Holy Mother of Blessed Acceleration, don’t fail me now! The words of Elwood Blues echoed in my head as I entered the highway interchange with .25 miles of space to navigate across 7 lanes of traffic, including the on-ramp. Along the way I also had to deal with a love-struck Romeo performing a running roadblock with his paramour, Oblivious Lucy so named because she was oblivious to Romeo. Then in the “exit only” lane was a hunched-over the steering wheel, wide-eyed young girl terrified of something that I didn’t have a chance to find out about and going 20mph slower than everyone else.
Tap the brake, hit the gas, and HANG ON because the Holy Mother responded to my request.
Leaving Tampa and SOF Week was a bit more difficult than I was expecting for multiple reasons.
SOFREP Managing Editor, Guy McCardle and I spent the week staying in Ybor City and catching the trolley every morning to the Tampa Convention Center to immerse ourselves in the latest technology and gear available for Special Operation Forces here and around the world. The best part of staying where we did, we were just down the street from La Segunda Bakery, a Cuban bakery with great coffee, sandwiches, and pastries. In the mornings, prior to catching the trolley, was a quick stop for a fabulous breakfast and then Friday, a catering order to take home to the family so they could have a taste of what they missed all week.
Tampa offers many sites for enjoyment, we were able to attend a networking social at the Florida Aquarium, a boat ride demonstration by Sharrow Marine, and a social sponsored by the Ranger Foundation, all in the beautiful setting of downtown Tampa Bay.
The exhibitors were phenomenal with their displays and information. SOF week is unique in that most exhibitors will have their Government Contract person onsite at the convention hall, present and ready to answer questions or help solve problems. I was in contact with my Grandson Iahn who is having a problem with one of their rifles and the manufacturer and their Gov’t liason were there at SOF week. Some secure WhatsApp conversations later we now have an email chain between him, his unit, and the person in charge of fixing that exact problem. Only at SOF week do you find that kind of access and problem-solving ability.
SOF Week had so much to offer, much of it can be found here in the Military Times video from 5/11.
We also saw advances in vehicle capabilities, many of which aren’t visible to the naked eye but the vehicles look pretty cool anyway.
But wait, there’s more, LOTS more! Check out this 20k pound behemoth from Lenco that’s in use by many Police Departments around the USA. In fact you may see one on the road occasionally because they are often driven to their destination with a makeshift queen size bed in the back for the extra long trips.
So many great people to talk with, so much hardware, gear, technology and software to learn about, so much local great food and drink, so many sights to see, yes it was very hard to leave Tampa and head north. Then there was the traffic.
However, safely navigate the seven lanes of traffic I did and I was safe and sound in my house later in the day with a happy family munching on Cuban sandwiches and pastries.
Garfield out.
