Tipton Tactical

   A new venture into a sole proprietor business. An innovative firearm accessory for the HK 90 series weapon systems that is modular to the design, multifunction, and can be customized to your specific needs. The Invertible Cheek Piece Mount (ICM & ICM II). www.tiptontactical.org

Night Patrol

By
Gentry Lee Tipton


In the summer of 1992 the Philippines was a hot and humid place to be. The Marines saw fit to place me here as part of the Marine Expeditionary Force; this is a reactionary amphibious force tasked for that region of the globe. Training drills and mock operations kept our minds off of the world back home. The jungle wasn’t the best type of training for the near future of the US military, but it was good training non-the-less.
My experience at patrolling was limited to the Persian Gulf War; huge disbursement and high visibility. We were in for a lesson in contrast. A night patrol? What could come from this? I asked myself. All of the company geared up, and loaded up in the five tons for a few hours ride. The sun was setting low in the sky and I knew that darkness would come quickly. As the trucks come to a slow near our drop off point, it started to hit me how dark it was actually going to be. We unloaded with uncertainty. The real reason for my doubt is that I knew how rugged the terrain is under that pillow like canopy of thick tree cover. This cover also added to the potential for total darkness during the patrol from a lack of any moon or star light.
A gear check, an uncertain look at the other Marines, and patrol movement began. Closer and closer to the canopy and to the darkness came with each step. This was a tactical patrol meaning that no light of any kind could be used at any time. Once in the jungle, I strained my eyes to see something, anything, but waving my hand in front of my open eyes and sensing nothing confirmed the concerns I had earlier. We were patrolling totally blind. The only way to know which way to go was to put your non-gun hand on the Marine in front of you, and adjust to the contour of the ground with your feet. The patrol continued to move, but very slowly. Occasionally, the yell from the Marine on point would be heard followed by the sound of falling and loosening of rocks as he fell. It was a wonder no one needed a MEDI VAC that night. By the time I got to the drop off, assistance was stationed to avoid injuries. Good to go!
The learning experience to be taken from such a task as a night patrol I understood very well. How much do you depend upon your sight to lead you through the rough spots? What happens when the lights go out? What will be your guide? Can your other senses compensate for your lack of vision? As much as I may have taken from this, what was expected didn’t turn out to be the most dramatic! Back on the patrol, as time passed ever so slowly, as did the patrol; after a little time had passed while in the darkness I noticed something. My vision adjusted to my environment and I was actually able to see something, but I was not sure what it was. Constantly staining my eyes to see something to get a little depth perception I noticed bits of glowing areas on the ground. The more my eyes adjusted, the more they stood out, and eventually were too numerous to count. It started to kind of freak me out a little because periodically it seemed like I was looking up at the starry sky, and the contours of the landscape stood out somewhat from the illuminated dots of faint, pale greenish light. Amazing I thought. We were standing amongst the stars! I brought this up to other Marines in the patrol and not everyone could see them. The glowing bits of matter on the ground turned out to be decaying leaves. Oooh…that doesn’t sound as cool when it’s put that way. None-the-less, it was the high light of the patrol for me.
The rest of the patrol was uneventful. We accomplished our mission of learning more about maneuvering over uneven terrain with reduced visibility, but not without difficulty as was expected.
This time I served in the Philippines was quite memorable because of the training, the sights, the scenery of the area, and many things that were taking place in the United States that I would never be able to change. Life goes on. Then it comes back to hurt you, or help you. Nothing can replace experience, but sometimes you wish something else would; like easy street.


Semper Fi

Short Story

Defense in the Sand

by

Gentry Lee Tipton

The darkness around me was total. Only the hint of reddish-orange light barely visible on the horizon reminded me that the isolation felt from the night would soon be replaced by the warm and awakening light of the Sun. That was encouraging, since the entire night was spent taking turns keeping watch on the outside perimeter, two hours at a time in a cold, wet, and sandy fox hole. The Sun's appearance would be welcome! I never imagined the desert could be such a cold, wet, and miserable place. Though there I was, with teeth chattering under a soaked poncho. Being as close to the Ocean as we were, the humid night brought a swift breeze that chilled to the bone.

