Then it happened! The day when the dry training had to be put to the test in POMW II. All POMW I participants had been looking forward to this day when the airguns were replaced with .22 and 9 mm "live" ammunition. Now that doesn't sound like a funfair ride. Because the situation is that if you, as a POMW participant, have not dry trained well enough, you will not be allowed to shoot with real ammunition for safety reasons. We look after each other in Shindenkan and do not take safety lightly.

But luckily everyone had more or less listened to the ryugi during POMW I and had therefore trained dry training as they should.

When you shoot with real pistols and with real ammunition, you have to remember that every single shot must be a good shot. Understood in the sense that a good shot is a shot that is delivered in accordance with the POMW Shooting Techniques Handbook and that follows the process that is taught. If you do it without compromising, you will probably hit. It is not certain that it will be in the bullseye right away, but it will go quickly if you remember your POMW shooting technique and it will be far cheaper than if you just shot loose without proper training.

POMW II, like the rest of POMW, is about the man behind the weapon making the difference. If you don't practice the correct process, you won't achieve correct results either. A correct result in POMW is not necessarily all shots in BullsEye - it's about getting the shots together in small areas. If you can do that, you can then put on the sights so that you hit the bullseye. But if, on the other hand, you constantly shoot over the entire disc, it is impossible to see where you have challenges with your shooting technique - so here the biggest challenge is your attitude when the shooting is spread over the entire disc.

All this the POMW participants got through in a short time. The first few rounds were a bit nervous, but as they calmed down, the joints slowly started to come. There were some who needed a little longer than others. But as the day progressed there was success for everyone.

The first part of POMW II takes place with the 0.22 mm gun and is not with the large recoil. All Jokokidz and Jokoteens start out with shotguns. If it goes well, Jokoteens can be allowed to shoot with 0.22 mm and if it also goes well, it will be 9 mm. Remember that safety is paramount – this is not Tivoli shooting.

Already after 3 rounds of hail, the JokoTeens got a handle on their POMW shooting technique and were able to switch to shooting with 0.22 - which meant that they gave the adults a fight to the line because they listened and shot really well.

If you have tried to shoot with a pistol before, for example in the military, it can be difficult to have to forget old habits in order to make the POMW shooting technique work correctly. Since it is the person behind the weapon that makes the difference, it is also the same person's attitude that determines whether the old habits are changed quickly or not at all.

Between parts 1 and 2 of POMW II, the participants had to go home and practice POMW shooting technique and weights so that the transition to 9 mm would not be a problem for them. A 9mm pistol has significantly more recoil than a 0.22mm. And especially the 9 mm we shoot with in the SDK shooting association. You may ask yourself why we shoot with pistols that have a strong recoil and not with pistols with very little recoil. It is very simple to answer. If you can handle a lot of recoil in a gun, you can also handle a little recoil in a gun. Just like with karate. If you can parry a correctly performed and effective Tsuki, then you can also parry a Tsuki performed by a person who does not know how to do it 😊

When it was time for the second part of POMW II, it was a collection of excited POMW participants who showed up at Hanebjerg Shooting Center. Now they really had to prove to themselves that they had been true to the POMW Shooting Techniques Manual. Because it was now that the 9 mm pistols came on the table 😊.

Initially, they just had to get the setting in place and be in control of themselves. Once it was in place, collections slowly started to come around. It was fantastic to see how the smiles got bigger and bigger as the participants warmed up. But the participants also found out what it means that it is the person behind the weapon that makes a difference and perhaps especially the person's ego.

When you shoot in a POMW course, it's about forgetting your ego and just listening and learning. But we humans tend to want it differently, we want to make it difficult by trying to lift our self-confidence and thus try to boost our ego. But many times it goes in the opposite direction.

In a POMW course, it's not about boosting your ego by focusing on hitting Bullseye. If, on the other hand, you focus on the process of correct shooting technique, you will at some point hit the bullseye. It's just a matter of when and how much you forget yourself and your ego.

It will be interesting to see if the ego stays at home on the weekend when POMW III is to be held.

After two long Sundays on the shooting range, the participants were very tired when POMW II ended. At the same time, there were also plenty of smiles to ask on the tired faces. There were some who had gained a new view of POMW and how important it is that the person behind the weapon has the right attitude. Something that they can take with them into their everyday life and use - if they want to 😊