Tinman
I'm just enjoying the show!
I recently assisted with a level 1 carbine operators class, and some of what I saw inspired this article. This issue came up again in a recent ECQC class with Southnarc, so it seems to be a common theme. We’ll open this with a question, are you compartmentalizing your weapons manipulations? If you are, why?
Before you answer that, let’s get some definitions out there. Compartmentalization, in terms of weapons manipulations, is the practice of developing separate practices to be used depending on the application. The opposite of this would be commonization where we are using common practices, in this case weapons manipulations, over several applications.
So now let’s put those definitions into reality based examples. I was watching some of the manipulations of the carbine on the firing line, when the command was given, the participants drove the carbines up, shot the required drill, reloaded with the weapon up in their workspace, and drove back on target. As soon as they were done with the required strings they dropped the carbine down out of the shoulder, and often would manipulate a reload with the carbine down at their waist. They have developed two different compartments for how they choose to handle the weapon, one set of manipulations for fight mode, and another for administrative procedures.
Now back to the questions, are you compartmentalizing your weapons manipulations? Obviously, there are certain procedures that are specific to a given compartment, take for instance downloading a weapon prior to placing it in a case for transport. However, have you commonized your procedures whenever possible?
Now on to the next question some may be asking, why does it even matter if I do things differently all the time? To answer this, we have to delve into a bit of physiology, here’s the short and dirty explanation. Most experts currently believe that it takes between 2400 and 3000 repetitions of a physical skill set to make it a permanent part of the motor cortex, or motor memory (often incorrectly referred to as muscle memory). Unfortunately, our physiology doesn’t care if the skill set we perform 2400 to 3000 times is appropriate, efficient, or effective, it just makes it part of motor memory. So if we perform the required repetitions of a bad technique, when we are under stress and default to our motor memory, the poor technique will come to the surface.
The next question should be how do we prevent the motor learning of poor technique? The answer is simple, yet complex. Stop practicing poor, non-robust, context specific techniques whenever possible. That means that when you are performing administrative manipulations, treat them the same as you would an exigent manipulation. Consider it a free repetition to maintain that skill set. Here’s another example for you. When you step to the line on a square range and make ready, how are you manipulating your pistol? Are you lackadaisical and performing your manipulations with your pistol at your waist or worse pointed down the line or at yourself, or do you perform a good clean drawstroke pointing in at a target, then bring the pistol back into your workspace and perform a good immediate action reload? When you finish a shooting string and notice the gun is empty, do you lower the muzzle and extract the empty stowing it somewhere before retrieving a full mag and reloading? Do you even reload, or do you just pull the empty out, show clear drop the slide and holster? You should take the opportunity (as soon as you realize you are empty) to practice an immediate action reload. Yea, you’ll have to pick up an empty mag when your done, and probably a live round you racked out, is it the end of the world?
Another big area that this comes into play is in safety. By now I hope everyone has heard Col. Cooper’s 4-rules of universal gun handling. Rule number one is “treat every gun as if it were loaded.” What Cooper meant by that was not to assume that every gun has a round in it, we can check and verify that very easily, what he meant was that regardless of the status of the gun, we treat it the same. In spite of this, how many times have we seen someone unload a weapon and immediately begin handling it differently? Once you begin to adhere to the rules all the time, they become second nature. You no longer have to consciously watch the muzzle, because your brain intuitively knows what to do to prevent unnecessarily sweeping someone else.
In short, I’ve seen some interesting manipulations from competitors, hobbyists, students, and operators alike, many times they are not even aware they are doing it, nor why. Perform those manipulations with conscious thought during those times when you can. Then your brain will take over during those times when conscious thought is otherwise occupied.
I’ll leave you with a quote from the story of Paul Gardner who served as a Marine Rifleman during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003. When describing his story (published in the March 2010 issue of Swat Magazine) he made this statement:
“The point of this story is that muscle memory obtained through repetition can be a great thing when the tactics, techniques and procedures that you're ingraining are good and effective ones. But it works both ways, meaning that, for example, if you handle certain scenarios during training in a relaxed and "administrative" fashion, then you can damn near guarantee that you will handle those scenarios in combat the same way.”