As the Sun continued to rise, I wondered what the top brass were up to. There's no way they could be as cold as the rest of us. Officers were more than likely huddled in an AAV where there is a warm and cozy diesel engine to snuggle up to. That's OK. The officers have a lot on their shoulders, and should be able to come to a more complete and rational conclusion to a tactical complication that we might run into if there is a little more warmth to settle the chill.

Uncle Sam managed to call up the Marine Reserve AAV unit out of Louisiana to play in the sand with the Marine regulars until the war was over. There may be a little more comfort associated with being responsible for that tracked beast, but when the Sun is high in that Oman sky, we're all going to be drowning ourselves with water trying to avoid dehydration from the heat. What contrast!

The operation code name was “Sea Angel”, and was executed on the beaches of Oman just South of Saudi Arabia. This was a mock up of the anticipated full scale combat landing of operation “Desert Storm” in Kuwait.

In the thick of it were plumes of smoke shooting up from flames atop a multitude of oil well structures. The Iraqi's were ordered to set all of the oil wells on fire to reduce our visibility. I thought to myself as I looked at the smoke and fire filled horizon, “If there was ever a bad place to be, this would be it!” The smoke and oil residue mixed with the clouds, and the Sun looked like a distant moon in the middle of the day. Blotches of oil residue covered our utilities. This was an eerie place to be. Our push through Kuwait and up into Iraq was cut just short of Iraq's capital city, Baghdad. Clearing unsecured areas where units of the Republican Guard were reported to be, we took the road less traveled which made it that much more difficult to maneuver into position. Many of the communities had to be cleared on foot. Not the most welcomed approach, but we completed the job nonetheless.

Those days spent in the desert I will never forget. I learned a lot about myself and the world during that time which shaped my perspective on life for the better. War is a necessary evil in society. Good men and women are who must carry it out for the sake of everything held dear. There will always be a threat, because there will always be an enemy to manifest that threat against the free world, where ever that may be...

Semper Fi

The Jacket

18 March 2009

The Jacket

There are many types of jackets, but the main concern here is leather; potentially, a flight or even a bomber jacket from WWII. These tend to be the most well designed and hard wearing garments of all time. Initially designed for mild and extreme temperatures at multiple altitudes for the US and allied force pilots, the flight jacket design has stood the test of time. The German Defense Forces (Wehrmacht) of WWII also had some pretty cool and sleek flieger (pilot) jackets worth looking into. For a life long companion, that improves its looks and character from use and age, a quality leather flight jacket is really hard to beat.

The lining can be made of polyester, cotton, nylon, silk, or the actual wool from the animal. Some of the lighter and cooler materials are used in the summer flight jackets. The lighter jackets of course are used in mild climates. These go well with almost all types of informal wear, and are ready for any travel adventure.

Heavy bomber jackets, that utilize wool from the animal for the lining, are for extremely cold weather climates. The bulk associated with the bomber jacket is not for casual wear. Its purpose is to trap as much warm air from the body, and keep it from escaping as possible. Wool is one of the most efficient insulators known, and even insulates when damp or wet.

Choosing a Jacket

The main concerns in purchasing a leather jacket is the type of leather used in its construction, its construction method or design, and the actual types of weather it will be worn in; its intended purpose. Truth be known, leather is leather. Differences really lay in the thickness or weight of the leather, and its external texture, finish, and grain, and all of these vary even amongst the same leather source. There is cowhide, pigskin, and the most popular; sheep skin. How do you find the specific leather you want in your jacket? The safest bet is to grab a hand full, and if you think you’ve found the perfect leather, don’t expect to find it again; carpe deum with urgency! Understanding how to treat and care for the jacket leather after purchase is crucial to performance and longevity. You don’t have to neglect your jacket to get the cool worn look. It gets the cool worn look from wear, not neglect. The leather can dry out and crack if neglected for too long in dry climates rendering the jacket unserviceable.

