For quite some time, I have been thinking about the way training is approached in, for lack of a better phrase, the “tactical firearm community.” In my opinion, there is an over emphasis on weapons training in the community.
You might say “Well, duh. The firearms community is going to have a heavy emphasis on firearms training over other subjects.” This is certainly true. And I’m not suggesting that people who want to own and use semi automatic rifles or pistols for various purposes should not be intimately familiar with their operation. In fact, if you haven’t received training from an objective and experienced third party, I highly recommend that you seek out at least one course.
However, pistol and carbine training courses and shotgun courses, and precision rifle courses etc. are all essentially based on, or grew from the concept of, providing law enforcement and military personnel with a greater ability to use their issued weapons. What we see now in the firearms community are essentially the same courses marketed to civilian shooters, perhaps with some limitations or restrictions. This is all well and good, but there is a major disconnect between the skills of a civilian shooter who has attended many carbine and pistol training courses and the skills of a Marine infantryman who has never attended training outside that which is provided by the military.
It is almost a foregone conclusion that the civilian shooter would be more proficient with the rifle/carbine and the pistol, at least within 50 to 100 yards. However, the Marine possesses skills that would make him much more valuable to an infantry unit, and, I daresay, more valuable in a firefight. Unfortunately, the skills that make him so valuable are not cool enough to draw dozens of paying clients.
Some certainly not all civilian training centers draw students by telling them how after only a few days of training, they will become as good a shooter as “a SWAT cop or a Navy SEAL.” Yes, Front Sight, I’m looking at you. Even when this is not stated outright, it is implied most often not by the instructors, but by the students. For some people who have never been in the military, and are seeking a little excitement, putting on all the gear and getting on line to practice shooting drills is a really fun way to spend a weekend. I certainly don’t wish to put down what they have chosen to do too much, for as I said above, anyone who wants to own an AR-15 should know how to use it. However, while there is a massive jump in skills and proficiency after the first few training courses, the 5th, 10th, or 15th course is of relatively little value.
As I hinted previously, there are many other critical skills normally associated with people who carry guns for a living that are not taught at carbine or pistol training courses. From patrolling and room clearing for infantrymen to felony traffic stops and subduing a violent criminal resisting arrest for police officers, the number of skills required to perform these jobs simply cannot be covered in a weekend. Of course, some of these skills would be of little or no use to people who aren’t performing these jobs on a daily basis. This brings me to my next point – actually, the overarching point of the article.
Why are you (this is a metaphorical “you”) seeking out this training? Home defense? To score higher in competition shooting? Preparation for an end of the world scenario? While this type of training will prepare you for some of the possible things that might happen immediately before or during a gunfight, there are many other important things to learn. Being able to avoid the confrontation in the first place might be a better option.
For example, in the aforementioned end of world scenario, a complete lack of situational awareness, or an inability to move across terrain quietly, might funnel you into a fight you’ll have a hard time winning. Beyond that although this is a slightly different subject being physically prepared for the rigors of carrying a rifle, ammunition, food and water, and other essential gear for days and miles at a time in a harsh environment is a far cry from being physically prepared for a carbine course that breaks for lunch.
In my opinion, a lot of people would be much better off if they attended a few quality courses from reputable instructors, then practiced regularly to maintain the skills they acquired during the course(s). This is as opposed to continually attending similar courses over the years, especially if regular practice in between courses is neglected.
Continually attending firearms training courses is an expensive proposition. How much more prepared are you – for whatever you are preparing for – by spending this much money and time on one thing? Would you be better off branching out in the training world and learning the basics of emergency medicine, or attending a high performance driving school? What about a wilderness survival course? Of course, all of these things cost money, too. Only you know exactly why you look to take carbine courses, and only you know if that money could be more productively spent elsewhere – or if it would be better to not spend it at all.
I have been talking about something along the same lines of this for years now…..not to say this is just my idea or something, but rather agree with you. I think it can be broken down even when you look at firearms training by itself. Most of the training out there comes from 2 areas, competition, or the government (military primarily, as most law enforcement programs when it comes to firearms stems from the military). While I think that competition is a great time and I think it is a great proving ground to test ideas, it is only as good as it is real.
The reason I will take the PFC marine that over the local mechanic/ 3-gun guy is: even though PFC smith might not be able to shoot el prez in sub 6 seconds, he knows how to set up an ambush, he can do it tired and hungry, he can seal a chest wound, and he can do with the kit on that he wears, not the Gucci range kit that wouldn’t allow you to get out of a car, let alone throw someone over your shoulder and carry them to cover without losing half your mags…….what is cover again? Hint: not a piece of plywood with various holes cut in it.
Bust em!
