Category: Heroism

Out Of The Past

Heroism, Military

Longtime Readers will remember that many years ago, I attended Boomershoot with the Son&Heir, and took the 2-day training course delivered by Gene Econ and two kids from the unit he was training, Adam Plumendore and Walter Gaya.  As a result of that meeting, we (I plus my Readers) kind of “adopted” Adam and Walt, and when they told me they needed some gear (scopes and rangefinders) for their upcoming deployment, we raised the money and bought them the gear.  (As I recall, it took about three days to raise the $25,000-odd, because as I’ve said before, I have the best Readers on the Internet,)

Anyway, the kids went off to Iraq.  Two months later we heard that Adam had been killed by an IED, and Walt had been badly wounded in a different engagement.

I told you all that so I could tell you this.  Walt and Adam’s CO at the time was Col. Erik Kurilla, a man of incredible bravery and outstanding leadership.  He himself was wounded in Iraq (shot three times in the legs when ambushed by some assholes in, I think Mosul).

It will therefore come as no surprise to anyone when I tell you that Colonel Erik Kurilla is now General (4-star) Erik Kurilla.  You can learn all about him here.  It makes for some interesting reading.  Just the other units he’s since commanded makes me quite awestruck, but I bet he left them better than how he found them.  He’s that kind of man.

I had a chance to chat with him once, some time after Adam was killed, and when by way of introduction I told him how I’d met Adam and Walt, and about the gear we’d contributed, his immediate response was “Oh, I know all about you, Kim, and your group, and how you helped us.”

He was not then, and I doubt very much whether he would ever be one of those remote, office-bound types who doesn’t take care of his men.  With men like him in the Army, there may still be some hope for our future.

I feel extraordinarily privileged to have known him, even as slight as that acquaintance may have been.

Good Question

Heroism

Reader Preussenotto asks the important question:  “Has Nigel Farage displaced Jeremy Clarkson as the Greatest Living Englishman?”

Now that is a tough one to answer.  Both men love guns and love their pints.

Both men drive Range Rovers, so that’s a tie.  But Farage’s other car is a Volvo (ugh):

…whereas Clarkson has an Alfa Romeo GTV6:


…and that’s just on his farm.

Both shag sexy girlfriends — okay, Jezza’s chick is skinny and Irish, while Our Nige’s squeeze is French and not skinny;  but nobody’s perfect.


…and yes I know:  both men can be said to enjoy slipping into a Ferrari.

But Clarkson did not support Brexit at the time (most likely because his EU farm subsidy money would — and did — disappear), whereas Farage…

And both men have terrible teeth, but then they’re British.

Like I said, it’s a tough call.

Close, But No Cigar

Good Stuff, Heroism

Reader Mike L. asks me whether this incident is worthy of being classified as a Righteous Shooting.

It nearly is, Mike, except for this part:

The break-in attempt did not go as planned. The owner, Gordon Richard Sr., 75, used a muzzleloader rifle to shoot one of the three men, causing the other two to flee. He then secured himself inside the home and called the police.

State police say the man who was shot was 39-year-old Paul E. Brown of Milton and St. Albans, he was seriously injured.

When police arrived, the other two intruders had fled. The police report states, “Responding troopers located Brown in a neighbor’s yard. No other individuals were found at the scene. Brown was transported by ambulance to Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans and later transferred to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, where he was listed in critical condition Wednesday afternoon.”

You all know the rules:  no dead goblin, no Righteous Shooting.

But Our Hero deserves a huge “Attaboy” from all of us for using a muzzleloader to send the “Leave Me Alone” message to the would-be property redistrubutionist.

Oh, and Mike?  Let me know if the goblin snuffs it, so I can upgrade the award from Armed Good Guy to Righteous Shooter.

Inspiring

Good Stuff, Heroism, Resistance

I have often scoffed at people who build or live in houses located in a flood plain (or at least a place prone to occasional floods — not the same thing).  But here’s a story of a guy who did:

Nick Lupton, 60, and his wife Anne, 50, live in a converted 17th century house on the banks of the River Severn.  Since they moved into the four-bedroom detached property in Pixham, Worcestershire in 2016, the house and one-acre of land has been flooded 11 times.

But instead of weeping and wailing when his house was repeatedly underwater, he said, “Fuck this!”  and did something about it.

The couple became so fed up with the costly clear-ups, they decided to surround the entire property with a 7ft-high flood defence.  They spent four months constructing the brick barrier before finally finishing it last October – just weeks before Storm Henk swept Britain.

Here’s before:

And after:

The house itself?  Dry as a bone.  Read the whole story;  it’s excellent.  With more people like this, the Brits would still have an empire.

Of course, this being Britishland, when the flood waters go down the local council will doubtless tell him to tear the wall down because it ruins the character of the 17th-century house, or something.

But let me not be so cynical.

Fighting Back

Crime, Gypsies Tramps & Thieves, Heroism

I see this becoming a trend, and not just in Britishland:

This is the moment have-a-go-heroes swooped on thieves allegedly loading up their cars with stolen groceries.

Video shows three men throwing shopping into their cars in a Tesco’s car park in Waltham Abbey, Essex, yesterday. The trio are seen hastily shoving groceries into a black Volkswagen polo from a shopping trolley before jumping into the car.

But before they drive away a group of men storm the vehicle and start demanding the alleged thieves get out of the car. They open the doors and begin to pull the alleged shoplifters out of the car as they attempt to fight back.

Shocked witnesses are heard saying “call the police” as a Tesco security worker arrives and attempts to open the boot.

The men manage to get the alleged thieves out of the car — and a struggle to restrain the men ensues. One of then alleged thieves attempts to headbutt one of the men and ends up falling to the ground.

Eventually the rozzers put in an appearance, and in a shocking move, arrest the thieves and not the men who intervened (this is the UK, after all).

And as I never tire of saying:  We do not “take the law into our own hands” when we do stuff like this, for the simple reason that the law never left our hands;  we simply deputize its enforcement to agents of the State.

But when those agents are not on the scene or unwilling to do their duty, it is our civic duty to intervene.

Frankly, if I’d been involved and some punk tried to head-butt me, he’d end up in fucking hospital.  Believe it.