MY DAD GAVE ME A CARBINE FOR MY BIRTHDAY . . . .

NOW WHAT?

- By Tricia Kennedy

My dad is a former U.S. Naval Officer and he raised his two daughters with the belief that firearm education is a necessity for self-protection and independence. So, my birthday arrived in the form of a long black case labeled Bushmaster AR-15. Soon after, Christmas followed and Santa presented me with a Leupold 1.5-5 power scope. Clearly dad was imparting his legacy and sending me the important message that I expand my knowledge of firearms from pistol to something with a longer reach. This idea echoes Clint Smith who noted that "a handgun is for fighting your way to your rifle". Although I have become an avid pistol shooter in the last year (due to vandalism and an attempted break-in at my home), I really had never shot a rifle before. Plus, I had this looming guilty conscience of not knowing what in the world to do with my new gifts. I realized it might just be time for a Spa in the Arizona desert- one week of learning basic assault rifle manipulation and building some much-needed self-confidence in handling my new black beauty.

In doing a background check on my new AR rifle, I found the carbine rifle dates back before the 1900s- developed as a lighter, shortened rifle for the cavalry. The name "carbine," comes from the French word carabin (soldier armed with a musket), making it easier to handle on horseback. Through WWI and WWII, armies around the world shortened their barrels for better close-quarter battle techniques (CQB), including urban and jungle warfare, and for paratroopers. The modern AR-15 was created in the 1950s by Eugene Stoner (later acquired by Colt Arms) and reworked around the .223 cartridge (5.56 NATO 55-grain bullet at 3000 fps) to increase reliability, reduce overall weight and recoil, and ensure stopping power.

As it turns out, this evolved carbine has quite the following- The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) conducted a 2009 survey that found almost 9 million Americans (of 34.4 million shooters nationwide) went target shooting with AR-style rifles! This AR recreational shooting record reflects demand, need for self-protection, and popularity. The increased demand due to perceived civilian supply limitations; need for superior self-protection due to higher crime from a depressed economy; and popularity, of an easy-to-operate, low-recoil weapon coupled with effective marketing by gun manufacturers.

With a sense of adventure and quest for carbine knowledge, I boarded a plane from New York to Arizona- the land of gun-friendly people who don't even need a permit to open-carry their pistol! I threw my gun bag into a sporty convertible, folded the top down, cranked the music up, and drove north through the Sonoran Desert, complete with idyllic cacti and carefree tumbleweed, to Paulden, AZ, home of Gunsite Academy. Lieutenant Colonel John Dean "Jeff" Cooper, a 14-year combat Marine veteran who served in WWII and Korea, established The Gunsite Training Center back in 1976. He

saw the need for delivering the finest training in the world to military, law enforcement, and qualified civilians. He was also the founding President and honorary lifetime chairman of The International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC), which was established to simulate real-life shooting scenarios. Gunsite Academy is a premier international training school, offering exponential opportunities in defensive pistol, carbine, long-range rifle, shotgun, hunter prep, foreign weapons, open hand defense, ladies-only classes, emergency medical preparedness, and everything in between, all year long. The reason you attend Gunsite is the brand poetry: the original proud practical shooting history, the quintessential tactical training on 2000 Arizona acres, the association with military and law enforcement instructors and classmates- it's the real deal.

The Gunsite 223 Carbine Course is a five-day introduction to gun handling, manipulation, use of sights, best shooting positions for various distance hits, low light/flashlight techniques, clearing malfunctions, and proper care/cleaning of the weapon. I had taken the Gunsite 250 Defensive Pistol Class last year and had such a remarkable experience (I had never drawn

2

from a holster before), that I knew exactly where to come to learn another tool of the trade.

The carbine course began bright and early Monday with an introduction by lead Rangemaster Mike and supporting Rangemasters Ken and Steve. The instructors were classic Gunsite: high quality military and police backgrounds, superior knowledge of weapons, and world adventurers possessing an excellent ability to teach their trade. The classroom session began with the paramount principle at Gunsite- SAFETY - for let's not forget that we are at gun camp and these are live rounds! Our Rangemasters were extremely vigilant in teaching and enforcing safe gun handling and we all accepted the individual and group responsibility in managing our assault rifles. We covered Safety and Range Rules, "African carry" to maintain muzzle-down, and the imperative importance of the safety being ON, until ready to fire. These safety rules were Gunsite Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and it was crystal clear that nothing else would be tolerated. As Lt. Col. Cooper simply implied, "Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands".

