21Nov06

Last weekend, I was in SC conducting an Urban Rifle/Pistol Course through Georgia Tactical. One of my students was Ashley Burnsed, President of Blue

Force Gear. I was using my EOTech-equipped, 40S&W. Beretta CX4 Carbine. I t's a nice, light, short carbine that comes in handy when one must carry it aroun d all day!

Up until now, I've been using a plain-vanilla, nylon strap as a sling, slinging the rifle, muzzle down, on the support side and/or the strong side, changing shoulders several times during the course of the day in order to av oid chafing on one side or the other.

Ashley showed me his Vickers Sling System, and I immediately decided to try

it. It is a two-point sling that can be adjusted as to length, both ways, instantly, without ending up with dangling, loose ends. It can be used over-the-neck, over-the-shoulder forward, or over-the-shoulder rear. In th e former two carry modes, the rifle hangs right-side-up and can be instantly scooped

up and mounted. Shifting shoulders is fast and convenient, and you can com e right out of it when necessary.

Most tactical sling systems I've used (and I've used nearly all of them), particularly three-point systems, are difficult to figure out how to instal l, perpetually tangled up and misadjusted, have exasperating dangling ends, an d are nearly impossible to come out of with any kind of speed. I haven't bee n a particular fan of any of them, and I'm still not.

However, the Vickers System I really like, and I continue to use it. We ha d four US Marines from Parris Island join us at our Course, and Ashley generously equipped all of their M-16s with the Vickers System, displacing t he ponderous three-point system they came with. They all loved it, and used i t for the entire two days.

This is the first sling system I'm prepared to recommend!

Ashley Burnsed Blue Force Gear PO Bx 853 Pooler, GA 31322 912 663 7771 _ashley@blueforcegear.com_ (mailto:ashley@blueforcegear.com)

/John

21Nov06

We all marveled with delight at the splendid attitude displayed by all our US Marine students last weekend. On the other side of the ledger, we were astonished and dismayed at the interminable stream of paperwork necessary to get rifles and pistols, ammunition and magazines, off the base and on to a private range. It got so complex that, at one point, I suggested just buyi ng ammunition from a local sporting-goods store, instead of going through the endless, bureaucratic gauntlet involved in acquiring it from a government so urce and then transporting it to our range. Once again, it is only a few dedica ted and courageous people who make the whole system "work," to t he degree that it does. We had a gallant, young first lieutenant in our class who is just

such a person. Thank God we have them!

It became painfully obvious to all of us that the military bureaucracy has waxed so impossibly ponderous, tedious, inbred, and labyrinthine that quickl y mobilizing, much less equipping, a large, fighting force would now take so long that it would be a moot point. And, of course, every officer knows th at failing to cross a "T" or dot an =80=9DI=E2=80=9D is an i nstant career-ender. Under such a system, getting people trained gradually migrates to the bottom of the list of priorities. The System is in dire need of streamlining. Too many bean-counters. Not enough leaders. In war, you can't "manage =9D men into battle, you have to lead them!

Once again, I'm reminded of Ogden Nash:

Abracadabra, thus we learn The more you create, the less you earn The less you earn, the more you're given The less you lead, the more you're driven The more destroyed, the more they feed The more you pay, the more they need The more you earn, the less you keep And now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my sole to take If the tax collector hasn't got it before I wake!

/John