Personal choices abound when it comes to looks including color, specific style, and fit. Finding a quality jacket that has your look can be a frustrating quest. There are companies that can custom fit a jacket of your chosen design, and would be the best way to go, but these services cost upwards in the $1000 range and often times more. If you’re on a budget like most of us are, a store bought pre-sized garment will serve its purpose just as well.

Fit is a personal and functional choice, not a fashion choice. Form follows function, not fashion. If you want fashion, ask your girlfriend, not me. Do you plan on wearing bulky clothing underneath? Then a somewhat loose fit may be a better choice. If you just need to take the chill off and look cool doing it, then a closer fit should win the looks and seize the chill. My personal flaw is finding one of anything to do everything, so it’s not a crime to have more than one, to do two or three times as much!

Gentry Lee Tipton

www.thewatcherglt.blogspot.com

The Watch

17March2009

The measure of time has been through a myriad of advancements over the centuries from the beginning of Horology in Babylonian times with the Sun dial, to more modern advancements in technology approaching the extreme such as the precision of the atomic clock accurate to billionths of a second. The atomic clock in Denver, Colorado is used by the US Government as a time standard.

A wrist watch is a more practical tool for every day use and is viewed differently of course based upon perspective and its intended purpose. The paradigm shift from the pocket watch to a wrist watch took place in the early 1900’s when it became acceptable in society to wear a watch on your wrist; just like the aircraft pilots. This did add to the cool factor, not to mention convenience of literally having time close at hand. To some, it’s just a device to occasionally tell time and keep a schedule. To others, it’s a crucially indispensable tool depended on to monitor and measure how much time has pass, and to many, many others, it’s just about a whole lot of bling! Some just want it all and expect their time piece to function regardless of what it is used for. Collectors are in a special class of watch enthusiasts where price is normally associated with quality, rarity, and oftentimes both, but despite what a watch is used for, it’s resting on your wrist for the whole world to see. A choice of watch will reflect a certain type of personality in an environmental genre, from the wearer, to the observer.

How different can a watch face be from another? Well, how different can a person’s face be from another? Aesthetics matter almost as much as function and in many ways they’re inseparable. How much use is there in a watch that has perfect timing, but the hands or display is hard or almost impossible to make out under expected usage conditions? Your watch face reflects your character or setting; petite and minimal at a restaurant/Tux time; or maybe bold, straight forward and obvious for outdoor activities.

Most watches designed for social purposes are very limited in use during other activities and durability. Not to say there isn’t high-end watches that are guaranteed to perform through all, and these watches may lean towards showing an upper social status, but the price of these watches are out of most enthusiasts’ and the average consumer’s price range. As with most things in life, a compromise is normally struck. With the choice of a watch, the compromise is between affordability and needed reliable function.

I am guilty of leaning towards mechanical time pieces; those watches that wind themselves with a pendulum or are wound manually by the user. I will admit that the majority may be better off with a battery powered watch. Only due to the fact that most watch users aren’t really dependent upon their watches except for special circumstances as in the past. Mechanical watches tend to be a bit more pricy, but you tend to get what you pay for. Cell phones commonly display the time accurately; the majority does have a cell phone.

So, why would anyone want or need a watch to begin with? Cell phones haven’t been around hardly a fraction of the time compared to time pieces. It’s hard to let a good thing die. Cell phones and battery powered watches are dependent upon a power source, which can fail. The delicate nature of electronics is notorious for failure and frustration. It’s nice to purchase a watch, place it on your wrist, and forget about it until you need it, and it’s easy to find to boot!

Gentry Lee Tipton

www.thewatcherglt.blogspot.com