They/Them. I am an Oregonian, born and raised. Queer, non-binary, tattooed, disabled veteran, 47-year-old adult child of an immigrant. I have two sons who are growing into fine and kind young men. I am so proud of them. I have the most softest and most beautiful cat ever named Luna. She’s the best therapy cat I could have ever hoped for.
I learned the fundamentals of marksmanship while in the military. I was very impressed with my ability to hit the target, even with my poor eyesight (I got lasik eye surgery before deploying to Afghanistan). I chalk it up to all the hours playing Duck Hunt on the Nintendo Entertainment System as a kid! I qualified Expert with the M16 and M4 rifles, and Sharpshooter with the M9 pistol.
Out of those ten years, eight months, and five days, six years were spent as the armorer for my combat engineer company – where I was in charge of the maintenance and serviceability of all firearms under my care (M9 pistols, M16 and M4 rifles, M60 and M249 machine guns, and a beautiful Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun that mounted in a ring mount on my 5-ton Supply truck).
I deployed to Afghanistan twice and was an embedded tactical trainer for the Afghanistan National Army. I was a Sergeant, a non-commissioned officer, with the purposeful duty to train the troops. Imagine a classroom full of new soldiers from the various tribal groups in Afghanistan that don’t speak English and having to communicate all that training through an interpreter. That’s part of what I did while in country.
I have attended the Primary Leadership Development Course and Basic Non-Commissioned Officer’s Course Phase I, the fundamental leadership courses in the Army at the time. Going to war solidified how much of a peaceful person I am. I saw too many mistakes, too many times where guidance wasn’t heeded.
After coming home, I spent years distancing myself from the hypermasculine military world and focused on my healing. I got a lot of therapy – eye movement desensitization and reprocessing was most helpful for working through the traumas I endured in my life.
I went back to school, earning a Master of Business Administration in Sustainable Business, which led to my current role as a Technical Writer-Editor. I started hula hooping fifteen years ago and joined the local ecstatic dance community eleven years ago. Love and light and all that, ya know?
After laying dormant for years, and with the attacks on the constitution and the federal workforce, my inner warfighter has woken up. To best channel this energy, I spoke with my therapist and outlined a plan where I could be of service to my community during these tumultuous times. I leaned into my Supply Sergeant experience and began acquiring.
I exercised my Second Amendment right and purchased twenty one pistols, three rifles, and three shotguns with the sole purpose of providing a firearm familiarization service to my queer and trans community. I brought in my nephews as my Range Safety Officers and developed safe practices for passing on these basic firearm skills. I have built a roster of knowledgeable humans to assist beginners when we go out to an outdoor shooting area.
My goal is to pass on this knowledge in the safest manner possible. My hope is that no one will ever have to use these skills to defend themselves. For those that want that defensive and combative arts training with movement drills and drawing from a holster, there are a few folks out there that offer that service. That is not part of what I want to do.
The oath I swore to defend and uphold the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, never had an expiration date.
Firearm Safety Team (FST) 