During this month I introduce a couple skills that are completely new and novel. You’ve probably never seen these things in a range or dry practice training plan before.
911 Call
I wrote extensively about the 9-1-1 call last week. This is something that you should be practicing, and here’s why: if you’ve never thought about what to say, you won’t know what is important to say and what is important not to say. If you’ve thought about it but have never practiced, you will probably be inefficient at passing accurate information. You may forget important elements, or include a rambling narrative. Without firm parameters you may say way too much.
Remember, that 9-1-1 recording becomes evidence if you shoot someone. You don’t want to create a presumption of guilt by completely failing to call. You also don’t want to say things in the middle of an adrenaline dump that might be misconstrued later in the calm of a courtroom. You want to pass enough information to get police and EMS en route with a picture of what has occurred. I recommend you go back and read the article I mentioned above. I also recommend picking up a copy of Andrew Branca’s excellent The Law of Self Defense and getting familiar with the content.
IBDD
The other thing I added into my dry practice session that is brand new (at least to me) is Image Based Decisional Drills (IBDD). I also reviewed these last week. They are a fantastic dry practice tool for initiating some decision-making into your practice routine. I won’t rehash the whole IBDD system here, but I do recommend you go back and read my review on them.
The Basics
I spent the second half of the month reinforcing the basics. Presentation, reloads, and malfunction clearances have comprised “the basics” for a long time. I’m adding in these new skills, though. I need to practice that 9-1-1 call at least once a month; otherwise I run the risk of forgetting what I need to say and being less efficient on the phone that I could be. I will also be using the Image Based Decisional Drills going forward. It’s hard to overstate the value of these, though I will be adding some expansion packs to help keep myself from getting too familiar with the deck.
My Results
June was much better for me than May. I got back on track and didn’t miss a day. Six months of this year are behind us and I have only missed three days of dry practice. So far I’m up to 24 hours of firearms practice in dry practice alone. Minutes quickly turn into hours and it’s not hard to find ten minutes a day. What have you done?
Below are my day-by-day results of the past month.
January 1 – 15: 150 minutes, January 16 – 31: 160 minutes
February 1 – 15: 150 minutes, February 16 – 29: 140 minutes
March 1 – 15: 150 minutes, March 16 – 31: 160 minutes
April 1 – 30: 300 minutes, May 1 – 30: 280 minutes
June 1: 10 minutes 911 call
June 2: 10 minutes 911 call
June 3: 10 minutes 911 call
June 4: 10 minutes 911 call
June 5: 10 minutes 911 call
June 6: 10 minutes 911 call
June 7: 10 minutes 911 call
June 8: 10 minutes 911 call
June 9: 10 minutes 911 call
June 10: 10 minutes 911 call
June 11: 10 minutes 911 call
June 12: 10 minutes 911 call
June 13: 10 minutes 911 call
June 14: 10 minutes 911 call
June 15: 10 minutes 911 call
June 16: 10 minutes IBDD
June 17: 10 minutes presenation
June 18: 10 minutes reloads
June 19: 10 minutes malfunctions
June 20: 10 minutes 911 call
June 21: 10 minutes IBDD
June 22: 10 minutes presentation
June 23: 10 minutes reloads
June 24: 10 minutes malfunctions
June 25: 10 minutes 911 call
June 26: 10 minutes IBDD
June 27: 10 minutes presentation
June 28: 10 minutes reloads
June 29: 10 minutes malfunctions
June 30: 10 minutes 911 call
Monthly Target: 300 minutes
Monthly Actual: 280 minutes
Cumulative Target to Date: 1,820 minutes
Cumulative Actual to Date: 1,790 minutes (24 hours, 50 minutes)
Cumulative Actual w/ Carbine & Shotgun: 2,400 minutes (40 hours)
Current Streak: 36 days (138 previous)
Tobacco Free: YES
Next Month
I will probably fall back and spend a good deal of time working on my presentation and first shot. I will also work the presentation in a lot of different contexts. I just did a huge hike yesterday (I’m still smoked) and realized I’ve never practice drawing with my hiking pack on. I will also probably work presentation the gun in and around my vehicle, and any other situation I can conceive of to work out a little novelty. Stay tuned!
