By Claus Hansen, Member until 2017
It was a chilly early Thursday morning that I set off for the POMW Instructor camp for chief instructors and future POMW instructors.
Actually, I would describe it more as still being night, since it was no more than 4 in the morning. Most normal people lie down and sleep at that time. At least I could have slept a couple of hours or 3 more.
There was just no time for that, the ferry over the belt sailed at 7.00 "be there or be square". It was therefore easier sleep drunk that I drove towards Ringsted to pick up the other instructors. When I arrived the other instructors had appeared and stood with big smiles and washed down the first cup of coffee of the day.
While the last coffee was washed down and the usual cordial greeting was over, the car had to be packed. We were only going to be away for 5 days but had to be prepared for a bit of each. So each had 2 bags and a small suitcase with them. That gives 4 smaller suitcases and 8 bags for 4 adult men in a car. There was talk of border trade on the way home. I could see that it would be a bit of a miracle if there was someone who could squeeze as much as a single frame of drink into the luggage compartment. You could hardly put your hand down. A few bags had to be turned and turned a few times to close the tailgate, but we succeeded in the end and we could begin our journey south.
As soon as we were in the car, the talk continued about POMW and the upcoming days' events. What was Sensei up to. We had been given a timetable which we had been told could change according to our needs. Which it probably would be.
Our drive went without a hitch. There is not much traffic this early in the morning and we arrived in good time at the ferry in Gedser. Sensei had not arrived yet, but we had heard from "car 1" and showed that they were on their way. We therefore stayed to the side and got to stretch our legs in the cool morning air. Spirits were high even though everyone was a bit bleary-eyed, of course you couldn't see this.
About 20 minutes before the ferry was due to sail, Sensei appeared with his usual driver, Jens Hanshi-dai, and was as fresh as ever. Handshakes and greetings were exchanged, as well as a number of short sketches were given. We then drove the last distance to the ferry port. We had a hard time getting down to the bed and had switched off the engine before the first cars got on board and soon after we were on board.
We already had our tasks, a team of 2 had to occupy a table so we had a place to eat breakfast. This consisted of a couple of Italian buns with cheese and butter as well as juice and Nescafe. It wasn't exactly luxury, but it could keep hunger at bay until lunch.
During the "celebration meal" they talked about POMW and future plans for this. Soon, however, the sailing trip was over and the drive to Prague had to begin.
The drive to Prague was only interrupted by a few stops to pee and eat. We were in a hurry, Kimu Sensei had said, as we had to make the most of the time. We therefore arrived approx. at 16 to the hotel in Prague. It was just time to empty the car of luggage, get our room and change before the first shooting lesson.
Loaded with all our gear, we headed for the shooting range. Unfortunately, they were not quite prepared for us and it took some time before we started shooting. Thus slightly delayed first lesson started. There was to be traditional range shooting on a 15 m range with cal .22. A lot of emphasis was placed in teaching on adapting our technique and I had a few aha experiences. That's probably why it also went fantastically well when I beat my personal record and shot the best result so far in POMW (287), although not counting Kimu Sensei's result with ultra fast shooting (297).
However, after a few hours closed in on the shooting range, everyone had softened. The gunpowder smoke hung in a thick fog and you had a headache from the bangs and the smoke.
It was pretty much the same because once the lesson was done it was time to get something to eat. It was back to the hotel at a brisk trot, a quick shower and off to eat. After eating we were given individual tasks and prepared for the next day.
Friday started with breakfast at 7.00 the conversation at the morning table was about yesterday's results and about today's shooting. A tough program was planned with several hours of shooting in the morning and in the afternoon.
The day started badly, however, as only a few came up with yesterday's great results. Sensei therefore changed the plan so that instead of shooting after dinner, it became instruction on how to do dry training. In addition to the instruction, the actual dry training took 2.5 hours. It was quite hard to draw a pistol, change magazines, make transitions and shoot with strong and weak hand for 2.5 hours. However, it was necessary and later proved to be useful. It turned into almost 10 hours of intensive shooting training that day at the shooting range, and it continued like that on the other days as well.
