Firearm User Network

Words of wisdom from John Tate

1. Get competition instilled at the unit level – then post level, etc. I put this first – because it is the most important factor. Getting leadership interested in crucial. Get awards and/or commendations for commanding officers of small units when their people shoot well. If the brass appears to care about something, their minions will too.
2. Instill competition. Just like PT should be, consider every qual session to be competitive. Post scored and give some sort of prize/praise to the top shooters. Castigate those at the bottom.
3. Promote self-training. Use on-duty time to show proper techniques (especially dry fire techniques), and have troops practice on their own time. Don’t soldiers work on PT on their own time? Also, don’t you still own boots 24/7? In my day (1960s, 1/2 a century ago) not only boots, but regulars were yours 24/7.
4. Publish the comparative costs of shooting against other activities that require consumables … like jet fuel for aircraft, guided missiles, projectiles for armor and artillery. I think you can make the case that small arms ammo is cheap. And, if you can copy some of the laser simulation systems, you don’t even need ammo, no worry about lead poison, and no worry about negligent discharges.
5. Consider a practice from WWI through the VietNam era: Use .22 LR and airguns.
6. Use reduced size ranges & targets. For rifle, long ranges are hard to use. They take up lots of space and preparation/mainatenance. They require target pullers. They require time just walking back and forth from line to pits. Consider reduced range work. Putting bullets in the same hole at 1,000 inches equates to holding the 10-ring at 600 yds.

Hang Tough – Keep the Faith – Watch your 6.

John Correia
ASP (Active Self Protection)

It continues to boggle my mind that a small segment of the defensive training world insists that timers are useless in defensive firearms training.

Honestly, that’s like saying “Grades are useless in measuring student’s learning.” This showcases a gross misunderstanding of what grades ARE. They don’t measure. They acknowledge and demonstrate an objective standard of achievement, which can then be correlated into other areas to prepare a student to achieve “in the real world.”

It’s like looking at racing and saying, “Qualifying laps are bogus and don’t reflect how races will go, so get rid of them because they don’t help you in the race.” That’s not what qualifying laps are. Qualifying shows your raw ability with your equipment to see what your best is, so that you can be ranked with your peers as the race starts. It is an acknowledgment of your demonstrated maximum ability in ideal conditions, which tends to correlate to success on race day.

There IS a timer in your gunfight. There’s no beep, but there IS a timer. Make no mistake, I have seen gunfights won by a tenth and lost by a tenth.

No one is saying “if you’re X fast on the timer, you’ll win.” We’re saying, “This objective standard showcases a certain level of proficiency with this critical task which will give you maximum advantage in a defensive shooting.”

Failing to recognize that is…puzzling.

A firearms instructor that can’t shoot well, isn’t

Nemo dat quod non habet (“no one gives what he doesn’t have”)