Submitted for your perusal and edification, E-mail Blog report received from:
The Tactical Wire sponsored by Bushmaster
*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
Editor's Notebook: Time Passages
By Rich Grassi
This Colt National Match .45 was the editor's first autoloading service pistol - it was purchased from a former officer and has since been refinished.
Thirty-two years ago - 7/7/1977 - I started my first job in law enforcement. It wasn't my last but in some ways it was the best.
That first day consisted of being processed in. The Assistant Chief (later to be Chief of Police) Ralph Shanks took me to city hall. I was sworn in, did the obligatory paperwork for health insurance and retirement. On the drive back, Ralph said, "A few things can get you fired. Messing with the ladies on duty. Stealing. Lying."
Okay.
"And don't shoot anyone."
I wondered aloud how I'd know if it was the right time to shoot. He gave me the answer I'd later hear given again and again, an answer I gave on one occasion: "You'll know when it's right."
I wondered how that was but I was sure he was doing the right thing. He'd been around a long time. He was quite a shooter, along with Don Marshall and Charlie Rice. They were regulars at the twice-per-year Kansas Peace Officers Association matches. They were known for routinely cleaning qualifications. Marshall shot the first clean score I ever saw. He was shooting a two-inch Combat Masterpiece from the duty holster that normally carried his four-inch duty gun.
My first duty gun was a very tight Ruger Security Six. It was the sign of the rookie in a department where everyone bought their own gun. A few Model 15s were in the Sergeants' cabinet in case someone had a gun crap the bed or a new hire needed a gun until he could afford one.
They issued everything else. We got back to the station and I went through the "rag bag" for the closest fitting old "brown gowns" (uniforms) that could be found. I got the leather, keys, cuffs and a nightstick - not a baton. We could still have nightsticks then.
Everyone carried a sap. A stitched together leather contrivance with a flat plug of lead in one end - the "beaver's tail" - and a flat spring along the inside of the gripping portion, it was also known as a slapper.
Flat, fairly light, handy, it could be carried in the aptly named sap pocket on your uniform trousers or shoved in the waistband for quick access. It was an impact weapon for those close, unpleasant encounters.
Before the month was out, when I was facing my first qualification, I found my way into a late 1960's Colt National Match. It had some rust, the original finish was going away. The magazines I had were gun show specials, not very good. The National Match was the Colt Gold Cup before they called it that. The NM had a Colt Accro rear sight instead of the Cup's Elliason sight.
It was my first duty autoloader. My first issued duty autoloader was a lifetime later in 1986. By then saps had gone away as had sap pockets on uniform trousers. Lightbars had become more aerodynamic. Rear amber flashing lights made a comeback. We were only a few years away from a trunked radio system.
It would be fourteen months before I got to the academy in a state where the rules were new hires were to be academy certified within the year. We were short handed and the boss petitioned for an extension for me.
It was allowed and I did almost the first half of my career there without school training. I learned quite a bit that first year; all those many years ago.