Force-on-force drills are commonplace in law enforcement training these days, and dry drills conducted with empty weapons or dummy guns are even more so, which is a very good trend. Naturally, any competent instructor follows an effective protocol for keeping real guns out of these exercises or keeping real guns unloaded in appropriate dry drills.
But now there s a new training trend emerging in the progressive schools and training centers. These involve a partner physically disturbing, jostling or fighting with you as you try to maintain accurate fire. These drills mirror real-world conditions, and the degree to which the non-shooting partner is actually fighting with you varies. Naturally, very realistic fighting can t be done with live rounds, and shouldn t even be done with real guns Airsoft and SIMUNITION guns are in order here.
At the other end of the spectrum, you ll find drills where your goal is to maintain accurate fire on a target while your partner lightly disturbs you from the rear. Even in these benign drills, I strongly suggest that you run them dry.
Why? A number of years ago, I was at the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors annual training conference, and I participated in a training drill. My partner was to try and maintain accurate fire on a target while I put my arm around his upper chest and lightly jostled him. The drill went fine, but at its conclusion, my partner turned to me and said, You know, I did all I could do to stop myself from turning around and shooting you.
Gulp! Now, his reaction was a perfectly reasonable for survival I can t blame him. And the drill was certainly a good one. Sometimes bad guys try to interfere with our shooting another bad guy, sometimes bystanders do the same, and sometimes we just plain bump into other officers, innocents or objects as we try to put fire on someone. Learning to shoot while being disturbed is a good thing.
But that day, I learned that you don t do this drill live until you first understand how the participants will react to it.