Conveyer-Belt Training

15 May 08

Conveyer-Belt Training:

From an Instructor in SA:

"We are currently hard-pressed to move far more students than we can possibly train properly through our range in a short space of time. This has necessitated 'conveyer-belt' training. My immediate boss is understanding of my unhappiness over this and agrees that students need individual attention. Both of us are, however, under direct orders from the Chief of Police to get these guys' tickets punched and out the door!

Yesterday, during an exercise, I issued a range instruction for shooters to unload. Whilst unloading, one of my learners, turned his pistol toward his face and looked down the barrel! His stated intention was to confirm that the chamber was empty. I'm sure it all seemed logical to him!

Needless to say, everything came to a halt whilst the unprofitable nature of this action was, once again, explained to him in graphic detail!

As always, when otherwise-dedicated trainers are forced to bow to expedient, but ill-advised, political will, we spend our time doing little more than running in place!"

Comment: We trainers have to care about the lives of our students more than does the administration, even the students themselves. Their lives are literally in our hands!

Conveyor-belt training is the result of an inadequate, indeed duplicitous, commitment to the safety of police officers and other citizens. It sometimes results from administrators, bureaucrats, and politicians underestimating, deliberately or through ignorance, the challenge at hand. It must never result from a lack of commitment on the part of us trainers!

/John

Doc Gunn's Wisdom

15 May 08

Wisdom from Doc Gunn:

"Regardless of what kind of gun is being used, we need to stress toour students that they must favorably resolve their tactical challenge within the number of rounds they have readily at hand. . In days of old, duels were usually decided upon a single shot from each opponent. Each could hit or miss. When hit, each would either survive or die. Real bad boys, even after being hit, might re-challenge one-another when the matter remained unresolved, and both antagonists continued adamant in their respective positions.

Enter the world of high-capacity handguns, and suddenly the critical necessity for a single, carefully-delivered hit becomes muddled and loses its position of supreme relevance.

It shouldn't!

The purpose of additional rounds is to allow additional, carefully-delivered, follow-up hits while giving the first one time to take effect. Indeed, if a VCA requires shooting, he probably needs to be shot several times in rapid succession. Deliberate follow-up shots are surely well-advised, rather than idly standing by, assuming an uninterrupted threat.

My point? Learn to successfully answer the challenge with the number of rounds readily at hand, rather than shooting carelessly and then naively depending upon time and your presumed capability to reload."

Comment: Doc Gunn has an uncanny ability to make a subtle, but critical, point succinctly and in few words!

Yes, whether we have at our ready disposal five rounds or nineteen, we always need to shoot as if we had only one! Sloppy shooting, like sloppy thinking, is the province of those who are not destined to enjoy long lives!

/John