I think that probably says it best from a man whose been there, done that, and has the wounds to prove it.
Tinman....
Before you answer that, let’s get some definitions out there. Compartmentalization, in terms of weapons manipulations, is the practice of developing separate practices to be used depending on the application. The opposite of this would be commonization where we are using common practices, in this case weapons manipulations, over several applications.
So now let’s put those definitions into reality based examples. I was watching some of the manipulations of the carbine on the firing line, when the command was given, the participants drove the carbines up, shot the required drill, reloaded with the weapon up in their workspace, and drove back on target. As soon as they were done with the required strings they dropped the carbine down out of the shoulder, and often would manipulate a reload with the carbine down at their waist. They have developed two different compartments for how they choose to handle the weapon, one set of manipulations for fight mode, and another for administrative procedures.
Now back to the questions, are you compartmentalizing your weapons manipulations? Obviously, there are certain procedures that are specific to a given compartment, take for instance downloading a weapon prior to placing it in a case for transport. However, have you commonized your procedures whenever possible?
Now on to the next question some may be asking, why does it even matter if I do things differently all the time? To answer this, we have to delve into a bit of physiology, here’s the short and dirty explanation. Most experts currently believe that it takes between 2400 and 3000 repetitions of a physical skill set to make it a permanent part of the motor cortex, or motor memory (often incorrectly referred to as muscle memory). Unfortunately, our physiology doesn’t care if the skill set we perform 2400 to 3000 times is appropriate, efficient, or effective, it just makes it part of motor memory. So if we perform the required repetitions of a bad technique, when we are under stress and default to our motor memory, the poor technique will come to the surface.
The next question should be how do we prevent the motor learning of poor technique? The answer is simple, yet complex. Stop practicing poor, non-robust, context specific techniques whenever possible. That means that when you are performing administrative manipulations, treat them the same as you would an exigent manipulation. Consider it a free repetition to maintain that skill set. Here’s another example for you. When you step to the line on a square range and make ready, how are you manipulating your pistol? Are you lackadaisical and performing your manipulations with your pistol at your waist or worse pointed down the line or at yourself, or do you perform a good clean drawstroke pointing in at a target, then bring the pistol back into your workspace and perform a good immediate action reload? When you finish a shooting string and notice the gun is empty, do you lower the muzzle and extract the empty stowing it somewhere before retrieving a full mag and reloading? Do you even reload, or do you just pull the empty out, show clear drop the slide and holster? You should take the opportunity (as soon as you realize you are empty) to practice an immediate action reload. Yea, you’ll have to pick up an empty mag when your done, and probably a live round you racked out, is it the end of the world?
Another big area that this comes into play is in safety. By now I hope everyone has heard Col. Cooper’s 4-rules of universal gun handling. Rule number one is “treat every gun as if it were loaded.” What Cooper meant by that was not to assume that every gun has a round in it, we can check and verify that very easily, what he meant was that regardless of the status of the gun, we treat it the same. In spite of this, how many times have we seen someone unload a weapon and immediately begin handling it differently? Once you begin to adhere to the rules all the time, they become second nature. You no longer have to consciously watch the muzzle, because your brain intuitively knows what to do to prevent unnecessarily sweeping someone else.
In short, I’ve seen some interesting manipulations from competitors, hobbyists, students, and operators alike, many times they are not even aware they are doing it, nor why. Perform those manipulations with conscious thought during those times when you can. Then your brain will take over during those times when conscious thought is otherwise occupied.
I’ll leave you with a quote from the story of Paul Gardner who served as a Marine Rifleman during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003. When describing his story (published in the March 2010 issue of Swat Magazine) he made this statement:
“The point of this story is that muscle memory obtained through repetition can be a great thing when the tactics, techniques and procedures that you're ingraining are good and effective ones. But it works both ways, meaning that, for example, if you handle certain scenarios during training in a relaxed and "administrative" fashion, then you can damn near guarantee that you will handle those scenarios in combat the same way.”
I think that probably says it best from a man whose been there, done that, and has the wounds to prove it.
Tinman....
