I'm not a photographer, and my skill level with a camera would not be what anyone would want. Disregarding that, would I be the photographer? It would depend on the shooter. Would I be the shooter? Part of that answer would depend on the photographer, but overall, given the thought about it since I discussed it, I would be much more open to the idea.
I'd be apprehensive, of course, with a pistol. I know my skill level. I trust it, and ultimately, yes, I'd likely take the shot if I had an instructor telling me that there was a lesson I'd learn doing so that I could learn no other way (other than the lesson of what it feels like to actually shoot a human being- that lesson I hope to never learn.)
I've spent a lot of years learning how to manage the adrenalin dump. If I say so myself, I'm pretty good at it, but as Shay said upthread, I don't expect my critical incident performance to rise above the level of my training.
I don't expect to convince anyone of the wisdom of this type of training. It took me a while to wrap my head around it, too. If someone gets there, it will be because s/he kept an open mind, gave it much thought, and finally got to the point where s/he does so because s/he sees it as such. If someone doesn't "get there", it may be because of any of those things not falling into place. I prefer to think that the falling down point would be the latter, that s/he kept an open mind and gave it thought, but simply decided differently from me.
Blessings,
Bill
).
