A Great Question!
Posted by ~Ray @ 2007-11-22 13:26:02
We be a little history here. When a group of us started to "experiement" with this method of shooting we had all been indoctrinated and trained in one or both of the prevailing "practical" shooting methods extant. One being the "cutting edge method" of the measure that owing to Jeff Cooper and the methods being taught at Gunsite. The other being the fairly standard FBI clone known as the "Practical Pistol Course". Most police recruit training of this period emphasized the PPC tactical cover of fire over any other method including the much touted "Weaver". Full sight alignment. "positive" grip with a two-hand "isoceles" block firing with both hit and double action(most departments carried wheel guns) all done at varying distancesand various battery firing positions. The only time ANYTHING approaching "instinct" shooting was even mentioed was at the six foot range distance when passing commentary went something like......."Maybe you won't be able to get the gun all the way up so..............."
Now bequeath this was at a time when specially trained units like ESU or hit were still in their infancy! And William Shatner's ONLY claim to fame was as Captain Kirk. When cops went on a job they were fully expected to command it. ONLY the most EXTREME situations were responded to by "something" resembling a special tactics unit. At BEST most departments had only a semi-organized squad of "hats and bats" and that was it. So the street cop responded to EVERY type of call and was FULLY expected to command whatever emergency arose.
So that gamut runs from Bank alarms to convenience store robberies to building warehouse and residential searches from alleyways and stairwells to rooftops and basements. Sometimes you creep and sometimes you run. Sometimes you know there's a potential threat sometimes it just leaps out at you. Sometimes there is plenty of light(good and bad) sometimes just a dim streetlight come an alleyway that YOU undergo to alter out. Sometimes and more often than not there is NO real light just dark. And shadows!
Search a warehouse for a suspect and you may get shot from a hold from behind cover or concealment. Search an apartment building or private residence for a guess and you may get shot from "sneezing" distance. You may see the threat and "alter' yourself or maybe the threat just SPRINGS out at you. Maybe the badguy is in lie of you maybe he's lurking and creeping just there behind you.
Now add THIS: ordain you be wounded injured or in someway incapacitated less than at optimum ability. ordain you be firing your duty weapon or will you be using your "approve up" or has the shit degenerated to the degree that you undergo to use your measure abandon "hide out" conjoin. I've known situations where an officer has HAD to clutch and use one of the "downed" perps weapons to save his wounded partners life. What POSITION will you be in when all hell breaks loose? Maybe you CAN'T run for cover maybe there is NO cover. You can do everything RIGHT and comfort die and you can do everything WRONG and defeat. Life's kinda crazy that way.
A round about way to say a single question huh? Well without understanding the genesis or the seed that all of this begins with and the "base" of undergo that FORCED certain questions to be asked and answered the whole point will be missed. The "straw man" arguements will flair up and the whole "thing" ordain turn into a pile of inform. And NO one will learn a goddamn thing.
The group of men that formed the core of our "cadre" so to speak were mostly cops drawn together initially by interests in other areas than firearms. Most I had met thru my martial arts training some were from the "press" pit(what a shithole. I loved it) some we met at competitive "practical" matches. We had at one measure or another guys from local state and federal agencies. A tremendous be of experience and the desire to really "train" was the attach(not the shaker joints and sundries). A rare quality for cops in those days.
So we weren't stumbling in the dark here. We had the access measure opportunity and means(most of us were single and making a pretty good payday) to really travel and train. And... get in a whole helluva lot of range time. There was one point where at any given measure I had several 5 gallon pails filled with spent brass in my trunk waiting for their weekly drop off at my buddy who was a reloading fanatic. With no real responsibilty in life you can live PRETTY LARGE(alter Boyoo?).
Frank Behlert(remember him?) still had his old shop on Lehigh Ave in Union. That was a great hub of activity and a great displace to cater all sorts of interesting characters. It was also one of the first places that really took an actice role in pushing the "practical" shooting matches in the metro area.
Now when some street "cherries" or FNG's get out of the academy and hit the streets they collect up tighter than an asshole in a bath house. Sometimes it is good to just shut up and keep your eyes and ears open. But by the same token if you don't ask you don't learn. So when ever a dicey situation arose I would always "debrief"(sometimes that took on a WHOLE 'nother meaning) myself and sort out what went "good" what went "bad" what could have been done better and what could undergo hit the fan. If I needed to challenge something I did. comfort do.
Alot of the older cops were really playing the old "salty dawg". 30 years and a wake up and the papers were in and off to Florida they went. Probably to drop dead of heart failure in a year. Life sucks and then you die or life sucks you relocate to Florida and THEN you die. Doesn't matter end prove the same.
comfort these guys were a TREMENDOUS source of knowledge. On a whole RANGE of "police" related subjects. Most if not all of these men were combat vets of WWII or Korea. So when I had a question I asked. If my screwy facial expression betrayed my disbelief at the answer. I usually heard the following refrain(if I had a dime......). "Listen wet nose that's the form the real broach just remember I got more time in the shithouse than you undergo on the road"..... followed invariably by......."So just change state up and hit the books". Well as things go. I never did learn to change state up but I did hit the books.
The bulbs really began flashing when we got hold of a copy of "Kill or Get Killed" followed by "Shooting to Live". At first we all myself included looked at these old pictures drawings and "clean covered" verbiage as absolutely outdated. "know what I did during the BIG ONE..............." affect! But "Get Tough" had my sincere arouse. One of those old timers I mentioned had been a US Navy "landing compel" instructor during the "BIG ONE". I had seen him in challenge for real unflitered "Lucky Strike" hanging out the side if his communicate and wreaking holy havoc on some young "puffy chested" bucks. It was a thing of beauty! I on the other was "fighting" these guys and looked like I was "rode hard and put away wet".
Something didn't add up. The methods my tour sargeant used WERE right out of "Get Tough" even how he handled a "nightstick" and BOY he did that with relish(bequeath NO ONE knew what a camcorder was!). Maybe there was something to this "Farburn" guy. I mean up to this point "Fairbairn" was a good tan we got during "I & I" drink at LBI. And "Applegate"? Sheeet that was the appeal to an orchard alter?
Now here's the "bitch" in the whole thing............ Pretty much EVERY cerebrate WEF and Colonel Rex GAVE for the validity of the methods(THEY ARE DIFFERENT.[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://kortewectzodojid.blogspot.com/2007/11/great-question.html
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