By Per Vedel, Jokokan Slagelse, 4th kyu Yakami Shinsei-ryu Karate-do, 3rd kyu Bujutsu Kodosokukai Gensei-ryu Karate-do, in April 2013

After having being delayed a few times, the day finally came, where we should continue the POMW project. The purpose of POMW is in short terms, learning to handle firearms, and eventually become an IPSC shooter (IPSC sport of practical shooting). Indeed, one can through Shindenkans learning principles, become an elite shooter in a relatively short time, when others are about 5-30 years to get there!

In anticipation of a long (8: 30-16: 00) and exciting day, we were about 25 students and instructors which showed up at Tjørnelyskolen wearing gi, eye and ear protection, where we should shoot with airsoft guns.

This lecture is the last of the POMW I course, a transition to the POMW II course. In POMW I we practice with airsoft guns and in POMW II we should shoot with real guns, caliber .22 and 9mm. JokoKidz must also shoot with air guns that can use hail as ammunition.

Soren Renshi and Martin Renshi stood for the entertainment, which started with a thorough theoretical analysis, summarizing from the previous sessions around Minuchi Sensei theory, the whole pizza and to relate to the present time, as others have described earlier, I will not elaborate on this subject.

The practical part also started with a summing up, then learning of new things, to the end of the day that culminate with a test of all the properties that we had learned until now.

In POMW, we do it as we do in karate. We build a good basic. A poor basic in karate is equal with a bad performed kata. Poor basic performed in POMW equal poor shooting technique. The basic we have trained earlier and practiced at home. We have been tested in our basic shooting technique, and fleshed out the three correct positions, the correct leg position, proper hand position and last but not least the correct mindset, focus on the sight tools and not on the target, tighten the hand before the draw so that the knuckles turn white and pull with the soft part of the index finger.

Like the Japanese is the command language in karate, English (American) is the command language in shooting, and the discipline is still the same, and perhaps even harder. We have in our hands things you can kill with, and if you even slightly point the pipe the wrong way, you get 2 minutes on the bench. Even though it still “only” a toy gun. However, the point is that they should be handled like real guns.

From there the basic has to be in place. So on, systematically, and in a thread, to build it on from there.

First: Two shots on one draw. The goal is that the second shot must hit the hole the first one made, which is easy with airsoft guns, but no doubt a lot harder with a real 9 mm weapon. Then two shots on one target board, turning towards another target board and shoot two shots, distance 3 meters, i.e. a turn of 45-60 degrees. Here it is important to perform (like in Shiho level 1) “look, direction, technique,” that is, “see; move the hips in the direction and center on the target board, shoot”. I learned that if I forgot to look on target two before I moved, I had to use a long time to place the aim properly. A second mistake was also to be made, in shooting on the second target while the gun is still in motion, resulting in that the shoots were slightly off from the black center, and instead going in the direction of the movement.

The next one is shooting while moving. Moving closer and further away from the target and moving along more targets while aiming and shooting. For me, it was one of the most difficult things. It was hard to aim and go at the same time; either I walked or else I aimed. I aimed the most. It is difficult to find a compromise; for my part, I had to relax on the precision, also to remember to walk.

All this, as well as other exercises in shooting at different targets at different distances, the already described exercises performed with SIRT laser guns, that was organized through the day, culminating with a stage built were we were put to the test, what we have learned during the day. I felt enough like a dog, which for the first time gets the string of, and get the command “free”. I should move freely, shoot, while respecting all the rules, and at the same time handle the air gun correctly and security correct. It veered to crossing my borders, but it was fun. Afterwards, I felt like a little kid who had tried the big slide, which tickled the stomach, for the first time, and was jumped and clapped and said, “Again, Again”.

So far, it has been both educational, exciting and fun to participate the POMW course, I am surprised how easy it is to shoot, and hit, just by using the tools developed in POMW. I am looking forward to getting out on the shooting range at Hanebjerg next time and shoot with real guns.