Another Important Axiom

22 Nov 09

More excellent commentary on Scenario-Based Training, from another Instructor:

"Many of our students are accustomed to shooting only two-dimensional, motionless targets. The vast majority have never participated in live-fire training facing anything else.

They are thus not accustomed to thinking in terms of shooting through a body mass that has three dimensions, in order to arrange for bullets to strike, and subsequently penetrate, vital organs. They concentrate on where the bullet enters the target, but give scant thought to where it will come out, nor what it will pass through in the interim!

Consequently, in force-on-force scenarios involving animated roll-players, they typically aim at the center of the sternum, regardless of orientation of the target. When target presentation changes from face-on to the target facing another direction, point of aim typically does not. This all-too-common mistake generates glancing wounds that lack deep penetration necessary for the generation of crippling wounds.

A number of frustrating iterations are often required for even ' well-trained' students to finally grasp this vital axiom."

Comment: Interestingly, big-game hunters, when they come to us as students, already clearly understand this principle, because they have been compelled to exercise it many times. Another reason all aspiring Operators need to be ardent hunters, and hunt every chance they get!

By contrast, who have confronted only two-dimensional paper, even steel, targets, are lacking a critical experience. Scenario-based training (and big-game hunting) are two of the few ways of exposing oneself to it.

"There are two kinds of pain: The pain of discipline, and the pain of regret. We can avoid one, but never both!"

/John