When we train martial arts for the local training, we often make many mistakes that we are not aware of ourselves, and even if our trainer points out the mistake, it can be difficult to even notice what it is that you are actually doing wrong. How nice would it be if there was a tool to make all your little mistakes much more obvious and let you feel in your own body what you are doing wrong?

In POMW IIB, we got to test such a tool for our shooting. The course began as a continuation of the previous POMW course where we shot with .22 caliber pistols, but this time we shot at 25 meters instead of 15 meters, and in natural sunlight instead of the artificial light inside. The natural light was much nicer to see in, but the increased distance did not make it easier to see the target, and I myself noticed a problem with my self-training at home. I had only done dry training with a target that was 3 meters away, so my eyes were not used to seeing a target that was 25 meters away, and therefore I had a lot of problems during the course with not being able to find my own target disc . It also made it difficult for me to find out how I actually shot, as there were no holes in my disc that I could analyze. But despite the missing holes in the disc, I could still learn something from my shooting as long as I focused on the process and felt what felt right and what felt wrong.

Later in the course, we were allowed to try something different from the previous POWM courses, and it is the tool that made all the mistakes much clearer. Namely, a 9 millimeter pistol, similar to the one we used for dry training. When we trained with it, we stood a little closer to the target, so we stood on the free grass area, and therefore stood closer to each other, with nothing between us. Just by being nearby when the instructors were demonstrating, you could feel the recoil from the gun throughout your body. It was a completely different experience, and it gave much more respect for the firearms we were holding.

When I shot a 9mm pistol for the first time myself, it almost fell out of my hands, as I was not prepared for how much greater the recoil was. And it was the great recoil that made the gun such a good tool for revealing the mistakes I made in my shooting. All the mistakes you make with your shooting are magnified by the greater recoil. So if you have a crooked trigger, the gun ends up pointing a lot to the side after a shot, and if you didn't have the correct hand position it also became much more obvious.

Because we were standing out on the grass with nothing between us, we were also hit by the casings from each other's guns when the sidekick fired. In combination with the loud sound from the guns and the fact that you could feel the recoil from the seatmate's gun in your body, there was a lot that could disturb the focus. And by shooting in an environment where your focus is easily disturbed, you really get to test how good you really are at shooting.

All in all, it was a very cool experience that I definitely don't regret, and it gave me a lot of insight into what mistakes I made during my shooting and what I should practice with the dry training at home, so it was a very educational experience there can definitely be recommended.