By John Farnam
Ft Collins, CO –-(Ammoland.com)- “Life! What inscrutable card shall ye throw next upon the soft felt of our days?” ~ Colson Whitehead
Quoting Musashi, we often warn our students of the hazards associated with having “favorite weapons.” Because we know, as Musashi did, that a “ favorite weapon” (or its curious, but consistent, absence) will invariably become a convenient “excuse to lose.”
Telling ourselves that victory is impossible, absent a certain set of circumstances, sets us up for serial failure. It is a flawed personal philosophy, and represents a lethal snare that Operators must avoid.
Who thus adhere to the “resistance-is-futile” philosophy are already defeated, before any species of fight ever starts!
They’re losers. They’ve set themselves up to lose, and are only rarely disappointed!
Equally fatal is the “everyone-wait-a-minute, so-I-can-get-ready” approach to serious fighting. And yet, we regularly see the foregoing actively practiced during supposedly serious training!
Examples:
What do we do when we have our favorite rifle, but not our “favorite sights?”
Most of my Urban Rifle students report to training with modern, military rifles, and most are equipped with sophisticated optics, mostly red-dots- Aimpoints and EOTechs.
When I start a tactical drill, I look at a student and say, “Go!” Students are expected to instantly spring into action, get moving, devise a plan on the run, and then aggressively solve the problem. Tactical drills are only vaguely described beforehand. I don’t provide detailed instructions.
We’re training Operators, not Rockettes!
What happens when our student belatedly discovers his optic’s brightness is set so high that he can’t see anything beyond the glowing dot, or so low that he can’t see the dot/reticle at all. Or, is otherwise less-than-optimal?
In the latter example, do we fight though the problem, without the slightest vacillation, deploying BUIS (Back-Up Iron Sights), when necessary, while on the move?
Or, do we stop what we’re doing, plant our feet in cement, and then gawk at our gun as we stand motionless adjusting dials to perfectly suit our needs?
In the latter case, when the student finally gets back into action and completes the exercise, I remind him that his distracted, motionless hesitation was likely fatal!
In fact, in some tactical exercises, I require that the optic but turned off at the beginning of the drill. In others, I require the optic’s brightness to be turned-up as high as it will go.
When I say, “Go,” my student must instantly, efficaciously deal with the problem, with no “intermission!”
When the dot is too bright, are you automatically using your support-side eye to superimpose the too-bright dot on the target? This is the BAC Technique (for Bindon Aiming Concept), named after Glyn Bindon, founder of Trijicon. It can be used with both magnifying and non-magnifying optics, but not all people can make it work. When it works for you, it is a useful addition to your toolbox, and one that needs to be exercised regularly!
And when the dot isn’t there at all? Are we trained to smoothly deploy BUIS while on the run, and then continue fighting as if nothing happened?
When using BUIS, and we discover our small aperture has been inadvertently flipped-up, and we wanted the large one (or vice-versa)? Do we make-due and stay in the present tense, or do we insist on stopping and making adjustments?
What about our corrective glasses? Do we practice sometimes with non-corrective safety-glasses? Our regular glasses might get knocked-off or broken. Can we still be effective, even when operating with out-of-focus vision?
Many (myself included) have a degree of astigmatism in one, or both, eyes. When using my Aimpoint, I therefore don’t see a red “dot.” I see a red “ slash.” It looks like a comet! I’ve had to learn to use the head of the comet as my aiming-point. Works fine! Not optimal, but adequate to achieve rapid hits at most ranges.
Most lethal fights (like most surgeries, most criminal trials, and most building projects), are little more than a “series of disasters!”
The difference between ultimate triumph, or catastrophe, lies in the way we handle disasters, in our icy persistence and determination, in our ability to make things go our way despite less-than-optimal conditions and circumstances, in our uncanny knack for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!
When someone handles good fortune well, that tells me little about him. Anyone can do that!
Operators surely handle success well, but we also train ourselves, in fact we spend most of our training time, to handle disaster(s) well!
“Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well.” ~ Jack London
/John
About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor John Farnam will urge you, based on your own beliefs, to make up your mind in advance as to what you would do when faced with an imminent and unlawful lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance, if any. Defense Training International wants to make sure that their students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or inactions.
It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to the Planet Earth. Mr Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com
Instructor for what? Taking down the government had Hillary won? Taking down the government when the next Democrat becomes President.
Was there an anti-gun VPC troll in here again? Thought I heard some drivel flowing down the sewer? Must have been an echo.
@Vann the progressive/socialists/communists are just beside themselves because they know that their future is not a socialist U.S., and because they know that they do not have the skills hold a formation much less to revolt.
They’re training to take America back because it’s only meant Conservative Christians.
I always shoot with both eyes open, any optic or sights. Corrective lenses are a big problem however as my vision sucks. Man sized target within 20ft? Probably, but might have issue identifying….. Such is life.
John: As my instructor (who you know) told us, when you give up you die. As long as you can stay in the fight you have a chance. As for “both eyes open”, it’s the way I’ve shot since I started shooting more than 60 years ago. It gives you so many advantages over “one eye closed” I’ve tried to teach all my students that way over the decades.