John has loved finding new places to play. Here are a few of the places I have caught him playing.

Sniper Training

This photo was taken a few years ago. I'm the one in the ghillie suit in case you needed a clarification.

I recently attended an Advanced Sniper Instructor Course. I've been the Alpha sniper for our SWAT for about four years now. I received the highest written test score, got the closest to the instructor during the stalking exercise (about 40 yards away) after wading through a river and crawling through brush (Yes - I am still sneaky.), gave the best reconaissance powerpoint presentation, scored among the top three on the daily scored shoots, and got the shot off from an urban hide on a barricade/hostage scenario in a residential neighborhood. I and my partner, Jared Martinsen, learned a lot. It was an exhausting week. I feel extremely confident in making a no-reflex kill shot from 100 yards (avg. shot for law enforcement snipers is 76 yds.) and pretty good about a shot from 200 yards (depending upon the wind and other factors). I enjoy being a sniper, but it is very taxing. It requires a lot more work than just the normal SWAT duties. When people need help, they call the police. When the police need help, they call SWAT. When SWAT needs help, they call the snipers.

I was asked to write a definition for our SWAT creed, Courage Without Fear. The following has been adopted by our team and read at the conclusion of every training.

Courage Sans Peur – Courage Without Fear

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.”
-Mark Twain

Before there can be an emergence of courage, there must be a presence of fear, whether of danger or failure. We, the Lehi Police Department S.W.A.T. Team, as law enforcement officers, recognize the dangers inherent in our profession. Despite this great risk, we swear to uphold the law and to protect and serve the honorable citizens of the city of Lehi. We vow to uphold the ethics of the law enforcement code to “serve the community; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the constitutional rights of all to liberty, equality and justice” (International Association of Chiefs of Police, Law Enforcement Code of Ethics). We concur with the statement of Martin Luther King, Jr. that “courage faces fear and thereby masters it.” We strive to accomplish our purpose and to conquer our fears through a commitment to the acquisition and perfection of competent skills and contemporary tactics, a trust in dependable leadership and a confidence in reliable comrades, an assurance of a supportive administration, and a faith in an Almighty Just and Merciful God. We solemnly declare that through this mastery of fear, we shall fulfill our creed of Courage Sans Peur.

Here goes nothing...

I have often enjoyed checking the blogs of my sister, Jessica, and my sister-n-law, Alaina. I'm excited to get this one going and hope that family and friends enjoy it.