VCQB Day 3 – Some lessons are best learned under stress

Physical fitness helps maintain mental acuity under stress. You best believe that.

Will Petty is running us through some drills today that have really pushed everyone, from relative novice to seasoned shooter. The Alphabet Soup drill is mentally and physical taxing enough to pull profanity from a saint, but there are some great takeaways to be had (I'll be discussing some in the future). It's always good to find a drill that provides a learning opportunity on several levels, and I'll be sharing basic tenets of the drills and some lessons learned in the days to come. I will also discuss how so many of us view specific training iterations as scenarios instead of accepting them as opportunities for repetition — there's more to it than you might think.

Perhaps the most challenging part of today so far has been problem solving and dealing with the some of the small but significant things that can go wrong in a fast, furious and violent encounter. Think you're ready to engage a threat through the front windshield before moving to the trunk and deploying your rifle? That was just your first run. This time you're going to have to egress the vehicle through the back door or a window, and when you fight your way to the long gun you may find the sling has come untethered or the magazine is loose in the mag well.

Putting rounds on target like a boss? That won't last long. You're going to have a wide array of organic malfunctions induced while your target moves on you through a “crowd” of no-shoot targets. Oh, and have you worked transitioning from long gun to sidearm while lying on your strong side urban prone? These are some of the questions Will Petty reminds you to consider; the complexity of those questions may vary depending on your experience and skill level.

Say, why in the hell was your finger on the trigger while you were reloading? It wasn't? The hell it wasn't, look at the video. Wait — you spent the last 2 days learning about the 16 points of cover on a vehicle, why isn't your head behind the B pillar while you're clearing that bolt override?

It's going to be a long day, it will be humbling, and that is a Very Good Thing.

We've been pushing some products pretty hard too. For instance, the new in-ear Peltors I wrote about before are money, and the Taran mag extensions have survived several falls and hard hits with no failures. As with all of this, I'll go into much more detail when I'm not smoked and barely able to stand upright. Meantime let me assure you of this: Vertx Air-Flow pants and the Velocity Systems Boss Rugbies are worth every penny. Believe it.

Time to get back at it. Meantime check out the 88 Tactical calendar; there's some good stuff coming up.