Happy Birthday, Duke!

Today would have been John Wayne's 100th birthday. A century later, he's still got unbelievable charisma and staying power. I'm still a huge, huge fan. The man was one of the originators of cool. The embodiment of the warrior spirit. A man's man. Would that I could have met him. There's not much about John Wayne that hasn't already been said, so I won't blather on about it with stuff that's already been covered. I will quote a line from one of my favorite Duke movies, The Quiet Man. I love this line because it encompasses how the Duke lived his life, standing up for what he believed in. As Sean Thornton, former boxer who killed a man in the ring, who's moved back to his ancestral home in Ireland:

'If you say "three," mister, you'll never hear the man count "ten." '

Update on Jim Zumbo

Pat Rogers posted an AAR re: his latest tactical carbine operator's course over on the Lightfighter forum. This was the class that Jim Zumbo is going to do an article for SWAT Magazine on. Pat had this to say about him:

This class had in it Jim Zumbo, whose comments on 16Feb set off a firestorm in the gun world.
I’ll let Jim state what he saw/ learned in the Aug SWAT.
My observations were that he was not the elitist/ pompous person that he was made out to be. He was genuine, sincere and humbled. He accepted the challenge to attend the course and did so in grand style.
He is a shooter, no doubt about that. He is not a fighter, and most of what we teach was alien to his lifestyle.
He never complained, never quit and maintained a terrific sense of humor. Jim shot one of my SLR’s with an Aimpoint as well as one of my 1911’s- another gun that he was unfamiliar with.
He learned a lot. He spoke candidly with the shooters, and they did the same.
His view on Wed was surely different then his view on Monday.
I’ll allow him to speak further about this in his article, and won’t entertain any questions about him, his performance or any other related subject.
I will say that I- we- had a great time, learned a lot, and hopefully see a way to unite the factions, sub factions and individuals that are destroying what we love from within.
There is an enemy out there, but it isn’t among us who own and use guns legally.

I'd like to offer my congradulations to Pat, Jim, and SWAT Magazine for making this happen. I'm really looking forward to getting Jim's take on something he's not familiar with. Should be very enlightening, and I expect I'll learn some useful things from that article.

Pat went on to say this:

I'm also looking forward to his story.
We can continue to mutilate his corpse, or have him as a friend in the fight against the socialists.
Having him with us denies his use to Brady bunch, and that is a very good thing.
It was a fun class - especially after we broke out the MK18, MP5, G18 and M249....

Now we know Jim's been "ruined" for life! There's nothing like a belt fed machine gun to make a pre-64 model 70 look less interesting. ;)

I for one, welcome Jim Zumbo into the realm of shooters as well as hunters, and I'm glad he's on our side.

Some great pics

These photos were taken by a friend of mine, Brad Nelson. These knives are both going to find their way to Ebay, hopefully bringing in a good sum of money. Both are moderately rare, and one is signed by Chuck Buck, the man who took Buck Knives from a well known American company to a really well known international company. These are going away to fund a tanto to be made by my friend Bill Harsey. Anyway! Check out these slick photos: