The Dangerous Old Man

A sworn protector who never forgot his duty

Guy with a 9mm Beretta. Another old man practicing his skills. Photo by Ultimate Reloader.

An enjoyable part of my duty as firearms instructor for my agency was to conduct the LEOSA qualifications for retired officers, enabling them to carry concealed in all 50 states. Most of the guys were from our own department, but some from others. The Chief had invited a couple of guys he knew to come on out and shoot a qual course with me.

I was worried about one of them when he showed up. He was old, well into his 70’s I think. Small. A bit hunched over. Shook a bit with his movements. Said he hadn’t shot in quite a while. He was the Chief’s friend, and I knew it was important that he qualified.

The two retired officers loaded up range ammo for the qual. It’s not a tough course of fire. I watched the old guy closely. He handled his 9mm sidearm well and loaded the magazines competently. I relaxed a little, maybe the old guy would shoot fairly well.

I’d already set up the silhouette targets. We stepped up to the 15 yard line and I started with the range commands…

Suddenly the old guy stood up straight. He seemed to shed 20 years and gain 10 pounds of muscle in an instant. He stood there at the ready, 9mm holstered, waiting for the command… My eyebrows went up. In seconds he’d become a different man…

“Stand by, Go!”

His hand flashed down, the pistol came up. His left/support hand met his right and sealed the grip. The 9mm spoke, five shots in mere seconds, then he re-holstered. All five hits were clustered close together in the center of the “kill zone” of the silhouette target. He had completed that in about half the time allowed.

I had to watch the other shooter too - but he was much younger - a retired chief from another Washington police department. He was shooting a revolver and doing well. Not great, but well. He’d have no problem qualifying. My attention turned back to the old man.

Suspiciously he wasn’t shuffling anymore. He was standing straighter, his eyes were animated, he was feeling it. Feeling the range. Smelling the gunpowder. Loving the experience of being on the range again. Fair enough. I was encouraged. This was no longer an old man, a friend of my Chief to be babied through the qual course… No, he was a shooter.

We proceeded through the qual course. At each shooting line his hand sped down to the pistol, drew it from the holster and nailed the target in fine form. Fast and accurate.

I admit to being a bit bemused. This old man who had shuffled from his car to the range had just shot better than most of my fellow SWAT officers. Tight groups, and fast. I asked him about that.

“Guy, you don’t understand. I was on President Reagan’s protective detail for several years. I was Secret Service. We shot over 1,000 rounds of pistol ammo every week.”

Then he grinned and added “I guess that I remember how to shoot.”

He came out to qualify with me for several years after that then he stopped coming and I retired. I don’t know how he’s doing now, or if he’s even alive. But I know that wherever he went, all the good people were safely under his protection.

I’m a Marine Corps veteran and a retired law enforcement officer with 12 years on the regional SWAT team and 17 years as a law enforcement firearms instructor. Follow my videos and articles on Ultimate Reloader.com.

Shoot well, even if you’re older. Regards, Guy