European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 12, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 18 stars and stripes july 2007 Thomas publisher Richard general Europe Stephen commander news and editorial Robb Grindstaff Doug Clawson executive editor managing editor Europe Sam Europe Bureau chief Joseph Mideast Bureau chief Mami assistant Bureau chief assistant managing editors Mary news Sean sports Brian features Christopher Patrick news editor Joe web editor addresses mail unit Apoate 09211 International mail Postrach 64345 Germany fax Dan 3498416 449 0 email news letters Central office 529 14th Street suite Washington do phone Dan 3127630900 or 202 fax 202 7610890 editorial director 52914th suite do phone Dan 3127630945 or 202 How to Call us editor Dan 3498264 0 6155601264 letters Dan 3498237 0 sports Dan 3498225 0 circulation Dan 3498437 0 advertising Dan 0 news bureaus Germany country code bomb err Mark car 459 Box Apo a 091393703 Dan 4697957 0 or fax Dan 4698007 or 0 email Baum older John 222nd Apo 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welcomes comments from and can be contacted by email at of buds , or by phone at european and Pacific stars and stripes 2007 stars and stripes web site letters to the editor horizontal holsters unsafe the writer of Holster is not the prob july 2 berates an earlier writer Johnson Holster int june 26 for his rear Echelon yet looking at the signature one sees that while the first writer is in secure Iraq the second is kicking doors and shoot ing insurgents on the front lines Kuwait and i dont know How Many convoys the Good major who wrote the second letter has been on lately in my battalion we Wear our pistols either on Droplet hol sters or attached to our outer tactical Vest pointed not in a horizon Tal shoulder Holster purchased at the local Haji although blatantly in apparently beats paying the for a High Quality and Safe Galco leather vertical Rig or wearing the government issued Droplet in the weapons officer for my Battal and i hate horizontal i hate stand ing in formation or a Chow line with the Pis Tol of the Guy in front of me pointing at my Chest hands off or to refute the majors Point about hands on the weapon someones hand is on the weapon every time it is drawn to clean or by his logic hed be All right with me walking into his office and laying my m9 on his with the m9 pointing at him no no right let me negate the but it int loaded argument that someone May offer in Conten Tion of my the first of the four rules of weapon safety is treat every weapon As if it were regardless of whether you know that the weapon is condition it should under any be pointed at the first writer int being rude or a poor Leader when he says that following the four rules of weapons safety Guaran tees no one will get shot by a negligent Dis charge its the Brendan Hering Iraq if used holsters Safe i read with amusement the letter Don Johnson Holster int concerning the supposed dangers of horizontal Shoul Der holsters As typified by Gal cos Miami classic derisively referred to As the Don Johnson i am a mobilized nation Al guardsman from and my civil Ian employer is Galco contrary to the opinions of a few Hope Pho Bic the horizontal Shoul Der Holster is perfectly provided that Lon accepted Safe firearms handing practices Are these same handling practices Are required for Safe use of any hol Ster in addition to making factual errors in recounting the history of the Holster in the writer errs in his View of the horizontal shoulder Holster As someone of the writers training level should be familiar with an old expression in the firearms world a bolstered weapon is a Safe a mechanically Tell us what you think stars and stripes welcomes your comments on editorials and columns that Are published in the and values letters on topics of importance in the lives of our All letters must be and must include the writers address or base and Telephone please limit All letters to 300 we Reserve the right to edit letters for taste and Send your letters to mail stars and stripes unit 29480 Apo a 09211 International mail stars and stripes Postrach 1330 64345 Griesheim via fax country code 0 Dan 3498395 email sound pistol resting in a secured Holster that encloses the trigger As the Miami classic is As Safe As any deadly weapon can there have been precisely Zero recorded instances of military or spontaneously Dis charging while resting in one of the tens of thousands of Miami classics currently in horizontal shoulder holsters offer sever Al advantages Over the More traditional vertical most important to service horizontal holsters Are much More comfortable for Many people to this is because the pistol is held so that its lesser dimension height is on the Long Axis of the making it very comfortable and especially for those of Shorter the Many female service members who prefer it also generally do so for reasons of Comfort and if certain service members Are so Terri fied of weapons that they cant Bear to look at an safely bolstered perhaps they should reconsider their line of Michael Barham Afghanistan ban Holster before its too late the problem is the Holster is not the no matter the justification for wearing the Hind you Holster it is it is my and the opinion of a great Many that they should be banned by the military and not have to wait until a person is shot in the Chest to do i am not a Garrison i am former army with Syz years in combat in i wore a 9 a and an the pistols i wore in a Cross Chest very easy to get or in a hip hol Ster also easy to get and the holsters were secured so they did not Flop when i Drew the weapon and i did on Many Occa i have been Here with operations iraqi Freedom for nearly four i have seen a total of 19 Acci dental weapons six were doonesbury three of the pistols were fired in the mess the others were fired at the Clearing barrels and not into Only by the Grace of no one was injured in any of three of the pistols were being car ried by so no More excuses get rid of the holsters before it is too late for i have had to write some of those i Hope the letter writer never Kenneth Leftwich Camp Kuwait weapon handling key to safety read these three words proper safety placing a 9 my in a Holster around your Chest or or placing an m16a2 on the floor or keeping the m16a2 Sling around your neck will not prevent an ensuring the owner of the weapon is follow ing proper safety procedures by Clearing weapon will help prevent an Acci dental ensuring owners prac Tice proper procedures to malfunctions will be while on the subject of safety and pre please use a Holster where the 9 my muzzle Points to the ground at All times and not at someone else head or keep your m16a2 pointed to the ground at All not at someone else safety is every soldiers i imagine the next argument will be the possibility of shooting your own 1st class Victor Rodriguez Torres Camp Iraq medication didst make it our military postal handlers have had their Way with someones you know the funny thing is that in a 60yearold yet the postal ser vice has not lost or severely damaged one single package of add to that the fact that i never received a damaged or lost package while spending 15 months in one of the reasons i suspect is that packages did not have a packing slip on the outside listing All the goodies that the postal handlers could help themselves now i have a package my wife put Medicine and vitamins on the pack age slip like youre supposed to to and someone sees the Label and thinks there is something that they can get High its blood pressure Medicine and some glucose mine and Chon none of which a kid in his 20s could dont let me Stop feel free to i received a package that was mailed two weeks after the missing one can Tell me that the personnel handling the mail do not read what is on the shipping form for far too Many folks have valuables go missing when other stuff gets left i mailed the uses postmaster general in and was told that after a package leaves the military Post of its military Only thanks Mili tary postal you do your country Richard Martin Camp Cedar Iraq by Garry Trudeau in not complamu3 about Jorge got a 0an6 upj00inthb0ackof h05 a Sharp Kip Rio hi6h schools Thau in per my plain5
