Scan & Assess?

Last night, I was watching one of our instructors instruct three students in pistol shooting. One student in particular would follow a rigid routine every time he completed a shooting sequence; he would scan the area in front of his targets from left to right on about a 30 degree angle. One sweep, left to right then re-holster his gun. After watching this a few times, when he was done with his turn shooting I asked him if he was trained by law enforcement, because that’s what it looked like to me. No he said, “the military.” I then asked him if he knew why they trained him to do that and his answer was that he was told it would “break tunnel vision” in a firefight. I asked him if he has been in a firefight while serving, “yes, many times” he replied. Then I asked him if he has ever experienced tunnel vision during those fights, “no, I never did.” Therefore, he was practicing what he was taught, with no regard to whether it was needed or useful. I fully understand that when the military trains you to do something, you do it. He’s not in the military any longer and in private training, we should question everything we’re taught if the WHY is not fully explained so that we can understand it. What he was doing was simply following former training protocol and the way he was doing it could cost someone a life. Taking your eyes off of a threat that you have just engaged to look for more threats is not a winning strategy. Certainly we want to be aware of our surroundings and identify other threats if they exist, but not by lowering our point of aim and moving the gun left and right like a robot.

This and other training techniques taught from decades old practices do nothing to improve our odds. As instructors, it’s our obligation to train to the highest, most modern standards we know and to keep learning ourselves. If your firearms instructor / coach isn’t moving you forward, you should try someone else.

Always question, always learn, always move forward.