The importance of Training

08 Sept 08

Relative preparedness, from and colleague in the Midwest:

"This is a 'first' for me:

As is my habit, and yours, I started last week's Intermediate Defensive Pistol Class with a dry-fire drill. I commanded students to report to the line, face downrange, and unload.

One student interrupted me and said his pistol was loaded. I replied thatI expected all pistols to be loaded, and that we would thus all unload at once. He emphatically responded with, 'You don't understand! There's a round in the chamber.' 'Yes, that is perfectly normal,' said I. 'We'll now unload them all before we run this exercise.'

By now, he was panicked, as we obviously were not communicating. He nervously swept his cover-garment back, only to expose an empty holster! He, and I, were baffled, as was the rest of the Class.

Suddenly changing subjects, he asked he if he could borrow a gun! I asked if his pistol was in his range bag, or in his car. He then started to tell a convoluted story about earlier in the day when he went to the... , and his voice trailed off.

I asked the rest of the Class to take a break, as I took this student off to the side. I indicated to him that, although he had passed our Basic Program some weeks earlier, today was not a good day for him to have any kind of gun and that he needed to go home and get his wits together.

He departed, and we haven't seen him since!

It's a free Country, and no one is required to demonstrate that he is a non-idiot before buying a car, a gun, or becoming a parent! We all have bad days, but there are some people who need to either (1) get serious about life and personal goals or (2) voluntarily pass on at least the last two!"

Comment: "Somewhere, a True Believer is preparing to murder you. He is making do with minimal food, water, supplies, facilities, and sympathy. He has learned to depend upon nothing and no one, except himself. To his superiors, he is expendable. He trains day and night. He lives in filth and has lost count of his scars and brushes with death. The only clean things on him are his weapons, and he manufactured his own web gear. He doesn't obsess over cardiovascular health, body fat, blood-pressure, carbohydrates, nor what workout is best. He is thankful to have anything to eat! His gear weighs what it weighs, and his runs "end" only when his enemies stop chasing him. This True Believer has scant concern with pain and discomfort, neither his nor anyone else's. Brutalized from infancy, he has become brutal himself, and he knows with each encounter, he either wins, or dies, and, either way, nobody cares, nor ever will. He expects no mercy, nor will he have any. He doesn't plan on living to old age, and he doesn't go home at 1700. He is home!"

He lives his "...ism." Do you?

/John