I first heard this from a Military Drill Instructor while on the firing line a long time ago and it stuck with me.
I apply it to just about every area of my life now, but especially FIREARMS TRAINING HABITS.
To me, it is the essence of WHY we should re-evaluate our combat training frequently. What could be worse than practicing the WRONG technique to the point we get GOOD at DOING IT WRONG!
On a frequent basis, we have to ask ourselves: Are our techniques relevant to the threat level we face? Are they realistic? Are they Efficient?
It also folds over to the small minutia of training, the little things we might overlook or do so often that we don’t even think about them.
Things like:
Reloading
Clearing Malfunctions
Shouldering the Rifle
Holstering
Clearing our cover garment (CCL Pistol/Revolver)
I will give you a great example on what I mean when i say “minutia”. When I first started pistol training with a buddy of mine, we were out on the range (the back 40) and after we had just finished a course of fire, my Glock locked back to slide lock, empty. Since we were about to take a break, I simply hit the slide release lever and holstered my gun. My buddy looked at me comically and asked me “Would you do that in a gunfight?” I looked back at him and immediately a light bulb went off.; instantly I realized my error and what he was driving at. When we are running drills we must do EVERYTHING as we would in a real fight, even the details. If your gun runs dry, reload it. But reload it the same way, EVERY TIME. If you choose to use the slide release, do it, if you overhand charge, do that, but do it THE SAME WAY, EVERY TIME! Now for some, who do not have the luxury of the great outdoors, away from civilization like me and who must practice at your Strict local NRA or IDPA Range, where “Range Safety Nazi’s” abound, this may be hard to do, but still, understanding the mental concept and working on it even in dry fire can get you far.
In this quest to become a better warrior, the devil is always in the details.
The challenge as I see it is to challenge yourself every day.
Don’t wait for somebody else to challenge you! Take a minute and apply the above motto to every area of your life and you will see what I mean!
