Old School

Well, my boss finally listened to me. Y'see, CLEET has rules about the Armed Security Officer class: You can only carry the type of handgun with which you take the class. If you take the class with a revolver, that's what you have to carry. If you take the class with a semiautomatic, that's what you have to carry. If you want the option to carry either or both, you have to take the class twice, the whole class, and pay for it again, full price. I took the class with a revolver. It was my choice. When I was assigned to my current assignment, the office issued me a Glock 22. I tried to tell the boss that I was in technical violation of CLEET rules, but he had me qualify with the Glock and told me to carry it while he checked with CLEET. Funny thing was, he never got an answer back from CLEET. So, during an off-site event for which we were tasked to provide security for our local political figures, I explained, again, that I took the class with a revolver and that was what I had to carry to be in compliance with the CLEET rules. The following day, I went to the office, turned in the Glock, and drew a Smith & Wesson 686-6 .357 Magnum with a 4 inch barrel. The armorer then provided me with a crappy Uncle Mike's Duty Holster, 18 rounds of 158 grain round-nosed lead .38 Special, no speedloaders, and no speedloader pouches. Luckily, I had a decent leather holster, lined, black basketweave, that fit the 686 like a charm. I also had two HKS Speedloaders and two double speedloader pouches. One speedloader pouch and a double drop pouch went on my duty belt loaded with Remington 125 grain SJHP .357 Magnum ammunition. I was finally in compliance with CLEET rules. When I showed up at work carrying the L-frame, people noticed. One of the maintenance men pointed it out to the others, and one of them nodded sagely and said, "That's old school." Police officers ask about it, and senior people in the local government do, too. Strangely, the police seem to be in awe of the revolver, especially when my captain tells them I shoot it better than the other officers shoot the Glocks. Our elected officials seem oddly comforted by the old guy with the old gun. They don't know about the S&W Model 37 in a front pocket. This last weekend, I found two more HKS 586 speedloaders at the gun show. Yesterday, I put the other speedloader pouch on my duty belt, giving me four speedloaders full of .357 Magnum and two SpeedStrips full of .38 Special for the backup. The other security officers don't understand why I wanted to carry a revolver, but my superiors just look at my qualification score and nod. Guess I'm staying "old school." ECS