Honestly its my hobby. It what i like to do with my free time. Its fun to run carbine courses. To go out with some friends and do a run and shoot or blow off some steam. I know there are some people on some well respected forums that would say i’m a tool for saying it. And you have to be 100% serious about your “Training” but to hell with them. Its what i’m into. At least i pick and chose good instructors like The LAV and Kyle Lamb to learn about and learn from.
I shoot for fun, not to prepare for any SHTF scenario. That said, I can run a 6 minute mile, perform a perfect hip throw or foot sweep, fix a gunshot wound or broken bone, and all sorts of other things. Many people can shoot, but don’t seek out other training that is much more useful.
I also shoot mostly as a hobby. But here’s my situation. I train to what I think I’ll need and a little beyond. I live 1 mile from the Detroit city limit, and I spend 14+ hours a day in the city. A while back the police proudly announced that they got their response time for PRIORITY 911 calls down to just under 30 minutes… So I practice drawing and firing – a lot. I practice shooting from cover – a lot. I practice shooting one handed, each hand – a lot. I practice fast reloads and switching between primary and backup pistols – a lot. I’ve learned that sometimes it is unavoidable to be set upon by a carjacker, or a mugger, or a loose pit bull. These are things I have prepared for and (thankfully) been ready for (repeatedly). My rifle shooting is mostly for fun, but I’m not bad at it and I know how to sight in my optics. I’d like to spend more time at tactical courses, but most of them seem like a waste of time and money.
I’m a busy guy, so I really can’t invest the time in to doing a lot of tactical and high-performance courses. I’ve checked out a couple, but honestly I think I’m better off practicing the stuff I know on my own in most cases. As you folks may have noticed, the shooting industry is getting HUGE these past few years and a lot of classes are being taught by people that have no ability, and no business, teaching them. I went ahead and got my NRA certs for instructor and chief RSO (long story about my medical school trying to expel me over guns, so I wanted certifications to help prove that I’m not a danger), which gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of other instructors – civies, ex-mil, cops, bounty hunters, etc. These are the people teaching a lot of these expensive classes you speak of. A lot of them are garbage at shooting/safety/operation and look at it as just a way to make money in a bad economy. It’s really a shame that so many of them prey upon new shooters and teach them crap. I’ve seen some people say and do some stuff that is just plain wrong… I can’t afford to spend time and money learning junk.
Here’s a real life example. I was at one course and I sat down at a big table with the aforementioned people. The drill was simple, quickly field strip your pistol. I won, some others did not finish because they didn’t know how. The next drill was slightly less simple, reassemble while blindfolded after somebody else reorganizes your parts. I won, others did not finish, one guy broke his pistol. I thought “wow, that must be a fluke, because I’m not that good… I’m a scientist that only does this stuff as a hobby.” The next round was a different bunch of guys, and it went to a guy who works for Chrysler – again, the winner was not one of the “trained professionals.” To be fair, neither of we two “amateurs” take firearms training as anything less than serious, and neither of us would be caught dead (pun?) carrying a gun we didn’t have a firm understanding of. I’m not saying I’m some gun-kata rocking shooting and training master, but I know when somebody is crap, and I don’t want to be that person – even though I have college and med students trying to get me to take them to the range and teach CPL classes a lot. Being “better than the other guys” doesn’t mean I’m great, it just means I’m not the worst.
That aside, I do have some basic first aid training, a bit of survival, and I do animal surgeries and the likes (people are just animals when it comes down to it – and i’m not afraid of getting bloody). It’s sad, but I lack better useful skills because I’m the only “college boy” out of a family of ex-military people (they wanted SOMEBODY to get their degrees). However, I’m also the only one that maintains a collection of guns… So in any SHtF situation, I have the brilliant plan of loading the car with guns, picking up my inactive marine brother, getting my ex-army ex-boyscout leader father, and heading out to the house of my inactive marine aunt and inactive marine uncle out where the suburbs turn to farmland. I’d gladly put up with their bible thumping in exchange for the security of that much training in one place, and I’d have more than enough guns for everybody to have their pick of favorites. 🙂
Hrm, that’s kind of long now that it’s out of that tiny preview box…
Anyway, long story short… I have to ask the age-old question; how does one find a good teacher? What do people normally do to spot and avoid an unqualified teacher if they don’t know the material all that well yet?
I train at Front Sight when I can. And yes, we are told that after a 4 Day Defensive Handgun course we probably shoot better than a majority of LEO’s. True or not I don’t know, I do know a few LEO’s who were impressed with the training they received at Front Sight and I know that I certainly shoot a lot better after attending their courses and practicing at home.
That said, Front Sight does also stress situational awareness because it is better to avoid a fight if you can. They also give excellent suggestions for those of us that are there to learn how to protect ourselves and our families if needed. They stress thinking NOW about what is worth killing someone for, not when you have milliseconds to decide what to do. And they also talk about what happens if, God forbid, you do shoot someone to protect yourself and/or your family. It certainly made me think a lot.
