Club High Power “Extra” Innings?

By Barbara (Edit)

 

       Because this summer was so very hot during late June and early July, several shooters were unable to compete in the regularly scheduled matches.  As a result of this situation, I have asked the Range Committee to consider granting the Club High Power event two (2) extra days at the Dillman Range.  The dates, if approved, will be Thursday, September 18th, and Wednesday, October 8th.  First relays will begin at 5:30 p.m.  Existing rules governing the Club High Power Matches will also govern these extra matches.  Scoring for the season standings will remain the best of six (6) matches (which must include three off-hand competitions).  The two extra matches will include off-hand/rapid prone on September 18th, and slow prone/sitting on October 8th.  If you are interested in these matches, please call Barbara (Edit) at ( and I will let you know that the Range Committee has approved this schedule (or not).

be a new and surprising experience. I would rather learn from a mistake made in a simulator, then a mistake made in real life, especially when that mistake may result in bodily injury or death. Furthermore, I think simulators help a person learn what to expect from oneself, before, during and after the squeeze. Did I shot and move? Should I had shot and moved? Did I scan? Did I go for cover? Did I maintain control during the adrenaline rush? Simulators help a person learn as much as one can learn, next to learning by experiencing the real thing.

 

       However, I think the one thing more then any other, that can prepare a person to squeeze, is the firm decision not to die or be injured.

 

       I said long ago, if a situation last long enough, that I have time to think about it, then I have a problem.

 

       A CCW instructor once said, if you have time to think about it then don’t shoot.

 

       However, if a subject does get the drop on someone, then that someone will be in the humiliating position of thinking how he or she is going to regain control of his or her life. My suggestion would be to focus with a firm declaration to take control, and then do it. I have been in that situation in real life a number of times before having to deal with it in a simulation. Therefore my perspective and reaction can be different, from a person that has never experience a life or death situation in real life.

 

       Only a person in a life or death situation, where some Bad Guy got the drop on him, can determine the intent of the BG. I can only say that in the simulation of this particular situation, having been in the situation in real life a few times, I can easily consider a paper target in a simulator to have the intent. I am satisfied not only from real life experiences, but from experience in simulators as well that simulators are the closest things to real life. That if I perceive a subject to have the intent in real life, I can respond accordingly. In other words, the simulators reinforce my confidence, give me the opportunity to learn from my mistakes, develop muscle memory and decisive decision making skills. In short, it contributes to my ability to function properly while under pressure of a life or death situation with accuracy and speed.

 

       I originally wrote this article for “The Tactical Operator Newsletter back in May 2003. I should add there are other types of simulators such as “FORCE-ON-FORCE” where you use SIMUNITION a non-lethal munitions to solve problems where the bad guys shoot back. It is consider by some as the most realistic training offered.

 

Contact me at [(916) (edit)].

WHAT GOOD ARE SIMULATORS?

By Leander (Edit)

 

       I have taken a number of pistol classes and in one of them the subject of simulators (shoot houses, donga, etc.) came up. In the course of discussions, I stated that simulators were the closest things to the real thing. One of the instructors stated that he had gone through numerous simulators and none of them prepared him for the day a subject came out on a porch with a 30-30 scanning the area, almost sweeping the instructor’s position.

 

       I had to give this some thought. I finally came to the point where I think I can understand where the instructor was coming from.  Some twenty or twenty-five years ago, I came to the conclusion, that every life and death situation I had encountered had been different and unexpected.

 

       The circumstances that led up to those situations were different and the moment of life and death were different in each case. It was not planned and it didn’t follow a TV or movie script. Nor did they in any form match any scenario I had imagined before hand.

 

       Life is not a TV movie.

 

       True one can go through thousands of simulators and none of them will ever match the real life or death scenario that the person will experience second to second.

 

       A part of a real life or death scenario may be from a dream, practice, or training. But not in its totality, from the word go to the end. There is always something different, something unimagined, something unexpected, a twist.

 

       In light of the, unimagined, unexpected, twists of life, what good are simulators? If they are considered a training tool, then what good is training and practice?

 

       I submit the answer to what good is training and practice fit just as well for what good are simulators. Especially for those incidents when a person doesn’t have time to think, only time to react.   OODA!

 

       As an instructor once said, simulators are good for learning—shoot, no-shoot situations. In addition, I think they help you learn how to deal with the unexpected, assuming that each simulator is design to