A year or two ago, there was a lively debate on competition skills transferring to actual shootings. I mention it because this is following that train of thought.
I’ve been active Army for a number of years and while I work in a combat oriented organization, my job doesn’t involve pulling triggers any more than anyone else in the Army. Most of my time shooting has been tactical/self defense focused with the obvious nuances between a domestic SD shooting and WWIII where everyone may be on the gun. In the last 2-3 years though, I’ve done a lot more competition shooting than anything else. That’s largely because of the frequency of matches here vs the lack of “tactical” training classes plus I feel that I’m at an intermediate level and often the classes that are offered are either basic or advanced. I’ve done lots of basic and started noticing diminishing returns for the money. I’ve done fewer advanced courses but those are few and far between, usually cost way more time and money, and I’ve felt that some aspects were a little out of my grasp before so also not worth the full investment.
With that said, when I “compete”, I haven’t played to win. I feel that it’s more beneficial to me not to walk a stage until I have it memorized because I know that I get tunnel visioned and shooting different stages all the time can help with that. I’ve also had a bad habit of shooting too fast for my desired level of accuracy for a long time so I’ve been trying to slow down a bit to tighten my hits, even if faster c zones would be better for my score. Finally, I won’t typically hug barricades but I do try to work them a little bit as cover/concealment instead of just obstacles I have to get around.
So with all of that in mind, I shot an event at work today and while my accuracy and speed were decent, I took a big hit on procedural penalties. While these may be specific to my organization, they exist for a reason in that context so I figured I’d share here for discussion since it helps me reflect.
Penalties
1. Shot the hostage.
Instead of the standard cardboard targets I’m used to where white is no shoot, the paper targets they used for part of it had varying shades of gray and white silhouettes. I had no idea there was a shoot and no shoot silhouette on the same paper target and it wasn’t until after I’d sent the rounds that I realized I smoked the no shoot. I noticed as I was pulling away from my sight and looking for the next target that one was grey and one was white and all I saw was a humanish shape surrounded by an obvious border.
2. Engaging from behind cover.
I didn’t actually lose points here but only because I heard other guys talking about it and deliberately told myself to kneel behind the low barricade. I think I brought this up in the other thread as it’s a glaring mistake from afar but I may have done it myself if not for that.
3. Moving with an empty gun.
Another thing that seems like a glaring problem from the sidelines and this I absolutely did. I ran dry on rifle and started reloading on the move.
4. Scan before moving.
I often look at the range scan as a bit theatrical but in the context of a massive firefight with teammates, it makes sense to take a quick glance around before leaving cover. If it’s you and a buddy, you may know where he’s at and if it’s safe to move based on him firing. With 12+ on your side alone, maybe not so much. I didn’t do this once.
This hurt my ego a bit and was a good reminder that balance is usually the right answer and so occasionally finding something with a different set of rules for a different playing field is probably beneficial for many of us.
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Originally Posted by jellydonut