When we had gone through training until we were very tender and gradually could do it on the spine, it was time to consume some carbohydrates, these were consumed at a restaurant in Prague city. It was excellent food and not particularly expensive either. When we had thus filled up the depots there was a little time for sightseeing before the trip went back to the hotel to clean the guns, so I then saw the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle in the distance.
We had been tasked with cleaning Sensei's guns and had been given some instruction in this. Or that is, there was someone who cleaned and the others looked over that person's shoulder to learn. This was repeated every day. Partly to learn how to take apart, clean and assemble different guns. Sensei has a special competition gun that was a bit difficult to assemble. It borders on rocket science. Therefore, it took the first evening also the next 1.5 hours to assemble it again. It also didn't help the person who collected it that the rest of us all stood with our fingers pointing down at the gun so that it was hidden behind them. It was therefore somewhat late when everyone went to bed. However, the program was fixed and therefore it went beyond the night's sleep, as at all other RR camps.
Saturday morning therefore started like Friday, breakfast at 7.00, shooting at 10 and 3 hours ahead. Then preparation for the A-license theory test and 2.5 hours of dry training and Pistol cleaning in the evening after eating.
In the shooting lesson, emphasis was again placed on the POMW shooting technical manual, this now had to be transferred from cal .22 to 9 mm. With cal .22 the recoil is nowhere near as powerful as with 9mm. After some time, you hardly notice the recoil of the cal .22. You can therefore often waste the technique. However, it is important to remember the technique and not waste it, which I bitterly admit I had done. That is why I probably also had a problem up to this camp with the recoil of the 9 mm. This meant that although I could shoot 270-287 on 25m DDS target with cal .22, I could not hit the target well with 9mm. Luckily I got a handle on this and went from actually having recoil scares to regaining control. It also helps that you fire one 9mm magazine after the other under Kimu Sensei's sharp eyes and the technique is corrected continuously.
After dry training, it was my turn to take apart and clean Sensei's "rocket science" gun. I was a bit anxious about whether I would be able to assemble it again. It was relatively simple to take it apart, cleaning was a matter of spotting where the dirt was. After spending quite a bit of time cleaning it was time to assemble. I put the pipe in pushed the spring in put the slide on and drove it forward. Looked through the hole and clicked the sled stop in. Pulled the sled and pushed the sled stop the last bit in. The bingo gun was assembled in just over 30 seconds. Pure cake man. Great feeling when you consider that we had spent 1.5 hours on it the day before. In my colleague's defense I have to say that if it hadn't been because he had spent all that time the day before, I probably wouldn't have been able to collect it in such a short time. I had figured out the functions of the gun and I could take advantage of that when I had to assemble it myself.
After a good night's sleep, which fortunately had not been too short, Sunday started like the previous days with breakfast at 7.00. Sensei asked how the "rocket science" gun had gone. Since he had heard about the episode the day/night before. It therefore gave rise to quite a few snide comments and teasing, as we could tell that it was assembled in 30 seconds. by the undersigned.
After breakfast there was time for a short meditation session. With a little short instruction here. After the meditation we went back to the shooting range. Today, only 9mm was to be fired. With both hands and strong hand and weak hand. I had gradually gotten used to the recoil from a 9 mm and didn't fear it so much, however I forgot a few of the things I had fixed the day before so I got a short thinking break and less "shitball" from Sensei. However, it helped and I came back in good style. However, I feared shooting with strong and weak hand. We had done dry training with it, but we hadn't shot a 9mm. It should be mentioned that strong and weak hand are shooting with one hand right or left. The idea is that you have been hit in one arm and therefore only use one hand. I was most afraid of getting the gun right in the bud at the very moment the shot went off.
