I have lost count of the number of times I've seen the title quote used in an argument on TFL threads.
It tends to be followed by such things as "... recoil won't matter;"
or
"... noise and flash won't matter."
The thing is, while stress situations may cause you not to notice such factors, the assumption that they won't matter is just ridiculous. You may not notice how they impact actual performance, but they still will and do impact performance.
Recoil will affect follow-up shots. Any flinch learned from training with the high recoil weapon will likely still manifest in the SD situation, and with shaking hands it may be amplified. Noise and flash will impact your ability to detect and track targets after the first shot has been fired, assuming you think to look for additional BG's.
But beyond that, the underlying assumption that adrenaline will compensate for all ills is not borne out by centuries of military experience. Adrenaline tends to impair cognitive processes, not help them. The militaries of the world have dealt with this through intensive, repetitive training, to create muscle memory for those times when thinking may take too long or just may not happen.
"We train like we fight, we fight like we train."
"The more we sweat in peacetime, the less we bleed in war."
What does this mean? To me, it means that if a weapon has too much recoil, bang, and/or flash for me to train with it on a very regular basis, then if I ever have to use it in a real SD situation I am very likely to have unwanted input from Mr Murphy. A strong shot of adrenaline will NOT compensate for a lack of training.
Find a weapon you can handle, and train with it until you don't have to think about its operation, because if the time ever comes, it's almost guaranteed that your thinking won't keep up with your reflexes. If you have to think in such a situation, you will lose any hope of taking the initiative. Shoot as many rounds through it as you can afford, on a regular basis. Practice from different positions, using both and either hand, to the extent that you can at your practice facility.
Practice multiple target engagement. Practice not lowering the muzzle after the first double tap, just in case you need follow-up shots. Practice scanning the area around the target. Do these sorts of things so often that you don't have to think about them, you just automatically do them.
This isn't to say, "Don't think." Just realize that people don't tend to think so fast when that adrenaline jolt hits.
This is to say that selecting a weapon that is uncomfortable to shoot regularly, for extended practice sessions, is counterproductive. Power is only useful if it can be controlled when it is needed.
It tends to be followed by such things as "... recoil won't matter;"
or
"... noise and flash won't matter."
The thing is, while stress situations may cause you not to notice such factors, the assumption that they won't matter is just ridiculous. You may not notice how they impact actual performance, but they still will and do impact performance.
Recoil will affect follow-up shots. Any flinch learned from training with the high recoil weapon will likely still manifest in the SD situation, and with shaking hands it may be amplified. Noise and flash will impact your ability to detect and track targets after the first shot has been fired, assuming you think to look for additional BG's.
But beyond that, the underlying assumption that adrenaline will compensate for all ills is not borne out by centuries of military experience. Adrenaline tends to impair cognitive processes, not help them. The militaries of the world have dealt with this through intensive, repetitive training, to create muscle memory for those times when thinking may take too long or just may not happen.
"We train like we fight, we fight like we train."
"The more we sweat in peacetime, the less we bleed in war."
What does this mean? To me, it means that if a weapon has too much recoil, bang, and/or flash for me to train with it on a very regular basis, then if I ever have to use it in a real SD situation I am very likely to have unwanted input from Mr Murphy. A strong shot of adrenaline will NOT compensate for a lack of training.
Find a weapon you can handle, and train with it until you don't have to think about its operation, because if the time ever comes, it's almost guaranteed that your thinking won't keep up with your reflexes. If you have to think in such a situation, you will lose any hope of taking the initiative. Shoot as many rounds through it as you can afford, on a regular basis. Practice from different positions, using both and either hand, to the extent that you can at your practice facility.
Practice multiple target engagement. Practice not lowering the muzzle after the first double tap, just in case you need follow-up shots. Practice scanning the area around the target. Do these sorts of things so often that you don't have to think about them, you just automatically do them.
This isn't to say, "Don't think." Just realize that people don't tend to think so fast when that adrenaline jolt hits.
This is to say that selecting a weapon that is uncomfortable to shoot regularly, for extended practice sessions, is counterproductive. Power is only useful if it can be controlled when it is needed.
), run rapids above which I'd have been paralyzed with fear when I started out. Some of that is physical skill which requires training and practice to acquire, some of it is having learned how to read the river, so I know what to expect at a given point, and some of it is just having done it enough times that I'm no longer afraid of some pretty big water.