Preparation
(This was written ten years ago for another venue. It was fun to find it and read it after all these years.)
As I write this, I’m sitting in my room waiting for the trigger to be met so my team can execute a bilateral mission. We know where the bad guy is, and we are just waiting for the word from our partner force. All my kit is staged in my gun truck, so at a moment's notice, we can gear up and go. My M4 is resting next to the door of my room. There is real confidence and security from knowing that your weapon is zeroed, from knowing that whatever I aim at, it’s going down. This confidence comes from hours, days, months, years of intimate time spent with my M4. Right now, She’s a Colt lower with safe, semi, and auto. She has a Magpul pistol grip, Magpul buttstock, 10-inch free floating Daniel Defense barrel, Noveske PIG flash suppressor, Eotech reflexive sight, surefire grip light, a peq 5 laser, and right now I’m rockin' a Vickers Tactical sling.
All that stuff is worthless, unless you put in the time and learn how to shoot your rifle. Shooting is a perishable skill. It is your responsibility as a Freeman to take the time to shoot. It’s also important to make the decision beforehand, if called upon, that you will protect life. The mental preparation is more vital than any physical preparation or skill set. You will want the same confidence when you hear the sound of breaking glass in the middle of the night and the only thing standing between harm and your family’s safety is you and your preparation.
As I was going through the Special Forces Qualification course, a real-world experience put all of this preparation to the test. Thank goodness for preparation. One morning around 5:30, I left for work. I had to make sure I was on time for PT formation. Unknown to me, some 2 or 3 guys were watching my home. About 20 minutes after I left my wife heard a noise at the side door of our home. You see, these guys knew that my wife was home, they probably knew that we had small children, so they were being very quiet. She heard them working on the doorknob. Just as they got it opened, the lookout yelled. He was watching down the hall at the bedrooms through our living room window. He saw a pissed-off, redheaded female, armed with a Mossberg 590 walking toward them. They ran off without entering our house. I love my wife! The best part was that she wasn’t going to wait, she was going to take the fight to them!
When I was dating my soon-to-be wife, I took her to the shooting range. I taught her how to shoot and made sure she was comfortable with all types of firearms. She’s never looked as sexy as when she was spinning a bowling pin with my FN FAL. Anyway, the point is: prepare now so you can be ready later. That preparation includes firearms training and mental training.
As a side note, we just got back, and we got the guy we were looking for.
Jared