Being a veteran and firearms instructor in the Navy and in the civilian world, I know being a military veteran does not make you a system expert in firearms. Several people pointed out it is a constant learning process that growth that allows us to be better than what we were in the past. It is a constant learning process, it is a constant practice process as well. It is the exercises that we do and the ability to do things outside of just shooting at a target at a public range with just plunking paper. If you are a vet and not active in your use of firearms, your proficiency will lack. I know since my job in the Navy included the phrase, “hostages are to be considered but not a deterrent”, I know that does not apply in the civilian world. So I know there are many things we learned in the military that is very different than in the civilian world. Constant learning and practice is key!
LOL, I haven’t heard that line in some many years but it did get asked on a qual board and I looked right at the Captain (who asked the question with his wife as the hostage) “You’re about to be single Sir.” I was a little brash in my younger years 
, the COB squirmed in his seat and gave me an earful for answering that way but I got qualified. Welcome aboard!!
Cheers,
Craig6
In all of my years of working as a paramedic I was never asked to pay for a meal in advance. If we were called out we would just leave and they would throw the food away. Once we cleared the call, we would return a they would bring us a fresh meal. We were never double charged but they sure as hell got generous tips. My daughter has noticed the same thing as a law enforcement officer.
We were never ASKED to pay in advance… and in some cases, they knew we would be back… and would keep it warm.
Never said we were asked… to pay in advance.
The words…‘Both tend to make you pay in case of need to depart’… is you as the individual… felt a need to pay… not that they made me pay.
I sometimes did (especially if working EMS, we stopped at a place we normally did not stop and was further from our station and we might not come back… usually a pizza place and could take the pizza but if not)… and I sometimes or usually tried to when overseas in certain areas as I might need to depart rapidly… for other reasons and in no way part of EMS.
We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training
Archilochus
I was in the Army and never fired a semi automatic pistol till I was 70 years old but I fired the M1grand,M1 carbine, and M14.
LMAO Clean head shot with a Tomahawk cruise missile or Sea Sparrow is very, very tricky.
If you seek out quality advanced firearms or combatives training in the military…in any branch, job, etc…you can get it pretty easily. And everyone in the Army or Marine Corps has BASIC firearms training with a semi-auto rifle. Beyond these 2 basic facts, a DD214 is no guarantee of weapons proficiency. The base line for LEOs (generally speaking) is a trip to the range to shoot a weapons qual once per year. Many cops spend the majority of their career NOT on patrol. Very few work on tactical entry teams. Hollywood is BS.
It was my observation that few young service members on their first enlistments sought out much quality “after duty hours” training. 98% spent their down time seeking out chemically impaired members of the opposite sex, not martial arts or firearms training. On the other hand, I was never unable to find some impressive fighters and shooters on ANY US military installation anywhere in the world with whom I could train "off duty. About 10% of LEOs do a LOT of “off duty” training, too. It’s always been this way.
It is a disservice to military veterans and LEOs to assume they have wicked firearms proficiencies.
Yes it is Ken!!!
You’re absolutely correct
Any further educational information or training would be amazing.
I think the general public would be surprised to find out how many LEOs are not gun guys
But I thought they were all “highly trained” and experts at all this stuff. I mean, I’ve seen a LOT of movies where cops lived in mansions, drove Ferraris, could smell drugs and bombs like a trained dog, were Kung Fu masters, and could shoot the eyes out of multiple frogs with 2 pistols while running down a dark alley being shot at by 40 bad guys with machine guns. You telling me that most cops are NOT like that?
Can look at MOS designation in a lot of cases and just about tell what level of hands on experience may have been had. But also a lot of folks out here know nothing of the MOS jargon
Oh no Ken My Hollywood bubble has been popped lol.
I think that’s generally true, to an extent. An 11B is going to get a lot more rifle training and practice than, say, a 2A654. But with limitations. 11Bs are mostly taught rifles and automatic weapons, and mostly team and squad level tactics. Something that hit home to me here is that USCCA is focused on personal defense, which is different. And we spend most of our time flapping our jaws about pistols. So the guy with 8 years in Infantry might know his Army weapons & tactics backwards and forwards, but he might not necessarily be the best instructor.
And not to be a jerk, but I’ll throw this in, too. While most infantry are very well trained, occasionally you’ll meet a Gomer that just doesn’t catch on. He might have a long career as a PFC but might struggle every year to qualify. That Air Force fueler I mentioned might just happen to be a Deadshot. I had a shooter who consistently had a scary small grouping that was practically impossible to count hits, and he was a cook. So while I somewhat agree with you about the correlation between MOS and experience, we have to be careful about making assumptions.
Very true!
You are both correct. There’s a very general rule of thumb, and then the exceptions to the rule.
That reminds me…Stephen the Seagull played a Navy SEAL turned world class celebrity chef Mess Specialist on the USS Missouri who…with the help of a stripper…saved the world form thermonuclear destruction. You mean that wasn’t realistic? 