These are three posts from the Brian Enos Forum. These are posts that do two things. Talk about Law Enforcement Qualification and the value that competition may bring to the real world of LEO's. I originally post them in another thread. It was suggested I put them here. I aim to please so here it is.
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"I'm a new USPSA shooter. I've only shot in 5 local club matches, and a Steel Challange. I'm also a 30 year law enforcement veteran. I've read several thread postings on various forums and have spoke to a few fellow USPSA shooters who believe that USPSA, IDPA, Glock Sport Shooters ect. are "just games" and have no practical use as good tactical or defensive training.
My department holds weapon qualification once a year. We shoot 50 rounds starting out at the 7 yard line and moving out to 25 yards. We only do 2 slow and easy mandatory reloads and our target kill zone is 8.5"x14".
If you make most of your hits at the 7 and 14 yard lines, you can totally blow your shots at the 25 yard line and still qualify to carry your weapon. Most of the guys I work with only fire their duty and off duty weapons once a year. Before joining USPSA, I only shot a few times a year myself.
My first USPSA match as an onserver was a bit of an eye opener for me. I decided at my current skill level I would never want to engage even a Class C ranked shooter in a real life tactical situation.
Compared to my once a year department qualification, I believe USPSA shooting is providing me with some good practical defensive and offensive shooting skills. I'm engaging multiple targets while moving, speed reloading and having to plan which target to engage at which time. In my opinion, as an LEO, the "gun games" are providing me with the training I would probably never get any other way. As an added plus, the gun games are a real blast.
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As a fellow LEO and firearms instructor I know exactly what you're talking about. When people ask me I usually tell them that USPSA shooting is possibly the best training there is for gun handling and fast accuracy skills you can find. Sure, in a swat situation you'll slice the pie around a corner etc, but training on that stuff ("tactics") doesn't teach you to put fast, accurate hits on target or to make really hard shots under pressure and/or while moving, leaning, off balance etc. Take the positives of gun handling skills, speed and accuracy under pressure and then combine those with the tactical stuff and you have the best of both worlds. The vast majority of LEO shootings are reactive in nature...guy jumps out of his car and points a gun at you, or you come around a corner and find a bad guy with a knife waiting for you....that's when being able to get your gun out quickly and put accurate rounds on target FAST means everything...and that's the core of what USPSA teaches you. It just happens to also be a lot of fun
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Gotta disagree with you Mark and agree with the others and especially CDRODA396, given his experience. I can tell you while "tactics" is something that is a completely different skill set, my experience in USPSA/IPSC/3-Gun is directly responsible for keeping me alive on 2 overseas deployments."
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"I'm a new USPSA shooter. I've only shot in 5 local club matches, and a Steel Challange. I'm also a 30 year law enforcement veteran. I've read several thread postings on various forums and have spoke to a few fellow USPSA shooters who believe that USPSA, IDPA, Glock Sport Shooters ect. are "just games" and have no practical use as good tactical or defensive training.
My department holds weapon qualification once a year. We shoot 50 rounds starting out at the 7 yard line and moving out to 25 yards. We only do 2 slow and easy mandatory reloads and our target kill zone is 8.5"x14".
If you make most of your hits at the 7 and 14 yard lines, you can totally blow your shots at the 25 yard line and still qualify to carry your weapon. Most of the guys I work with only fire their duty and off duty weapons once a year. Before joining USPSA, I only shot a few times a year myself.
My first USPSA match as an onserver was a bit of an eye opener for me. I decided at my current skill level I would never want to engage even a Class C ranked shooter in a real life tactical situation.
Compared to my once a year department qualification, I believe USPSA shooting is providing me with some good practical defensive and offensive shooting skills. I'm engaging multiple targets while moving, speed reloading and having to plan which target to engage at which time. In my opinion, as an LEO, the "gun games" are providing me with the training I would probably never get any other way. As an added plus, the gun games are a real blast.
************************************************** *********************************
As a fellow LEO and firearms instructor I know exactly what you're talking about. When people ask me I usually tell them that USPSA shooting is possibly the best training there is for gun handling and fast accuracy skills you can find. Sure, in a swat situation you'll slice the pie around a corner etc, but training on that stuff ("tactics") doesn't teach you to put fast, accurate hits on target or to make really hard shots under pressure and/or while moving, leaning, off balance etc. Take the positives of gun handling skills, speed and accuracy under pressure and then combine those with the tactical stuff and you have the best of both worlds. The vast majority of LEO shootings are reactive in nature...guy jumps out of his car and points a gun at you, or you come around a corner and find a bad guy with a knife waiting for you....that's when being able to get your gun out quickly and put accurate rounds on target FAST means everything...and that's the core of what USPSA teaches you. It just happens to also be a lot of fun
************************************************** *********************************
Gotta disagree with you Mark and agree with the others and especially CDRODA396, given his experience. I can tell you while "tactics" is something that is a completely different skill set, my experience in USPSA/IPSC/3-Gun is directly responsible for keeping me alive on 2 overseas deployments."