What I want to know is how often stuff like this happens that we never hear about?
JR1572
I'm obsessive about clearing downrange after scoring and taping.
Even after double and triple checking under, over and around barricades and props I'll yell "Going Hot!" and do the train crossing "stop, look, listen" before I start in with my shooter.
My wife (who is usually the scorer on the stages I RO) is a real ballbuster when it comes to making people reset, tape and then get out of the way so we rarely have any lolligaggers but it never hurts to triple check.
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
Those were some of my exact thoughts as well when I first saw this video.
I've had it both ways. At one sectional match, I was one of 3 ROs on the stage. The HMFIC RO that ran the shooter, an RO to run the scoreboard and watch for procedurals, and a third to call the shooters up and help keep them "motivated" to help paste and reset. Another state match, I was the only RO on the stage . . . that one sucked.
^^ This! My NROI Instructor made a similar point in my training and it's something I make sure to do. Every time I run a squad on a stage I make sure to be the last one off the stage after everything is pasted an reset. Takes a few extra seconds but it's a helluva lot better than having to call an ambulance because someone caught one in the chest. If something like that happened on my watch, I don't think I could stand myself.
When I used to SO at IDPA matches (when I used to shoot IDPA matches) I developed the habit of of starting off with, "Now that the range is clear and the targets are taped, Shooter, please face down range, Load and Make Ready!"
I did this to make myself take a final look at the range and the targets to double check that it was clear and the targets taped. I have known the heartache of turning in a smoking run on a stage only to see the last 2 targets were not taped and know I would have to reshoot the damn thing. Now, with the IDPA rule changes, people would probably bitch because it's not the "Official Start Procedure."
While I never had anything as dangerous as in the video happen, it always pissed me off when people would clown around in the stage, ie. beeping the timer, yelling stuff, talking while I am starting the shooter.
Shooting is serious bidnuss, yo.
Gringop
Play that song about the Irish chiropodist. Irish chiropodist? "My Fate Is In Your Hands."