Team Tactical Shooting is very much like flying in an aerobatic airshow in that one must develop a high level of trust in his/her fellow team members as they in you. You must be continually aware of where they are at all times as they must be aware of where you are. There must be an unimpeachable level of safety at all times while performing to the best ability of each individual and hence the team.
We are a four-man team that drills three times per week. Before each and every drill session we discuss and review the drills we are going to accomplish at the current range session, paying special attention to safety and to any maneuver(s) that requires extra special vigilance. At the end of each shooting session, we critique ourselves. However, if there is a situation that even comes close to being less than 100% safe, we stop that drill, make our guns safe, and then discuss that situation and come up with a course of action to insure that will never happen again.
Our range is a Private Club. There are no shooting booths as common to Public Ranges. For our intent and purpose, there are 4 unmarked lanes that are approximately 10 feet wide and 150 feet long. Benches are behind the shooters and are used as a place to put guns, ammo, range bags etc.
Targets, obstacles, and barriers are set out prior to each drill. Shooters begin each drill by drawing from the holster. Drills start with the command, “Shooters, load and make your gun ready.” When each shooter has accomplished that, he completes a press check, engages the safety, and places his gun into his holster raising his support hand to signal he is at the ready. At the end of a drill, all of us are downrange and the command is, “Shooters, unload your gun and make it safe.” We stop any walking/running motion, eject the magazine, run the slide open, remove a round if pertinent, do a visual inspection of the chamber, return the slide to battery, trip the trigger or engage the safety if applicable (depends upon which gun we are using), and then holster. The range then goes “Cold” and no one is allowed to take their gun out of the holster or handle any gun while any shooter is in front of the firing line.
This has been a long setup but pertinent that you understand how we work so you can envision how we operate to gain the most learning from the mistake(s) that I am about to describe.
Three team members are retired and no longer work. One team member still works but is self-employed and he checks his cell phone during breaks, returning phone calls or text messages when he must. Today was one of those days when he was distracted by business. So now you know where there is going.
We had just completed a rather complicated but satisfying drill, guns were made safe, which meant we all expected that no one had a loaded gun. While the working guy made his way back to the bench to check his phone, the other three of us examined our skill levels on the targets. As we were making our way back to the firing line, the fourth team member fired off a round downrange scaring the living daylights out of all of us.
Needless to say, after we checked to see if anyone was hit, we quietly walked over to our team member. I asked, “What the hell are you doing? You just put all of us at risk.” He said he couldn’t remember if he cleared his gun. His cell phone was in one hand and the gun in the other. The magazine was removed but instead of putting down the cell phone to rack the slide to visually check the chamber, he pointed the gun down range and pulled the trigger. He said, “It was an accident.”
Now for the lessons learned:
1. Never shoot when one is distracted. It puts everyone at risk.
2. There is no such thing as an Accidental Discharge, only Negligent Discharges
and this was gross negligence.
3. Because of his distraction, he became unaware of where his fellow shooters
were thus blowing safety out the door.
Other obvious safety violations:
1. Putting finger on the trigger without being ready to shoot.
2. Pointing the gun at an area he was unwilling to destroy or kill.
3. Not knowing what his target was and what was beyond.
4. Taking his gun out of his holster when the range was cold.
All of the above happened because his cell phone was distracting him. It took a long time to develop trust amongst ourselves so we could be very comfortable with each other during simulated close quarters combat drills. Now that trust is broken and the question becomes: can we trust this team member ever again? If we elect to keep him on the team, it will set us back in terms of complexity and exercising multi-faceted drills. If we banish him from the team, it will take a very long time to trust a new team member, virtually starting from the very beginning of our training together.
This is where you, THEFIRINGLINE.COM member come in. I am interested in knowing what you would do with this distracted team member? Banning his cell phone from the range is too easy and obvious. Please be specific as to what you would recommend for remedial training if you decide we should keep this member. If you recommend we dismiss him, please be specific with your reasons. Please try to refrain from critiquing our training methods. They are tried and true and based on SWAT TEAM TRAINING from some of the local PD’s that belong to our range.
