RIP Senator Daniel K. Inouye, 442nd Regimental Combat Team

One of my personal heroes Senator Daniel K. Inouye passed away yesterday, the Senator was the recipient of the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in Italy during WW2 as a member of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team. After the war Inouye went on to become the second-longest serving U.S. Senator in history representing Hawaii.

Our country will greatly miss this American Hero who selflessly served his country for his entire life.

Senator Daniel K. Inouye’s Medal of Honor citation:

“Second Lieutenant Daniel K. Inouye distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 21 April 1945, in the vicinity of San Terenzo, Italy. While attacking a defended ridge guarding an important road junction, Second Lieutenant Inouye skillfully directed his platoon through a hail of automatic weapon and small arms fire, in a swift enveloping movement that resulted in the capture of an artillery and mortar post and brought his men to within 40 yards of the hostile force.

Emplaced in bunkers and rock formations, the enemy halted the advance with crossfire from three machine guns. With complete disregard for his personal safety, Second Lieutenant Inouye crawled up the treacherous slope to within five yards of the nearest machine gun and hurled two grenades, destroying the emplacement. Before the enemy could retaliate, he stood up and neutralized a second machine gun nest.

Although wounded by a sniper’s bullet, he continued to engage other hostile positions at close range until an exploding grenade shattered his right arm. Despite the intense pain, he refused evacuation and continued to direct his platoon until enemy resistance was broken and his men were again deployed in defensive positions. In the attack, 25 enemy soldiers were killed and eight others captured.

By his gallant, aggressive tactics and by his indomitable leadership, Second Lieutenant Inouye enabled his platoon to advance through formidable resistance, and was instrumental in the capture of the ridge. Second Lieutenant Inouye’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.”

His last word was “Aloha”

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DVM: Looking For Independent Gear Makers

We are looking for Old School Gear Makers with Modern Kit

It seems like every time you open up a Tactical Related website all you see are the usual names – Blackhawk, Maxpedition, Surefire, Cold Steel, ect. Now, there is nothing wrong with those brands, I own tons of stuff from all of those companies.

But DVM has always been more like the red headed stepchild of the tactical world – you don’t see any pretty lightbox pictures of gear, nice edited videos or the standard 20,000 word articles about how great some belt buckle is like you see in the usual rags.

So in keeping with our independent spirit we are looking to review gear from the smaller less known gear makers out there. We feel that it would not only help get the names of some of the solid gear makers out in front of a larger audience but make DVM more interesting for you folks.

We are looking for folks who make everything from Nylon Gear, to Knives to Lights and Cool Gadgets. The guy who makes some cool gadget or kit and sells them on forums or runs a small specialized gear company from their home is who we are looking for.

But honestly I really don’t know the “who’s who” of the independent gear world so this is where we are going to ask for your help. I know there are lots of folks who make short runs of gear and sell them on forums [everything from lights to nylon gear to knives] and there are lots of smaller gear companies that are not really that known.

So if you know of [or you are] someone who makes interesting and solid kit then please send them our way or throw their name out in the comments and we will try out their stuff.

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The Near Future of For DVM

New Years fireworks DVM Style

Well, it has been an interesting few years for us here at DVM, I originally started DVM as just a place to share some gear reviews, opinions on the tactical industry and funny stories about the Civilian Contracting world to my buddies. It was quite a surprise when DVM actually found an audience amongst my foul language and pirate sense of humor.

But DVM has now taken on a life of its own and we are just going with the flow wherever it takes us. I am glad there was a space in the much crowded tactical blogging world for people who wanted to see real world information from actual operators working all over the world instead of the usual armchair bloggers posting “this gear is combat ready” stories from their moms backyard in the States.

So before I get into all of the cool stuff coming up for us this year I just wanted to say “Thanks Pimps!” – You guys are the shit so keep the pimpage going for another year and we will keep bringing you the best Tactical Media from Virginia to Indonesia to Iraq.

Here is a Preview of All the Things Happening With DVM:

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DVM: The DVM U.S. Contractor Survival Knife

The U.S. Contractor Survival Knife – By Knife Maker Spencer Alan Reiter SAR Global Tool

Much props to Spencer Alan Reiter over at SAR Global Tool for throwing his considerable knife making skills behind the DVM U.S. Contractor Survival Knife. We have been tossing ideas back and forth for a while now and what you see above is the pimp-ass result [1% James G and 99% Spencer].

For some time now I felt that there was a void in the knife market for Contractors working overseas – pick-up just about any knife catalog or browse any knife website and you will see dozens of knives for every branch of the military – but not a single one made for the hundreds of thousands of U.S. Contractors who have been supporting the American Military all over the world [for over 200 years].

So thanks to Spencer and his considerable talent with steel we now have our own knife. But just like the K-Bar [made for Marines but used by everyone due to its versatility] you don’t have to be a U.S. Contractor to grab one for your stabbing needs.

This bad-boy is a fixed blade knife with a unique Harpoon Tip, an overall length of 9 1/4″ long,  5″ handle and a 4 1/4″ blade [the top one in the picture has a longer blade], it is made of S30V Steel, has a very cool Pry-Tool handle that is finished off with G10 scales. These turned out so pimp I peed myself when I saw the final picture.

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