Greetings and Salutations!
Had a ‘death in the clan’ recently.
No one from the immediate clan but nonetheless one of ‘mine’ so to speak. One of my Contracting Bros cashed in completely unexpectedly…
And I have to say… dude went out like a “True Grunt.”
“Bubba” as I shall refer to him was a retired Special Forces 18B Weapons Sergeant who I got to know via contracting, and then after when he semi-retired and stared working for GunGirl down at Ye Olde Tactical Weapons Armory. Now Bub was a good 20 years older than me, but hell-bent -for-leather hardcore.
Deaf as a post due to his MOS, he used to advise various Local National (Iraqi Police, or I.P.s) troops on ‘how to do shit’ as Special Forces are supposed to do
See, SF is a force multiplier
They are not supposed to be “Supercommandos”
Leave that shit to the Rangers, SEALs and DEVGRUP and Delta.
REAL SF are force multipliers
Meaning they train 10 locals to train 20 locals and so on and so on and next thing you know, you have a handy-dandy Insurgency Operation going on in the backyard of whatever country Israe……errrrr…sorry… The United States is pissed off at the time.
So Bub did that for about six years, (as a contractor after 25+ years active duty) got banged up even more than he should have, and semi-retired and got a job at GunGirls Casa.
Now this is the awesome part…
Apparently while on the job, he’d had a really bad case of heartburn. He told GunGirl he’d be in the next day, but damned if it wasn’t a sumbitch of a case… (you know where this’s going). The next day, Bub woke up, took some more antacid, and griped and bitched about the heartburn all day through an 8 hour shift, but continued mission (Charlie Miked) with no real issues. Bub was in his early 70s mind you, and known as a bit of an old school “back in my day” no bullshit kind of grumpy old 18B sort of dude, which is what I liked about him.
GunGirl got concerned as she told me, and told Bub to go get checked out.
Bubba’s answer was “I left my snivveling at the door… I’m not bleeding out from the eyes or asshole, so I’m Good To Go.”
He did the full shift.
He then went home, and passed peacefully in his sleep that night.
Motherfucker was having a two-full-day HEART ATTACK and brushed it off. Hard to the Motherfucking Core man. I am sure -wherever- he showed up to in the hereafter, whomever welcomed him in, be it St. Peter, Mike or Odin, ALL of them had to have said “You are the most hardcore and stubborn Grunt we got, c’mon in!”
May I pass in such a way.
When I found out, GunGirl, despite her DotMil background, was a bit taken aback when I heard the circumstances, as my reaction was sadness, but at the same time admiration and “Damn! THAT’S the way to go! Hardfuckingcoreness to the MAXX!!!” Truthfully I LOL’d as only another Grunt could… I mean DAMN bro! THIS IS THE WAY!
Hard to the Core Bro! May you enjoy Valhalla, Heaven or Wherever… Free Skies and Happiness, and I will see you again I hope.
But GunGirl?
She was Admin
What can you expect?
Also she’s a split…. so emotions and all that shytte…
Anyways…
So also, I’m starting a weekend and after the primary job working for her doing Gunsmithing AND sales, as she’s INSANELY Short staffed, so we’ll be having some guest articles and whatnot, and my posting will be a might short due to the extra $$$ needs be.
Even Sapper is going to work full time for her.
She’s that short staffed.
She’s thrilled with Sapper, notsomuch with me as she is a wee bit on the “You talk too much shit” with me… we’re cool, but I might surprise her.
Now then… Speaking of Gunsmithing:
Remember that Enfield I was trying like fuck to barrel?
The motherfucker that wouldn’t finally “seat”?
It ALSO had that HORRIBLE stock fracture that I needed a three week and multiplicity of fixes befor e I could move on?
Yeah…
THAT motherfucking one.
Well… the great news is a fren who shall remain nameless as he requested, who also has a first class mill and whatnot managed to ‘do the fix’ to the barrel (it looks like it needed a ‘shave’ to fit) and unfucked my issues (no Galling to the threads, thank God!) and got it mated up:
It’s headspaced out PERFECTLY!
(As I expected)
And Now?
It’s time for me to get back in the game so to speak, clean that magnificent bastard up, reblue everything, and refinish the wood, as I DID fix the cracked all to Hell stock and other pieces parts.
Pictures WILL be following.
Stay Tuned!
