My wife, daughter and I were looking forward to the last part of the POMW I course, especially since it had already been postponed 4 months.

Saturday 20 April 2013 at 8.30 – 16, at Tjørnelyskolen in Greve.

Saturday morning 8.30 gives you the advantage of avoiding the Friday afternoon rush hour traffic, and we rushed in and got ready for a short introduction. It turned out to be a recap of the facts about gun control in Denmark, the history of guns, gunpowder, etc. A bit heavy food for someone, such an early Saturday morning. Personally, I was fine with it, as my body could then wake up, and I like well worked out facts and good presentations. Plus, it provides an opportunity to get the joy of anticipation a little under control.

The anticipation of another day's shooting, obviously not with live ammunition, but that doesn't really matter as you can still see the gunpowder smoke as the wild Indians on horseback attack the wagon train, and just wait until I get my airgun drawn….. Well, maybe, as mentioned before, it was perfectly fine to just come down to earth with a good round of theory 🙂

The review concluded with a recap of the most important points:
1) Correct hand position
2) Correct posture
3) Correct use of aiming devices
And especially.
4) Troubleshooting if you make a trigger error, or in other ways can't get the setting completely out of the body.
…and did I mention 5) Security? We are dealing with weapons, so safety is paramount. You cannot kill with a laser gun or an air gun, but we train as if it were the sharp-edged weapon that can maim or kill.

Finally we got to the shooting range... Well, into the gymnasium, but that suited me just fine! Then we could polish the technique, together with the previous course participants from POMW II, who also participated in the course as a recap. Then we have the experience and methods deeper under our skin when we go to the shooting range.

The joy of anticipation reappeared, along with a small smile, although it was still only with the airgun.

I felt that we were all better than last time, even though it was 4 months later and very few had completed their recommended amount of dry training. Because of my back problems, I had mainly trained hand position and the use of aiming devices, and not nearly enough posture. Maybe not the best choice.

We started by shooting at the usual 3, then 5 and 7 meter distances – back and forth. I suppose it was to build our confidence and polish the technique. And it worked. It was actually not that bad at all.
...And regarding refreshment, remember safety, safety, safety... Remember it or be DQ'd (= disqualification = Time-out 2 minutes on the bench).
As we refreshed the shooting, the tension in my back reappeared, as I also remember them from the kenjutsu course. Note to self: Do more back training 🙂

Then it was time for laser guns. We had to hit several targets (regular brown IPSC discs), and avoid hitting the white no-shoot IPSC discs.
The first part of the training with Laserguns was to hit several targets from the same position, but it wasn't long before we switched to shooting in motion.

I had a strange experience during my own shooting. I shot at the targets and saw that I hit, but afterwards everyone told me that I didn't actually hit all the targets, as I missed a target. You can imagine a lot... I still don't get it. I was sure I had hit the targets - all the targets. But then it is good that there are others present who can tell what really happened.

Here you can appropriately think back to safety, safety, safety...

After the "Star Wars" experience with laser guns, we switched to static shooting with air guns. Poppers were to be shot at – targets that tumble when hit correctly and others that light up when hit, giving a more direct feed-back, and similar to intro videos from real shooting ranges.

Now the course was coming to an end, but how would it end? The tension rose again.

As expected, the course culminated with what we had been working through for the past 5-6 hours: Shooting in motion with airguns against fixed targets.

We had to, in motion, aim and hit 10 stationary targets in a line. Halfway through we had to switch from going forward to going backwards, still while shooting. Then we would safely move to change magazines (here the instructors warned in advance about the possibility of being DQ for pointing angles), continue to fire targets, and avoid hitting no-shoots (white targets), ending with poppers (targets that topple over).

Could I complete? Could I remember everything I had learned. Was it on the spine or would I have to think along the way? Don't shoot while putting your foot on the ground, use your hips to move, finger on the rail when you're not aiming at a target? And what's more... And remember that everyone is looking at me, judging me …. or not? :-)

After going through the course, it was my turn to observe people's reactions. The excitement of those who had not yet shot, and the relief of those who had completed, perhaps more so than attention to the one who was now on the floor.

But one thing is for sure – I was not the only one who had been up on the high blade 🙂

Now I feel ready to try with a real gun, so now I'm really looking forward to POMW II, so "Bring it on".