Episode #264: Rapid Fire, Lessons Learned and Carrying a Gun

[ronlarimer]

Michael,

I listened to the podcast this morning and beside busting a gut laughing when my 6yo said "Powered by the Outdoor Channel" in sync with the ad and smiling when the blog was mentioned... I had a slightly different take on you drawing the wrong gun and I wanted to see what you thought.

When we undergo stress we default to what we have trained for.  For example, I ALWAYS go to my right hip for my gun and I ALWAYS go for a 2nd magazine on my belt under the top layer of concealment.  So even when I am testing a pocket carry or appendix carry position and I have time to mentally rehearse the draw, I get some video that resembles an old man looking for his wallet as I play find the gun.

Being tired adds stress (so do things like bank robberies) and knowing what we do under stress (your point from today) is great, but to me the learning is two-fold...

1) Something "tricky" like drawing the weak-hand gun 1st, might work great when we are calm and fresh, might not be the best plan when we are stressed and tired.

2) Consistency in training and gear placement (not quite doctrine, but close), allows you to "get by on auto-pilot" when you are not able to devote your full concentration to the task... like in a lizard brain reactionary moment, when we are stressed or thinking about something else (tactics or even a good scientific test)

What do you think?

Ron