It surprises me time and time again that all the courses are so well thought out and executed here at Shindenkan. The phrase "nothing is left to chance" only becomes more reliable each time. I always think that you are pleasantly surprised because your own expectations are broken and replaced with a bigger and better overall impression and understanding.
My expectations for the POMW course were zero - I had absolutely no experience in the subject - either in handling firearms or firearms in general. However, the day before I had seen an action film with an original plot: The tough gang environment mixed with agents and police people, where guns and other weapons were involved.
I very quickly got the idea that the way they handled the weapons and the way you always see them on film must be the correct way to do it - but as usual I was wrong.
Is it the gun or the man behind it that kills?
Setting. A very important word and concept we were confronted with throughout the course. Can you kill if you are in a situation where your life or that of others depends on it? It was hard to deal with at first, but eventually it dawned on you that it IS everyday life today - whether you want to admit it or not. I was therefore very grateful to get and have the opportunity to learn and know how to handle today's weapons.
When we started putting theory into practice, I couldn't hit a bell, to say the least. I was more than grateful to just hit the target. We then tried to shoot from different distances, and there we were again brought face to face with our attitude. Just with a 2 meter difference - and suddenly you couldn't hit anything. There you had to work with the setting again.
The difficult thing was not learning to shoot, it was actually very simple – the difficult thing was to comply with the few handlings that allowed you to shoot and be able to hit the target. You could quickly forget or skip the few steps because you wanted to have a high success rate, which made you focus more on the goal than on the process itself. We were then tasked to practice these handlings we had learned for the next time every day for the next course three weeks later.
When we next met, NEVER in my wildest imaginations would I have dared to believe or hope to move as much from last time to last course as I did. It was a huge difference. All of a sudden I went from being satisfied with hitting the target, to being unhappy with not hitting the bullseye in the black every time. So I was very surprised and pleased. I didn't think I would ever come this long - and then only in three weeks. The difference was huge. But again, it's all about the setting. So with the correct handling, technique and attitude, you can go far!