To my surprise this did not happen. I would think that all the dry training and possibly also thinking about the break, had improved my attitude and abilities considerably. In fact, I shot reasonably well both with strong and weak hand. I had the feeling that I had found the wise stones for shooting with one hand. It was all really very simple. It was really uplifting to have actually found something in shooting that I was really good at. Nothing could bring me down after the exhilarating ride. There were very few shots outside of the black in the target, and typically those had been the times when I had gotten too cocky and shot before I had aimed.
After 3 hours of banging, the time had passed, it was just as well because I was getting very tender. Went back to the hotel at a fast pace to read through the IPSC rules and improve on the theory test.
After working our way through the test with reasonably good results, nobody had more than 4 mistakes out of 100 questions, we set off to a restaurant at a high trot to fill up the depots. After a few kilometers of walking, we reached our place to eat, where we ordered food and some wine. As this was the last night and we had achieved quite good results we thought we could celebrate a bit. Spirits were high as the conversation turned to the day's events. After the meal we had some time for sightseeing in Prague. This time we reached the middle of the Charles Bridge and could see most of Prague's inner city. It didn't turn out to be more sightseeing, however, as there were a few guns that needed to be cleaned and the next day we had to get up early to reach the last shooting before we drove home to Denmark. This time there were no problems with the "rocket science" gun, as everyone had now figured out the trick of collecting it. We therefore all went to bed fairly early. It must have been just after midnight.
Monday morning started pretty much like the others with breakfast at 7.00. One hour was set aside for so-called fun shooting. After breakfast and some instruction from Sensei, we went to the shooting range to test other calibers and weapons. We had to test and feel the difference in recoil of the different calibres. We had to shoot Cal .40, Cal .45 with 2 Glock pistols (Tupperware pistols), magnum .357 S&W and magnum .44. S&W (Smith and Wesson) which is a revolver.
My partner and I were to start with the revolvers. We went hard with the .357 which is some serious beans. Experience was that the recoil is quite large with a .357 revolver, but not unmanageable and since the barrel is longer it is easier to hit what you are aiming at. That was not the case with "Dirty Harry" it kicks serious R.... Magnum .44 is a serious bean with a length of 41 mm and a diameter of approx. 11 mm. You have to respect him, I got a good hit on the first shot. As it says on the blurb "also shown effective against elephants".
After firing many rounds with each revolver, we switched with the others who had been shooting Glocks. Glocks are completely different from the CZs we are used to shooting with as they are much lighter as they are partially made of plastic. (Tupperware pistols) However, they shoot fantastically well and are very safe to operate. The recoil was not that much greater with the cal .40 and .45 in the Glock compared to the 9mm.
Finally, we had to shoot with Shot guns, both standard shotguns and magnum slugs.
Already at a very short distance, the pellets from a Shot gun or shotgun spread a lot and the target was totally perforated. There is quite a lot of recoil in shotguns and you have to hold it close to the body so you don't break something when it hits back. I have shot shotguns before so I showed that the recoil would be great. However, nothing could have prepared me for the recoil of the magnum slug. You really had to hold on tight here. My mate fell almost half a meter out of the stall at the first shot. Everyone's shoulders were also pretty sore when we finished the "fun shooting". It had taken longer than expected and we were quite busy getting back to the hotel and getting home. After a quick shower to wash off the worst gunpowder stench, we packed up the cars and drove north out of Prague.
It had been a few pleasant and hard days in Prague with approx. 20 hours of sleep in 5 days. On the way home, Kimu Sensei gave us one last task, which we could solve appropriately now that we had a 7 hour drive ahead of us, which we couldn't use for anything else anyway. However, the drive turned out to be somewhat longer, as we found out along the way that we could not reach the ferry and had to drive over the bridge instead. I was therefore badly injured when I finally landed at home at 01.30. I could barely get a few hours of sleep before work called the next morning. However, it has been educational and given a lot of experience that other Shindenkan students can benefit from, I'm sure many others would have liked to go instead of me, so I'm not complaining, it's been great to participate so far.