Now it was time to get to shooting! The Gunsite attitude begins with the Combat Triad: mindset, weapons manipulation, and marksmanship. Our training began as per the five elements of The Modern Technique of the Pistol- Weaver stance (modified), Flash Sight Picture, Compressed Surprise Trigger Break, Presentation, and Heavy-Duty (caliber) Self-loading Pistol (in our case carbine). We proceeded with basic weapon management (very beneficial since I had no idea how the rifle functioned), and zeroed our sights at 200 yards, which also held for 50 yards, due to the arc trajectory of the bullet. We focused on hinging the rifle up from shoulder to cheek weld, finding natural point of aim, "trusting the wobble" of the sight picture, employing a compressed surprise trigger break, and effective first-round hits. We proceeded to learn various

sitting, kneeling, prone, rollover prone, and supine positions with the instructors encouraging us to choose our most accurate stance for each of the positions to practice the rest of the week.

Our range time was momentarily interrupted by a rattlesnake that wanted to join the class, but Rangemaster Mike pulled out his pistol, for the class was full! It was evident our class of ten was having fun, encouraging each other on good shooting and a lot of banter along the way. The class was composed of two EOD Air Force Bomb technicians getting ready to deploy, a Customs Border Patrol Air/Marine, some hunters,

a surgeon, a father/daughter pair, and regular civilians like myself. We were honored by the presence of our military classmates, since they were taking the course to get ready for war. The instructors encouraged us, and especially our military classmates, to operate our AR rifles as we would in real life. For the military guys, this meant wearing their 50 lb. kits, including lead bulletproof vests, all week long. Shoot, I was tired just wearing a tee shirt and trying to lift that heavy AR all week long, so I have no idea how those boys did it?!

Gunsite teaches by building on skills learned each day. Now that we had the basics down, we continued with position work at 100 yards, close range work including pairs, hammers, failure drills, reloading, and malfunction clearances. Gunsite stresses "magazine pull" after insertion, to confirm the mag is properly seated. Remember, we are practicing for a real gunfight where there are no second chances if you hear a 'click', because the magazine wasn't seated properly. This further amplifies the importance of ammo management, for I received a light tap on the head for running my mag dry. I got the message- this was the learning arena, but don't do it again!

3

Since our class was exhibiting proficient shooting skills, our Rangemasters allowed us to climb up a 20' scaffolding and fire 5 shots at steel 400 yards away. After going prone and stacking my AR on a sandbag, I was elated to get all 5

shots on steel, four football fields away!

The challenges continued by having our first crack at clearing a house, appropriately named "The Fun House". Upon command, you were to enter an unknown house and clear the entire structure without shooting a non-threat. I shot a few bad guys holding weapons, but failed to recognize one of them as wearing body armor, so my two shots center mass wouldn't have had much stopping power. As I approached the kitchen, pie-ing around the corner, I saw a handgun pointed at me, so I hinged up my AR ready to take out this threat. But just before I squeezed that trigger, I saw Police insignia and realized this was my backup. This poignantly emphasizes the integral importance of always being sure of your target! My overall learning from the Fun House was detection of the seven crucial clearing principles: hands, weapons, friends (yours and theirs), escape (yours and theirs), footing, cover, and concealment, plus being sure of your target!

The next day the excitement continued with a test of our long distance marksmanship. We were challenged by the Vlei (ravine), where you have ten minutes to walk along a dirt road and engage targets as you see them. This is what makes Gunsite so great- another outstanding opportunity to apply skills learned on the controlled range to a real-life setting. As I began stealthily creeping along the roadside, Rangemaster Steve yells, "Threat!" I'm looking everywhere amid bushes, trees, and rolling desert, cursing that my lasik must not be working. Suddenly, I see a target out past 200 yards....I had to engage that far away! The targets ranged from 60 to 260 yards and it was quite tricky searching for them given the distance, angles of terrain, and foliage. I got smarter as I went along, getting out of the middle of the road and using trees for concealment. I was overcome by that smug satisfaction when you realize you've actually learned something and are applying it, but simultaneously checked by the ubiquitous realization that sometimes you learn more from your mistakes, than from doing everything right.

