Written by: Craig J
Well, this is a can of worms I am sure will cause pain to the posterior chain for some. First, let me start by saying this is just an opinion, and we all have one. Why am I giving said opinion you ask? Well, I will tell you. I am of the school of thought that the differences truly matter when we are diving into the realm of training in any discipline. is due to what we witness regularly, especially in the online communities. Let me try to shed some light on these terms, because at the end of the day the more we know, and understand, then the better we all are.
To start this post, I have to say that honestly, even I was confused on this topic. I found myself in this rabbit hole scrolling “social media” watching the normal funny dog videos, small farms and, self-sufficiency, blocking the videos of things that should be labeled as adult eyes only when I happened onto a short 30-second video that, to be honest, had a really interesting, well-built rifle and the rifleman was demonstrating a pretty interesting drill. The videography was gritty and as the 1 shot reload 1 shot drill was being shown the screen faded to black and had the typical “for all your tactical training”, or some spin-off similar to that wording, and I immediately felt my skin crawl. Ooof that word, “tactical”, is so overused in my opinion, and just seems to be a buzzword to garner attention. So, I sat back and thought about “why” it bothered me so much. After a few minutes of reflection, it hit me that there has to be more to this than just a feeling in my gut. I snapped too and started looking at the content and then the content creator’s page and it started to become clearer. Right there in the bio, “shooting and tactics”. Ok, I can appreciate a good video, a solid drill, deliberate mechanics and the photos at a glance were sharp and edgy with the typical “Gucci gear”, high-end rifles, hiking boots, and a black sweatshirt. Seemed like it was transferred from the ranges we used to run and participate with back in a past life and nothing really mind-blowing. I scrolled and saw range, timed drills on steel, guys running, night vision shots, a couple of stills of a pair entering a room with rifles and so on. So where were the “tactics” as advertised? Was I losing my mind? I was only seeing techniques. Was I wrong in my thought process? Was I wrong in being more deliberate in my verbiage for so long, or are we possibly using the wrong terminology without even knowing it? I knew I had to answer this for me, and maybe I could shed some light on this confusing landscape of 10k (+/-) NVG’s (Night Vision Goggle/s), 300.00 boots, multi cam pants, body armor, and beards.
For me, I had to scroll more, now with it being in my algorithm it should be much easier to find some other similar businesses. After a few swipes with the thumb, bam another one. Click on the poster and skim the bio, “tactics”, there it was again! Another swipe on their page and similar photos, beards, NVG’s, black sweatshirts and t-shirts, more skulls, more timer beep drill videos, stills of shadowy figures, some slow motion of shadowy figures moving into a room, flashlights flicking on and off fade to black. Where were the tactics? Wait, was it in the description? Nope, nothing about tactics. So, are they showcasing their “tactics”? Are they giving away something that could be considered a no-no in some circles? Are they meaning tactics and tactical? Tactic and tactics, as in, you want to run the buttstock high in the shoulder pocket, making sure you keep your chin up so you aren’t bent over the rifle… Wouldn’t that be a technique? Maybe they mean using your non-firing hand to reach for “X” while still maintaining a visual of the area and control of the rifle so you can do “X”. Wouldn’t that be a technique? Or is that a tactic? Quick search and I found additional videos of more shadowy figures, green hue encircling their eyes, have to make sure you show those NVG’s to let everybody know how super “tactical” you are for the street cred, but in God’s name where are these tactics? All I am seeing are techniques… Am I wrong?
Oh, now I have to know.
With this feeling of confusion, I fired up my trusty laptop to start taking some notes on what I was seeing. Everything seemed correct with nothing violating any rules and techniques I had been taught over the years. So where and what were these tactics?
Over the next couple of posts (which I will drop on Fridays going forward) I am going to attempt to answer questions like this for us all. From things such as: Does stance matter? My uncle knows a guy that taught him how to shoot that jumped into ________ (add any country or city here) and he said “X”. It is a mind-numbing, muddy world we find ourselves in and to be honest, there are very few ways to really mess it up when giving instruction as long as it doesn’t violate the principals, and it is a sound technique or tactic. Dang it! Is it a tactic or a technique and what is the dang difference???
By the time we are done with this we will be one of two things, well informed and be able to spot the BS from a mile away, or so brain damaged from the rhetoric of the tacti-cool community that we decided to move to an island and live off coconuts for the rest of our days.
Hey, just remember, the money spent on gear doesn’t make the shooter good at what they do, just makes it a little easier. It all starts with the basics, just learn to do them well.
“The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps.”
Benjamin Disraeli