Man-on-man drills build confi dence and get your heart beating to simulate stress while shooting.
bad news is that it is not; it is just qualifi ca- tion. When deploying a fi rearm in a stressful situation, you will need and want more and better skills.
While some of the troops will sign up for additional formal training, you only get so much from whichever shooting class you take. To be profi cient with your fi rearms, you need to use them. Many federal agencies do not allow their uniformed offi cers to “take home” their weapons. If you fall in this category, then you may have to purchase a duplicate of your duty weapon in order to train on your own. Firearms are expensive, but so is the cost of not being prepared to use your fi rearm under duress. It is your personal responsibility to be ready and skilled. How does one obtain skill with fi rearms? If your agency is proactive, you perform live fi re training (scenario based drills), you have moving targets at your range, or you utilize force-on-force training. But, what if you work for an agency that feels the state/federal
19 The Police Marksman Jan-Feb 2014
minimum qualifi cations meets their require- ments? How do you get practical training/ practice? Dare I say it; you can go shoot an action pistol or three-gun match. While these competitive situations will never replicate a real-world deadly force encounter, you will become profi cient at using your gear. To help alleviate the fear of “failure” when shooting in competition, I suggest taking G4S International Training Incorporated’s Competition Pistol I and II courses. T ese are pure shooting schools that will teach you how to effi ciently draw, reload, use cover in the scope of the game, shoot on the move, and more. Before you scoff at the idea of going to a shooting center to learn to play a game, stop and think of the positive aspects. Actors go to acting schools, dancers rehearse, and runners train daily. T ey all seek advice/ education from professionals in their fi elds. You should do the same.
In May, I traveled to their Shacklefords (its near Williamsburg), Va. facility to attend the Competition Pistol II course. T is course was
taught by Brandon Wright. Brandon was a Virginia State Trooper for nearly a decade and is a certifi ed police fi rearms instructor. He is also a world-class action pistol competi- tor. While the class is geared to competition, I found it to be one of the most thorough shooting courses I have taken.
Why do I suggest a competition pistol course for law enforcement? Having at- tended many tactical shooting courses, I found them geared to being “tacticool,” allowing the attendees and staff (many of whom are current or former operators) to meet the image of what a SWAT or Spe- cial Forces operator is supposed to be. T is means you show up with your latest vest, coolest AR or handgun, and get ready to learn high-speed, low-drag maneuvers. Un- less you are there as a unit and the train- ing is geared to your unit, for the most part the gear becomes the most high-speed part of the course. I have found the training quickly becomes nothing more than how to reload, get off target, shoot controlled
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