The Joy of Travel

Jeff Gonzales — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 17:11:33 +0000

I have been living out a gear bag for more than half my life. No matter how glorious it seems, it gets old really fast.

Learn the Rules

I’m traveling this weekend for our first class of 2019 down in Florida. I get asked this all the time; what do you do when you travel? Well, it is really not complicated. What I have learned over the years continues to guide me moving forward. Most of these tricks are not really tricks, but experience. The next most often asked question is how do I travel with firearms and ammunition. Simple, know and follow the rules. If you haven’t visited the TSA’s website for transporting firearms and ammunition, stop reading my article and go read up on their regulations. You cannot be surprised if you have an unpleasant experience when you are ignorant. However, you can do everything by the book and still get jammed up. My best advice is to be nice. Be nice, if you studied the regulations, packed smart and arrived early to the airport then smile. I’m almost positive I’m the smartest person on this subject at the airport. I don’t flaunt it, I just smile.

Ounces to Pounds

Everyone has probably had a travel horror story to share about a bad airport experience. I have plenty and if I was smart I’d switch professions to be a paid consultant for the airlines. When it comes to packing, my game is strong. I invest in quality and rugged luggage. The days of having the super sized “dead hooker bags” are over for me. All they do is attract unwanted attention and extra fees. You are restricted to 50 pounds on just about every air carrier. If your bag or box weighs 20 pounds or more empty you end up not packing the gear you really need. When it comes to my travel bags and cases I’m a particular. What you are looking for is something with comfortable handles, big wheels and a sturdy frame with heavy lockable zippers or in the case of a hard sided case sturdy hasps. Also, you should expect about a two year shelf life no matter the manufacture. On my first trip with my current roller bag with the tags still attached, I lost a buckle. So, don’t get too attached.

One of One is None

When it comes to your firearms they will need to be secured in a lockable hard sided case. There are a lot to consider, but you have to remember their weight mentioned above. I have two different load-out methods; one for handguns only and the other for rifles and handguns. For my handguns only I take a smaller hard sided case and lock it in my checked luggage. This case is just large enough to secure both of my handguns. Then save yourself the hassles and use TSA approved locks. I recently started using a small hard sided case with bio-metric locks and what a great decision. The case is just big enough to secure two handguns. I can secure the case in my hotel room with the supplied cables and the bio-metric locks mean I don’t have to worry about forgetting combinations or giving the combination to the TSA agents. I still suggest you pack a spare set of locks for your checked bag and consider them to be consumable. The worse case scenario is on your outbound flight your locks get lost. Don’t ask, it happens more than you think. This will save you time and money trying to find a set for your return flight.

OCD to the Rescue

When it comes to training gear my suggestion is to pack them in individual smaller bags. For this task I have come to rely on the Daka bags from Magpul. I have an assorted collection of sizes and colors. One bag for my holsters, one for my magazines and box of defensive ammunition, one for my medical gear and my junk bag. I like to be as discrete as possible. Keeping all this other stuff under wraps helps. Then there is my compulsive need to be organized. Keeping gear separate in different bags makes it super easy to throw stuff into my larger roller bag. For those times I have to go heavy on my gear I get pretty technical, like a game of Tetris.

Pack Smart and Go Lite

I’m big on weight because I am done paying extra fees. Part of my experience has helped me to pack smart. Bring quality gear that is rugged and light. Think about items that can fulfill multiple roles and choose them over specialized items. In the beginning I suggest you invest in a hanging scale. I’m usually lighter coming home because I burn ammunition at the course. Going out I am spot on to a pound. Partly because I’m a creature of habit, but also because I weighed my bags every trip. In the off chance I screw up, I pack a small duffel bag I can quickly use as a second carry on to avoid overweight fees. Remember, the bigger the bag…the more stuff you will pack. After a couple of trips ask yourself if you really needed all the items. Eventually you will find the sweet spot. As for packing my carrying on bag, I have the bare essentials to teach. My schedules, rosters and supporting classroom material. Fortunately, most are digital. Then the minimum personal safety equipment such as eye/ear protection and a small medical kit. I can get by for a few days while my luggage catches up to me.

I enjoy traveling, don’t let the sour opening fool you. Give some thought to these lessons learned, because I had to learn the lessons.

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High Mileage Athlete

Jeff Gonzales — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 18:08:13 +0000

There are few constants in the world, one constant is change. Another constant as it relates to our industry is bad guys don’t grow old, seem to be younger.

Wear and tear

If you have been doing this job for any length of time, it takes its toll on the body. It is really hard to avoid injury when you are pushing the limits on a daily basis. It is not a matter of it, but when you are going to see injuries. They will vary, but count on them and more importantly you need to have a plan for how to get healthy, stay healthy and prevent future injuries. I changed my perspective after a serious injury 7 year ago, in a way it was a good thing because it forced the change.

It’s a young man’s game

I am not getting any younger in case you were wondering. Threats to my well being from criminal or terrorist actors are not aging with me, instead they are younger. They pose a significant threat because they are younger4, but they are also probably stronger and faster than most. When we are conducting our training classes I am surprised to see people have difficulty with the most innocent of movements such as retrieving equipment off the deck. With that being said, most people need mobility, balance and coordination more than anything.

Get your mobility on

We work hard to adjust and modify student’s posture in classes to better support their shooting. Most people either use techniques considered suboptimal due to the demand on the body or in some cases technically inferior. Understanding the importance of the muscular skeleton as it relates to shooting is something we push hard in classes and so on top of having difficulty retrieving equipment most have poor performance in this field because they don’t have the range of motion, their mobility sucks.

Range of motion is sweet

I noticed a ridiculous change in my lifts when I put more effort into my mobility, limited range of motion affects all aspects of your life. Balance and coordination hinge on your ability to be flexible and rigid at the same time. Yes, at times when people ask me how they can get better as a shooter I want to tell them to get stronger, but really what I should be saying is work on your mobility. While there is no safe way to provide advise these days due to our litigative society I would encourage you to simply ask yourself what hurts. It’s a great place to start your search into learning more about that region.

Knowledge is power

There is no excuse why you cannot research a joint, muscle or section on your own. To educate yourself on how it works, what it does and more importantly what it doesn’t do when injured. The body is an amazing mechanism and it compensates incredibly well, learning about those compensations due to the imbalances. While it may seem counter intuitive, your knees may be hurting because you have no flexibility in your ankles. Yes, there could be dozens of other reasons, but by educating yourself you better align your response. You may even come to realize you need to see an expert because it is much worse than you thought and you were doing a good job of trying to ignore the injury.

With access to so many resources these days it is hard not to take a more vested interest in your own body. If you don’t make it a priority, no one else will.

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