As if it couldn't get any more fun, now we had the chance to "run and gun". We headed over to the Scrambler- seven stages of steel targets at various distances to shoot as fast as possible. A Marine holds the record at 32 seconds who obviously must have shot the whole thing while sprinting! After the fire command, I was off to the races, running with my AR, employing various support positions, including prone in the doghouse, to hit my targets quickly and move on. I came out at 68 seconds, being bested by my military classmates who did it in 54 seconds, so it was clear there was no messing with them!

The final day of reckoning came on Friday- Assessment Day. We would be tested and scored on our ability to apply our carbine acumen. We showed off our skills using various shooting positions at different distances under the pressure of time. Then we were put to task on Lt. Col. Cooper's El Presidente- two shots center mass at three separate targets, reload and repeat, in 12 seconds par time at 25 yards. I was thrilled to score 54 out of 60 on my El Prez! The final challenge was the infamous Gunsite shoot-off and true test of

Cooper's DVC (Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas = accuracy-power-speed). This critical culmination of carbine confidence played out with classmates dueling each other for best shot. Everyone in our class exhibited exceptional gun handling and marksmanship, and we had a blast cheering on the competition.

It was time to head back to the classroom for graduation. The instructors distributed our certificates and much to my delight I received Marksman 1 certification! I felt confident I had accomplished my objectives of AR

4

manipulation, mindset, and marksmanship. My key learnings at Gunsite could be categorized by instruction and equipment. For instruction, I now understood the importance of hinging the rifle up from shoulder to cheek weld, instead of bringing my face down to the stock. This mounting allows for a faster and more reliable sight picture. I also learned the importance of the controlled trigger press using the pad of my finger and holding for follow-through, which increased my center mass hits. Ammo cognizance and management were other key learnings, as were reloading logistics. Additionally, adopting the fighting stance was crucial for me, given my small stature, for I was more accurate when driving the rifle with an aggressive stance. With regard to equipment, light is light! When you have to hold the rifle for extended periods of time (like a five day rifle course or while on patrol), weight matters a lot. Don't forget, it's not just the weight of the rifle and scope, but also that fully loaded 30-round magazine. Finally, I learned the vital importance of the two-point sling, which eased the weight of the rifle and allowed for better stability, therefore better accuracy.

After graduation, we were lucky to receive a special invitation by Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper's wife, Janelle Cooper, to visit their extraordinary home and view Cooper's lifetime collections and artifacts. I was thrilled to see one of the first IPSC leatherstraps from the 70s with names such as Weaver, Plahn, Chapman, and Reed.

It was way past 5pm on Friday, everyone else long gone, and with great reluctance I loaded my gear into my convertible. I lingered for a moment, considering the 1200 rounds of .223 I had fired across the beautiful Arizona horizon, reflecting on how lucky I was to have had this elite Gunsite experience in acquiring carbine skills I would have for the rest of my life. Col. Cooper summed it up best by saying that firearm education was "to preserve, protect, and defend the principle of self-reliance and the individual right of self-defense". I had gained all this, and more. Plus, Gunsite was just a place I felt I belonged, the provenance of practical shooting, where the quest for learning was infinitum.

Gunsite Operations for running a top-notch academy and Karen for the endless office work, Rangemasters Mike, Ken & Steve for leading an intelligent and safe course, Cory the Gunsmith for quick assessment and resolution, Susan and Wendy in the Pro Shop, the Lunch Ladies, the Range guys for smoothly operating targets, Don at Ammo Factory, and the CCRRC Monday night guys for creating an operating table at the range and surgically applying all those parts onto my AR. Finally, thank you dad, for without such a thoughtful present, I would not have been compelled to go to Gunsite to figure it all out!

References: Wikipedia, www.AR-15.com, NSSF "Shooting Sports Participation Survey in the United States in 2009", Carbine Handbook by Gunsite Academy, Inc., The Modern Technique of the Pistol by Gregory Morrison (Edited by Jeff Cooper), and photo compliments to classmate Andy Isbell.

Thoughtful treatises on this shooter's soliloquy may be directed to tokyotricia@yahoo.com.