If you look at your hand you can use it to remember and understand the principals of tactical training. Serious, this is why we call it the five fingers of tactical proficiency. There are a few reasons I do this: you use your hands to manipulate weapons and other tactical equipment and you will always have your training mnemonic with you!
Thumb – Safety
Opposable digits and the ability to reason separate humans from animals. Both of those attributes play a huge part in training safety. Safety is designated by the thumb as it is impossible to operate a weapon without a thumb. You should not operate a weapon or participate in tactical training without safety being first and foremost in your mind. This is a good time to state the Big 4:
- Treat every firearm as if it were loaded
- Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to engage
- Never let your muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy
- Know your target, foreground and background
Trigger Finger – Weapon Manipulation
It’s quite simple, building fluid and natural weapon manipulation skills is the key to tactical firearms proficiency. There are four levels of skill competency.
- Unconscious incompetence – you don’t know what you don’t know
- Conscious incompetence – you are aware of your skills shortcomings
- Conscious competence – getting the basics but still not natural or fluid
- Unconscious competence – the goal, fluid, natural and instinctive
If you want to develop these skills to their full potential, you should do so by training with regular dry training. This is inexpensive training as of course the only required investment is a handful of dummy rounds. After that you just need a location and some time, which can be as little as a few minutes a day, to improve. Remember all firearms must be cleared prior to starting any dry training. Absolutely no live ammunition should be in the vicinity of your dry training area ever!
Practice makes perfect, so practice lots! If you want to build speed, it’ll come with familiarity and fluidity. This is why it’s important to practice admin loads, unloads, immediate actions and remedial actions. Run your drills in full kit, as you would engage in the fight.
Middle Finger – Accuracy
Obviously, the main point of tactical firearm training is to survive the encounter. As a result, accuracy of your shots are most important, as good hits on the target are the most effective way to keep you alive. Accuracy can be only be developed by regular training, so train often. It is also important to focus on training properly, to ensure you are making the best out of your time.
Start this by getting a solid zero for your chosen firearm at a realistic distance for your environment. Shoot groups in the five conventional positions from that range. Once you are confident at that range, expand the to longer ranges and shorter ranges. Learn the hold offs for your sights at those ranges. Practice shooting around, over and under cover. Shoot supported and unsupported; learn how that affects your accuracy. Learn and apply unconventional shooting positions; the hold offs for your sight will be different. Shoot slick and full kit; learn how your gear can affects your accuracy and ability to adopt fire positions.
Ring Finger – Speed
Speed is obviously important in gunfights. It is vital to be able to shoot as fast as you can so you can maintain combat effectiveness. However, it is important to note that having speed won’t mean anything if you can hit the targets. As a result, you should set focus on building a good reactionary gap by regularly training.
You should also set realistic goals. Try to work engagement drills to increase speed: controlled pairs, hammers, zipper, Two and One and non-standard response. You can also use a shot timer or shot timer app to set limits and increase stress. Finally, make sure you do all drills at combat speed. This includes immediate action, remedial actions, reloads and post engagement drills to complete the cycle of training. Push your limits but once your groups are not combat effective or making errors then dial it back a notch.
Little Finger – Tactics
Tactics are the final building block of tactical proficiency. Your tactics must suit the environment mission, threat and your own level of skill. They should also be executed with safety, accuracy, and speed to be effective.
You can improve this by working on individual tactics, pairs and team tactics. Consider different environments and threats. Build slowly at the speed of the slowest member of the team. Remember, what works in the sandbox might not work in the arctic!
Mindset
You should think of mindset as the glove. Some people wear gloves in tactical environments, others do not. Though everybody should. It is a personal thing. Mindset cannot be taught. It is product of experience and personal growth. It is part of the overall training experience. If you are reading this blog post, then you are on the path of personal growth towards the correct mindset.
A good tactical mindset can be guided and hindered by well-intentioned bystanders and trainers. Good instructors provide experience and expand the ‘toolbox’ of their students. A tactical mindset is a highly personal thing. Developing your mindset affects your lifestyle and it is up to you how far you down this path you are willing to go.
In closing, these are the principles to which I conduct my personal training, range activities and you should too.
Ben