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Thread: "Go big" versus incrementalism in training

  1. #41
    I have adopted a version of #3 and what follows is how I would progress myself and my student base.

    As an example of this method, which can translate beyond this lone example, I like to use the standard 8" circle for up close work. I would like to be able to work at a pace that allows me extreme comfort with group size, or I would like to be around half of the 8" circle or around 4" for about 95%. When that is achieved, I like to increase my pace that puts me just outside of this 8" hit zone with about 50% hits / misses. Now I am not talking anywhere on the silhouette but just outside of the 8" zone. I would then dial it back to a pace where the hits are around 80% in the 8" zone. I would work at that pace until my skills progress to around 95% or greater and general groups will shrink to around half the acceptable hit zone size or the 4". From there with that consistency I would push the pace again and repeat. Noting that even with hits just outside of the 8" hit zone, I could still consider that an effective hit in a real engagement but the goal is working at a pace that allows for 95% or greater with around half of the acceptable hit zone before moving on. I could translate this technique to many things like a 3x5 or any drill.

    As for the tactical team topic.... I will first make note that there is a huge difference in a full time team and a part time team and usually skill levels vary greatly. I mean no disrespect to any part time SWAT guys, but the point is that comparing a full time unit who does it everyday is not always apples to apples to guys who might only train 1 maybe 2 days a month. So when we generalize tactical teams, there are often vast differences from teams, how they operate and techniques that might be applied as a training method. As an instructor I would have to adjust how I approach guys who might get only 8 hours of training, which might only be 4 hours of dedicated firearms training per month compared to a full time team who might get one full day of firearms training per week or 32 or more hours dedicated firearms training per month.

    Keeping that in mind, I will note that when I first entered onto our teams about 12 years ago the methodology was very different than what it is today, or the direction that I have pushed our program. When I was a FNG misses were absolutely not acceptable at ANY time in training or practice. We must have done thousands of pushups etc, for misses and everyone pays as a team and it did not matter who had the miss. This concept was pretty widely accepted as SOP at tactical teams across the nation from what I saw. What did I notice as the years progressed? I noted that there was a slow progression in the shooters skills when you are looking for 100% accuracy at all times. No one ever did any PT as a part of "reinforcing training goals" for slow hits. But misses were taboo and rightfully so under certain circumstances. However being too slow can be just as bad as a miss.

    Of course I did a lot of training or shooting on my own with a few other guys. I adopted a blend of what might be deemed "competition" techniques and drills and incorporated that into my training. I did heavy isolation and broke things down into smaller pieces and drilled. Isolations are also a big technique in force on force training, which I applied those concepts to my shooting and my own smaller training group. I noted that my own skills and those that I was working with using these methods progressed at a rapid pace. Granted we were training more, however our skills improved at a much quicker pace and it was very notable when we intermixed within the normal training with the unit. Over the years it became highly obvious to me and others that this technique was working at a rapid pace and I generally state that my technique is heavily "competition" influenced and has been proven beyond a doubt in my mind that in can be seamlessly woven into "tactical" teams and can create true giants.

    As time progressed and as the program eventually came under my influence, I incorporated the blend or #3 concept to our training, making misses a planned outcome of distinct drills or blocks of training. As little as 5 or 6 years ago, this was extremely taboo as a whole in my peer group of instructors. However using a controlled drill and pushing the shooter outside of their comfort zone, beyond their own personal limits and current skill sets does 3 distinct things.

    #1 - It shows them how far they can actually go before failure. They can generally go much further than what they were pre-programmed for in the past. However the deep seeded need to not push themselves to keep 100% accuracy actually hindered them. Knowing your true actual limits is important and where that actual falling off the cliff point is at.

    #2 - The goal is building confidence and competence while rapidly increasing skill sets. Without the fear of reprisal, it allows the shooter to test themselves and work in a controlled progression to break barriers which are both mental and skills related and progress their abilities at a much faster pace.

    #3 - This one is not 100% but it generally holds true. It challenges the shooter and makes the training more interesting and drives the shooters own natural competitive juices to make them want to do better. You find almost 100% that guys take more interest and don't show up to the range that one mandatory day of the week just because they have to. Most become very eager to shoot more, to perform better and often show up at the range more than the mandatory 1 day per week.

    Now there are definite times for 100% accuracy and there are drills designed to force a shooter to miss. No drill designed to force misses will be done on a photo realistic or human anatomical type target. When they see a photo realistic target, or human anatomical type target they understand that misses are not acceptable. I will say that without a shadow of doubt that the guys who have come through our current program are far far better shooters as a whole than groups from years past. Of course we are always in search of any other techniques, methods etc in order to continue our development. I stay extremely open minded and I am always trying to improve both as an instructor and as a doer.

  2. #42
    Leopard Printer Mr_White's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Surf View Post
    I am awesome.
    Fixed it for you.

    Seriously, great post. I dig it!
    Technical excellence supports tactical preparedness
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