We figured we’d share a recent rant from our buddy Mike about trends in cool new grips, fighting positions and teaching outside your lane. Agree with him or not as you will. Our personal favorite around here is Merrill’s juxtaposition of the Scarlett Crouch with Spetsnaz Blooming Death. We’re also pretty sure the best way to tell if what you’re looking at is an IED is to kick it. Mad Duo

The Truth According to Kupari; Shootin’ Position and Tactics Edition VII

There’s been an interesting trend over the years of “tactical” and gun writers writing authoritatively on subjects they have no actual expertise in, based on their opinions and/or observations. I’ve read articles extolling the virtues of the vertical foregrip, because it brings one closer to a “natural fighting position, as if there is such a thing. This was, of course, when the vertical foregrip was still in favor. Now, it’s out of favor, and the “c-clamp” grip is “ergonomically correct”, blah blah blah. You hear people talking about terminal ballistics when it’s obvious they only have a tenuous grasp of physics (and no apparent expertise on trauma).

Look. We make this way harder than it has to be. Everyone carries or uses the gun they like, and makes up a bunch of reasons for doing so, but it all boils down to individual preference. That’s okay! Your personal choices don’t have to reflect some objective superiority, and can’t, since there’s nothing objective about any of this.

In other words, stay in your lane, and don’t make up a bunch of pseudo-scientific crap to try to justify your gun preferences. Just explain why you like what you like, and if people agree with your assessment, they’ll use your guns/ammo/technique/stance/whatever.

Dave Merrill (another of our sordid melange of writers) showing off the Precision Edition of his Improbable and Impractical Shooting Positions. Says Mad Duo Merill, “More astute observers will note that…with the two points of contact on the Knife Hand®, max effective range is effectively doubled.”

Similarly, be wary of the types that try to wow you with tough guy talk. If you’re taking a pistol class, and the instructor keeps talking about “the two-way range”, he may well be full of crap. I’m a paid fiction writer, and I have a hard time coming up with realistic scenarios in which a regular citizen gets in a movie-style running gun battle and doesn’t end up going to jail after.

As for carbine classes…let’s be honest. The main reason most people take carbine classes is because they’re fun. You get to do some run and gun, dress up in your cool-guy gear, and feel like a badass. You even learn some good skills from it. But if your instructor is dressed in head-to-toe Multicam, keeps talking about combat, but you don’t spend a good chunk of your training time learning to move to and shoot from behind cover…well, you’re not getting the best preparation for the battlefield. But that’s okay, because odds are, you’re not going to see a battlefield.

Again, we make this way harder than it has to be. Training and tactics have improved over the last decade, but there’s been a serious infusion of bullshit as well.

EDIT:

Only tangentially related. I’ve seen advertisements for courses (mostly aimed at police, military, operating operators, etc.) where “experts” from “SOF” or the Marines cover, in their topics, counter-IED tactics, IED construction, etc.

I’m not saying this as a badge protector. I’m saying this as an EOD tech with too many brothers’ names on the memorial wall: fucking with IEDs will get you killed. Taking the advice of a high-speed operator type, if that advice doesn’t tell you to avoid and call EOD, is going to get you killed. Trying to “disarm”, “defuse”, or otherwise hand-jam an IED (or UXO item) will get you killed.

All because someone appears to be some sort of a tactical badass doesn’t make them an expert in all matters of warfare, weapons, or tactics. Buyer beware.

So Sayeth Kupari

About the Author: Mike Kupari is a former EOD Tech turned UXO technician who does contract work in interesting places. A self-professed revolverphile and sixgun aficianado, he is one of the few people we know who can combine basket weave leather and tiger strips and make it look good. Kupari is the co-author of the novels Dead Six and Swords of Exodus and hopes to someday build a porta-potty cleaning empire. Let’s make that dream come to fruition. You can help Help make Kupari’s Honey Wagons Worldwide a reality. Read him here on Breach-Bang-Clear and buy his books.

OAF huh?