Semper Fidelis. Latin for “always faithful.” It symbolizes the lifelong commitment held by every Marine for the Corps and America, a promise reciprocated by the Corps to all Marines.
That is what the Marine Corps advertises.
Personal Update: Freedom, Career Change, Paramedic
This is just a quick post to announce a pretty major personal change. I will also briefly meditate on the nature of freedom, financial freedom, and explain the difference between paramedics and EMTs.
Collecting Hammers and the Pillars of Skill Building
There’s an adage in the training world; “tools for the toolbox”. but are people really building a complete and useful panoply of skills, or collecting hammers?
Life is General. Embrace the Coyote.
I was recently a guest on Matt Robertson’s excellent Everyday Marksman Podcast. The first question Matt asked me hinted at something. He wanted to know how I got into writing about the stuff I write about which amounts to, well, little bit of everything. The answer I wish I had given him? Life is general!
Patreon Benefit: Extra Writing
This week I spent several hours answering reader emails. I’m not complaining – I am extremely flattered that some of you care about my opinion enough to actually ask, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I make every effort to respond to everyone who writes in. I realized halfway through writing my fifth or sixth 1,000+ word reply this week that if one person has the question, multiple people could probably benefit from the answer. Which leads me to the point of this post…
The Problem with “Armageddon” and “TEOTWAWKI”
Recently I was talking to a friend. I was explaining – or rather, complaining about – my brother-in-law’s sub-par state of preparedness. The response I got was, “he should be good for anything short of Armageddon.” I’d like to like to parse that sentence just a bit because I think there is a lot to learn from it.
The ‘Real World’ Bachelor’s of Tactical Science
Recently I wrote about my “perfect world” Bachelor’s of Tactical Science. When it came to obtaining my “bachelor’s” equivalent of tactical science, I did a lot of things right. I joined the military which gives some training away for free. I got myself into a special operations outfit, which gives a lot of training away for free. As a civilian I’ve been a little lazy at times, and a little time- or cash-strapped at others, but I have still managed to chip away at it over the years in a more “real world” fashion. Today I’m going to talk about what a more realistic version of the “Bachelor’s of Tactical Science” may look like.
Adjusting Your Safety Margins
I could have also titled this article, “Two Places I Don’t Want to Be Right Now.” We haven’t been out much lately. We were about a week ahead of the curve on “social distancing;” we stopped eating from restaurants, going to the gym, and going to BJJ. My girlfriend works from home and my work is travel-based, so naturally that’s shut down right now. As a result we’ve been pretty isolated.
My Thoughts on Military Service
This is the answer to a question I’ve gotten twice from the same reader. The first time was a couple years ago on another platform. He recently got back in touch and said he’d be interested in hearing my thoughts on military service. I’ll give you my thoughts and my biggest pros and cons. Keep in mind these aren’t in order of importance, I just wrote them as they occurred to me.
