Deaf Smith said:
You guys do know if you are fighting someone who can shoot BACK, and shoot well, standing up using any stance might be very unhealthy.
What was the point of that comment? I mean, aside from adding a snide remark to an old thread? The point you are raising has actually been discussed already in the thread. But let me raise a few counterpoints...
If someone is shooting at you, any number of things you do might be unhealthy. If you stand up and move you might get shot. If you take cover, you may lose sight of your attacker and get shot (remember the Dallas police officer who crowded the column he was hiding behind and was outflanked and killed after his standing, moving attacker shot him with a rifle at close range?).
From kneeling or prone, you much reduce the area you can observe and being able to know where your attacker is at is critical information. The urge to avoid incoming fire can make you lose situational awareness in a way that can be very deadly.
At the same time prone, and less so kneeling, reduce what you can observe off of a nicely mown range with a slightly elevated firing line, they also increase the amount of time it takes to move or change positions. The closer your attacker is, the less team support you have, the more you must be aware of attacker location and be able to move quickly in response.
Does that mean you should never go prone or kneel? Of course not. Just like natural point of aim and skeletal support are still important for good long range accuracy. But realistically, defensive use of a rifle is likely to be dynamic, take place at less than 50m (and probably a lot closer than that), and you probably won't be maneuvering as part of a team - so you will be forced to be both maneuver element and base of fire.
It would be great to have a discussion of WHEN certain techniques should be used or what type of tactics they support instead of the same brain-dead repetitive conversations over and over again.