I have written before about regular scheduled mandatory training of your people. This does not have to be with a paid trainer, it can be running known drills, practicing reloads and shooting 3 gun style or IDPAish matches. The point is, are you training/practicing/bonding in meat space as much as you can? Have you set goals for proficiency and are you enforcing them?
With a few pieces of steel, some 1x2s and target stands (or home made all wood stands) and some IDPA cardboard targets along with some hay bales or old drums it is easy to at least get some regular practice of what you know. Travis Haley doesn’t have to be there, it can be your tribe, having some fun with a timer and helping each other get better. Building camaraderie and trust. Identifying weaknesses and addressing them to help each other is far more important than texting about Trump’s next move.
3 gun and IDPA matches are cheap and easy ways to see just how bad you suck. Find some in your area and get your whole tribe involved.
We approached a local range where IDPA matches are held monthly and discussed what we wanted to do. We asked for one pit, once a month, rain or shine for a guaranteed amount of money. It just so happened that on this particular day it was rainy, muddy and not a soul was there….on a Saturday when it should have been packed.
So we get the use of target stands, a pit and barricades/barrels and steel for what amounts to a happy meal price when split between our group. It’s a no brainer. This is in addition to dry firing, practicing mag changes and transitions on your own as well as participation in local matches.
We set up a group funding where everyone pays, even if an emergency comes up your money is still going for the training, it’s part of the deal….but you are required to be there no matter the weather or how you feel unless it is actually dire. If your pretty carry gun or carbine isn’t able to get wet or get dirt or mud on it, you’re wrong.
Look, as I’ve said before, this is not a replacement for training with a real deal pro trainer. What it is though is putting that knowledge to practice, keeping it sharp and fresh and building that trust with your people. You are not “ready” because you took a class or three a couple of years ago, these skills are PERISHABLE!
We are lucky in that we have a certified IDPA match director/safety officer in our group, another is a certified NRA pistol instructor and the range master is an actual local SWAT trainer who is former .mil and willing to hold training with us when we ask. We also get the opportunity to take classes offered in TCCC and unit movement for a great price with no travel.
Go to a range and ask, or set something up on somebody’s farm or land you know. Get out there and regularly put what you do know into practice until your lizard brain can reload while moving and can shoot from weak side without even having to think. The test is coming and you better be studying.
Look, before anyone says “but IDPA and 3 gun is a game”….BS. These activities get your azz off the couch and out there turning basics into instinct. Learning to shoot accurately while on the move and reload on auto pilot is worth gold compared to bitching about 2A on some forum. Will it make you an “operator”? Nope.
Will it make you 100 times better than the thug trying to take your food or your wallet or rape your dog? He!! Yes. It will show the holes in your preconceived ideas and your equipment. Maybe a chest rig isn’t for you, maybe that nice leather holster collapses and you can’t reholster without looking, maybe you can’t run from cover to cover because your cardio sucks. The point is GET OUT THERE AND FIX IT….NOW!
The fact is, you are not ready, at least not as ready as you think. None of us have reached our potential and none of us have arrived. Unless you’re currently a SEAL or Ranger you need to be honing yourself with your people. If you are not, you are wrong.
There is going to be a fight, not on the glorious green fields of battle but locally in your AO and the enemy is going to be people you possibly know. Americans who decided that you are the enemy. They won’t stop, they must be stopped. That mental anguish is going to be real. If you think it’ll be easy to start killing, you are fooling yourself. Train your brain to do automatically the mechanics so your higher thought processes can work on real problems and not on fumbling your weapon. This ain’t no game, it is coming as sure as Christmas and it’ll be soon. You know it in your bones and so do I.
Tick.Tock
Get myself a Glock??????
If someone gave me one, I would throw it away.
You must have never seen the movie US Marshals. The point is have a weapon you’re not afraid to get dirty, scratched or dinged up.
My only additional thing would be to pass on your skills to someone else most preferable the next generation. Think like a mentor always have a apprentice who’s getting better than you then moves on and you take another one in .
Agree!