Bigger Blasphemy, Hairier Heresy

After that last post, I can hear the cries of the Mad Mullahs of Marksmanship all the way from the bazaar: “Blasphemy! He places grip and trigger control above The Front Sight! Heresy! He speaketh of point shooting when all know it is an abomination! Did not the prophet Jeff Cooper say, “Blessed are they who, in the face of death, think only about the front sight?” Do we not chant ‘FrontSightFrontSight- FRONTSIGHT?’ Stone the blasphemer! Smite him about the neck with knives! Burn him!”

Yeah, and I sometimes eat with my left hand, too — if it’s clean. No undue offense to front sight zealots, but reading Colonel Cooper in context, he was talking about a lot more than sight picture, including the reduction of weaponcraft to second nature. That way, when you’re engaged in a fight you don’t have to think much about the mechanical minutiae of runnin’ the gun, and having achieved a proper mindset about the use of lethal force long before a lethal condition developed — all this so the shooter could concentrate with absolute focus on the task of hitting his target, period.

I fully suspect the good Colonel, while concentrating his training on a solid two-handed Weaver stance and a front sight focus that would melt mild steel, also paid more than passing attention to snapping off point shots from port and starboard. Even more than “front sight X3,” he was all about “fundamentalsfundamentalsFUNDAMENTALS” — all of ’em. Without a granite grip and tight trigger control, your front sight better be really big and sharp, so you can use it like a hatchet at kissing distance.

The Two Dudes: Silenced But Still Speaking

Lessons learned from “The Two Dudes” have become even clearer to me with the passage of time. They taught me weapon and caliber mean less than hitting first and hitting decisively; that is, sufficient to end the fight. In both cases, mine was the inferior weapon and caliber, but mine was also the only weapon “up” and ready to engage, when clearly, theirs should have been as well.

That personal penchant for having the weapon at the ready when my judgment said it ought to be, got me in trouble a couple of times as a cop.

In interrogations reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition, I was fortunately able to successfully articulate the wisdom of being ready to shoot, rather than waiting to be shot to my inquisitors. I emerged with scorched tailfeathers, but my tail was fairly intact. As a soldier, cop or citizen you may be similarly scourged for having the temerity to be prepared when the curtain goes up. Despite the downsides, I’ll still opt for winning. The winner is the one who lives to be questioned and criticized.

Overwhelmingly, the factor that made The Big Difference with The Two Dudes was “terminal hesitation.” Both of them were armed soldiers, not just in a combat zone, but in the midst of an engagement. Lotsa shots had already been fired within their hearing. At the instant of revelation, they shoulda been on me like sharks on a wounded tuna. Instead, their responses were exactly as I’ve seen repeated many times since: They were visibly shocked at being suddenly confronted with precisely the kind of scenario they were presumably trained to deal with; stunned into momentary — and then permanent — shut-down of their systems.

I’ve discussed this phenomenon with a wide range of people, including a lion hunter and a fighter pilot who survived such “fighting-freeze” lapses, and they all said essentially the same thing: “I was armed, I was trained, and I was there for that purpose. I guess I just hadn’t thought about it enough.” Now go back and re-read Colonel Cooper’s “front sight” comment, okay?

And that might give you something to think about until next time, huh?

Connor OUT