Achieving excellence in combat shooting should be a goal pursued by every citizen – regardless of profession – who owns a firearm. This is even more crucial for those citizens who carry these weapons with them daily. However, unlike in a sport, the vast majority of shooters do not know what excellence in combat shooting entails, cannot identify it, and probably will never achieve it. In today’s text, we will discuss one of the characteristics of excellence that should be present in high-performance shooters and should be pursued by those who are improving their skills.
In the doctrine of ABA Intl, we study the importance of the T-M-M Triad in the development of combat-related skills. (1) Technique, to know the most efficient way of doing something. (2) Metrics, to determine where you are and where you should be heading. and (3) Method, developing the best way to go from point A to point B.
People with good metrics often exhibit common performance behaviors such as Gaze Control, Fitness level, and experience. But today our goal is to discuss a little-discussed consequence of high performance: the anticipation of outcomes.
A great player positions himself in specific points on the court, making spectators or lower-level players think that the ball tends to go towards him. Similarly, a good fighter appears to react very quickly to the opponent’s attacks when in fact what he is doing is initiating his reaction even before the action.
When we bring this characteristic into armed combat, the excellent shooter is capable of anticipating tactical actions of his enemies, exploiting their weaknesses, and positioning themselves advantageously without them noticing, thus thwarting their actions.
This technical level is often explored in ABA Intl’s Force on Force or Scenario courses. To prove this point, after a brief warm-up of the trainees, we select one of them to whom we discreetly disclose the expected behavior of certain colleagues in the simulated combat, which is recorded on video. After the practical activities are completed, during the debriefing, the student who received “the future forecast” reports what they had heard from the instructor at the beginning of the event. “Incredible,” they say, “how could you know?”
So we go back to the technical fundamentals in armed combat, reaffirming elementary points of this practice and highlighting how they relate to the weaknesses exposed in force-on-force training. Problem solved, and shooters are more attentive to their decision-making.
Good armed combat training should provide the theoretical and technical foundations that allow trainees to understand the dynamics of armed combat, bringing, in the best possible way, a degree of predictability to a scenario that is, by its very nature, chaotic. Next time you undertake your training, remember that your previous experiences on the firing range should help you intelligently read scenarios, increasing your chances of success.
