By Michael Nørgaard, SDKSkyt, Frederiksberg
As a firing commander on POMW III, it was exciting to see how the participants reacted to having to interact with others and weapons at the same time.
But one of the focus areas in POMW in general is – SAFETY, and that is the most important thing to always have 100 % focus on. Because if there is not full focus on safety, both for one's own sake and for everyone else's, things can go horribly wrong.
It should not necessarily end with a person being hit by a bullet - it can have fatal consequences.
A full day at the shooting range requires a certain amount of physical fitness, both so that safety would be top notch, and so that your own energy can be used to learn, focus and evaluate, and not "just" lift and fire a weapon.
Even with this physical training you get tired, and here another key word for POMW made its entrance - SETTING - SETTING - SETTING, you need to be 100 % present to get a good result from the shooting. This is the primary purpose of POMW and from this we find the relationship to Yakami Shinsei-Ryu: 100 % setting – Every shot must be a good shot and that means you must use the POMW shooting manual with every shot.
Why follow up a bad shot with another bad shot!
When we went outside, the participants were clearly affected by the fact that they had to shoot in line out on the range, without the separation between the shooting booths that they were used to. It was suddenly a "dangerous" reality. However, the "dangerous" was taken care of by the participants being spotted by the instructors who were on the course, with a strong focus on ensuring that there were no "inappropriateness/accidents" during the course.
Despite this, there were a few DQs – which means that there is a participant who has violated the safety rules – which results in the participant receiving a DQ having to leave the row for a shorter or longer time. This is so that there is time for the participant to reflect on what caused a DQ to be handed out, and get their nerves back in place. However, 3 DQ's result in a permanent expulsion from the course. So getting a DQ is serious!
So proper weapon handling and the POMW shooting manual are essential for everyone to get through the course safely. And everyone did!
Between the individual shooting series, there was common fun and talk about results, eating cake and probably also a little frustration over the individual results.
However, it must be said that as the participants became more familiar with the weapons, the loud bangs and the recoil, the results also got better and better.
So everyone ended up doing their best and getting the best results possible.
An important part of shooting and becoming familiar with your weapon is also cleaning the weapon after shooting.
A weapon is a piece of mechanics that must be maintained and cleaned carefully to function optimally.
All participants had to go through this learning process as well, and it is not always easy to take apart a weapon, clean and lubricate it, and then remember how to put it back together.
It generated quite a few funny remarks, but everyone got a good experience from the fact that they could actually get a handle on that process as well.
So a really good course from which I am convinced that all participants got a lot out of it, both physically, mentally and in relation to their karate training.
Thanks to all participants for their positive attitude, and congratulations on completion.
