POMW III, the culmination of a long, challenging and on many levels rewarding course. As described earlier, I had learned what my focus areas from the previous course should and should be, but serious illness in the family had made the situation considerably more difficult.

Thus, my preparation primarily consisted of the mental processing of the areas of action. When you want/try to develop both mentally and technically, those areas take up a lot of everyday life, and over the weeks I have often sat immersed in thoughts about concentration, rhythmic breathing and correct technique.

I have analyzed myself to the point that I am most challenged on the mental side, as I master the shooting technique well when the focus is present. The excuses in my head have been as follows: I am an impatient person/soul, I enjoy constantly changing tasks and challenges, that I am used to having to answer a multitude of questions and decide on something constantly in interaction with a lot of students daily, and that I prefer to avoid routine work.

The bad inputs have sung in unison when I worked on my point shooting – that is, focus on the same process repeatedly.

I was therefore very much looking forward to POMW III, as a large part of the shooting was to take place on IPSC discs.

Shots in area A are lethal, B are fatal shots and C only wounding shots – words that awakened something recognizable in me. I also quickly found focus, and delivered fully satisfactory rounds at the various distances.

In fact, I feel much more comfortable shooting the 9mm over the 22, which is a bit odd since the recoil is next to non-existent on the 22, hmmmm – food for thought. 

The following week we all met again for the last part of POMW III, which took place in the "hole", where we had to shoot at steal targets and IPSC targets from 8 - 45+ m. Initially we were given instructions by Kimu Sensei, who as always understands to clarify his expectations for us course participants: "It's not to put unnecessary pressure on you, but I expect 100% from everyone all day!"

We are loaded with 72 shots at a time, as a large number of shots must be delivered in a limited time. All parameters are thus tightened, which can be felt by all participants – full focus on the task.

After a few normal shots from various distances on IPSC discs, we continue with transition shooting. First we switch between two targets vertically and then shoot at four targets horizontally and vertically.

The distance was 8m, which for the uninitiated may seem like something close to the goal, but in fact it places greater demands on the transition itself, as the move is longer the closer we get.

The challenge is to combine body movements with aiming + to optimize the two in terms of speed. I have a good grasp of this discipline, and in the end I almost "feel" the shots, understood so that it is not so much a conscious conviction of correct aim before the trigger, but rather a feeling of the moment. So I'm full of confidence as we switch to steal targets.

I have honed/adjusted my hand position/grip on the pistol so that I experience the same absorption of recoil every time, which eases the process of resetting and re-aiming quickly. I get to change my mindset pretty quickly for the longer distances, as small inaccuracies have relatively large consequences at 45+ meters.

The shooting between 25 and 45+ meters goes really well, and I almost forget about my runny nose and associated fever 🙂

We end the day in the "hole" with shooting past and through obstacles. I do not feel the space and visibility limitation as a much bigger challenge, gradually we/I have become so sure of our own abilities that we do not let outside influences have a significant impact on our accuracy. I really find that focusing on the process and familiarity with the weapon sharpens my shooting.

As the afternoon sun burns through the mist, my inner and outer smile grows bigger and bigger, but there are limits to everything, as I am the only one to admit that I had an uncontrolled shot into the ground in front of me when my thumb slipped when loading a new magazine – embarrassing! 

Finally, we headed back to the 25m range, where one last round of points had to be shot, before the course ended with joint weapon cleaning. The fatigue is about to set in at that point, so it takes energy to readjust once more. The process is made even more difficult for three of us, as the 22 we shoot with no longer hits the same spot as before – the sight must have moved due to previous cleaning or the like. We are therefore "slightly" stressed, since all three of us only get a single shot in the black circle. Good enough, the shots are reasonably clustered outside the black, but still I am a little affected by the situation.

By the time I get to the second and current shot, the gun has been replaced and I am thus shooting a gun where I cannot use my corrected point of aim. I therefore return to the standard and aim, which was optimally inserted.

Fortunately, the new gun is factory stocked and I manage to shoot a, under the circumstances, satisfactory result.

All in all, I am by and large satisfied with my own efforts, and I leave the course with a clear conviction and feeling that I have expanded and strengthened my firearms competence considerably.

I can therefore clearly recommend the course for future students. I have learned for myself that it is the man behind the weapon that creates the results, as at times I was my own worst opponent.

One/I must not doubt/belittle one's own abilities and progress. Finally, I would like to pass on this quote by Kimu Sensei to all future participants: “Enjoy it!”