Saving Private Pawlik
Not that we don’t believe her, but does this strike any ex-military folks in a WTF! sort of way?
So last Saturday I went to a Basic Pistol course, teaching the basic operation, cleaning, shooting and safety of hand guns. It was awesome. The class was the class, learned a lot. But we got to shoot too. I’ve shot a rifle before – I was in the military. I really liked it and I shot sharpshooter. I finally got to learn how to shoot a pistol. I learned how to stand properly and what kind of pistol would be good for me. It was awesome; I was so happy to finally learn. I am, of course, in the market for a pistol right now.
You’re pretty much trained on pistol in any branch of the service besides…um, junior-high majorette teams, yes? Maybe no. This is a question for the military folks here.
What sparks suspicion is that Pawlik never mentions this in her columns on Private Lynch, or on Why Women Shouldn’t Be In The Military. It just started to come up recently — and while ‘in the military’ is sometimes a way of sneakily avoiding saying, “Um, I was in the Coast Guard,” imagining that guys from the Army, Marines, etc. would make fun of you, it’s also strange that a young woman (now age 24) with a recent college degree (Penn State, ’03) and years of column-writing at wingbat, fucktard publications such as Men’s News Daily could have found time for an enlistment — especially with this whole Iraq thing, where the military doesn’t let go of you very easily. When was this? we wonder.
Surely no one would claim that they were in the military unless they actually were. It almost makes one want to dig up Pawlik’s column trashing John Kerry’s Vietnam service.
There is little doubt in my mind if most Americans knew what John Kerry did during the time of Vietnam, the thought of him becoming President of the United States during these times would make their stomachs turn. So, John Kerry, keep bringing up your Vietnam history. Anyone who investigates the issue can find that you are an anti-hero, if not downright treasonous.
So we’re puzzled. And maybe the instructor said that the pistol that would be good for her is a backwards gun, with a down-angle, foot-shooting barrel. Anyway, it’s all part of the global war on liberals, Islamic people, and women’s rights, and so we’re all ‘in the military’ in a way. Even if we don’t have to be concerned with being listed here.
As I said elsewhere, I was in the USAF in the 80s and had to qualify with a .38 S&W revolver (much less complex than .9mm and .45 ACP automatics, though not nearly as much fun). Note that this was not during basic training, it was years later when I was on aircrew duty. That might have been what precipitated the requirement, but I was under the impression that all personnel had to qualify at some point with the pistol.
Pistol is for officers. Rifles are for everyone. She could easily have never touched a pistol.
.38 revolvers? I thought the Air Force was on the dreaded M9. Was it recently?
1986, man. And the pistols were old when we handled them. Well kept, but old.
It was this kind of situation for us enlisted aircrew pukes: here’s a pistol, learn how to use it, but don’t expect to be issued one. It was sort of the same policy they had for parachutes, as I recall. Man, it was dark humor from beginning to end. I had some good times but I am so glad that they’re over.
Hmmm. So the pistol isn’t a ‘smoking gun,’ as it were.
And yet, how does this enlistment thing fit into graduating college at 22 and apparently not being in the reserves? I’m really not getting this timeline.
and while ‘in the military’ is sometimes a way of sneakily avoiding saying, “Um, I was in the Coast Guard,”
Hey now, I was in the Coast Guard, and it was absolutely nothing but out-and-out military and butch and there was NEVER ANY MINCING ABOUT of ANY KIND.
Seriously, though – we were subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, paid according to military pay scales, and were subject to annexation by the Department of the Navy during a real-live shooting war. So are you saying we weren’t military just because invading countries, killing their leaders and converting everyone to Christianity wasn’t in our job description?
Oh, yeah – even in the Coast Guard, we had pistol training in boot camp.
Perhaps someone of the SadlyNo persuasion might verify her military service?
http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/pis/PC09SLDR.html
Maybe she’s counting he Thursday ROTC green days as being in the military?
md
Why does she want a pistol when she she has the power of cream cheese?
Navy boot camp requires pistol training also. Of course that doesn’t mean Cream Cheese ain’t full of it.
My Navy bootcamp (Dec 2001) required virtually no weapons handling. In fact, it isn’t even necessary to finish.
I was one of the lucky ones – my division got to shoot five (5) bullets from a 9mm pistol. Otherwise you only were allowed to shoot the pistols hooked up to lasers.
At military.com you can find the rank/status of military members according to their DOD records. You can find Mr. James D. Guckert as a Marine, E4, inactive reservist…but no Amber Pawlik…
My suspicion is that “in the military” may translate to “a semester in ROTC.” At best. Surely, she doesn’t mention any military service in her bio page, which is a bit, hrm, suspicious, no?
Air Force basic training in late ’92, we had to qualify on the M-16, but never on the M9. I shot on our ROTC pistol team in college before I enlisted, so actually wanted to shoot with the M9, but never had the chance.
Air Force, at least, pistols are for officers. Realistic that she could have gotten through without shooting one, although I won’t touch the rest of the issues.
Buhallin, were they still substituting M-16s with AR-15s outfitted with .22 conversion kits? That was what we had in 1982. Economical, perhaps, but the damned things jammed every 5 rounds. It was definitely anticlimactic, too, as I recall. Pretty obvious that they never really expected us to use M-16s during our time in blue. If we’d ever been attacked by a horde of aluminum cans, however, it would have been a slaughter. On their side, I mean.
Perhaps she just loves a man in uniform.
I shot on our ROTC pistol team in college before I enlisted, so actually wanted to shoot with the M9, but never had the chance.
I’ve never fired an M9, but it’s supposed to be pretty much a chump gun compared to the 1911s. Did ROTC use target pistols, or military issue?
The answer to this conundrum is obvious. The reason Amber claims to have served in the military, but never tells us what branch or what she did there, is that then she’d have to kill us. She was probably a DSS assassin like that guy in “U.S. Marshals”, or a Man In Black.
It is possible to be in the service without ever shooting a pistol. Lots of MOSs in the army never even see one–computer technicians, surgican technicians, and the like. Even infantry may go through an enlistment without ever shooting a pistol as the pistols are only issued to combat medics, machine-gunners, and senior officers/support types. Everyone else gets a rifle or carbine.
What’s telling here is he assertion that she was “in the military.”
People don’t say that, usually. They say “I’m in the army,” or “I was in the navy.” The next thing they usually tell you is what they do or did in the service.
I think at some time in their lives, all blind conservatives claim they were in the military whether it’s true or not. S’okay- in ten or so years she’ll wake up and ask herself “WTF was I thinking?”. I mean heck- I was VP of College Republicans not ten years ago. I’m sure Randroids go through the same thing.