What is your Background?

[UWone77]

Am I imagining things or was my response deleted from this thread?

There is no shame in interpretive dance.

No one deleted anything as far as I can tell.

[Battle Cock]

My background is no doubt different from almost everyone else here. I grew up as a farm laborer, ranch hand, landscaper, and barbwire magician. I've done everything from construction, to hotel maintenance, I've managed a remote pack station off grid and up in the mountains, and devoted a portion of my life to holistic living with a group of like minded people to examine the philosophical and literary elements of our existence. (I swear it's not a cult!) I'm an amateur gunsmith, grip stippler, and most recently I've become a home security specialist.
I wasn't born with a gun in my hand but I discovered the joy of firearms before I was old enough to buy one and I've never been able to get enough of them ever since.

[XACT_ABORT]

This is actually pretty fun. Very diverse crowd here. I am a civilian, former corrections officer currently about 180 degrees out of phase with that profession as a Database administrator for a global insurance company. So I'm an IT geek I guess. My firearms fixation started with qualifications for the corrections dept and grew from there with a brief hiatus when the kids were small. Really just getting back into it over the last handful of years.

[Ride4frnt]

Plenty of odd jobs at golf courses, car dealers, retail etc. Nothing gun related as far as a profession. Military won't take me do to previous injuries. Graphic design and web design graduate with no desire to use those degrees outside of freelance. I have to do something hands on for a profession. For the last 6 years I've been in the optical industry and actively seeking other opportunities. Wish I could get into a firearms related profession somehow, but not happening in maryland...

[UWone77]

This is actually pretty fun. Very diverse crowd here. I am a civilian, former corrections officer currently about 180 degrees out of phase with that profession as a Database administrator for a global insurance company. So I'm an IT geek I guess. My firearms fixation started with qualifications for the corrections dept and grew from there with a brief hiatus when the kids were small. Really just getting back into it over the last handful of years.

Your comment struck me... you're right, we have such a diverse background of people here, all brought together by a common interest.

Personally, no one else in my family even owns a gun. Not sure how I got into them. First handgun was when I turned 21. Collected a couple here and there over the years until Eric (Mod here) instructed my first Patrol Rifle Class. During the class, not only did I put a ton of rounds down range, but also enjoyed every minute of it. (I always round handgun shooting and training tedious, but rifle not so much) He also introduced me to the concept of owning more than 1 AR, and it kind of blew up from there.

[Ride4frnt]

Your comment struck me... you're right, we have such a diverse background of people here, all brought together by a common interest.

That's what I love about forums like this. It's a very close community, and no matter where you're from or who you are, we are all here with a common interest.

I've met many of my best friends through a fishing forum I belong to. We all look out for one another.

[Eric]

Personally, no one else in my family even owns a gun. Not sure how I got into them.

I'm the oddball in my family tree as well.

First handgun was when I turned 21. Collected a couple here and there over the years until Eric (Mod here) instructed my first Patrol Rifle Class. During the class, not only did I put a ton of rounds down range, but also enjoyed every minute of it. (I always found handgun shooting and training tedious, but rifle not so much) He also introduced me to the concept of owning more than 1 AR, and it kind of blew up from there.

Oh sure, blame me.

[Uffdaphil]

My weapons background is intermittent. As a city kid My first exposure was from my shady uncle on grandpa's farm. He gave my brother and me (~age 12) a .22 auto and .45 1911 to shoot squirrels after 2 minutes of instruction. And my folks were okay with that! Had great fun but not much success. I remember a twin hammer 12 gauge double barrel he cut down and made into a "pirate pistol." Legality wasn't his thing.

Early 1969 the Army made me a company armorer several months into my Viet tour. No training, just piles of manuals, boxes of parts and a semi trailer for an arms room. A real dream job. Lots of fun learning the M-60 and converting all my buddies M-14s to select fire. Plenty of variety to play with - sawed off (No, I was not the butcher.) M2 carbine was my fave truck gun for Saigon runs.

