Friday was also a moderately-publicized Peace Officer Memorial Day. I saw no flesh-and-blood peace officers I could personally thank, so I contributed a few "likes" on Facebook instead. It's a tough job that I could no longer even attempt to do, due to the principle of "soldiers make bad police, police make bad soldiers".
Sunday, May 17, is still Armed Forces Day, even though there was no acknowledgement from the White House. Although there was an executive tweet from the White House proclaiming today to also be "National GLBT.... Appreciation Day". That one sort of snuck up on me, but I'm sure it will be at least up to the status of Cinco de Mayo by next year.
So how could I commemorate the last-minute observation of expressing thanks for our military, peace officers, and our unofficial "band of brothers"? I went shopping, of course. Based on the so-far-still-viable theory that I may never see another one, I bought one of these to celebrate:
It's a Beretta Storm PX4 Special Duty in the good ol' Murrican .45ACP. The barrel rotates 30 degrees to lock and unlock from the slide while functioning. All the usual features one now expects on an autoloader, including super-deluxe packaging.
It is showing good potential for accuracy, with my skill being the biggest limitation, as usual. These were just some break-in shots, but with a 9.5 lb long pull, and 4.5 pounds short, right out of the box, I expect good things will appear quickly. This would be a good candidate for a .45cal service pistol, if the military ever got a measly few millions to test and evaluate modern designs. If you don't have a flagship .45cal weapon in your product lineup, you aren't considered a serious contender, even if the military stays with 9mm.