REDACTED Culture Cast

Talk Back to Me At least in American Gun Culture, there are a few clearly defined point of entry such as Military Experience, Hunting, or Competition shooting. But these backgrounds give no guarantees. It has been more than a decade since Chris Blau started behind the Gun Counter, and as we look back at how we got here, we also get a chance to look at what's over the horizon. 1911 Syndicate a...

Talk Back to Me A Man with a Why Will Endure any How. This statement identifies the locus of true power within the individual. It's not the means that determine our future, but the thing we are aiming at.  Today's short show welcomes you to consider the "What For" of Gun Culture, and opens up the conversation to what we are aiming at. Instead of spending all our time on what is...

Talk Back to Me Josh Froelich represents the higher echelon of competition shooting, but that's simply the introduction. One key aspect of Gun Culture is how we experience the relationship between gear, practice, performance, and goal setting. While some say things like mission-dictates-gear, it's not uncommon to find similar principles albeit with different language in the competition s...

Talk Back to Me From the outside looking in, it may be easy to define military members by their unit, record, or number of deployments. But from the inside looking out, individuals in the military have hobbies, and interests which ride on a narrow line of defining who they are. Turns out the age of individualism comes with the threat of perpetual identity crises. Chris Fettes talks about the need...

Talk Back to Me These three concepts sit at the intersection of morality and knowledge and are thus considered in regards to both Epistemology and Ethics.  We see the presence of each within Gun Culture, and ourselves. How do we deal with betrayal? With Bad Ideas? With manipulation and corruption, and being a poor friend?  Support the Channel at www.redactedllc.com -- Up your helmet camo game: pic...

Talk Back to Me The time has come to let die the idea that private contracting is grass-is-greener situation. In exchange for looser uniform restrictions, and a modicum of control over one's schedule, one has to put up with constant pressure to leave home behind, and will generally face greater scrutiny when it comes to the use of force.  Frank Bito, of Bull Creek Strategic, and Escarpment Ar...

Talk Back to Me The battlefield is always changing, and while we can look back at the technology that has played a decisive role in the history of warfare: Napoleon's Cannons, Industrialized Manufacturing of Ammunition, Battlefield Medicine, it is the people and ideas that move them which makes the greatest impact. Without human will, they are inanimate objects.  Garett Schwindel joins us fro...

Talk Back to Me We are often able to articulate clearly, the things we wish would change, while at the same time have difficulty showing gratitude for specific things. Here are three things REDACTED is thankful for.  It's meant to be short, and clear.  Thank you  -- Up your helmet camo game: pickup the REDACTED x AXL Squid Scrim Kit at axladvanced.com Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at reda...

Talk Back to Me Jokes, Joys, and Despairs aside, Gun Culture, like any other, has its trends. And while Recce may look like it's challenging the mystical throne that has been held by CQB, it suffers what all revolutionaries eventually must deal with: becoming the one thing they hate. One thing about CQB that became old, and quickly, was the idea that it was some secretive art, part technique,...

Talk Back to Me Whether you're familiar with Ian Strimbeck's 'Thought Crimes' or considering the multiple benefits of practicing Jui-Jitsu, RuneNation represents an evolution in training, as instructors continue to move beyond the flat range. We cover some of the issues with the way veterans expect the military to handle their departure, and how the society that we live in can...

Talk Back to Me There are pernicious ideas which travel through cultures, and peoples which offer a moral exchange: gain temporary relief from the burden of thinking, in exchange for a later crisis of conscience. This idea travels through depictions of war as a dehumanizing force. It commits multiple logical fallacies along the way, and ones that, unlike in the halls of academia, leave trails of b...

Talk Back to Me After a series of deployments and time spent in Ranger Battalion, Drew Wallace started down the path of a style of shooting many of us are familiar with from movies, myths, and legends, one combining the skills of horsemanship and marksmanship into a fast-paced heritage and sport. Described as a Western Speed Equestrian Sport, Drew Wallace Competes in Cowboy Man and Shooting, and w...

