Competitive shooters and mixed martial artists have a combat advantage, according to special operator H.B.:
Real violence is not sporting; it is confusing, often grotesque, and characterized by intense physical effects upon combatants. In a real fight, the winner is often the individual or individuals who employ simple, effective maneuvers in a precise and deadly manner. But the application of these techniques in a fight can be quite difficult. Countless repetitions have to be performed for a gross motor skill, such as a punch, to be performed upon a resistant opponent. For a complex motor skill, such as marksmanship, thousands of repetitions are performed before an individual can utilize that technique against any sort of resistance. Therein lies the beauty of competition; competitive training does not dwell on tactics or mindset, but instead on the constant repetition of key skills. It is in this context that I believe that sporting events can function as a decisive training tool for martial-minded individuals.
Jeff Gurwitch, a former special operator turned competitive shooter, discusses the differences between military marksmanship and competitive shooting:
In the military, especially in Special Operations, the method of engagements are based on team tactics. Training on the range is conducted in support of covering angles and engaging targets in a certain order to facilitate shooting as a member of an assault team. That does not always equate to a good fast time when shooting as a lone shooter on a course of fire in a match. A good example of this would be having to shoot in ‘Tactical Priority’ (all targets get one shot before giving them another) in IDPA. This is totally contrary to military training. As a military shooter you would at least double-tap a target (shoot the target at least twice, rapidly) before moving on to the next one, knowing that your teammates are at the same time engaging the other targets. This works out to a “wall of lead” being thrown out to however many targets are present at the same time. So it is with this method of engaging targets that shooters are trained, with maximum emphasis on accuracy, then speed. Reason: your job is to drive down the target in your primary engagement zone.
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I believe military training does get the edge over civilian competitive training in 2 areas: The first is moving and shooting. It is a necessity to be able to engage targets while on the move in CQB situations, and this is one skill at which Special Operations soldiers excel. Again, because training has to support team movements, shooting on the move is a key task trained-on with both pistol and rifle. Hands down, in a soldier’s first match against the average civilian competitor, you can bet soldiers are not afraid to take shots moving and are pretty good at it.I must add, though, that shooting on the move is not always the fastest way to shoot a stage in a match. As many seasoned competitors know one of the best methods to take on a stage, especially field courses, is to move from point to point (as few possible) in a way that offers you the best view of the most targets at any one time, and then engage them that way, as opposed to trying to move at a set controlled pace and shoot on the move. This is the “game” part of competitive shooting that everyone, military and civilian, usually learn over time through experience.
The second area soldiers generally excel at is rifle shooting. Running an AR hard and fast is what Special Operations soldiers do. There are a few reasons: 1) the military has tons of ranges where soldiers can shoot anywhere from 25 meters out to 600 meters and beyond for practice. 2) ammunition for training is not usually an issue. Shooting 5000-7000 rounds of rifle ammo (per soldier) during pre-mission training over a period of a few weeks is not uncommon.