Doc, I don't remember where I heard it, but one of the major trainers said that your survival in an armed confrontation depends upon 4 factors: 1. Your skill 2. Your luck 3. Your adversary's skill 4. Your adversary's luck You only have the ability to influence one of those 4.
I haven't heard that one before, gmoats, but it's pretty apt!
Folks who disparage training are usually people who haven't been involved in a real world shooting scenario. I train with and provide training to LEOs as a sideline business. Many of the guys I train and train with, perhaps even the majority, have been in at least one officer-involved shooting. All have close personal knowledge of at least one OIS involving someone they know very well.
I commented to one class I was teaching about this interesting bit of trivia. One of the guys in the class responded thusly:
"I survived my shooting, but I realized immediately that it was as much due to luck as it was to my skill with my firearm. I realized that if I ever got into a shooting situation again, I wanted to reduce my reliance on luck as much as possible, and the best way to do that was to increase my skill with my firearms and my ability to fight effectively. That's why I train like I do."
That cop, and others like him, spend their own time and money to get better training because they've seen the elephant and they don't want to have to rely on luck to win next time around.
Doc,
After careful observation and consideration, I've come to the conclusion that you kinda know your chit!!
Chance favors the prepared mind....it a good quote and I dont know who the give the credit to
