24 September 2001
This is from a friend who is a civilian employee of Department of Defense. He is scheduled to deploy overseas with his military unit, as he is an integral part:
“I pointed out to my military superiors that civilians (like me) are not covered by SGLI (or any other kind of life insurance for that matter) in a war zone and asked if they would be able to get SGLI to cover us. I was curtly informed that would not be possible. I also indicated, in a war zone, I wanted to carry a gun. That request was greeted with incredulous looks and comments like, ‘You’re a noncombatant. You can’t carry a weapon.’ I pointed out to them that Mr. Bin Laden and his ilk consider no one to be a noncombatant, and that they underlined that philosophy in New York City earlier this month!
“I then made it clear that, if the insurance and personal protection situations were not solved to my satisfaction, I wouldn’t be going. I’m not about to be unarmed and unprotected in a war zone. I was looking for a job when I got here. They went into a dither. I’m holding firm.
“Too bad it takes a ‘civilian’ to lead the good fight!”
Lesson: One would have thought all this would have all been worked out long ago. Things haven’t changed much since 1950!
7 October 2001
From a friend at Los Angeles Airport:
“You may have seen the pictures of rifle and pistol-toting National Guardsmen at airports, like here at LAX. Real impressive, huh? Well, you probably guessed it. Their weapons are completely unloaded! Yes, the flying public is being protected by real safe guns.
“I have no idea of what their ‘procedure’ is when they are confronted by somebody who is in dire need of being shot.” Grass eaters are still in charge in California!
7 November 2001
Several things are obvious to me now that the details of September’s events have become available:
1. Most of the terrorists aboard the hijacked airplanes were not told and did not suspect that theirs was a suicide mission. Evidence suggests that most members of the terrorist teams were told the planes would land somewhere and that the passengers would be held for ransom. I suspect only the pilots knew the real plan.
2. There were as many as ten airliners originally targeted. They actually got only four into the air. Of the four, three hit their primary or secondary targets.
3. The unique shape of the pentagon building confused the terrorist pilot. The building looks the same no matter from which direction it is approached. The confusing nature of the building’s design is intentional, and it well may have prevented the terrorist pilot from striking the building where he wanted to.
4. No one thought the World Trade Center buildings would collapse! Not the terrorists, the fire department, nor city officials. The best the terrorists could hope for was that the buildings would be so badly damaged that they would have to be condemned and eventually imploded. No one calculated that the heat would be so intense that it would eventually soften the building’s steel skeleton, leading to the spontaneous collapse that we all witnessed.
5. The personal initiative and heroism of the passengers aboard the airliner that crashed in Pennsylvania saved many lives. The lesson here for all of us is that we all need to worry less about what we’re “supposed to do” and more about what we need to do.
6. The “speed bump” solutions being implemented by government at all levels are as predictable as they are ineffective. The “speed bump” approach dictates that the guilty are never pursued nor punished. Instead, punishment is meted out, in the form of harassment, to everyone who didn’t commit a crime! Again, all of us non-sheep need to find creative ways to continue pursuing our personal goals while maneuvering around the speed bumps.
11 November 2001
From a LEO friend in Detroit:
“I live only twenty minutes from the Canadian border. I’ve crossed over at least half dozen times since the events of September, all with no problems. The ‘increased security’ is all fluff. National Guard troops at the bridge don’t actively participate in any searches. They just stand around their hummers. They are obviously bored to tears.
“All troops assigned to local airport security here (Wayne County) carry firearms that are completely unloaded. As at LAX, there is no round in the chamber and no rounds in the magazine that is in the rifle. More fluff. They are worried about ‘weapon retention,’ with good reason. Early last week, a national guard troop left her M9 service pistol (Beretta 92F) on the floor of the bathroom. It was found by a janitor hours later. The incident was quickly covered up and never ran in the papers.”
Watch these experts!
17 December 2001
This from a friend in Detroit:
“I flew out of Detroit metro early this morning. I declared my G19, and the lady at the ticket counter made me take it out my suitcase and out of its case. She then took it from me she and ‘checked’ it by pointing the gun right at her face and looking down the barrel!
“I got lots of strange looks as I was leaving the ticket counter.”
Lesson: I ‘feel’ safer already. Don’t you?
18 April 2002
From an old friend in the concealment holster business:
“Since September, we’ve been swamped! We are astonished here at how many police officers, from every part of the country, are ordering concealment holsters on an emergency basis. They explain that, after many years with the department, they are now carrying regularly for the first time in their lives!
“It is amazing how many working police officers don’t carry on a regular basis. It seems they are finally getting the long-lost message of their responsibility to themselves and to their office!”
Lesson: A casual and nonchalant attitude toward one’s own safety and his duty to his family and community is a personality trait that should automatically disqualify anyone from police service. We’ve been lax, and now we’re scrambling to get back to where we should have been all along.
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