Memorable People

A recent post by Old NFO got me thinking about people I knew when I was growing up. This man was the sponsor of our Explorer post rifle team on the Sub Base at Pearl Harbor. This was in 1966 to 1967. I can't tell you any specific thing that he did but the fact that I remember him after all these years speaks volumes.

David F. Purinton

BRUNSWICK, Maine - David F. Purinton, 85, a retired U.S. Navy captain, died Thursday, March 31, 2005, in Key West, Fla.

He was born in Brunswick on March 5, 1920, a son of Charles I. and Flora M. Silva Purinton. He graduated from Brunswick High School in 1938. He was a member of the National Guard before enlisting in the Navy in 1939.

As an enlisted man, he worked his way through the ranks to chief petty officer. He was commissioned as an ensign in 1944. He retired as a captain in 1975.

During World War II, he served on the submarine Hoe (SS-258), making seven war patrols, entitling him to wear the Submarine Combat Pin with stars. He also took part in missions that were instrumental in holding off Japanese attacks on the Philippines. He was subsequently decorated with four commendations, including the Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation with gold frame.

He commanded the submarine Tirante (SS-420), earning him the Command at Sea insignia. In Key West, he was commanding officer of Submarine Division 121.

He was executive officer of the Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, and then returned to Key West as commanding officer of the submarine tender Bushnell (AS-15).

On his initiative, he secured permission to keep the Bushnell in Pilottown, Miss., following the devastation of Hurricane Camille to provide fresh water, medical assistance and emergency services. He and his crew volunteered to rebuild the pier for the pilot boats. The event was recorded in the Congressional Record.

His last two tours were assistant Navy inspector general in Washington, D.C., and administrative officer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Over the course of his Navy career, he attended the Armed Forces Staff College, the University of South Carolina and the University of Hawaii. In 1972, he received his B.S. in business administration from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

In Brunswick, he was best known as the proprietor of the Brunswick Gun Shop. Aside from gun repair, he was active in antique gun collecting, repair and appraisal.

After the gun shop closed in 2003, he was busy writing two books, appraising antique guns and working on the restoration of one of his three antique autos.

He was chaplain of the Submarine Veterans of World War II, Squalus Chapter; a founding member and retired trustee of the Kittery Historical and Naval Museum; a member of the Military Officers Association of America; and an active member of St. Charles Borromeo Church.

Cutting Off One's Nose......

The news feed was full today listing the companies that cut "partnerships" with the NRA and the left was crowing "That'll teach 'em." Well, exactly what will it teach them?

Most of these "partnerships" were marketing schemes where the listed companies offered discounts to NRA Members. Obviously, they recognized that the NRA members could be a pool of money if they were marketed to correctly.  So, what they are doing is giving the finger to the entire membership or the NRA and telling them that they will no longer get discounts for flying Delta, renting from Hertz, or using Symantic.

I predict that the companies severing ties with the NRA will themselves experience a backlash as NRA supporters decide to boycott them.

NRA members should each buy 1 share of stock from each of those companies and then vote against the management at the next shareholders meeting.

Project Management

9mm Therapy

It has been a while since I've been on the shooting range. Luckily, there is no shortage of ranges in Houston. So, after work, I went to the nearest indoor range for a little eye-hand coordination practice.

I selected a 9mm Glock 26 from the rental display, bought two boxes of ammo and three targets and went to the range where I was the sole occupant. I set the targets at 9 yards and went to work.

The results from shooting the first box revealed an occasional flinch but mostly a trigger control issue. Things improved on the second box. On aimed slow fire, I put 17 out of 25 in the 10 ring. And all shots were within the 8 ring. In rapid fire, I put 5 out of 25 in the 10 ring and another 16 in the 9 and 8 ring. Its a good way to relieve office induced stress.

Next time, I'll use the snubbie on double action.

Engineer Shooters Wanted

I opened my email this morning to find this notice from ASME's International Petroleum Technology Institute. Its a fund raising event for scholarships and such and sounds as if there will be a lot of shooty fun. So if you are going to be in the Houston area around 22 Jan, you might want to put together a team and go shoot.

Ya gotta love the oil field!

Shooting Skeet

I received this note in response to the video:

"In my Alabama National Guard days I trained as a gunner on M-42 tanks. Target practice was shooting at metal sleeves pulled by remote controlled aircraft. We had a ball. One day there were 30 tanks lined up on the firing line but only one battery (5 tanks) firing at a time. Range control knew those farm boys in my battery were good so didn't give us permission to fire until the other batteries had two firing sessions each. None of them touched the target. When they finally gave our battery fire permission the first tank took out the target sleeve immediately after it came in range. One of the other 4 tank crews being pissed at not getting even one shot took out the plane. It crashed into the woods starting a fire and we had to fight fire the rest of the day. The next day we didn't get to fire at all for punishment for taking out the drone."

Petit Fours and the Four Rules

My wife and I had the Three Amigos (otherwise known as “The Grandsons”) out for lunch one day and the topic of conversation turned to a local specialty bakery. From there it turned to petit fours. As the bakery was known for special orders my wife asked, “Do you think anyone can just walk in and buy petit fours?”

“Of course, honey, we live in a right to own state. Anyone who is not a criminal can buy petit fours.” I replied.

The Three Amigos caught on right away that I was talking about the 2nd Amendment and offered their encouragement by agreeing with me “Yeah, Grandma, we have the right to own petit fours.”

“And if you don’t exercise those rights, you can lose them.” I continued.

The next thing we knew we were on the way to the petit four shop for 2 dozen of the sweet little morsels.

After making the purchase, I schooled the Three Amigos on the 4 Rules:

1) All petit fours are assumed to be loaded
2) Always point your petit four in a safe direction
3) Know the target for your petit four
4) Keep your fingers off the petit four until ready

Shooting Skeet in the Emirates

Last year, I had an assignment troubleshooting a fast track project being built in Dubai. The project wasn't all that complicated and I found I had to fill my weekends with extracurricular activities. After riding 4 wheelers in the dunes and abras on the Creek, there wasn't much left to occupy my free time. After all, how much time can you spend shopping in designer malls? Then I discovered skeet shooting. While I was pretty fair with a rifle and a handgun, I had never shot at things flying in the air. It seems the Jebel Ali resort, which was about 5 minutes from my construction trailer office, has a world class skeet and trap range. A member of the royal family, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hashar Al Maktoum, won Olympic Gold in double trap shooting and he trains here. Hell, they probably built it just so he could train for the Olympics. I found that shooting a couple of boxes of 12 gauge bird shot was a great way to burn off the frustrations of the day. They provided a nice Beretta over/under shotgun and a "gun walla".