And the plus on this one is I bought the receiver for $50 USD… It’s Brit-Made in India but STILL Brit made receiver marked 1950 with a Aussie 1942 Barrel with a LOT of external pitting, but the bore is pristine which means it’s going to be a magnificent shooter.
I paid $149 for the donor wood demil’d rifle, and $325 for the barrel alone.
This is I hope going to be the high mark of my rebuilding Enfields.
As I said, Stay Tuned
So More Later
Big Country
And yeah, I’m avoiding the World War 3 we see blooming
In The Middle East. 10+ years of my life spent there, one marriage lost, two kids lost, and for a whole lot of nothing.
Fuck the Izzies AND their “Greater Izzyland”
They want it?
Let them fight for it.
Not our circus, not our monkeys.
Plus
Too many assholes with too many opinions online
I’ll keep my own counsel thankee very mucho…
Jes Sayin’
RIP for your friend. I read a story last week about a bunch of guys out west who were out hunting and got jumped by a grizzly bear. All were mauled up badly and ended up in the hospital. Storyteller was one of the guy’s daughters who was called and told “dad had an accident, he may not make it”. She hurried home and got to the hospital. He dad had recovered a little by then and he was the one who had ultimately killed the grizzly. Men from the town were paying homage, treating him like the hero that he was. Dad was loving the attention (but I’m guessing that it hurt like hell to laugh) Daughter could just not understand it at all. That’s because it was a “guy thing” that was beyond her comprehension. Story reminds me of your friend. Have a friend, retired MSG, who during his annual physical was told that he likely had a heart attack at some time in the previous year. His response? “Wow, that’s interesting!”
I caught my Dad having one. yup, he was getting off the couch and just turned white .( dad was a dark as anyone that worked outside for 50 plus years) anyway, he wanted to take a shower and change to clean
clothes before going to the ER. so, I waited for him to do just that. I was told by him that I was a pain in the ass and he felt ‘fine”
at the ER, they rushed in ass to a major hospital. he was there getting check out and told he needed a bypass. that scared the shit out of him. I told him, well. you do it or go home and make out your will.
instead of one bypass, he got 4 done. that gave him another 15 years with us.
Mom was grateful that I bullied his ass to going to the hospital and getting check out.
after that, Mom kind of used me to make him do the right thing. go to the doctor, hospital , whatever.
Dad is buried in Arlington. there we found out he had 2 navy crosses for Valor and 15 or more” battle stars” . the Navy did right by dad. put Mom up for the night, dinner and whatnot. 2 Commanders to “help”. a real class act. so a tough guy brushing off a heart attack as heartburn doesn’t shock me.
my Dad did that as well. the heart doc told Mom that dad had the scars of at least 3-4 heart attacks
that piss my Mom off. she told me later. so. yeah. I went after and made his ass to do the right thing.
I miss having a few beers on the back porch with him.
Amen brother, a-men.
the weird part is that I was always scared of him. he did concrete work and block laying for over 30 plus years and was bull strong until he hit 76. that when he got the bypass done.
but Mom told me when he had to go somewhere and I made sure I was off at work to take him there and back. he just kind of looked at me. one time helping him get a shower in the morning.
he just stared at me. that when I told him of how I viewed “life” it kind of like a circle. you start out not being able to do shit. then you learn how to do things and that goes on for a while.
then you come back around and you need help again doing things/shit. always seem simple to me. I think he thought I was fucking nuts. but anyway, I was glad I was able to help him out when he needed it.
Pappy snuck out of the hospital and walked to grammaws with kidney issues.
Gas up almost a dollar in one week of Operation AIPAC Fury.
Blowing up the girl’s school is not cool.
“Wow, that’s interesting!”
I have a heart attack am sure will just drop stone cold dead immediately.
On the upside,do not have to call in sick!
Had the same thing right before I turned 63. I’d be out cutting grass or something and get these really bad pains. Felt like severe heartburn. I’d go in the house and down a bunch of Rolaids and the pain would eventually go away. Happened one Saturday night after playing slap and tickle with the lovely missus. This time the pain only partly let up. Got worse and worse as the night wore on. Had the wife take me to the hospital the next morning. Told the doc that I thought maybe I had an ulcer or something. Nope, full blown heart attack. Had me in the operating room withing about 45 minutes. Ended up with the longest stent that they make. Spent my birthday in the hospital. Just what I always wanted. A stent for my birthday.
