Given that I followed last year's Shockwave In The Desert on social media, being involved in this year's event was nothing short of amazing. For those of you that do not know, Shockwave In The Desert was developed as an event to better the firearms community while providing awareness and generating revenue for a charitable cause. With the founders of Shockwave (Erik & Jeromy) being close friends with the guys and gals behind the Wishes For Warriors (WFW) organization, the two were melted together to form one hell of a benefit event. With sponsors such as Key-Bar, Hexmag, We Plead The 2nd, and US Optics coming from all across the nation, I had my work cut out with introductions.

My journey began at 4:30am on Friday the 13th with my drive to Philadelphia Airport. I am far from a morning person; however, the angst kept me in good spirits. I declared my firearms and dealt with those horrid demons in blue shirts known as TSA. Fast forward to landing in Phoenix, Arizona, and let's just say the weather there made the early start to the day worthwhile. I met up with a college friend of mine and spent the majority of the afternoon with him getting the rental car loaded up for the next day's shenanigans. That night I headed out to the Shockwave Pre-Party, hosted by Jill Hensley, who was kind enough to offer her home to over 100 complete strangers. While there I met some great people from even greater companies. I spoke with Eric from Fox Den Tactical (creator of all things paracord) and listened to his best drunken Australian accent. I showed our engraved Shockwave & W4W PMAGs to a friend Aaron, who I later discovered was the Owner of Hexmag (this made it clear why he didn't care for my magazines). The night was filled with great conversations, exchanging of business cards, spilled drinks and too much pizza (who knew that was possible?). The whole night, I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve knowing what the next day would consist of.

Saturday morning was another early start for me; however, my adrenaline replaced my need for caffeine. I arrived at Cow Town Range in Peoria, AZ around 7am and I am just going to say that their facility was the nicest I have ever seen. They label it as "The most famous range you've never heard of!" as it features a vast natural desert terrain with unique structures, including a full ghost town, Afghanistan/Mexican village, six shooting bays, two 100-yard ranges, a large shoot house, and 2 rifle ranges, one of which is for long range precision shooting, allowing you to reach out and touch something at 1,000 yards.

As the day went on, people came and made their guns go pew, they donated to a good cause, and were guaranteed to have left happy, all the while making lasting friendships. There were numerous vendor booths, some ammunition stations, firearm rental bays, and private instruction/demonstrations all day long. While there were so many great aspects to the event, the one that cannot go unnoticed is the fact that with over 1,000 people, hundreds of firearms and millions of rounds, there was NOT EVEN ONE firearm related accident. That there should say it all. 

While trying to keep this blog post short and sweet, I am going to recommend you watch the video I have below for a more in-depth look, thanks to Mixflip Productions.

Lastly, I would like to extend my personal gratitude to all of those that made this a possibility. You know who you are, and I'll be seeing you again next year!!

- Ryan