New Blog

Hey, y'all, since I'm no longer deployed I decided to begin a new blog. I'm showing my nerd underwear by calling it "Captain's Blog"...maybe I should have called it "The Captain's Blog," let me know which you like better and I may change it. Anyway, link on over to

www.captaingilson.blogspot.com

and I'll get something up pretty soon!

Capt G

Armed Americans

So...I've been thinking about buying a handgun. This isn't any kind of recent thing, I've been wanting one for several years. Now we're financially able to buy one and can even afford to shoot it once in a while. So the last few weeks I've had this burning desire to go out and buy one. Maybe it's because I packed one for 9 months (which actually was not near as cool as I'd thought it'd be; it was mostly a pain) and sometimes I still feel funny not having one on me. Maybe it's just one of my mini-addictions and it'll pass just as soon as I've bought one and shot it a couple of times. Then it'll sit in the closet (locked up so the kids can't get ahold of it, of course) with the other toys I've bought from my other mini-addictions.

Whatever it is, I've been researching handguns in a certain price range, mostly in 9mm. I've been looking at a Glock 19 (I think it's a 19, maybe it's a 17), a Springfield Armory XD, the Beretta Px4 Storm and the S&W M&P. I've also looked at the Taurus PT1911 which chambers .45 ACP. I've decided against the Beretta as is doesn't fit my small hands (and short thumbs) all that well with the safety on the slide, similar in location to where it's at on the M9. I have a tough time hitting it with my thumb which makes it difficult to get it off safety and into action. The gun looks nice enough and felt alright in my hand, it's just the dumb safety that drives me nuts.

Pictured here, left to right, Beretta Px4 Storm, Glock 17

I figured before I make any decisions I oughtta get some range time in with the different weapons so today I went to a local range with gun rentals and put some holes in some targets. I first put 20 rounds through an SA XD9 (very light trigger pull), 15 rounds through a Glock 17 and another 15 rounds through some kind of Sig (just for fun, it's a little out of my price range). I wanted to see what it felt like to shoot a 1911 with the bigger round so I rented a Kimber 1911 as well and put 50 holes in another target. The 9mms all shot right where I pointed them. The Glock had the nicest sights of the bunch, at least to my eye, though I didn't like the way it shot as my wrist was hurting a little bit after shooting it. The .45 kick wasn't too bad, not a lot more than the 9mm, at least it didn't seem like it to me, though the grip left an imprint in my hand after every eight rounds. Plus, it felt weird to only have eight rounds. The ten in the XD/Glock was bad enough after being used to 15 in the M9. But with the size of the .45 I guess it only takes a couple if you can put them in the right place.

Conclusion: I'm leaning towards the SA XD9 as a concealed carry type weapon (though how much I'd actually be carrying I don't know) and maybe pick up the Taurus PT1911 just for fun later on after I've saved up enough allowance. =)


Taurus PT1911

Let It Snow

It snowed for over 24 hours straight here this week. Not that any of it stuck around the Alamo, but it sure did up in the mountains. I climbed up to the roof of the tallest building on the Alamo and took some pictures this afternoon. It was gorgeous!

Christmas Decorations

Jamie and the kids sent me some Christmas decorations along with a wonderful instructional guide (if you haven't seen it go to youtube and search "My Soldier in Afghanistan for Christmas"). I've had the decorations up since just after I got them in the middle of December and finally got my desk cleaned off enough that I felt I could take a picture.

Since I'll be taking all the decorations down later this week I figured I'd better get on it.

Christmas in Afghanistan

Ok, this picture's actually from a couple of days before Christmas, but it's with a Christmas tree and it's snowing. What more can you ask for?

We had Christmas day off. It might have been better to actually be working as it turned into a very long day.

A Little Fog

I got up the other day and headed for breakfast and found the fog as thick as pea soup. The weather's been a lot more fun the last month or so than it was the first few months I was here. As you can see, if you look carefully, we've had some changes here at the Alamo as well.

Rice

One of the main staples of the Afghan Soldiers diet, at least during training, is rice. They get a huge scoop of rice with every meal. Afghan rice is actually pretty tasty. They do a good job of cooking and seasoning it. It's a lot better than the rice we get in the Alamo DFAC, anyway.

To prep the rice the cooks first dump it out and pick through it, looking for I'm not sure what, rocks or bugs maybe. Then they put the rice in pots and rinse it well. That's what the picture is of, the cooks rinsing the rice. Then they boil it. That's pretty much a theme when you're cooking for as many people as they feed. Everything is boiled. Except french fries.