Talk Back to Me When the Flux Defense Raider first caught our collective attention, it looked like the fusion of two worlds: the allure of a secretive mission combined with that kind of practicality which harkens to the everyman.  In this episode we cover what it was like bringing the concept to life, social media shenanigans, community building, and where gaming meets gun culture.  Follow Alex on...

Talk Back to Me The American Debate on Gun Control regularly breaks apart when a utilitarian argument meets a rights-based one. The problem with how we think about violence, is that we too often resort to using it as a method of enforcement, instead of an action that is judged based on the context.  The idea that an armed society is a polite society may have allure, but ultimately falls short of e...

Talk Back to Me It's not enough to use the Second Amendment as merely a legal defense against tyranny. Just as the paper itself does not establish a Human Right, neither does the institution that honors it. But these concepts did not arrive out of the void. Rather the ideas that culminated in the Second Amendment took centuries to crystalize into a codification intending to restrict governmen...

Talk Back to Me Communications may get a bad rapport in Universities, but when it comes to communities and conflict, it bears the same weight as logistics. Gun Culture has long held a symbiotic interest with Radios, radio tech, and the legalities surrounding them. Mojave Repeater knows more than a thing or two about both radios and communicating through them, and helps guide us through the murky e...

Talk Back to Me The subject of violence is inherently bound to both metaphysical presumptions and ethical evaluations. Due to the immense moral consequence of acts of violence, how we evaluate an action to be violence and how that action is evaluated carry heavy weight. So, how we think about it must be considered with grave seriousness.  In this episode, we start dissecting the concept of violenc...

Talk Back to Me For years we've seen the similarities between the culture around firearms to those around photography, cars, and more. If you've ever seen a reel or watched a modern video of someone shooting competition, you've likely seen something influenced by his work.  And there's more to competition shooting than simply the stage plan. Rather, a whole ecosystem around the...

Talk Back to Me Co-Conspirator in the making of [CABIN IN THE WOODS], Peter Johnson of Archway Defense joins the REDACTED Culture Cast to discuss privacy, digital and physical, as well as illuminate how we apply the responsibilities attached to rights to our daily lives. One trouble with cyber security presents is how difficult it can be to set goals. The ideal of being a digital ghost may sound l...

Talk Back to Me This week comes in response to a series of questions regarding maintaining training in a busy schedule, and for those who may not have access to nearby instructors.  As the Overton Window continues to shift towards a proliferation of training, and although we may not see a golden age of training, the responsibility ultimately falls on the shoulders of the individual to be proficien...

Talk Back to Me Over ten years of training and curriculum development has allowed Beau to cover both sides of the Is-Ought Divide when it comes to self defense. One part Neurology, another part Philosophy, the story started over 20 years ago.  On the ground at the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001 can sound like the start of an origin story, so we discuss not only what happened and what was learned...

Talk Back to Me Ten Years Later, two Rangers sit across the screen from one another and have a chat about what it takes to be a good instructor, how people avoid making fools of themselves in the microcosm of Gun Culture, and gear development at a small but personal scale.  Jon Dufresne AKA Kinetic Consulting, started teaching before he left the military, getting a head start on the soldier-to-ins...

Talk Back to Me Villain Weapons Systems brought solutions to IR Illuminators with the end user in mind by tackling the shortcomings of units approved for non-government markets.  As Night Vision continues to trickle it's way into the everyman, Brandon Olson talks about mistakes new buyers make, comparing Gen 3 to Gen 2 Photonis tubes, all centered around illuminators and why they are more imp...

Talk Back to Me Michael "Gill" Gillingham, the CEO of Raidworx, discusses some of the nuances to optic risers, using night vision, and how the culture has changed as well as the benefits and drawbacks of competition shooting when it comes to room clearing and the tactical space. And while these topics carry the conversation for a while, we get deeper into the grit and camaraderie that ca...

Talk Back to Me The mind or madness behind Finance and Maneuver joins the chat for a talk on small scale community building, family dinners with friends, and turning "wouldn't it be cool" into action. Even if the message isn't overstated, it's better to try and stumble than it is to leave it unattempted.  Finance and Maneuver gained attention through creative storytelling...