Marksmanship

I admire things that made and destroyed empires.  Though designed for a deadly purpose, to me they are just tools.  But unlike most tools, our pistol will only be used in dire, high-stress situations, so muscle memory is key to using them, which means practice, practice, practice. 

Unlike the fun we had with the SEALs clearing rooms and getting out of hairy situations, we are now in the zen-like world of marksmanship.   Unless you can get a “round down range” effectively, the M-9 is just jewelry on your hip; though pretty cool looking jewelry. 

The shooting range is carved into an embankment safely tucked away in the woods.  Clean and neat, it’s the physical manifestation of safety and control. Our instructors tell us to file away all that SEAL Pete stuff and learn this critical, yet slower paced, skill.  We spend hours learning how to relax and mentally walk through the steps to putting holes on a paper 25 yards away. 

Assume your stance.  Feet at shoulder distance apart, toes toward the target.  Cleared gun in your shooting hand, barrel down range, magazine in, release the slide, safety off, hammer back, trigger finger off the trigger, support hand in place, breathe in through the nose, hold, slowly exhale through the mouth as you bring the weapon up to the aim point, align the sights to themselves, take out the slack in the trigger, align the sights to the fuzzy target far away, hold breath, and slowly squeeze the trigger.   Its almost magical when you get it right.  Not quite sure the enemy will wait while I do this ballet, but I digress. 

For most of us though, it’s the beginning of an endless series of adjustments, peppered with a few choice words.  I’m aiming for the center mass and when I do hit the paper it’s on the shadow man’s lower right hip. Hmmmmm, I think of myself as a decent shot when I go out plinking, but given my performance here, I might as well throw the M-9 at shadow man.   We have 150 rounds to shoot before we go qualify a few days from now. 

You don’t qualify, you don’t deploy.  Suddenly this is not very zen-like.