Eyes - Head - Body - Gun
I’m really bummed that I had to postpone this week’s Rifle Combat Marksmanship class. I want to get out and spend time with you on the range. So, the best that I can do right now is to write an article on one of the many points I was going to be teaching this week. Using your eyes. That may seem silly since we use our eyes all the time, but I want to talk a little about it and teach a few correct principles.
It all starts with your eyes. From the time you were born, when something caught your eye, you focused on it. If it was out of your peripheral vision, you turned your head to get a better view. Your body turned to follow the direction of your head to orient yourself to whatever it was that originally caught your attention.
A lot of us have been conditioned by TV, movies, and well-intending instruction to search for threats by looking down our sights. Think about it, in the shows you’ll see someone enter a room and the gun is up, the person is looking down the sights as they are searching. They are making the conscious decision to “scan” through a little one to two-inch view limiter. They will walk or move with the gun locked straight out in front of them. They move as if from their waist up, every part of their body is one solid piece of iron. Head, arms, gun, eyes: all are fixed and move together. Not only are they limited in what they can actually see, but with their whole body locked together, welded to their gun, they are extremely slower in moving their gun to a new threat.
So, what to do? What is the correct principle that we can build our various techniques on? Simply put, why work against the way we are designed? When you shoot, you should do the same thing as you have done your whole life. You identify a target by seeing it first. Then if you need to, you turn your head to the target. It’s at this point that you then aggressively move or 'drive' the gun towards the target or threat. If you need to, you can move or orient your body while you are driving the gun to the target.
Let’s talk about sights for a second. There are some who advocate that you don’t use sights in a gun fight. That is because of sensory overload -- you will not see them. Well, to this I can say that I have used my sights in every fight I was in. More importantly, I have learned from and have taught hundreds of Green Berets during my time in group and as a SFAUC instructor. Collectively, you are now talking hundreds if not thousands of gun fights won. Yes, use your sights, yes USE your sights, YES USE YOUR SIGHTS.
So, back to using your eye as it is designed. It doesn’t matter if your gun is a rifle, shotgun, or pistol. It just needs to be in some kind of ready position and not in your face. If I have my pistol out, it’s in Position 3 as I’m scanning for threats. If I have my rifle, it’s usually in the “high ready” if I’m in a confined area, or the “low ready” if I’m in an open area. The main point is get it out of your eyes so you can see! So many of us are conditioned to move, especially with a rifle, with our head locked into our body and gun, moving as one unit. Unlock yourself from that rifle so your eyes and head will move freely. You will have an increase of situational awareness if you do.
Now, back to driving the gun. You have already locked your eye onto your target or threat. This has allowed you to obtain two thirds of the sight picture. As you are now turning your head or moving your body to orient yourself to the target, you are also aggressively driving the sights of your gun from the rest/ready position it was in, to full presentation. Your eyes are already locked on. You are simply driving the sight, red dot, front sight post, whatever, to line up between your eyes and the identified target.
The old Rockwell Tactical RTG1 target was designed with this type of training in mind. When training, it is easy to fake yourself into thinking you’ve mastered this. To make sure you are REALLY getting it, you need to work with multiple targets.
One of the most common mistakes made is moving the gun past a threat (a.k.a. 'overshooting the target') and needing to bring your sights back on target. This action is usually caused by being aggressive and fast but acting like a tank turret. You are moving your upper body as a unit and not leading with your eyes. So, in your haste, you are actually SLOWER getting on target. Only after you have locked onto a threat with your eyes, then comes the time for aggression.
Why am I saying this again in a slightly different way? Because I see people make this mistake over and over again. We all want to be faster. But speed comes from letting your eyes do their job. Remember it’s eyes, head, and then drive the weapon onto the target. It should be noted that after you have moved your head toward the target, there should be no more need to move or drop your head to get a good sight picture as you are driving the gun. Move the gun into your sight picture, not the other way around.
Here are some other things to help you to quickly acquire your target and drive the gun. Have a good aggressive shooting stance. We have covered this in some detail in my Shooting Stance article. With this aggressive and bladed stance, you can move your body more quickly to face new threats. The weight of your body should be on the balls of your feet with your legs slightly bent. As you identify a threat, you lead with your eyes, then your head, then move your body. This movement should be in your legs and hips, not your abdomen. Your legs are stronger and faster and can be more effective than trying to do it with your waist. If your targets are spaced far apart, or if you are moving, it may be necessary for you to readjust your feet between each one. This is more of an exception than the rule though.
Another topic that I should write an article about is Trigger Reset. You MUST have good trigger control, as you have no idea how many threats there are and how many shots it will take to eliminate them. This all comes down to following the basic principles of shooting. Just because you are trying to go faster, it is not an excuse to omit the basics. You should always be trying to build upon what you have learned, not looking for ways to cut corners. As you master the basics, speed will come naturally.
Enough with the lecture, let's give you an example of a drill to help you use your eyes and 'Drive the Gun' faster:
1. Place 3 RTG1 targets up. Vary the distance between them: anywhere from 3 to 7 feet.
2. Position yourself somewhere in front of the targets: the distance is up to you.
Get that good aggressive stance. The drill starts when someone yells: THREAT!
3. ID the middle target with your eyes.
ID the chest/center of mass target first with your eyes, then move your head, then move your body as you drive the gun to acquire a good sight picture. Shoot 3 rounds.
ID the head with your eyes. Move your head slightly up if you need to. Drive your gun to the target and shoot 2 rounds.
ID the pelvis with your eyes, move your head down, drive the gun to target and engage with 2 shots. Now, you move your eyes to the next threat; either the one to the left or to the right.
Look at the center of mass, the chest. Move your head, then body if you need to, driving the gun to the target.
Repeat what you did with the first target: 3 shots to the chest, 2 to the head, 2 to the groin.
Repeat with the last target.
You can use this drill as a base and make any kind of change to it as you like. Only hits count. Make sure you time yourself. Strive to get faster without sacrificing accuracy. So, one final time until you are with me on the range, where you will hear me say over and over again:
Eyes
Head
Body
Gun
One last thought before I wrap this up. Another of the reasons we lead with our eyes and not our whole body as a unit is to make positive identification of the threat before we engage it. It doesn't matter who you are: military, law enforcement, recreational shooter, or a mother at home defending her children from an intruder. YOU are responsible for those rounds leaving your gun. If you lead with your eyes first, you will have a lesser chance of flagging someone or accidentally shooting someone or something unintentionally.
Thanks for reading,
Jared