I have taken additional courses, tactical first aid, that kind of thing, but am certainly not an expert. I do not have any tactics training, I certainly cannot run a 6 minute mile, and I doubt I would last a month if Red Dawn happens. That said, going to Front Sight, or anywhere else for that matter, and practicing to shoot with like minded individuals is a lot of fun and something I really enjoy doing.
Jacki,
Unfortunately its not difficult to shoot better than the majority of LEO’s, at least in my area. Cops in my area routinely score in the low 80% range on our yearly qualifier, which is ridiculously easy. Most of the guys I work with shoot their weapons once a year, when they qualify, there is very little in the way of practice that that goes on with our local officers.
That being said, there are many other aspects of survival, the most important being mindset. If you have a will to live and survive you are already ahead of the game even without any skills to back it up. If you augment that will to live with a basic skill set that would enable you to survive most urban conflict or disaster scenarios you would be much better off than if you went to the range every week and went through thousands of rounds of practice ammo. Hours of good practice with weapons can be had through dry firing and practicing the skills you already possess.
Shooting is just one tool in our toolbox of survival on the street. Your shooting skills will only be used if you fail to use good tactics on the street. The need to fire your weapon in anger is a signal that something has gone very wrong and now you need to fix it and should never be our “catch all” response to situations. Avoidance is always the best and safest route to take. I think more of these “self defense” classes should focus on what we used to call “street smarts” and less on your ability to Mozambique a silhouette at 10 paces.
I am so happy to finally hear someone not repeat all that crazy talk about going to endless training courses that fit the description you provided. It’s mostly become a money game and not everyone is going to really benefit from much of it if they are already proficient with their firearms.
Thank you for speaking the truth on this. Your completley correct that there are other skills involved that just shooting a gun that are needed for your successful survival.
I never could afford any of that stuff. I suspect not many can now.
I read this and thought the exact thing that Josh posted above. I would wager that most people that take a lot of training courses do so because they enjoy doing that on their weekends not to prepare for any specific event. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that approach either. If you want to get the most out of your firearms lots of times shooting a training course allows you to try things you couldn’t try at the range, but yet still do so in a safe environment. If someone wants to take 15 carbine courses more power to them.
“The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed — where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.”
Gives me chills every time I read it. I’ve never had any real training outside of the Army (don’t count the lame CCW stuff) and if I do seek it out, I’ll look at it as a vacation from my civilian job. I’m not the type of guy to sit on a beach for vacation and taking a 3-5 day course might be in the cards for me some day.
But for those that have never served – I wholeheartedly encourage you to seek out whatever training you can get. Like it or not, we’re all the militia.
In that line of thought i have two of my favorite quotes. One is from a favorite book of mine and the other i have no idea where it came from.
“Every free man should own a gun”
“The second amendment isn’t about hunting or sport. Its about making the government afraid to oppress you”
Once again, well said. I think that the majority of non-LEO civilians who take lots of classes and spend thousands on guns and kit and backup guns and kit would be better served by a basic pistol class and a membership to a gym.
Marksmanship != Comprehensive preparedness. Your ability to hold your breath underwater, to stop blood loss, to prevent hypothermia, to make fire, to climb a wall, to fix a flat, even to recognize the signs of stroke or heart attack could easily have more bearing on your level of preparedness than your ability to shoot well.
Yes. Anyone who is actually preparing for the end of the world would be better served learning how to grow food, make good friends, and fix tools. There are people like that, but they don’t hang out on glocktalk…
It’s easy to make fun of the guys who would need some tactical liposuction before they’d fit in a stack, but I prefer to think of them as hobbyists who sometimes take themselves a little too seriously.
I envy you George. I can’t get much below 7 minutes, but at least I’m getting the mileage up.
Seems like everyone understands and is on the same page for the most part. You don’t have to do something because it is practical. If you enjoy it, that should be enough. I guess the key is to define the reason you are doing what you are doing so you don’t wake up one day and realize that you have been spending thousands of dollars so you can dress up like a TF guy and clean the “drill-of-the week” thinking it was somehow the most efficient way of being prepared for a home invasion or the zombie apocalypse scenario everyone is so worried about. Surely there is some middle ground here where we can all do things we like to do and have fun with an end-state result being a higher level of preparedness than the masses (for most scenarios).
I’m not into the end of the world stuff. However bad things do happen from time to time, but it’s unlikely most of us will ever have to be in some major firefight and in fact even if you are trained I think most folks would recommend avoiding such encounters if at all possible.
I enjoy shooting, it’s recreation for me. I do have guns for personal protection. Some training is important, but after the basics my guess is money would be better spent on ammo and range fees than weekend warrior training. I would even recommend sticking with basic equipment for most of us. The latest and greatest stuff won’t make you a better shooter only practice will.
