You'll Do As You Train

By Wu Chin

In the world of Tae Kwon Do, karate, judo, and other martial arts, you’ll find many schools emphasize tournaments. You’ll train to strike targets that are “legal” and not strike those that are “illegal” because you’ll be disqualified. You’ll learn to pull punches and release your hold when your opponent taps out. As a result, too many practitioners who earned their black belts through sport and point programs get beaten on the streets. Those who frequent the streets have no such “rules” to play by. You release a hold when someone taps you and you’ll find yourself in trouble. You don’t go for the eyes, throat, neck, or groin because those are “illegal” targets in competition and you would have given up too many of your options. So you will “do” as you “train” unless you “train to do”. Thus you must train to be most effective by striking high value targets and striking with precision and power in the shortest time possible. That is because he may have a friend and you might be taking on multiple opponents.

When it comes to the use of a pistol, there is a great need to train with the gun to become familiar with it so you can use it efficiently and effectively when the time comes. You must learn the proper grip that’ll work for you, learn to quickly get the sights aligned and get your sight picture, learn breath control, learn to press the trigger properly, learn not to anticipate the “kick”, to tame that recoil to maintain sight picture for a follow up shot. You’ll need to know what to do in case of malfunctions, how to do an emergency reload, a tactical reload, use cover, how to move and keep the gun in a safe condition, how to clear a room, a house. You’ll also need to learn to shoot with the left and right hands and the varied two handed grips to increase your mobility and options. You should learn to shoot in low light situations and the use of flash lights for search, illumination, and disorientation.

We’re fortunate to have quality instructors in Chad who's attended Front Sight, and Ike who has vast Israeli military and teaching background. We also have the IPSC expertise, like Dave, Bruce, and Mark, at Paul Bunyan to broaden our training curriculum and enhance our skills, and a number of ADTA members involved with the NRA, including the Range Safety Officer program.

A gun is not going to save you if you have no idea how to use it properly. Merely pointing a gun at a person is not going to stop him when your body language shows you are shaking and your mind set isn’t steeled to do him harm. Your voice commands must be forceful and commanding and backed up with an aggressive stance with strength in your gun presentation. The ADTA offers such training during the monthly and quarterly shoots. The training is member driven. When you register for a shooting session you have the opportunity to let the instructor know what kind of skills you want to develop. We have beginner/novice shooting events with mentors who will show and teach you the way of the gun. And there is always a Range Safety Officer present to enforce safe practices.

There is value, certainly, in target shooting. It’s instant feedback on how well your shooting mechanics and hardware are unified. But for self defense your attacker is not going to stand there like the paper target. So take advantage of what the ADTA has to offer in its shooting events. The monthly meetings are also informative. We have featured special topics such as sight alignment, showcasing different guns, accessories, and safety topics, etc.

So, take advantage of your membership. Take advantage of what ADTA has to offer you.