Alert, fellow shooters: if we\u2019re pursuing our live fire interests outdoors, we\u2019re doing so at the hottest time of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heat brings on fatigue. Fatigue brings on carelessness. We\u2019re handling loaded firearms. You don\u2019t need me to tell you what risks ensue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So far this summer, we\u2019ve taught outdoor live fire classes during record heat in two venues, South Dakota and Utah. We made it through fine and safe, with the following protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HYDRATE! Lots <\/em>of water. We always have plenty of H2O on the range, and tell the students to mark their water bottle and leave it with their ammo supply, to remind them to hydrate every time they refill their magazines. We\u2019ve always told them to mark their bottle as their own \u2013 markers provided, cut your initials into the bottle cap with the tip of your pocket knife, whatever \u2013 because it\u2019s human nature not to want to drink out of someone else\u2019s Dasani when you go back uprange and all those bottles look alike. That is an order of magnitude more important now, during The Time Of The Plague. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a good idea to remember electrolytes, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We always have EMTs, paramedics, or other medically trained personnel on the firing line. We\u2019ve had people collapse from Don\u2019t wait \u2018til you\u2019re thirsty\u2026that\u2019s too late. Physiologists I\u2019ve talked to tell me it\u2019s important to swill down some water at least every fifteen minutes when you\u2019re outdoors in this type of weather. We give frequent potty breaks, but remind our students that while expelling liquid is between you and your bladder, taking water on board is mandatory for the safety of all. If you aren\u2019t urinating, you\u2019re not hydrating enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are thankful for cloudy days this time of year, but remember, you\u2019re still dehydrating out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We got through those local record heat days by having them shoot in the mornings, when it was coolest, and giving them the deadly force and tactics lectures indoors where it was air-conditioned during the hottest part of the days. Twice, that meant no shooting at all on the first of four days, since we had to give the intensive safety lectures indoors first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And don\u2019t neglect headgear and, particularly for you palefaces, sunblock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As they said on the great old TV cop show Hill Street Blues<\/em>: \u201cHey! Let\u2019s be careful out there!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alert, fellow shooters: if we\u2019re pursuing our live fire interests outdoors, we\u2019re doing so at the hottest time of the year. Heat brings on fatigue. Fatigue brings on carelessness. We\u2019re handling loaded firearms. You don\u2019t need me to tell you what risks ensue. So far this summer, we\u2019ve taught outdoor live fire classes during record […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6908"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6912,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6908\/revisions\/6912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}heat stroke<\/s> stubbornness when they were too stupid to hydrate. We have long since made it mandatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n