I don't blame trainers for the modern trend toward teaching "range kata" as much as I do the students. Too often we want grab our "load out" and spend the day operating like operators on an operation instead of working on fundamentals. The guys teaching us how to stack up and clear rooms are only doing what we ask them to do.
My New Year's Resolution: to spend the year working on grip and trigger control. Period.
Skill Set: Ordinary Skills
by Tiger McKee
Ordinary is defined as being normal, customary, boring or commonplace. So, who wants to be ordinary when it comes to fighting skills? In my opinion, when we train and practice the fighting arts we are striving to be ordinary.
For example, when I press the trigger it should be normal that I hit the target. If I'm not sure it's going to be a good hit, I shouldn't be pressing the trigger. This is true whether I'm standing still, moving, the target is moving... It doesn't matter what's going on. I press and hit.
It should become customary that when I perceive a potential problem I move. Moving - going to cover, creating distance, or putting the threat into a reactive mode - is a number one priority. On the range, when you're mentally ready and know what's going to happen, it's easy to move on cue. In your daily life when something bad occurs our natural instinct is to freeze in place. A lot of training and practice is required for moving is an immediate response.
The pistol runs empty, or has a malfunction. This should result in a pretty boring response. You reload or clear the malfunction. You're manipulating the weapon, moving if necessary, and probably in the dark. By practicing - dry practice with dummy ammo is best - reloading or clearing malfunctions occur at a subconscious process. The subconscious handles the boring stuff, the things we've learned through repetition. This frees up your conscious mind to focus on the important things, like getting cover between you and your attacker.
It may not be commonplace for you to be attacked, but if it does occur we need to treat it as a common occurrence. You can't let the fact that you're being assaulted, and the consequences of defeat, enter into your thought process. That will distract you from performing the actions necessary to win. When attacked you assess the situation, come up with a solution and apply it immediately, even if it's not the perfect answer. Do something to buy you time and distance to do something better. To program the proper response, without being in an actual attack, you research and practice mental imagery training. This technique, for example vividly imagining an attack and defeating the threat(s), can make it seem like a common activity you're familiar with.
The trend in training courses today is to be extraordinary, radical and exciting. The martial art of fighting with firearms has become a hot commodity. As Musashi says in The Book Of Five Rings, these professionals have turned "the way into a business of selling goods, making beginners believe that there is something profound in their training by impressing them with a variety of techniques." Dynamic drills are exciting. The adrenaline flows when you're performing "range-gymnastics," blasting three mags through your AR attempting to beat the time requirements on a set and known drill. But this radical type training doesn't really prepare you for the ordinary madness you may have to defend yourself against.
The difficult thing is to devote the time required to truly learn ordinary, commonplace defensive skills. Properly identifying threats, moving, communication, using cover, if necessary placing accurate hits on target and manipulating your weapon under any and all conditions should become ordinary. There is an old saying, "Strategy, inadequately learned, is the cause of serious wounds." This is true for defensive strategies and the techniques associated with them. Strive to become ordinary. Being ordinary means you're well prepared for the unexpected.
