Rob, great thread!
Rich Lucibella,
Absolutely correct the issue is focus!
Thanks I appreciate your positive comments.
Let’s deal with focus.
It is my opinion, borne of a few years experience in some low stress activities (gymnastics, airborne, helo-rappell, and helo-cast operations; professional full contact karate, motorcycling), that one’s attention is best focused on the
process, not the outcome.
Those who are preoccupied with keeping your eye on the opponent are allowing him to drive their actions.
The very act of focusing one’s gaze focuses one’s mind on what you are looking at. (During my tenure as an instructor at the Fort McCoy Light Fighter Academy Army Air Assault School we often told students as they prepared for the short time constraint and rather exacting Sling Load Inspection Performance test to “look at what you touch and touch what you look at”. Thus as they followed their inspection sequence they would FOCUS on each element in turn!) My
presumption is that the gunfight has commenced. Your survival is not so much contingent on what he does so much as it hinges on what you do!
Once the unthinkable has begun, focusing your eye on the front sight should become a haven from stress. It is my considered opinion that in times of great stress soldiers and indeed all humans fall back on the repetitive training they have received.
We have all heard the story of the LEO with the brass from his revolver reloads in his pocket following the gunfight. We are all familiar with the many civil war relics recovered charged to the muzzle with ball and charge atop ball and charge…
Why? The soldiers were trained in the volley system of fire. They drilled in a system where the ranks closed with the enemy in successive volleys. Each rank of firers steps forward through the rank which just fired. The motions of reloading were rehearsed and rehearsed. What was not rehearsed over and over was actually taking aim and shooting a shot on command!
So when the stuff was in the air movement device they went through the drill just as they had trained, and they did not actually fire!
The drill used to train the volley method is the culprit here! They trained over and over without actually firing as ammunition was too dear for that. Then when they were less than 50 yards from another long line of humans trading volleys of fifty plus caliber balls (stressful? I should think so) they tended to fall back into
EXACTLY what was drilled or trained
Let me say here that I can not imagine what sort of incredible discipline and leadership it took to rally men to frontally assault the Union line at Pickett’s charge. I am in awe of the ability to get men to “go over the top” in WWI. The carnage depicted in the opening of the film “Private Ryan” is as near as I can imagine it, never having been in combat. It seems to me, if it is like other stressful events, there is a surreal ethereal quality about these activities.
I think that if you train drilling over and over to confirm the target(that vulnerable portion of the core of his being and the part of his exterior we have to engage to hit it), see the sights, quickly and smoothly press the trigger that you will eventually feel quite comfortable when you are doing this.
On the day that you encounter that which is to be avoided your natural inclination will be to retreat to your comfort zone. If what you have trained yourself to be comfortable with is the methodical application of the fundamentals, placing shots on the critical points of the opponents anatomy you are well prepared to survive.
You are way ahead of someone who says: “it will all be a blur, you won’t be able to see your sights, your can’t this and you won’t that”.
This is a mind set for failure. You are what you think you are. If you TRULY see yourself as the cool headed problem solver, and apply the algorithms that you have developed, you will do so, and you will most likely WIN!
It appears that the results are best if you concentrate on the process.
The gymnast’s dismount usually is landed
if you are focused on the steps
you do them.
In competitive shooting, the tens
are there if you concentrate on the
process of shooting them.
In the full contact karate ring it is
best if you concentrate on executing
your plan, and force him to deal with
you. You evaluate as things develop,
make adjustments, but you are focused
on what your are doing to him, not on his
actions. (You may be drawing a
specific response so you can counter
it, but YOU are driving the train, not
him).
During motorcycle crashes (which are
not accidents, but rather attempts to
expand one's performance envelope ),
situational awareness rehearsed
mentally, allows one to bring an arm
in to avoid a guard rail, or to roll
over while sliding feet first (at speed)
to avoid colliding with a sign post.
While making a tree landing parachute jump
concentrating on driving the chute to the onlyopen spot for some distance results in being one of very few not in a tree!
Look at him (focus you eyes on him)? What for, is he going to reload for you? You have to shoot him!
You can not do that with an empty or malfunctioning weapon. You should remain behind or move to cover, reload in such a manner that you are
minimizing your exposure, while your
peripheral vision tracks him. You should be focusing on the steps of the reload.
When your focus is on the opponent you are not concentrating on what you are doing. It is implausible to me that when teaching to reload, some instructors are insistent that you must continue to look at (focus on) the opponent.
If you’re partnered with someone, you should take cover as you loudly advise “Reloading”! His or her response should be “Covering!” In less than 2 seconds you WILL be sounding off with “Ready!” or shooting!
Your focus should be internal. Remember Magnum trying to open the car door as the dobermans closed on him saying aloud "Don't look at the dogs! Don't look at the dogs!"
Right technique, wrong words, should have been "LOOK at the lock and PUT the key in it!" Give yourself a positive roadmap for your mental state. Prepare to win! Survive!
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Ni ellegimit carborundum esse!
Yours In Marksmanship
http://www.1bigred.com/distinguished
michael
[This message has been edited by Michael Carlin (edited 01-29-99).]