21 Dec 03

On shooting skills, from a friend and student:

"Today, Carol and I went to a local bowling alley to pick up our daughter from a birthday party. While we were waiting, Carol suggested we play one o f the shooting games in the arcade.

We engaged in a duel match. Both of us had to fight off the thundering hordes of invading monsters. Funny, she beat me badly! Why? I haven't sho t in a bit (a sore point with me) and got sloppy immediately. I didn't use the weapon's sights. I just pointed and yanked the trigger, assuming, hell, its just a game. After all, I'm a 'good shot.' I've been shooting for years. How can I fail?

I failed! Carol, on the other hand, lacked my arrogance and overconfidence. She only had the frame of reference from Vicki's instruction. Thus, while she was slower to engage, she used her sights, pressed the trigger carefully , tracked the target, and hit consistently. Ultimately, the electronic score keeper revealed that I had engaged more targets, shot more bullets, but had far fewer hits than her. She fired slow er and more deliberately, but didn't miss at all. Appalled, I immediately challenged her to a rematch. She reminded me, 'Had this been a real fight, you wouldn't get a second chance!

It's 'back to the basics' for me."

Lesson: It can't be said too often: Accurate shooting wins fights. Sloppy shooting is for losers.

"Never do your enemy a minor injury."

Machiavelli

/John