For those truly looking for the weekend warrior experience don’t forget paintball and airsoft. Some of these folks take it to the extreme.
Totally agree with the folks upthread about the benefits of general physical fitness. In the hand to hand combat/martial arts world, there’s a line of thinking that sport training is what is healthiest by and large– the fact that it has side benefits of being useful in the rare chance of a real-life attack. The major killers of Americans are heart disease, prescription drug ODs and car accidents. There’s a great article about this by Matt Thornton, an MMA/BJJ teacher based in Oregon:
http://www.straightblastgym.com/street03.htm
Once I received professional training, I learned just how little I knew. I had reached the level of “conscious incompetence” in the 4 stages of competence. I do spend far more time practicing what I have learned, and trying new things on my own, and don’t go to too many classes, maybe one a year, for firearms at least. I do have other training in various diverse fields, including ones that can save a life, not just take one.
Well, I didn’t need to take some courses in college, but the details within the subjects bettered my understanding. There for sure must be a point where it is our job to do things ourselves and adapt what we learn to ourselves and train ourselves.
I must also point out that “tactics” are not what are covered in a course. They actually avoid that.
What gets glossed over in the general public’s mind is what they don’t see from Hollywood: People need to eat, sleep, and know where they are going and what the point is going there.
You can suit up with three different caliber rifles, all the ammo, food, and water, and start hiking to Canada cross country, but 95% of those who say that’s the plan don’t even own a compass. That’s where they miss the whole point – and actually endanger themself. He’ll likely not make it to the state line, after all, it’s going to be one long gauntlet of local landowners patrolling to protect their livestock and keep Joe Survivor from shooting their calf.
Joe Snuffy, however, will already know to move at night, keep the noise down, parallel major routes to pickup foodstuffs at peripheral locations, and not be tricked out like a commando – IF HE LEAVES AT ALL. Most of the “Run for the Border” types apparently have no significant others or property to protect. Not having any responsibility must be nice, but lone wolves will get treated as such.
The rest of us plan to sit tight, in shelter, with alternate water sources right at hand, long term food storage, and enjoy the three to one advantage of a properly prepared defensive position. It doesn’t take sandbags, just a knowledge of what will be effective. “Sniper” ports at ground level in the foundation is something a soldier is trained on – and no CQB carbine course bothers to touch on it.
“SHOOT-MOVE-COMMUNICATE” is just one skill set. When you take the entire situation in mind, rain water collection for a family involves more than giving your two year old a sponge. It’s NOT about SEER, CQB, or great double tap times on a range. It’s about avoiding them completely, and keeping your family alive. Most of the internet posts on TEOTWAWKI come from completely clueless dudes who are allowing testosterone to make their decisions. In actuality, reason and experience will show doing exactly the opposite and being prepared to stay put is much more likely the better answer.
Most of those clueless dudes couldn’t haul a 30# rucksack 1 mile.
The only thing I want to add is… “Go to the gym and get back in shape.”
When you have to catch your breathe after going from prone, getting up and walking 50yds to the target… no gun training, adv. EMT, or any wilderness course will help you.
I agree with most of the upstream comments. If we are shooting for a hobby, then the stress should be lower. Maintaining physical fitness is always a plus.
My point is that on another site that I read, there was a big argument when the author recommended a side-by-side double barrel shotgun as a good home defense gun. The mall ninjas went ballistic. What if a squad of ninjas and operatives invaded your home? What if 3 bad guys were in the hallway prepared to rape and kill your family? What if the bad guys or government contractors had body armor? Only 2 rounds of 12 ga shot will not save your family!!!!! Or as I and few others tried to explain, the first round of buckshot is going to take out bad guy #1 or the china cabinet if you miss. Bad guy #2 may get shot but it will probably be as he is running out the back door. Bad guy #3 hit the accelerator and left as soon as he heard the first gunshot. Bad guy #4 didn’t have the courage to leave these losers in the bar and just pissed his pants in the back seat while mumbling “I told you this would happen”. None of the bad guys counted your shots and not one of them thought to charge at you and your gun.
I think the training I have received (almost all LEO and US Army) sets a person up to know how to train. A good gun training that is run for civilians should leave the shooters with the outline of a good training program for the next 6-12 months.
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” -Robert A. Heinlein
I could expand upon that, but it’s a good start…
Although it’s not professional training, I’ve become a fan of the Magpul Dynamics DVD series. I feel that they do a good job of demonstrating the basic and even some of the more advanced skills. They show good angles of how the different things are done making it easy for you to repeat them yourself to practice. I think they are totally worth the $40 just to give you something you can do at home. They definitely can’t replace real in person training, but for someone on a budget they are better than nothing.