By Michael A. Black | Contributing Writer
The man I’m going to talk about is no ordinary man.
He’s a Marine Corps combat vet with two Purple Hearts and a body full of shrapnel who’s survived three aircraft crashes and over 40 years as a working cop.
He’s also an avid Second Amendment supporter, a military history buff, and a collector of antique firearms. Due to his extensive gun collection, and his varied work fighting the drug cartels and terrorist organizations, he understandably wishes to remain anonymous in this article. Therefore I have redacted his actual name for this article and will refer to him only by pronouns and as A.P., which stands for American Patriot.
A.P. has long been a student of military history. He has an actual picture of General John J. “Blackjack” Pershing during his pursuit of Pancho Villa in Mexico in 1916. He also has a genuine McClellan saddle from that campaign, which he painstakingly restored, and a saber designed by old “Iron Butt” George Patton himself. And he’s not only an expert on military history, he’s actually a part of it.
A.P. grew up in a major city where his father was a police officer and enlisted in the Marines upon his graduation from high school.
This was in 1967 and the Vietnam War was gearing up to be one of our bloodiest and costly conflicts. After completing USMC boot, the young, eighteen-year-old was sent to Vietnam and was part of a 185-man recon unit assigned to a remote area in Quang Tri Province known as Khe Sanh. What MACV didn’t know at the time was that the Marine firebase was about to be attacked by two division-sized regiments of the North Vietnamese People’s Army (NVA) in what would prove to be one of the most brutal and long-lasting battles of the entire war, which lasted from January 20 th to July 9th.
During this brutal and fierce battle A.P. was wounded three times, for which he received two purple hearts. To this day he carries enough shrapnel in his body to set off present-day metal detectors in airports. In Vietnam he also participated in the successful mission to rescue the crew of an American Army helicopter that had crashed. Like a lot of combat vets, he doesn’t like to talk about it. After being severely wounded at Khe Sahn, he was medivaced out and had numerous operations to save and restore his left arm.
He was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, and he became a police officer where he proved to be a resourceful officer of high integrity. He also made some unusual arrests, one being of a drunken pilot who landed a small, private plane on a residential city street.
A.P. served in a variety of positions, including a long assignment to the DEA. It was during one of his DEA assignments that he was introduced to another agent who looked strangely familiar. Upon engaging this agent in conversation, it became clear that they’d met once before. Ironically, this agent was one of the men A.P. had rescued from the helicopter crash in Vietnam.
While working with the DEA he was involved in numerous convoluted cases involving highly organized street gangs and narcotic trafficking. He also worked cases involving clandestine drug labs in rural sections of the state. With his extensive experience, as well as his military training, A.P. was subsequently recruited to teach at the Police Academy and specialized in classes involving drug labs and booby traps. He received numerous awards and decorations through his police career, and he officially retired from the department in 2014. He was hired back part-time to work cases in the detective division.
Hearing that I was a writer of western novels, and that I was always interested in making my fiction as realistic as possible, A.P. graciously offered to show me one of his authentic Colt Peacemaker revolvers. This gun, originally introduced in 1873, was offered in .44-40 and .44. Both calibers were capable of firing man-stopping sized lead bullets of .430 for the .44, and .428-diameter lead bullets for the 44-40.
The calibers can be changed by depressing the center rod on the frame and removing the cylinder. Loading the weapon is done by pulling back the hammer to a half-click position, and then opening the loading gate on the right side of the frame. There are no rear sights to speak of and just a blade sight on the front of the six-inch round barrel. This Colt has a bit more heft to it than more modern Colts, and purportedly has one hell of a kick when fired. (A.P. offered to let me fire it, but range qualifications were taking place in the police firing range so I couldn’t. Maybe next time.)
A.P. also has numerous other antique weapons including a Colt pump-action rifle with an octagonal barrel, a lever-action Winchester, and an 1874 Springfield .45/70 rifle used by General George Armstrong Custer’s troops at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
He also has two antique shotguns, one bearing a Wells Fargo emblem and the other a label of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. One can’t help but appreciate the craftsmanship that went into the production of these old guns, and marvel at the history they represent. Despite his penchant for older firearms, his duty gun is a modern-day Glock 17.
It isn’t often one gets to meet a man of such distinction: a combat veteran, double Purple Heart recipient, and a decorated police detective who has worked on both the state and federal levels.
It was a distinct honor for me to meet A.P. and I certainly appreciated the chance to actually hold a genuine Colt Peacemaker. He gave me a lot of tips on how the old time cowboys carried and handled their weapons. As I said, it was an honor for me to meet this amazing man. He brushes off all of these amazing accomplishments with a shrug of humility and doesn’t consider himself a hero.
I asked him what had guided him through his war-time experience and extensive police career.
“Simple,” he said. “Be professional and always do what’s right.”
As I said before, at his request, I have referred to him as A.P. throughout this article, but for me, it should have been spelled H-E-R-O.
Michael A. Black is the author of numerous books, including Legends of the West, A Deputy Bass Reeves Novel, and also the Gunslinger series, which were written under the name A.W. Hart.
