. . . when the shit that you used to train (as Rangemaster) strains you in 93-degree weather.

I attended what my department calls AOT (Advanced Officer Training) recently. I was scheduled for the AM portion of the concomitant firearms training and I found myself floundering to keep up with the rest of the class. My magazine loading was behind, I forgot to get my second target, I ran out of rounds (luckily the kid next to me was in the same boat), I blew rounds to my left during the threat drill. On the other hand, I guess I should be grateful I didn’t kill any Good Guys (“Harry, you killed a Good Guy!”) But my horizontal threat scans were weak-assed at best.

In my favor, at least I could say I had a good Master Grip and took up proper trigger slack and reset.

Once loaded, I kept up with all the manipulation skills, dropped magazines, outage drills, tap-rack-go, side-stepping (okay, to a degree). But I just couldn’t reload a magazine as quickly as the bulk of the class. And I was generally slower.

By the end of the morning class my shirt was drenched, my crotch was drenched, my face and neck was drenched, my Levis were drenched, sweat ran down my face and forehead, and I felt dizzy, light-headed. My right knee froze up and my lower back clenched. Still, I took up a number of shotguns from Range 2 when asked to clear the range.

My T-shirt was drenched, my waist was drenched, my forehead was bathed in sweat, my sunglasses were slipping down my nose. I wondered if I could make it to noon. I found my pulse elevated and it never ran down. I could feel it thundering in my neck. Towards the end of the morning I was continuously panting like a damned dog.

The drills required knee training and range cleanup. My right knee just simply gave out. Boom. I don’t have any 4850 cases but I know when my broadcast day is done.

And, at my advanced age, I don’t sacrifice so much any more in the name of the King.

After the morning, I sat in my RAV 4 for a full 45 minutes with the air-conditioner fan set at full. And still I felt weak, light-headed and nauseous.

We resumed AOT where the content consisted of ground-fighting, carotid constrictions, GO familarizations,

BZ