Hitting the target at 600 metres
Published: Thu, 02/20/14
A figure twelve target is 56 cm high and 45 cm wide and is meant to
represent the head and shoulders of an enemy combatant. It would
look quite big if you hung one on your wall but at six hundred
metres is is really rather small. When I was in the TA is
sometimes used the L96 sniper rifle and if you know how to shoot it
is relatively easy to hit the figure twelve fairly consistently at
six hundred metres, maybe even further if you are a really good
shot. The L96 fires a 7.62 round, has a bipod and is usually
fitted with a 6x magnification telescopic sight. I can remember
taking up a fire position, cycling a round into the breach, getting
a good sight picture and waiting for the instruction from the range
officer to fire. Then seeing the target drop and flip back up
again indicating that I had hit it. I remember thinking two things:
First, this is rather fun.
Second, if that was a real human being rather than a picture
printed on to a sheet of wood in my sights I doubt I would be able
to pull the trigger.
Killing is actually a serious business and most human beings have a
resistance to killing other human beings or in fact most creatures
unless they are hungry or in real danger. I would go further and
suggest that even just hurting another person is something most of
us are resistant to. Even a bully is more interested in the fear
that results from threatening to hurt rather than just hurting
someone for he sake of it.
However there are a proportion of the population who will use
violence and are willing to hurt or even kill to get what they
want. Even in the best regulated society violence will occur from
time to time. When there is a breakdown in social order as in
Syria today or as seems to be happening in the Ukraine then
violence can become endemic. So the need for self-defence can
never be discounted and self-protection is an aspect of martial
arts which should be taught. I certainly don't believe that
self-defence is the only reason for learning and practicing martial
arts and I think there are problems teaching any more than the
minimum out of the context of regular training.
The big problem with self-defence is similar to my problem with the
sniper rifle. How do you train and could you really damage another
person for real? If you train for something but then can't
actually bring yourself to do it when you need it what is the
point? So these are the four common solutions that can be tried to
deal with the essential conundrum of training for self-defence.
Train with pads and protective equipment and get very good at
hitting pads, body shields and body protection with padded gloves.
Take up a tough combat sport such as boxing, bjj or mma and do lots
of training and even competitions and get used to some serious
physical contact.
Get a job as a bouncer or similar and work the doors or some other
environment where violence is likely and encounter physical
conflict for real.
Learn how the body mechanics really work, how to work with the web
and becoming aware of the vulnerabilities of the human body. At
the same time try and understand the social, psychological,
emotional, energetic and spiritual dynamics and implications of
violence.
Analysing each of these approaches individually is going to take
some time. All have their value so long as training has a balance
of the physical, the social, the psychological, the moral and the
spiritual. There also needs to be a healthy sense of reality of
what violence actually involves, why it really happens, what the
objective of an attacker is really likely to be, how you are really
going to react under pressure and your full responsibility in the
situation.
I will look at each of these approaches to violence in turn over
the next few days. In the meantime I have updated the list of
courses over the next few months and added another date for March.
http://iceandfire.org.uk/forthcoming.html
Unless there is anyone on this list who would like to train in New
Jersey, USA on the 29th to the 31st of March. I know the
self-defence situation is a bit different in the USA, in most
states you are allowed to own the means to self-defence as well as
having the right to self-defence as our government tells us we have
here. But that will only be part of what I am teaching, I will
cover stances, weapons, five principles etc as usual. Miki needs
four signups by the end of the month to be able to book my ticket.
http://iceandfire.us/events/index.html
regards
Graham