They can call you “Slinky” now, arterial stents are coiled…
Sorry about your friend!…
Your SF Sergeant friend sounds an awful lot like my brother who was a Major in the SF.
My brother lived in Florida and worked at a gun store owned by a female. He died in his sleep after complaining of heartburn.
My brother was also a hardcore mother fucker! 173rd Airborne in Vietnam, many years in the 82nd, and finished his career in the SF. He also did many years of contract work. Europe, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
I pray your friend and my brother are enjoying everlasting peace after a long life serving our country.
Sorry about your buddy, man. Old School.
My dad had multiple health issues. In and out of the hospital. There were many times I would leave my parents home and think well mom will call me in the morning to tell me he died. This went on for five years. It was a living hell for both my parents. At the start of the five year period it started out bad and only got worse.
So your friend feeling like he had heartburn most of the day and making it home to sleep in his bed, in his home and checking out well I couldn’t think of a better way. Your girl boss there will never understand that. We could only all be so lucky.
I got pressure in my chest hauling stuff back and forth from the beach while on vacation. Got an EKG and blood test soon as I got home. Doc called just when I was sitting down to fried chicken (I was starving) and told me to go straight to the ER. I asked “why”? Its your blood test results. Now go!, he said. But I feel fine, I said. GO! he said, and the wife made me go. Drove myself. Laying in the ER with nurses all around and hooked up to all sorts of things I asked, “Am I going to have a heart attack”? You’re having one now!, the nurse said. Double by-pass. Lost about 30lbs. Now having to re-size all my ‘stuff’.
RIP to one tough SOB.
One thing to consider is we’ve all heard “there is nothing worse than death”.
Well most of us know that is total bullshit, there are MANY things FAR worse than death.
Like losing your mind to Alzheimers, dementia or a stroke. Suffering the pains of Hell slowly dying from cancer. Having a stroke paralyze half your body or blind you or worse being a “head in a bed” in a nursing home.
My point is your buddy was in his 70s and may have decided that he was ready to go, the flag was being lowered and the bugler was playing Retreat.
He may have known he was having a heart attack and said “fuckit, this is a quicker and much less painful way to go than the alternatives” thus he had some chest pain and checked out in his sleep.
After seeing family members suffering with cancer and other shit as they die, I hope I go out like he did.
A big amen to that. I can only hope that when it’s time for my ticket to get punched, that it goes quickly. Even better if I go in my sleep, but I’ve never done anything the easy way, so doubt I’ll be that lucky. Guy I know who is about 5 years my senior (we were neighbors during childhood) is an attorney. Several years ago he was in court one day, wrapping up a case and making his closing arguments (all while feeling like shit the entire time), went home, had dinner, and then figured something was wrong, so drove himself to the ER. Turned out he’d had a heart attack hours earlier. That’s one tough sumbitch.
Similar; but often a precursor to a heart attack.
A couple years ago I was having dizzy spells with a fast heartbeat. I was at a farm equipment auction at a rural farm. Pulse 180, sat down for a few slowed to 135. Started down twisty roads for 20 miles, another 20 interstate miles at 85mph with pulse 165.
Hospital intake tech wired me up, saw the results, whisked me into an ER room. Supraventricular Tachycardia. ER rhythm reset, meds for six months, procedure with 20 wires up my leg vein, computer maps the heart, doc zaps the Tachycardic zone.
A few months to heal, a year build back to chainsaw clearing small trees.
Dad went the same way at 56 yrs old. We were drilling a water well in June, in Southern Arizona. Dad had to keep going and dousing himself with water from the water truck. It was over 100, but we were used to it. I had him sit in the shade while I did all the heavy work. At the end of the 12 hr. day, he wanted to drive home- 60 miles, one way. Thing is, he always drove in the morning, and I drove in the evenings. When we got to his house, I unhooked the pipe trailer and loaded up the pipe we’d need for the next day before going inside to tell him and mom I’d see them later.
Dad changed out out of his work clothes and I drove to my house, another 20 miles away. By the time I got home, my phone was ringing. It was Mom telling me Dad died. He had sat down in his favorite chair to watch the evening news and just died while mom was in the kitchen fixing his dinner.
