fire 2 shots at each target (9 sec) Then some VTAC 1-5 drills (started at 5 seconds and worked down to 4 seconds) The drills that needed work were Rifle switching shoulders El Prez, and VTAC 1-5. Attached File In 1 hour I was able to get ~500 trigger pulls. Considering 5.56mm ammo would have cost me ~$250 the airsoft rifle already paid for itself. And I got my practice in the time it would have taken me to drive to and from the range. Look forward to some livefire to confirm the training. |
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Its brutally hot here (heat exhaustion is likely after 1pm) and sadly I couldn't make it out to the range this morning, but had some time to run pistol drills with airsoft. Started out with Bill Drill 2, a fantastic drill, that honestly I believe is better than the Bill Drill 1 that everybody uses. Since this was practice, I broke down the drill to components, focusing on each element until things started flowing. I used a 1/3 sized target at 7 feet, running a strong side holster with tshirt for concealment. Started with drawing and firing 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5. Started out a little rough, due to pushing for time: Attached File But with enough rounds I settled in: Attached File Can't say enough about Bill Drill 2. Then I tried ASP’s 10-Round Skill Check. It had been on my to do list. The course of fire is straightforward, with only 4 strings of fire. All strings are shot from concealment, hands relaxed at sides, in a fence, or a “cheater” start. String 1: Draw and fire 1 round center mass. Repeat for a total of 2 repetitions. String 2: Draw and fire 2 rounds to the head. String 3: Draw and fire 6 rounds center mass. Ran this a lot of times on USPSA target. No every run was perfect, but warmed up, using the cheater start, I was consistently running 1.0 sec for String 1, 1.5 sec for String 2, and 2.2 seconds for String 3. Attached File (12.5*50)/4.7 = 132.98 String 3 (Bill Drill 1's) are much easier with airsoft, which got me a 133 score (Master). Not convinced I would score that high with the actual target and a 9mm. Next I ran the Gunsite 250 COF which is normally shot open carry, but sorry, OC(with no retention) is lame gamer goal displacement. COF: 3 yd Draw and fire 1 shot to the head in 1.5 seconds. 3 yd Repeat. 3 yd Draw and fire 2 shots to the body in 1.5 seconds. 7 yd Draw and fire 2 shots to the body in 1.5 seconds. 10 yd Draw and fire 2 shots to the body in 2.0 seconds. 15 yd Draw, kneel, and fire 2 shots to the body in 3.5 seconds. This was actually sporting from concealment. Gunsite is known for allowing shots until the end of the whistle, so even though my second shot at 7 yards was over 1.5 sec, it was still during the beep and I counted it: Attached File The headshots were a bit low of my point of aim because I was at 3 feet with a 1/3 size target and offset is a thing with pistols at that distance. Gotta give it to COL Cooper on this one. Better drill than a lot of them out there. Reminded me of the Old Bakersfield PD qual, but tougher. I think if the Old Bakersfield qual was made to tougher standards like these it would be more interesting. Overall I got 300-to-400 rounds of practice in. Gas pistols take a lot more reloading than AEG rifles so I burned about 1.5 hours. Way more fun than dryfire. |
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9 years ago my fitness level was high. I had solid intermediate lifts, did calisthenics and climbing with a 30lb weight vest, was regularly running 5Ks and Obstacle Course Races... but some health challenges got in the way of all that. I was still hiking, rucking, swimming, walking, and doing some weightlifting, calisthenics, and BJJ... but not lifting as intensely as I used to. Was focused mostly on low impact cardio. My weighlifting changed for the better in 2026. Looked up the intermediate lifts for my age (50s) Weightlifting Strength Standards, and set some 1RM goals for 2026: Bench Press: 190 lbs Front Squat: 205 lbs Deadlift: 300 lbs Press: 125 lbs Push Press: 160 lbs Curls: 90lbs The website says it takes 2 years of lifting to reach intermediate, but I guess because I am just re-gaining... it is going a lot faster. Hit Press and Curl goals already. Striking distance on Bench(180) and Push Press(140). Working more cautiously on the Front Squat and Deadlifts, as I don't want any injuries... but they are progressing nicely. I am stronger, feel better, lost a few pounds, and am noticeably in better shape. It's amazing how sluggish I felt without that strength. |
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Finally made it to the range yesterday. Worked with some students. Minted one new NRA Defensive Pistol and re-qualed another. Also minted a Level 1 "3 seconds or less" defensive pistol skills. |
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Been a busy weekend training. Yesterday did some lifting and made an improvement on bench (185lbs). Also fixed an older airsoft AEG. ChatGPT figured out I needed new bucking and sure enough it worked: Attached File After re-zero worked some CSAT drills, 1rd, 2rd, Failure to Stop, rhythm Drill, 2 shots on 2 targets. Both primary and secondary sides. Was good practice with irons and secondary side. Battery quit after around 400rds. Then I did some dryfire work with my PA-65. Dummy rounds to load, unload, and run clearance drills. Dryfire on primary side. So that I was ready for today at North East Texas Tactical: Attached File Didn't actually compete... but afterwards ran 80 rounds through the PA-65: Attached File Attached File First round his out to 1,300 yards (a new personal record) and scored a hit at 1,400 yards (also a personal record). Was the only guy out there with a semi-auto rifle. With a flat spring and the gas system dialed in, the PA-65 was a joy to shoot. The 6.5 Creedmore gets into transonic by 1,400 yards and the PA-65 is only a 1.5 MOA rifle... combine that with variable winds and hitting at 1,400 needed a little luck But that said, 1,300 yard first round hit is pretty damn impressive for PSA. And the PSA price tag sure beats the MRGG-S, SP10, SR-25, etc Curious what I will be able to do with +Peak ammo. |
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Today it was back to NETT for long range rifle. There was a 22 cal precision match happening: Attached File Looked fun, but I'll need a better 22 rifle for that. Began with Zeroing my LaRue/ACOG: Attached File 3 rounds with a 0.67 inch group. I have the reticle mapped in MOA, adjusted windage and got authorization to use the ACOG on the tower out to 800. Attached File Attached File Shifting winds were just enough to goof with 77gr IMI Razor at distance. Spotting 77gr hits on steel at 500 or 600 with 4 power magnification was challenging. After a little time working with it, I could consistently switch distances from 300 to 400 to 500 and back and see my hits. Not sure if I got the 600. Was a nice challenge to deal with the wind and try to spot hits. Did a short ranging exercise with the SIG10K binos. Ranged everything from 300 to 1500 yards. There is a reason you mount those on a bipod for long distance. Holding the rangefinder in your hands is too shaky to reliably range a specific target starting around 1000 yards. Then switched to the PA-65 and tested my consistency at various distances. Found I had to re-zero the optic as zero had shifted. After adjusting and hitting a 3 round 1.5moa zero group at 100, Fired 5 rounds at 300, 400, 500, 600, and 700. Easy to see 6.5CM impacts at 300 or 400... but tougher further out without a brake or silencer. I got to where I could hit 5 for 5 as far as 500. 4 for 5 and 600. Not sure I hit at 700... which was funny because I was hammering 700 consistently last week. 6.5CM ammo was running low and the afternoon heat was on, so I quit there. Not my best range day, but good practice. |
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