Some folks have wondered aloud why many FSWers prefer to daily
wear their handguns.....
When I was nineteen years old- quite a few years back- the government of the United States gave me a wonderful machine, fifty-plus tons of armor and seven hundred and fifty horsepower, fitted with two machineguns with more than ten thousand rounds of ammunition between them, plus a 4-inch cannon with which I could hit a target the size of a watermelon at a half mile [10x telescopic sight and a 52-ton bipod] or one a little bigger than a car or van at over a mile and a half...and 63 rounds of ammo for that cannon. In addition, we had a couple of submachineguns as spares, and often a rifle and grenade launcher besides.
Nevertheless, it was also thought necessary that I also have a M1911A1 .45 automatic pistol, loaded, and with extra ammunition with it. That gave me no feeling of insecurity about the weapon that was simultaneously my protection, my fighting tool, mt transportation to or from a fight, and the very roof over my head. Even then I could understand that a craftsman or artist needs more than one tool in his toolbox, or there would be no need for toolboxes; we would only need but one tool to accomplish all tasks. And so I was given, and cared for, that additional two pound tool to have with me, even though I was a part of that fifty-ton device, along with three partners and friends, each of whom also carried his own pistol of the same type.
Now due to my relatively impoverished circumstances, I don't happen to have a tank immediately available for my daily personal use. And even if I did, their fuel consumption rate is somewhat high, and they're hard on the asphalt parking lot of the local shopping center, not to mention the bridges between here and there. Accordingly, I'll just carry the handgun, of the same type as that one with which both my government and I placed our reliance way back when I was a teenager, and I won't feel too bad about not having the near-immediate capability of hitting another vehicle with a seventeen-pound high explosive projectile when required. I learned, long ago, to get the job done whether it's the Big Tool, or the smaller one, or one of the intermediate ones, that's immediately at hand when it's time to tackle the work of the task at hand.
And if, just by chance, I should need that particular tool that does its job perhaps a bit less eficiently than the bigger one which was once as much a part of me as I was of it, that'll be okay: it too is a tool with which I'm very well-trained in the effective use. I can utilize it deliberately or reflexively, as required by the circumstances of the day.
Too,, so far as that goes and if it comes to that, I can call upon a few old friends and fellow crewmates, three in number, and we can just as easily and simply reassume our old roles with pretty much the same familiarity as putting on a well-worn pair of comfortable gloves. It would be sad, almost regrettable, if we should have to renew that old partnership again, but not for us; it would be a pity for those who caused the circumstances that required thev reactivation of our old roles. We were very,
very good at what we did, and an Empire fell because of it; we might even manage that sort of success again. And long ago, nearly five decades ago, we gave our word, pledged our honor, that we would do just that, should our skills at arms and our mastery of our machinery be required to do our job.
So yep, the little two-pound tool that's my daily companion is indeed more than *just* a means for my personal protection, more than one tool in the toolbox for me. It's a reminder of why you really,
really really, don't want to have me and those like me as your enemy. It's very much a symbol and reminder as well, and the power that stands behind it is mighty and awesome, almost beyond the comprehension of those innocents who've not seen the power and the glory and the fury all set loose at once, in living color with full stereophonic sound.
Beware. If I don't have the little one, I may be going for the bigger one.
I (insert name), having been appointed a (insert rank) in the U.S. Army under the conditions indicated in this document, do accept such appointment and do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God.
