From Miguel Gonzalez: "Train like you fight." A sacred cow that needs slaughtering.
I am going to tick off followers with this post, but it needs to be said: There is no way in God’s green-and-blue Earth that you will train for any specific fight you may encounter. You do not actually go the the range with a bed and practice waking up butt naked (or in jammies), retrieve the gun and proceed to slaughter cardboard targets while the rest of the attendants look at you and frantically call 911 to report a mad man with a gun.
People ask me why I like revovlers so much. It is because when I wake up in the middle of the night, because I have heard something, my mind is not clear, not even if adrenaline is pumping. I want the simplest firearm I can get for that scenario. If you're wondering what that might be, consider the title to this blog.
Do I hate semiautomaitcs? No. I have a few. I love them. Well, except for the Bersa .380 that took a dip in the saltwater. I still have it in case there is ever a "gun buyback" in my area; it's a paperweight from the rust. (Rust never sleeps. Water always wins.)
Anyway, go click thru, as there is a lot more.
Something that regularly ticked me off about some gun bloggers back when it was in its heyday was the penchant for trying to make a name for oneself by attacking commonly used truisms as "myths". Some would go so far as to say "this will get you killed" in a breathless tone like they are imparting untold wisdom upon the ignorant masses.
ReplyDeleteTrain like you fight is not to be taken literally. That's a stupid premise. If everyone actually trained like they fought, we'd be hearing a lot more about people being killed in training "accidents" because I don't generally expect to be gunfighting with someone unless they are shooting at me (or at least threatening to do so) and I don't anticipate having anyone down on the target end of the range shooting back during my training sessions.
Most formal gun ranges won't allow even allow drawing and firing, or firing on the move, or rapid firing, so I'm pretty sure they'd frown upon having training adversaries banging away at each other from opposite ends of the range.
What they're saying with that is take your training as seriously as you would in an actual fight...train as realistically as practical given the resources available and don't be satisfied with a poor performance by writing it off as "it was just training".
Of course you're not going to be taking your bed out to the range, going to sleep and then waking yourself up butt naked to perform your training drills. Neither are you going to have actual bad guys shooting at you. But that doesn't make setting up more realistic training scenarios a useless exercise.
Yes, fundamentals are massively important, that should be the focus for new gun owners, should be mastered, and repeated, and maintained religiously because those skills do degrade over time...I agree completely with Miguel's premise in that respect...but that doesn't mean putting yourself into more realistic scenarios and having to work through them to reach a successful outcome is useless. If nothing else, it will make you more comfortable with skills not normally considered "fundamentals" and will hopefully enhance your ability to function under stress, analyze a situation quickly and respond effectively.
Sort of Off topic:
ReplyDeleteI've realized that I might come across here as disagreeable. To be clear, I read your stuff because I often find it insightful and informative. The thing is, I'm not much of a "me too" commenter. I don't chime in just to say "I agree" very often.
I comment when I disagree or feel I have something different to add to the conversation and I enjoy civil discussion so I enjoy it when you tell me you disagree with my sentiments, even if I argue with you about it. Please don't take my comments to mean that I don't enjoy your writing or appreciate your point of view...I do, even if I seem to disagree with you more often than I do.
Im New to your blog, and i can't disagree with your logic on using the simplest firearm in the middle of the night, hello Smith R8 with a light, or a 686 plus....as far as training covering all situations, no it wont, and i wont go through my background....but you fall back on those skills obtrusively once practiced and sometimes thats as good as it gets. Who was it that said we dont rise to the occasion, but we fall back on our level of training? After 31 years doing what i did, i will stand by that and say also, based on experiences you build, i guess certain reactions you didnt train for them, but once they happened and you have responded as such, you will never forget them.
ReplyDelete