The latest run of POMW I, II and III has just finished and a new batch of participants have completed. This time as "Living POMW", with full immersion during the entire course.
At the same time, POMW BIO OBC has been run, where further improvements have been made for previous course participants through the OBC concept. OBC requires that you have maintained your competence in order to be invited by Kimu Sensei to participate. If you have not maintained, you must retake the course.
And what is POMW then! – Project Old Modern Warrior?
- Shooting, gunpowder smoke and rampage? - Yes, a little
- Upgrading Karate with weapons, i.e. firearms? - Yes, a little, but we already have weapon use in our multi-track system
- Preparing for the new reality of firearms in everyday life? - Well, a little, you're always better off when you know something about the attack, or the weapon you might use. must defend against
No seriously! Now remember the common thread: What is the purpose of POMW and how does it fit into Shindenkan and our multi-lane martial arts and martial arts?
Review of the POMW course
The POMW course is the schooled approach to shooting, and introduces step by step, to the correct technique, in an ever-increasing degree of difficulty, and with ever-larger calibers and thus ever-greater consistency and need for safety.
It starts with the thorough, fact-based history behind firearms, and an introduction to the POMW Shooting Technical Handbook and Safety, and dry training at home with hardball pistols that resemble the real thing. Then POMW shooting technique with hardball bullets, and SIRT (laser pistol) is taught, and we move on to shooting in motion, with transitions and movement (IPSC).
Next, you move on to the shooting range, and you learn to behave legally and correctly in terms of safety on a shooting range according to range instructions, as well as to shoot with .22 caliber. Correct POMW shooting technique is trained and used to noise, smoke and recoil. You are introduced to 9mm, and you get used to much greater recoil and noise level. After that, 0.22 seems almost silent.
In POMW 3, 9mm is shot at different distances, with transition and on IPSC discs where area shooting is shot.
After this series of courses, you have shot the equivalent of many years for an average Danish shooter, and spent approx. 85 hours of shooting, of approx. Two months. Up to double for OBC. It goes without saying that you then shoot quite well.
But the facts - the results from POMW, the collected results that form the basis for statistics on progress, stability and trend, show that the results are MUCH better than expected. 60 % shoots DK-1.div. 30 % DK-2div. And the last 3 divs, in at least one or more shooting disciplines. It is easily and measurably standardized nationally and internationally.
Great results, but why?
You get the essence of shooting, extracted by SKUC (Shindenkan's Competence & Development Center) in the original POMW development project, carried out by Kimu Sensei from 2011-2014, which Shindenkan and leading forces have invested a lot of time and a very large amount of money into. It simply becomes served on a gold platter.
The course is conducted in Shindenkan style in a top professional manner, by Kimu Sensei himself, who manages and to a certain extent delegates to honbu-dojo instructors.
Thus, the prerequisites are in order, and it should be easy to go to. But the course puts all participants to the test along the way. It requires considerable stamina and attitude to complete the entire series of courses and home training with constant effort and attitude.
The common thread: Minouchi Sensei's thesis states that it is the person behind the weapon, and not the weapon, that is decisive for the result.
It can also be expressed as attitude, attitude, attitude, and we know that from the daily training in Shindenkan. As Shindenkan martial artists, we are all trained in attitude and know how important it is.
We also all know that it requires constant effort to build and maintain our skills at the right level. Through this, we also show our attitude.
But what do the results really mean?
The results are an indicator – a safe indication of how much control you have over yourself, right now and here when shooting. And when the results are collected in a statistic, you get a clear indication of how constant you are and whether you are developing, stagnating or having a bad day. One cannot draw conclusions from individual results, as the goal is constancy and a high base level.
With these results, you thus have an indicator of what level you are at today, right now and here. And shooting is precisely made so that any idiot should be able to do it 🙂 So much of the process lies with the equipment, and MY task is just to be calm, follow the process and wait for the result! Sounds easy doesn't it? Then show it 🙂
Benefits of the course
If you do as you usually do, you will get the result you usually do. That is, it is necessary to actually follow guidance, advice and instructions to achieve the result. For some, it requires you to "surrender", release control of the process and do as you are instructed. It sounds super simple, but the more pressured a situation you are in, the more you tend to fall back on old safe routines. And when the 9mms bang and cartridge cases fly into one's head, at the same time as Kimu Sensei shoots a 9mm magazine at machine gun speed right next to it, so that you can feel the air pressure pounding one's chest, then one can feel a little pressured.
When you let go of control, and start to trust the process, and yourself, you stop looking at the result, and concentrate instead on the process, and on carrying it out in exactly the same way as it was learned. If the process works, the results will probably come, BUT it requires that you trust yourself and that you don't start working against yourself. And here we get into human development and learning about oneself, which is a large part of the course.
One by one, the trainees have surrendered, trusted and followed the process and taken a leap forward in their results. It has been clear that the longer they have been in "Living POMW", the more they trust themselves and their results, and thus sudden jumps in results follow.
As a POMW BIO OBC participant and member of the instructor team, it has been a pleasure to follow the course participants, and very life-affirming that they have taken up the fight, fought so bravely, and done so well.
It is fantastic that POMW, in addition to teaching the participants to shoot at 1-2 division level, can also teach them so much about themselves and thus develop them as people. "In Shindenkan, we create whole and happy people"
The POMW BIO OBC participants have at times been under a lot of pressure from the new team, perhaps because they lacked focus on "Living POMW" and presence right now and here for the individual shooting.
The common thread: Minouchi Sensei's thesis states that it is the person behind the weapon, and not the weapon, that is decisive for the outcome. The results cement Minouchi Sensei's theory, and at the same time show that each individual participant is unique and fantastic, and "can do much more than you and others tell you". If he/she trusts himself/herself and the process.
My experience and rediscovery
My personal experience this time has been even deeper than the previous 2 times, as this time I have observed the students and their reactions, resistances, struggles and progress, while at the same time I can see the educational efforts made by Kimu Sensei, and the support the instructors have given.
I myself have had to pull myself together so as not to drop in pace or level, because we are all on a course and must do our very best. And for me exactly the same applies as for all other participants: if you don't train, you won't get better! The continuous training is a clear prerequisite for progress and for maintaining the level, and it is part of the attitude.
A huge investment
As mentioned in other articles, Shindenkan has made a huge investment of its profits in the course participants, as the price for running "Living POMW" is approx. 2.5 times the course income, which constitutes the out-of-pocket payment. This is because this course aims to help the students to a higher level by showing them what they can really do if they want to. With this course comes an obligation to manage Shindenkan's investment in me in the best way, and to become a better practitioner, instructor and person.