I had the displeasure of watching my dad go. We’d just had dinner (was a Saturday night and I’d gone over to visit mom and dad, have dinner and shoot the shit). After we ate, he camped out in his lazyboy recliner in front of the TV, I was on the couch. About 15 minutes later, he seized up right in front of me. Got him out of the chair with assistance from my brother (who was also there), started CPR.
Local EMT squad was there in under 5 minutes, put in a Herculean effort, and drained the batteries on two portable defib machines before they loaded him up. By the time I got to the hospital (that was less than 1o minutes away) he was declared dead. I figure he was gone before he hit the ambulance and left the driveway, but they weren’t going to call it until they made it to the ER. Even over two decades later, it still bothers me.
In my Dad’s case, they didn’t call it until they hit the ER, either. We were told it is because if he “dies” in the hospital, there won’t be an investigation like there would be if he was declared dead at the house. We were in a rural area and the Medics were all volunteers with the VFD that we had drilled a water well for at the fire station so they wouldn’t have to haul water in. The ladies from the VFD cooked all the funeral food and set up quite a buffet for after Dad’s funeral.
That makes sense, I guess. At the time, I figured it was more a matter of having an actual MD make the call, taking the responsibility to do so off the EMT’s, and I hadn’t considered it was done as a “courtesy” to forego the need for an investigation by the M.E. You reveal one of the benefits of small town living with the way the VFD “women’s auxiliary” took care of the catering.
Similarly, my dad, being both a well liked businessman, and a long time volunteer in numerous charitable and civic causes, had a remarkably long list of friends and associates, and we were blessed to have all sorts of people (besides regular friends and family) come out of the woodwork with prepared food, and other offerings of assistance in the week or so following his death.
To this day, I’ve not attended another wake or funeral where so many people showed up. We caused an literal traffic jam on the major arterial road that lead to the parking lot of the funeral home on the day of his wake, there were so many who came to pay their respects. The police dept had to show up to do traffic control. It was almost comical, as it was like a celebrity funeral. The procession the next day to the grave site was also outrageous, and I’m sure there were people who wondered just who they were yielding to almost 75 cars for.
The similarities between your friend the SF Sergeant and my brother are remarkable!
My brother was a SF Major. He worked at a Florida gun store owned by a female. He also died in his sleep a few months ago after mentioning an unusually bad case of heartburn.
Bud was also a hard core mother fucker! He served with the 173rd in Vietnam, many years in the 82nd, and finished his military career in the SF. After retirement he went on to do contract work in Europe, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
I hope and pray that your friend and my brother have finally found peace, after a lifetime of serving our country.
Bro, I used “Bub” out of respect for privacy…His real first name started with an ‘E’… I’ma thinking that your Brother and my Fren are the same dude!
Holy Hells did the Matrix just fart or something!?!
Too fucking wild!!!
The matrix did fart! First name starts with E. You have my email. If you ever find yourself in WNC reach out and we’ll have a beer somewhere!
Sorry for the double post BCE. Thought I had missed a button push!
Turns out all the insurgents in the middle east were the “good guys” and the US ( read Israel ) forces were pure evil as in Gaza murder evil. Hope he realized that before he went so perhaps he can find forgiveness and not spend eternity in hell with Bibi.
Man so sad to hear you lost an old friend. He must have been ready to depart this life. Definitely leaves an empty spot in your life. Glad you got back to restoring the old Brit rifles.
That’s the way a soldier should go. May he RIP. Until Valhalla!
BC, very sorry to hear this. Lost my best bud of 34 years a couple back, big C. Like.watching a draft horse wither into a pony. Sad!
Had a scare 6 month ago due to meds change by the doc. I dont blame her, but the heartburn thing is a thing, and take it.from me, a hiatal.nernis an feel pretty bad, and just like a cardiac event. The plus was I got to pay fkr it all myself, no insurance!
C’est la vie…
Congrats on the yob, mang!
Tom762
Sorry to hear about that gentleman – never many like him.
Glad that you and Sapper are getting a bit of work at that gun store. Maybe it’ll bloom into something more
Looking forward to seeing how the latest Enfield comes out and how well it shoots
This video absolutely wins the internet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKXu_eL3IhE
I did not know he could paint and shred.
Felo,
.
Nearly a million views and fifty thousand ‘like’s in two weeks!
The pendulum is swinging our way!