Darwin Knight ''stress caused newby mistakes''

Darwin Knight
Graduate of multiple tactical firearms courses
Owner of Advanced Industry Supply

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Hey Lance,

First, I have to say that I had a blast. I think the run with the rifle was the most fun. I'm going to do divide my review into three parts. I will talk about the things that I think work with a little explanation and then I will do the same for the things I think could use a little adjustment. Finally I'll make a couple of suggestions for stuff that I would add.

It is important to note that I have written this from the perspective of a civilian in his home.

Stuff that works

The moving target is fairly realistic. I've never been in a shooting before -- and, God willing, never will be. However the stress that comes with using your machine seems to approximate reasonably well what I believe to be the stress level that would accompany a real life situation. I consider myself to be a fairly apt shooter. None the less when the target started moving I committed every newbie mistake possible. I was flock shooting, looking over the sights to see it I had hit the target. I horribly fumbled a mag change or two among other things. More static training does not bring those faults to the surface. Your environment does.

Stuff that may need a tweek (In my opinion)

There are a couple of concepts that are inherent in the scenarios that we ran that concern me a bit. If in fact the purpose of the drills is to train an individual to protect his family in a forced combat situation then there are some elements that may need to be altered. First, a civilian would rarely be in a situation where he would want to chase an assailant. I believe your machine teaches the student to do exactly that. I believe that the best possible course of action with a home invader is to collect your family and assemble them in a safe dependable location. At that point the cops and your insurance agent can deal with the problem. I also think that creating a "rule" that says you have to leave your current position of cover for the simple sake of moving is a mistake. I would never teach anyone to give up cover and run toward an intruder. To the contrary, I suggest that we should cultivate our marksmanship skills and use a distance buffer to improve our odds of survival. I suppose the question should be asked. Is the goal to get points or to survive an encounter with a hostile assailant. In some instances the terms of engagement seem to violate the first rule of combat – LOGIC.

Suggestions for more cool stuff

I think it would be very cool to be able to see the run from the point of view of the assailant. We talked about videoing the back side. I think that could be a cool option. I am still willing to provide a used security camera for that purpose. At some point you might also consider including verbal commands. Remember that you should never tell your opponent that you plan on killing him. Your goal needs to be to get the assailant out of your house. Your commands should reflect that goal. The command should be "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!!". The command "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU IF YOU DON’T LEAVE", can be converted to premeditation for murder in some places and by some prosecutors.

Thanks again for the opportunity!!

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Comments

Comment by: Lance Earl 2011-09-28 11:32:08 I love this kind of a review. Sure, some of it hit me square between the eyes. However, it is well thought out and therefore, very valuable. Each of Darwin's points are right on the money. In a real life situation, a prudent person will act one way. In a training drill, he may act another way. The risk is that the person might repeat drill activities in a real world event. For example, there are legitimate drills where we might stand in the open and shoot at a target. In a real world incident, this action will almost always be a mistake. The trick is to provide balance where the person can mentally separate tactical correctness from drills. Our challenges have been designed to force a shooter to frequently repeat skills that he or she may be required to use in a real world event. Therefore, these challenges ionclude reloads, tactical reloads, moving from and to cover, clearing rooms, and more. At any rate, since Darwin is completely right in his assesment, it falls to DallyPost Tactical to do a better job. We must be ever vidulent in our instruction to insure that our students know that our challenges are a rapid fire requirement to complete many procedures. They must also understand that the priorities in an acuual fight are to get cover, get help, and create distance if it can be done so safely. Thanks Darwin.