I’m sure at one point or another you’ve heard the expression, “shoot, move and communicate.” So, what’s the deal with the “move”?
Movement is so critical, those who can effectively and quickly maneuver on the battlefield any battlefield have a huge advantage. The problem is that you can’t expect a static range stance to do well on the move. It’s not designed that way, so instead you have to start with a stance that supports and promote movement. Then you stand still when on the range. This requires you to reverse engineer training programs, something that is lacking in the industry. Once you start with movement as the end goal it changes your view point.
There is a training hierarchy, it looks like a pyramid. At the base you have static range training; the shooter and target are stationary. This is a very important level, it also represents the largest amount of time and resources of our training. We spend most of our training time at this level and for good reason, you need to have the basics. The next level, we see the beginning of movement; the shooter is moving, target is stationary. As we move up the pyramid the time and resources get less and less. This level is starts the ball rolling, literally. The next level has the target moving and the shooter stationary. We see less time and resources dedicated to this stage, partly because it is hard to find moving targets to shoot at outside of real world settings. The final level, at the pinnacle of the pyramid is both the shooter and target are moving. This is also the hardest of all levels to be proficient. If you think about it, how realistic is it for both you and the shooter to be moving and then how much training to you actually allocate to this level.
There are a lot of different methods for movement and we break movement down into three categories, movement, motion and running. Movement is pretty simple, you initiate some sort of movement, but stop to shoot. Some will downplay the importance of this category, don’t make that mistake. The next category is shooting while in motion. There are some that will discount this as a viable technique. That is also dangerous, it is presumptuous to think that you will be able to stop to take the shoots. There are plenty of reasons why, don’t get wrapped up in the negative, it boils down to can you. Lastly, the shooting while running. It’s a pipe dream and you will most likely be wasting bullets. You have to understand the tactical imperative, what is most important. Is is more important to run, is it more important to shoot? You are not going to be able to do both well. If you need to shoot; stop, plant and shoot. If not, high port and haul ass.
Movement is an integral to being a well rounded shooter. You cannot predict with exact certainty the circumstances you find yourself in, you might have the ability to stop and shoot, you might have to shoot on the move. Be ready for either.
