Henry Rifle Forums

I have started to post this several times over the last few days, but always deleted the thread before hitting the submit button. I just couldn't get the tone of the post right. I'm not looking for sympathy here. I wanted to share what has happened in the last week, a lesson learned so to speak, so my friends here, my Henry Family, can perhaps learn MY lesson before it's too late.

Most of you know that I have been lucky enough to have a couple fine Officers in my life that guided me through my competitive shooting while I was competing. One was a Sergeant in my first department who was also a Former Marine, and it turned out we had a lot in common. We both spent time as door gunners, although he also became a Crew Chief, where my MOS in the Corps kept me from pursuing that goal. It's rare they will let Avionics Techs do so, it's happens, but not often. He was also the driving force behind the new range facility for my first department and ran the firearms training there for more than a decade, before returning to Patrol Operations. That Sergeant also became my Rabbi, available at the end of the phone line when I had a question, be it Law Enforcement, Shooting, or life in general. He was there, no matter what department I worked for and even after we both retired... Lou has been like family.

The second Officer was another Sergeant... he happened to be both the Rangemaster for another large metro department and my Sergeant's training/travel partner for competition, and that talented gunsmith who built three competition guns for me. He also was the type that rarely yelled, but a quiet word or two carried more weight than a tirade from most others. He has walked up during a match in the past and whispered a couple words of advice between strings, and I listened. Like EF Hutton, when Jerry took the time to speak, folks listen. My scores always improved.

Since Jerry retired and focused on his Gunsmithing and competitive shooting, he has remained extremely busy. He lives two hours away these days, and since I stopped shooting competition, I don't see him at the matches any longer. Lou lives ten minutes from me, retiring here in the boonies and building a backyard range like I did. Out of respect for my old mentor's schedule, I didn't feel it was right to drop in his shop and visit, he had a two year waiting list for his guns; he had work to do.

Lou called last week. He had been keeping me up on our old friend, who he saw at the matches and they practiced together often, until Jerry got sick. He had been battling a vicious disease, which he fought and fought hard. He lost that battle last week. I never got over to visit, although Lou had said he would let me know when Jerry felt up to a visit.

My message is simple... if there is someone in your life who has made a big difference, or even a small one and you have wanted to thank them. Don't wait too long to do so, or you might not get the chance to let them know. Time waits for no one, and once time passes, we can't turn back the clock.


Jerry Built both these guns for me to shoot in the State Level PPC Matches all those years ago, both still shoot as well as the day they were built:

The Bull Barreled 38 The 50 yard groups I shoot are good, but in the hands of a better shooter would astound.

Jerry took my good ol' Springfield .45 and made it into something GREAT. After not having shot the gun for almost two years, and having had three surgeries, here are the first 12 rounds downrange at 25 yards.... Not bad for a broken old Marine.... The gun was capable of much better. I adjusted the sights and centered the group.
Fired another 24 rounds. We'll miss you Jerry. You did great work, and it only got better in the end.

thanks for a valid reminder that most of us have learned the hard way over time ....

Peace be with you, Marine. Thanks for sharing his story.

JEBar wrote:thanks for a valid reminder that most of us have learned the hard way over time ....

Amen to that. Yes, indeed, thank-you for the reminder, dear friend.

Yes. Thanks.

I am sorry for your loss. And yes, time waits for no man or woman: "Do the best you can with what you got, while you can, is the most that any of us can do" (Dad).

Nice shooting!!

Sometimes, "I'll do it tomorrow" is just one day too late, so thank you for the reminder that life is short and precious, BM.

I had a fellow loadmaster in my Reserve squadron that I had a tremendous amount of respect for. I can't say exactly what it was about him, but everybody seemed to love and respect him. One day after a mission, I felt the need to express how I felt. As we were dragging our bags to our cars in the parking lot I told him that if I was in a burning aircraft I would be looking for his bald head to pull out first. I could tell it meant a lot to him. Shortly afterwards, he had a huge grand mall seizure and was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died not long afterwards.

I was always grateful that I was able to express my respect for him before it was too late.

Thanks to you all.

I have to say that this is the Second Time in my life that I have regretted not saying something I wanted to say just a little sooner.

Back in the mid 80s, as my Squadron was preparing for a med cruise, we were working long days, two shifts working 12 hours or more getting ready for the Green Water Workup. (We take the aircraft on the ship and sail around for three weeks or so just off the coast, to knock the bugs out. We leave all the bulk gear on the ship, fly back to base for a short period, then leave again a couple weeks later for SIX months) As a Staff NCO I was running one of the secondary shops, pushing the Corrosion Control folks to get the Aircraft ready for the Salt Water environment, and we had been knocking out the nit picky stuff since all the main inspections and jobs had been done. We were days away from leaving. One of the Sergeants, a Crew Chief who happened to be a "work" friend of mine came into the shop and stood at my desk complaining about the way two of my guys had done some Non-Skid work on his airplane. (Work friend... we'd eat lunch together, sit and talk about mutual interests and the like, but we didn't hang out away from work.)

