Swift | Silent | Deadly


The Occasional Rant


Narcan and Choices

Last year I attended a very, very good tactical medicine class that I paid for out-of-pocket. One thing that interested me was a student question about Narcan: “why would you bother saving their life?” I have been fascinated by that question ever since, and it came up again recently. I wrote this article in May of 2020. For some reason I shelved it and forgot all about it until I read this last week. Since I wrote this article I’ve had the opportunity to administer Narcan several times on the job. My opinion hasn’t changed.

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On Being a Good Teammate

How to Be A Bad Teammate

I recently realized the importance of having a good partner at work. Your partner can make or break your day just by the attitude he or she has. There are people I would do anything to work with again, and people I would do anything to avoid working with again. That got me thinking about being a teammate in general. I’ve had a bit of a journey – frankly, I haven’t always been a good teammate. Though I’m sure it comes naturally to some of you, it was a skill I had to work to cultivate. Today I’m going to share some tips on how to be a bad teammate.

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Military Guys Can’t Teach CCW

I recently saw a post on a gun blog† that said military and former military personnel are unqualified to teach civilian firearms classes. There is a kernel of truth to this statement, but while the words have traveled widely, their meaning has been left in the dust. Let’s look at the argument that military guys can’t teach CCW, then let’s clear this up, shall we?

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2021: Goals for The Year Ahead

Good morning and Happy New Year! It seems popular to talk about how you “don’t care for New Year’s resolutions.” Honestly, I think that’s because most people can’t stick to New Year’s resolutions or are afraid to commit publicly to them. Just because you can’t stick to yours doesn’t mean I can’t stick to mine…so here are mine for the coming year!

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2020: An Outstanding Year in Review!

Twenty-twenty was a total “dumpster fire” in most peoples’ book. Coronavirus and associated quarantines/lockdowns/etc, the election, insane ammo prices, riots… The past year just seemed to keep on coming up with ways to make people unhappy. Happiness is a choice. Though a lot of shitty stuff happened this year, 2020 was an outstanding year for me personally.

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Grilled Tri-Tip Roast Recipe

Several months ago I posted an article with some of my favorite recipes. The cover photo was a gorgeous tri-tip roast…to which I did not provide a recipe. Some of you wrote in asking how I cooked it. This is one of my bar-none favorite cuts of meat, and I finally took the time to document the process.

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Respect for the American Flag

Today I’m going to talk, just a bit, about my brand of patriotism and my view of the American Flag. Then I’m going to talk about a few versions of the American flag I’ve seen lately. This has been eating at me for a while; on Labor Day weekend I saw the flag in the featured image, which prompted me to write this.

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Should Everyone Own a Gun?

A reader recently wrote in with a very thought-provoking question: should everyone have a gun? I’ll be honest – it caught me a bit off guard. I realized that I didn’t have an immediate answer, but promised to spend some time thinking about it. I have spent several weeks pondering this question off and on because I wanted to give a nuanced, thoughtful answer. First, I’ll state the reader’s case. Then I will provide my answer to the question, “should everyone own a gun?”

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Housekeeping: SAR, Technical Rescue, Paramedic

Today I want to provide a personal update and let you know why I have been less active on the blog. As some of you may have noticed I have recently slowed down a bit on the blog posts. There are some reasons for that. I attempt to run this blog with some transparency so I’ll let you know exactly what those reasons are.

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