There’s a video my good friend Mike Pannone posted recently that reinforces something I’ve been saying for years: The standard has to match the mission. For those carrying a firearm for duty or self-defense, speed matters, but speed without accountability is meaningless. Every round has a consequence, and our training standards should reflect that reality. Here are the three points I believe matter most: We need misses in training. They show us where grip, vision, trigger control, movement, or decision-making begin to break down. The problem starts when we normalize those misses because the overall performance looked fast. Push speed. Increase pressure. Find the limits of performance. I’ve found that roughly a 20–30% failure rate can be productive during training because it exposes weaknesses while still allowing us to diagnose and correct them. The objective is not failure for its own sake. It is controlled progression that moves the line forward. When it is time to test or perform, the expectation changes. The shooter should be able to produce accountable performance on demand, not occasionally or only when everything feels right. If we cannot consistently demonstrate the required skill under controlled conditions, expecting it to suddenly appear when the stakes are exponentially higher does not match reality. Push speed. Find the edge. Learn from the miss. Maintain control. Move the line forward. When it is time to perform, accountability is the standard. |