We are a four-man team that drills three times per week. Before each and every drill session we discuss and review the drills we are going to accomplish at the current range session, paying special attention to safety and to any maneuver(s) that requires extra special vigilance. At the end of each shooting session, we critique ourselves. However, if there is a situation that even comes close to being less than 100% safe, we stop that drill, make our guns safe, and then discuss that situation and come up with a course of action to insure that will never happen again.
Our range is a Private Club. There are no shooting booths as common to Public Ranges. For our intent and purpose, there are 4 unmarked lanes that are approximately 10 feet wide and 150 feet long. Benches are behind the shooters and are used as a place to put guns, ammo, range bags etc.
Targets, obstacles, and barriers are set out prior to each drill. Shooters begin each drill by drawing from the holster. Drills start with the command, “Shooters, load and make your gun ready.” When each shooter has accomplished that, he completes a press check, engages the safety, and places his gun into his holster raising his support hand to signal he is at the ready. At the end of a drill, all of us are downrange and the command is, “Shooters, unload your gun and make it safe.” We stop any walking/running motion, eject the magazine, run the slide open, remove a round if pertinent, do a visual inspection of the chamber, return the slide to battery, trip the trigger or engage the safety if applicable (depends upon which gun we are using), and then holster. The range then goes “Cold” and no one is allowed to take their gun out of the holster or handle any gun while any shooter is in front of the firing line.
This has been a long setup but pertinent that you understand how we work so you can envision how we operate to gain the most learning from the mistake(s) that I am about to describe.
Three team members are retired and no longer work. One team member still works but is self-employed and he checks his cell phone during breaks, returning phone calls or text messages when he must. Today was one of those days when he was distracted by business. So now you know where there is going.
We had just completed a rather complicated but satisfying drill, guns were made safe, which meant we all expected that no one had a loaded gun. While the working guy made his way back to the bench to check his phone, the other three of us examined our skill levels on the targets. As we were making our way back to the firing line, the fourth team member fired off a round downrange scaring the living daylights out of all of us.
Needless to say, after we checked to see if anyone was hit, we quietly walked over to our team member. I asked, “What the hell are you doing? You just put all of us at risk.” He said he couldn’t remember if he cleared his gun. His cell phone was in one hand and the gun in the other. The magazine was removed but instead of putting down the cell phone to rack the slide to visually check the chamber, he pointed the gun down range and pulled the trigger. He said, “It was an accident.”
Now for the lessons learned:
1. Never shoot when one is distracted. It puts everyone at risk.
2. There is no such thing as an Accidental Discharge, only Negligent Discharges
and this was gross negligence.
3. Because of his distraction, he became unaware of where his fellow shooters
were thus blowing safety out the door.
Other obvious safety violations:
1. Putting finger on the trigger without being ready to shoot.
2. Pointing the gun at an area he was unwilling to destroy or kill.
3. Not knowing what his target was and what was beyond.
4. Taking his gun out of his holster when the range was cold.
All of the above happened because his cell phone was distracting him. It took a long time to develop trust amongst ourselves so we could be very comfortable with each other during simulated close quarters combat drills. Now that trust is broken and the question becomes: can we trust this team member ever again? If we elect to keep him on the team, it will set us back in terms of complexity and exercising multi-faceted drills. If we banish him from the team, it will take a very long time to trust a new team member, virtually starting from the very beginning of our training together.
This is where you, THEFIRINGLINE.COM member come in. I am interested in knowing what you would do with this distracted team member? Banning his cell phone from the range is too easy and obvious. Please be specific as to what you would recommend for remedial training if you decide we should keep this member. If you recommend we dismiss him, please be specific with your reasons. Please try to refrain from critiquing our training methods. They are tried and true and based on SWAT TEAM TRAINING from some of the local PD’s that belong to our range.
