SITREP: January 2000

By Dan Shea

As I write this, there are three weeks until Y2K sets in. When this Sitrep hits the filmhouse, film will be produced and Fedexed to the printer. The printer will run a Blueline proof, get the final OK, and run Volume 3 Number 4 of the Small Arms Review. This means it will be in the mail the week before, or during Christmas. Should all go well, you will be reading this by electric lights, supplied from regular, everyday utility sources.

I suspect that on 2 January, 2000, most of us will still be doing the same. However, we are anticipating some loss of power, some snafu in shipping, some roadblocks to Standard Operating Procedures. It is our desire to get your copies of SAR to you in a timely manner.

If all goes well, there won’t be any declaration of martial law, won’t be any rioting in the streets, won’t be any massive food shortages, won’t be any need to arm yourself and set up a perimeter. Just a few glitches, and some minor annoyances. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, I have been taking a moment to pause and reflect on SAR’s mission. The SAR Expeditionary Force has just returned from a trip to the MOD Pattern Room in the UK, with an incredible amount of photographs and knowledge gained. We will be filing After Action reports in upcoming issues of SAR. Our job is to bring you a nice mix of studies of the old and the new, and from all accounts that I have been getting, we have been succeeding. SAR is the end result of a tremendous effort by a lot of dedicated people. I am proud to be part of it.

If you have suggestions, or features that you would like to see in SAR, let us know. We will try and get the word out to the writers, and let them know what the readers are looking for.

All in all, we are pleased with where we are today, and where we are headed. Not wanting to get complacent, we are asking for your support in letting us know what you like about SAR, and about what you want to see more of. Above all, if you have something that you think will be of interest to the readers, send the information in- if you can’t write it or photograph it yourself, maybe we can get you in touch with someone who can cover it for you.

Many years ago, Ken Kesey and friends traveled an interesting journey across the United States in a converted bus. While their journey was psychedelic as well as physical, and hopefully ours is not, there was a feeling of kinship that these adventurers had- you were either on the bus, or off the bus. They meant that you were with the experience, or probably missing something important. I would like to think that SAR is a place where we of the firearms community can come to, to talk about the things that interest us, to share the knowledge of our martial focus. There are a lot of people out there who miss the point of our interests entirely, even some firearms owners. Definitely “off the bus”.

Then again, in a world of RKI’s, Class 3’s, historians, designers, Emma Gees, Subgunners, and a sprinkling of hammer down belt fed shooters, we are in good company.

Stay on the bus with SAR…..

-Dan