If you were coaching a professional football team and you had to get your team ready for a big game, would you practice in full pads or t-shirts and shorts? Most people would agree that the players need to practice in their game-day equipment, which includes full pads. Practicing in t-shirts and shorts is much more comfortable, but it is just not realistic.
If you were preparing police officers to survive violent conflicts on the street, would you have them practice in their full duty-gear (including a gun belt and vest) or t-shirts and warm-up pants? While the logic is perfectly clear, why do we constantly trade realism for comfort? When was the last time you wore your uniform, gun belt and vest during defensive tactics or firearms training? If a football team can don their gear to prepare for a game, why can’t we don ours to prepare for a life or death situation?
This same argument can be made for rifle training involving heads-up optics like the EOTech. When you hit the range, do you practice like you play? Do you spend the vast majority of your time operating with the heads-up sight or iron sights? Most firearms instructors still cling to the argument that optics can fail so you must train almost exclusively on your iron sights. Dave Spaulding addressed this issue in his article “Next Generation Pistol Sights”. He spoke to many returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan about their weapon optics. In his article, he wrote “I have never spoken with a soldier or Marine who told me their optic broke in a fight and they needed to employ their irons.” He acknowledges that it is possible, but he has not met anyone that experienced it in combat.
I urge you to take a hard look at your current training philosophy. Are you truly preparing your officers and yourself for the street? Can you sacrifice comfort during training to add to the realism? We are warriors after all, right???
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