About 15 years later I got into handguns via our postal gun club. Fed LEO range right in the basement of the main P.O. - 95% of the time was vacant. Closed down per '90s hysteria even though never a problem.

Then a few years ago After concluding that we had passed the tipping point where those voters beholden to big gov't. significantly outnumber those paying the bills, I found ARs to be, shall we say, interesting once more. After not handling one since 1969, I was pleasantly surprised by how many options exist and even more by what fun putting together and shooting different combinations can be.

So that's how I came to today where I have the rifles, but no one in the extended clan cares to shoot. You would think three teenage boys would drool over free ammo and top tier guns to shoot. Oh well, the sibs know where to call if SHTF and I know who will be feeding me.

[browcs]

I'm the oddball in my family tree as well.

Same here...no one in my immediate family are/were into guns. My parents were very cool; I asked for and they got me a subscription to Guns & Ammo magazine....when I was ten years old. How cool was that? Sucks thought that I lived in uber gun-unfriendly NYC though. I was also one of the few in my extended family that went to the military, only that became an officer and LEO. Everyone else is either in construction, general contracting, or teaching.

[GOST]

I grew up a military brat, Dad is retired Airforce. Our family also owns a cattle farm and Dad made me use the manual post hole digger even though we had an auger on the New Holland; he found it amusing. I enlisted at 19 into the Air National Guards and was honorably discharged 9 months later due to having to have parts reconstructed in my left knee. I now have been married for 9 years and have 2 daughters. I am currently employed as an Engineer/Supervisor on a DOE facility.

[Hmac]

15 years as Medical Director of county multi-agency TAC Team and Tactical EMS for the Sheriff's Department, 5 years as Assistant Coroner and death investigator for this county. 15 years as a state EMS Examiner and this hospita'sl EMS Director. Currently also Medical Director for the Bomb Squad. My full time job is as a General and Laparoendoscopic Surgeon.

[RiverRat]

Pure civilian here.

I retired after 20+ years in the biopharmaceutical industry. A large portion of that time was spent designing, building and testing production equipment for biotech products with multi-billion dollar revenue streams. It's that period that reinforced an almost(?) anal-retentive form-follows-function thought process. And yes, that approach lingers on with how I look at part lists for an AR15. I ended my career with several years of project management, working with pre-commercial development efforts.

Both sides of my family are gun owners and hunters, my father was a Marine - so its no surprise that I started shooting around the age of 7, becoming a fairly proficient shotgunner by age 12. We never were into competition, it was all backyard, riverfront fun. Dad instilled the Harry Pope philosophy of "stand on your hind legs and shoot like a man" so I never really got deeply into precision bench shooting. Even now, at 82, my father is still out there shooting. He has been lusting after a Beretta 92 for a long time - he got one for Christmas and has been shooting the heck out of it. The Ol Fart still makes me proud of him.......

These days, I'm living quietly in Colorado. I can step into my side yard for some casual, short-range handgunning or to test a new AR. There's national forest abutting our neighbor's property and I've started scouting an easily accessed, safe place for longer-range shooting. As for other interests, sadly I remain a huge geek. I play cutthroat boardgames with some frighteningly intelligent friends and do the console/PC thing with my 12 year old daughter.
It's a pretty soft life these days :)

[Soisauss]

Those are some of the most interesting read I've did tonight. Just like UW77 said, we are a like a stew, if it tastes good, throw em in. It'll be eaten! Diversity with a common core. I approve!

[Thompson]

I'm future military. Currently in college studying mechanical engineering & Army ROTC at Penn State.

Like quite a few here have said, no one in my family or shoots at all. (It sucks, because they have that mindset of black = evil & guns = bad ... but I'm working on it.)

I actually didn't get into firearms until after watching some of Tim's (Military Arms Channel) videos regarding the whole Feinstein/AWB videos. Which basically peaked my interest for firearms.

After the Army, I would like to apply my engineering degree to the firearms industry, to develop/test new products essentially. (If I could work for someone like Magpul ... my life would be complete)