By Frederik Breinstrup, Adult
Any idiot can learn to shoot. We heard this several times during the POMW course, and it is basically true. It's not particularly difficult to pick up a gun and pull the trigger. So why do we even need to learn to shoot when we are training a thousand year old martial art system?
We quickly found that out during the course's 7 training sessions, and the many hours of dry training at home. POMW is the result of a thesis that Minouchi Sensei wrote, where he had a hypothesis that it is the person behind the weapon that is decisive, and not the weapon itself. Therefore, the old elite warriors, the samurai, will quickly learn to shoot on par with the modern elite warriors. And that sounds like something to us.
We started our journey at POMW I by hearing about weapon development and learning the basic shooting technique that we had to practice at home, and we heard the most important rules when dealing with firearms. Basic POMW shooting technique, and safety. Every day we had to dry train with our airgun to practice catching the sights, holding the gun correctly and standing correctly. However, there was also the "hidden training" in it, which was eye training that helps against headaches, and training in keeping focus and attitude. Then we shot with airguns from 2-11 meters, and there we quickly learned why it was important to train dry. If one's focus and setting drop during shooting, one cannot hit the target, and in the worst case it can have fatal consequences. Therefore, it was crucial that we did dry training every day throughout the course. At POMW Ic we also tried IPSC shooting with our airguns. IPSC is a kind of timed obstacle course where there are some targets you have to shoot along the way. The most important thing here, and during the rest of the POMW process, is safety. On the IPSC course there were 2 cones indicating safety angles. If you pointed your airgun outside the cones, you were considered a safety risk and you were disqualified.
When we came out to Hanebjerg shooting center for POMW II and III, we were really tested on our attitude. We had to shoot at 25 m. It seemed like a completely impossible task to have to hit a target at such a great distance. It was more than twice the longest distance we had shot on the POMW I. It therefore required some serious focus when we started shooting, as even the smallest error with the gun becomes apparent 25 meters later. For POMW IIa, my head wasn't quite there. I had some things from home life that I had in the back of my mind, but I didn't realize that I went and thought about it. It wasn't until Kimu Sensei pointed out during the day that I seemed like I didn't have 100% focus on the shooting that I thought about what it could be. When I finally found out and talked to Kimu Sensei about it, I knew there were some things I should have talked through at home.
When I came to POMW IIb I had thought about my discovery the previous course. I was much more settled with things and didn't have a lot of things in the back of my mind, I was happier and it could clearly be seen down on the dial. I was more focused and gave myself better conditions to be able to shoot well. I was good to myself.
On the POMW II, we mostly shot with 0.22 caliber at a distance of 25 meters. At the end of the POMW IIb, however, we also tried to shoot 50 9mm rounds, and it was quite an experience. It makes a lot more noise and the recoil is significantly greater. I was a bit scared to shoot with 9mm the first few times. I got a shock every time a shot was fired, and therefore had difficulty keeping focus when I had to shoot. It also didn't help that I was standing next to someone who had the unfortunate height that meant every single one of her cartridge cases hit me right in the head. At the same time, I found that my recoil control was not in place when we shot the .22, because the first few times I shot the 9mm, the gun was smoking out of my hand. As a result, I began to counteract the recoil, which only made my shooting worse. So I still had a lot I could improve. After our 50 rounds with the 9mm, we went back to the .22 caliber, where by comparison there is virtually no recoil, which meant I could clearly see that I was starting to counteract the recoil. So it was something I had to train on during my dry training at home.
On POMW III we mostly only shot 9mm, we shot a lot and we shot fast. On the POMW IIIa, I started to get used to the recoil of the 9mm and my recoil control improved significantly, which meant I started shooting better. Through all the courses we got a lot of information and stories about SDK shooting and why Shindenkan created his own shooting association, and POMW III was no different. Not only did we get a lot of shooting skills, we also got a lot of background knowledge about the shooting world in Denmark.
For POMW IIIb we met down in the hole on Hanebjerg. The hole is a gravel pit, where you stand and shoot outside, of up to 40 metres. We met at 7:30 to set up lanes and get everything ready. POMW is a complete shooting training, where you also help to set up ranges and clean up and clean the guns. Since we only have to shoot from 9, we started shooting with laser guns, which the frogman corps also trains with. We tried shooting around barricades, and kicking in a door and shooting. It was pure boys' ass - and absolutely great fun. Afterwards we shot a lot of 9mm shots from a lot of different distances, several shots at a time, and on several different targets, ending with a shootout. A shootout works by standing 40 meters from a 40cm x 40cm yellow cardboard disc. Then some shooters take turns firing a number of shots, and you count how many each hit.
If I had been told after POMW I that I had to hit such a small target at such a distance, I wouldn't have thought I could do it, but I ended up hitting about ⅓ of my shots. It's just proof that with the right training, and even more importantly the right attitude, you can do much more than you think. After the shootout, we went to lunch, and after lunch we were back at our usual shooting range, and then it had to go strong. We were shooting four rounds at a time, at several targets at a time, so our recoil control was the only thing that determined how fast we could shoot.
During the last day we each shot about 550 rounds, and you could tell because we all got tired at the end, but as we were told, it is when you are under pressure that you show who you are. I got a lot out of POMW and especially learned a lot about myself, which I will try to bring into our regular Yakami Shinsei-ryu training. The entire POMW project is based on Minouchi Sensei's thesis that it is the person behind the weapon that creates results, and it must be said that we have proven that.