I let him whine and complain for about two minutes until he started raising his voice and pointing his finger.. then I stopped him.

"SERGEANT," I said, reminding him that he was stepping WAY over the line. "If you had done YOUR job and taken care of your aircraft properly, you would have non-skidded that area yourself. If you don't like the way my guys did it, strip it and redo it. WE are DONE with this conversation. Consider yourself lucky."

He left in a huff and we didn't have a chance to speak before we flew the squadron out onto the ship, due to the flight OP schedule and the workloads. During normal ops, we would have probably run into each other, had a laugh about it... and everything would have been fine. The squadron was flying heavy operations once we got out to the ship and I was back in the Avionics shop working midnights, so I got off at 4am or so every morning.

At 5am one morning shortly after we hit the decks and started the workup, the alarm klaxons on the ship went off and the 1MC shipwide intercom broadcast this message:

"Crash, Crash, Crash, Aircraft in the water off the forward bow, this is not a drill. All hands turn to, man your battle stations, Dive Teams to the bridge. Crash Crash Crash, this is not a drill." Typing those words still sends a chill up my spine.

One of our CH46E's had taken off and lost power to an engine and hit the water. It was still dark out, and the aircraft hit the water and broke in half. Thirteen Marines died in the crash including the Co-pilot, Crewchief, and First Mech. They had a full load of passengers. There were four survivors. The Pilot and three of the Ground Marines in the rear.

The SERGEANT I had words with about his aircraft, was the Crewchief... ... his wife was 7 months pregnant with their first child.
Was I wrong to speak to him the way I did that day a week before we went on the ship? No... Certainly not. I would have been wrong to allow a Sergeant to speak to me that way in front of the rest of the Marines.. He forgot his place due to the stress of the long hours. But... we both could have found a minute to speak before we went out to sea... but the pace of the work kept us jumping.... 16 hour days...

It had always been my leadership style to make sure to chat with someone within 24 hours if I had to discipline them, or verbally correct them. I also rarely corrected my Marines in front of others.. I went by the adage, praise in public, criticize in private. But, if they open that can of worms...

Thanks. I recently learned the hard way as one of the men from my Army unit passed away unexpected.

BrokenolMarine wrote: It had always been my leadership style to make sure to chat with someone within 24 hours if I had to discipline them, or verbally correct them. I also rarely corrected my Marines in front of others.. I went by the adage, praise in public, criticize in private. But, if they open that can of worms...

Understood. A man does what he has to do, and may the rest take care of itself.

Good advice. Thanks for sharing and Semper Fi.


Tim

I learned a long time ago to listen to that still small voice in my head. It has saved me on numerous Occasions. I am sorry that you did not get a chance to visit with your friend. A lot of us are getting up in years and losing some of our friends. It is hard, we will persevere.

I was thinking about just that fact the other day. Every time Lou and I meet for coffee, it ends up being one of those BS sessions where we talk about the old days... we remember back when So and So did such and such...

Too often these days, Lou will finish an anecdote with the phrase, "Did I remember to tell you he passed last month?"

Since he retired from the department with nearly 30 years in, he is still in the email chain for certain notifications. Plus, he still goes to the range for annual quals.... and to shoot department matches. He has all the scoop...

Most of the guys we worked with aren't around any more.

You are so right to go and see some one or say something when you think of it.




I should have gone and seen Mr. Taylor.

It's funny. A year or so ago, BEFORE I learned that our mutual friend had his disease, I had a gift for my friend Lou and when we met for coffee, I told him how much I appreciated all he has done over the years. How much it has meant that he has been there to yell at me from the other end of the phone, tell me how slow I am in my thinking, that a first year rookie fresh out of the academy could figure this out, and ask how dense can I be? The gift was small, but it had carried special meaning for me for more than thirty years and I was passing it to Lou. Along with my thanks.

It proved one thing...

With the right motivation, you can cut through the hard outer shell and tough ol' Marine / Police Sergeants do have a soft side.
No matter what, I'll know that Lou, at 80, knows how much all he has done, has meant to me.
I have made it a point in the last few years to share this with the few friends I have on my short list.
Friends. Think about it folks.... true friends are hard to come by, and harder to hold on to.
Treat them with respect and value them. Once they are gone... new ones are hard to find.

Thanks for sharing a tribute to your friends, mentors, and brothers.