Thanks, DFW1911.
There's a (I should say another) great article from Pat Rogers in the October issue of SWAT Magazine, titled "Bulletproof Mind." The opening photo in the article is of one of his student's wide body .45 pistol in a drop holster- with a gaping, empty magazine well. The photo was taken on the firing line AFTER the command "Make Ready!" had been issued.
"Make Ready!" means be sure your eyes and ears are on, your carbine is loaded and ready, your sidearm is loaded and ready, your electronic sight is turned on and properly adjusted, and you are ready to execute whatever range command follows.
Since there were TWO students on this particular firing line with gaping empty magazine wells in their pistols, naturally the first thing Rogers did was call for a pistol drill. Good instructors notice details. And some of them have a mild sadistic streak as well.
So, can you say, "Trainable moment?"
Brain farts happen. They happen to all of us. Keys get locked in cars and houses every day. Checkbooks get misplaced. Clothes get forgotten at the cleaners. Someone makes a trip to the grocery store for milk, and comes home with everything but milk.
But where firearms are concerned, we have to learn to live in the now when we are doing administrative procedures like unloading, cleaning and loading. We have to be able bring ourselves to complete focus on what we are doing to the exclusion of any distractions, at least for the short period of time it takes to accomplish whatever task we are doing. While the goal Rogers and many other trainers seek to set for their students is the achievement of what's called "unconscious competence," IMHO we need to perform the administrative basics at a conscious, focused and deliberate level.
"Unconscious competence" is what saves your bacon in a gunfight, when things go to hell in a handbasket. If that happens to you, you need to be able to maintain target focus and threat awareness, and you need to be able to run the guns without having to fumble or look down. The pressure is on, the adrenaline is pumping, fingers turn into sausages and nothing wants to go right. Your much-loved, carefully selected, fastidiously maintained equipment seems to turn against you. The reason I push people so hard to get professional training is that this is exactly what happens in training when things go well. You do not need to experience this godawful set of sensations for the first time when your life is on the line. A bit of embarrassment on a flat range somewhere is a small price to pay compared to that risk, I think.
Paying attention to the administrative basics is what keeps us from having a click when we needed a bang, or worse, from putting a hole someplace we didn't expect to. Avoiding that sort of thing is worth shifting to full focus and living in the now for long enough to make sure those things don't happen. It only takes a few seconds...
Stay Safe, friends,
lpl