Grey Sky,
The only handgun-based snake drill I could find on YouTube wasn't -- well, it wasn't. Here's a shotgun-based one, though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8_LS6CoHhQ In the class I took, we used handguns rather than shotguns and there were people in place of the cardboard placeholders you see in the video.
The purpose of this drill and others like it has nothing to do with "assaulting a position" (whatever that might mean to you). It isn't training you to
do anything. Rather, it is an experiential drill, designed to give you a very specific experience in a controlled environment: that of moving safely through a crowd with gun in hand.
The drill served to reinforce students'
already-learned good muzzle control. It forced students to truly visualize what it might mean to move through a crowd
while pointing the gun at nobody who didn't deserve it. Perhaps most important, it allowed each of the students to develop absolute confidence in our ability to do the task at hand regardless of the presence of nearby bystanders.
We do live in a 360-degree world, and there might come a time when you need to fire a shot while a loved one is within a few feet of you. There is value in stress innoculation, for most people. I'm somewhat ambivalent about whether a defensive shooter "needs" a downrange drill to be truly prepared (and thus whether it's a necessary risk or an unnecessary one), but I have no in-theory quarrel with those who teach it. I took this class specifically so I could see with my own eyes what was being taught, and what value the students themselves believed they were getting from such drills. My conclusion: it can be helpful in building a solid mindset and increased confidence,
BUT only when done right!
When a downrange drill is done, it should be done in a very cautious and controlled manner, with experienced students and multiple safeguards. If you as an instructor have the philosophy that the stress innoculation provided by such a drill is really important, then you need to provide it for your students in the safest possible manner. You don't get a pass on safety just because you're doing something you think is important; rather, you have an
increased responsibility for providing safety on the range for the students who trust you to provide that experience for them.
Typically, what an instructor is trying to accomplish with a downrange drill is something some call "stress inoculation" and others call "emotional climate training." The goal is to allow the student to experience – in a safe environment – the full weight and magnitude of shooting near (but not at) an innocent human. Most responsible shooters are freaked out by that thought. Yet if and when the student uses a firearm for real in a defensive situation, it is entirely likely that someone they love and care about will be within feet (and possibly within mere
inches) of the muzzle at the time they fire. If they are freaking out about the mere thought of firing near an innocent, they won't be able to make that shot when they need it. So the reasoning for the downrange drill is that if the student has already experienced and gotten over the extreme emotional "freak out" associated with needing to make a shot near but not at an innocent, they will be that much steadier under stress and that much more prepared to make that shot when it counts.
At the same time, those instructors who send students downrange during such drills (rather than going downrange themselves while students shoot) are typically trying to accomplish a similar stress inoculation goal: they want their students to experience, again in a very controlled environment, what gunfire looks like from near the front. Again, it is fully expected that any reasonable person will be disconcerted by both the idea and the actuality of having a gun fired in their general direction, even if it is not being fired at them. The reasoning here is that those who have experienced the emotional impact of such a situation but in a completely controlled environment will be more prepared and better able to keep their cool under pressure if & when it happens in real life. They may also recognize that they are being shot at somewhat sooner than someone who has never seen or experienced gunfire from anywhere near the muzzle end. For good instructors, the goal has far less to do with anything macho than it does with simply getting over and past the extreme emotional reaction in training so that the student will be able to respond calmly and efficiently in real life.
By this point, it should be clear why these goals cannot be accomplished with anything but live ammunition on a hot range. There are other stress-innoculation goals that can be accomplished in other (much less risky ways), but these particular ones can be reached only with live ammunition on a hot range.
Again, to be clear: I'm not saying these drills must be done and I'm sure not urging anyone to get out this weekend and run downrange! I'm just trying to articulate what
good instructors who do this type of drill are intending to accomplish when they do them.
Unfortunately -- as Tamara so eloquently points out! -- there are an awful lot of not-good instructors out there beating their chests and playing the macho game with their students. In those cases, it's not about learning anything worthwhile; it's about being the biggest baddest alpha on the shooting range. But this type of mass stupidity, urged on by testosterone-heavy machismo,
doesn't feature the very controlled safeguards that good instructors put in place. It's just a badly-directed game of Chicken.
Here's one clue: if the downrange drill becomes the most prominent feature of the class, heavily advertised and puffed far out of proportion to anything else taught in the course, you're probably looking at a Bad Idea in progress. Downrange drills can be helpful, sometimes and under some circumstances. They should
never be done with beginning students and they should
not be the centerpiece of the class. They should be a small part of a complete, developed curriculum designed to bring advanced students to the point they can benefit from such a drill.
And here's the really essential key: if you're looking at a class from someone who blows off
any one of the four essential safety rules, for any reason whatsoever, with any self-justification whatsoever, you are not looking at a good instructor for this type of training. You're looking at a fool who has fools for students.
pax