Oct 23 2022

The Life of a Gun Trainer

Photos: Barbara Baird/Jay Grazio/Patrick Roberts

Many of the people who’ve encountered me leading a hunt or teaching at Gunsite have wondered about how I got into shooting. I’ve heard variations of the question over the years, and I understand why – as a small Asian woman, I don’t fit in with an inaccurate and outdated, but lingering, stereotype.

To me, it all comes down to mindset, as with most things in life.

My mindset has been deeply shaped by my parents’ – and their parents’ – own battles, literally. My mother’s father was a general in China. He was part of Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist army and fought both Mao Tse Tung’s communists and the Japanese, trying to save his homeland. He was fighting battles and wars, in one form or another, from 1918 to 1949. Even after being relegated to Taiwan, he never lost his love for his homeland, and I don’t think he ever gave up hope that it could be won back. I never knew him as anything but a warrior.

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Jun 20 2022

Book Review: ‘Wisdom and Things:’
An Ageless Warrior’s Timeless Advice

Reading Vera Koo’s new book, Wisdom and Things, is like having a kind – and more skilled and experienced – friend offer you small bits of advice. Even better, the advice doesn’t come in the form of advising. Instead, it’s there like little gifts for you to find throughout this very digestible collection of short stories, practical observations and musings. They all showcase the author’s thoughtful introspection about what she has learned in her life, and how this nurtures the ever-expanding horizons she sees before her. 

Koo opens her new book with a hint: “I have come to realize how deeply your attitude affects your life. It is my believe that life is 20 percent what happens, and 80 percent how we react.” This, from a woman who, among many other major life events, has reached the very top of a profession by competing worldwide with the men who dominate it, and who has also lived through and with unspeakable tragedy. 

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May 10 2018

The Color Code

One of the most widespread and effective defensive tools we have today is the Color Code. This concise and efficient way to gauge—and engage—our own, individual, levels of awareness, was introduced by the late Col. Jeff Cooper, founder of the Gunsite Academy and “Father of the Modern Technique.”

His concept is simple. “White” is code for our being unaware and thus unprepared; clueless. “Yellow” means we’re observant and alert, casually processing what’s going on around us. We should try to live in Yellow.

When something has gotten our attention—and not for good reasons—we enter “Orange.” In Orange, we’ve noted specific potential threats, we evaluate and assess. From Orange, we may quickly enter “Red.” In Red, we are focused and ready to act; whether that means we cross the street to avoid a problem, or we engage in a more defensive behavior if necessary.

Armed with just these definitions, those who use the Color Code to stay vigilant to the world around them can prompt themselves and their companions. The Color Code is a standard of preparedness and thus an enhancement of our ability to avoid or face threats.

This post originally appeared at NRA Carry Guard.

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