Me: Keller!
Skip: Bill, got I minute? I want to ask you to be on my podcast.
Me: OK, got a topic?
Skip: Yep, I want to talk about how getting
older affects you as a shooter and trainer.
Old fart that you are . . . I thought of you . . .
Old fart . . . personally I identify as a C.O.G. . . . Crotchety
Old Guy . . . and I’m damn good at it!
So a time is set to record a couple segments for his
podcast, one about my book and the other about “aging” and shooting. In the interest of full disclosure Skip Coryell
is the owner of White Feather Press who also happens to be my publisher. He’s been great to work with and I was more
than happy to play the “old fart” part of the interview.
That said, it’s a serious topic. Aging affects us in a broad range of ways but
the raw physicality of firearms training begins to play a part pretty darn
soon. So, I’d like to take a crack at
this topic from both a shooter’s POV and then a trainer’s.
Being
a shooter . . . and getting older.
Let’s begin by defining “older” . . . I remember attending
my Uncle Ted and Aunt Ester’s 25th wedding anniversary and marveling
at them being so old and being married for so long. How did people live that long. Of course, Susie and I have left our 25th
anniversary 20 years in the past . . . so there’s that.
Aside from that . . . life happens. 21 years in the military from which I escaped
pretty well unscathed excepting a “lung thing” that’s been a bit of a pain in
the butt since returning to the world in ’71 and gaffing out on a telephone
pole while on a deployment that sometimes reminds me with twinges in my back. Minor, minor things.
(It’s about here that I think I begin to sound like the old
men sitting around Floyd’s bitching about their aches and pains . . . only to
remember so few of those reading this will even know who “Floyd” is . . . heavy
sigh.)
Men have their own particular “typical” milestones. From age 27-35 all men are assholes. Nothing personal, we just are. We know everything, are well into our careers,
we’re strong, vital and ready to take on the world. Typically, we’re “book smart” and life
stupid. There are things that temper
that . . . marriage (and we’re blessed if we marry an adult to whip us into
shape – I was so blessed), military life and deployments, loss of parents and
grandparents . . . and individual life lessons – accidents, illness. Provided we survive this, we are reasonably
well prepared to face “life” as an adult after age 35.
At age 40 our eyesight goes. Again, this isn’t personal, it just
happens. For me I had a kick-ass case of
the flu and climbed out of bed 10 days later with one eye focusing about 6”
different than the other. I went from
perfect vision to tri-focals in 10 days.
In the past 27 years (yes, I’m THAT old, about to hit 67 my next B-Day)
nothing has changed and my prescriptions have remained virtually unchanged.
Age fifty and guys just can’t pee anymore. Typically, due to a little walnut sized and
shaped critter called a prostate. It’s
called “enlargement” and since it surrounds your “drain tube” when it gets big
it stops things up. One of the things
that can cause that is the Big “C” . . . which happened to be my issue. One more time the good Lord was kind and
after a bit of a “snip-snip” the offending critter was gone and the Big C has
also remained gone for the past 14 years.
When you reach 60 some of these things begin to add
up. When I look in the mirror a part of
my mind still sees the 16-year-old that is still hanging around. That said, when I took a 2-day, 24-hour
patrol rifle course this past November in the cold, rain and dark . . . it
hurts a bit more than it did when I was 16.
So, this is where I am today . . . and it does affect my abilities as a
shooter. Let’s talk a bit about that.
Eyesight
Issues with eyesight are real and span a broad range of
ages. For me reading is the primary
issue but picking up the front sight of a handgun also became an issue. There are some good solutions for this. Mine was to pick up the I.C.E “claw” rear
sight and the Trijicon large green square front sight combination. I have these on both my primary carry G17 and
my backup G17. They make a real
difference. And, during a recent night
qualification shoot they were easy to pick up in lowlight and worked well in combination
with a flashlight. RMR sights are also
beginning to come on strong as an option.
My main issue here is that I hate to trust my life to an electrical
device. I have backup irons on my carbine
incase the batteries on my optic die . . . I have the same fear with a RMR
sight. For now, I am very happy with my
choice of sights and I do not see myself changing.
The other possibility is that your night sight diminishes
to the point that you simply can not distinguish the target. Period. The easy answer is a weapon mounted
light or flashlight (which should be in your pocket anyway). My caution here is that there will come a
time when you have to be honest with yourself.
The age will vary . . . but if you can not clearly identify the target
you are about to press the trigger on . . . please . . . don’t.
Hand
Strength
You need to be able to “run the gun” and many of today’s
semiautomatic pistols are “stiff”. I’ve told
the story before of a friend that picked up his LC9 the same time I picked up
mine. When he went to manipulate the
slide, he simply did not have enough hand strength to do it. Nor could he load the magazines fully. From an emotional . . . mental . . . POV,
these can be difficult things to wrap your head around. From a practical POV, your life depends on
your ability to run the gun. If you can’t
manipulate a semiautomatic pistol it may well be time to consider pulling out
your revolver, or picking one up for the first time. There will still be some issues, but as long
as you can press the trigger you have the opportunity to protect your life, the
life of your family and anyone else in your charge.
Tremors
Small, involuntary hand movements are also common as a
person ages. At times, they can begin
early and for many they don’t show up until the 70s, 80s or beyond. I currently am tremor free and pray I remain
that way. That said minor tremors have
little effect on a shooter’s ability to get combat effective hits at typical defensive
distances of 15-ft or so. As long as the
shooter can run the gun, minor tremors are simply a nuisance – nothing more.
Mobility
The effect “mobility” has on a shooter depends on what you
are evaluating. At a minimum, a
defensive shooter needs to put rounds on a threat as quickly as possible. This implies the ability to move at least one
hand and arm quickly, accurately and to be able to press the trigger at least 6
times for a 6-shot revolver. Past that
the individual could be confined to a wheelchair, have a single arm only and be
blind in one eye. They could still
accurately engage a threat. If the need
grows to include escape and evasion, the task becomes much more complicated.
The CQB qualification shoot I went through for the patrol
rifle covers typical movement. Running
short distances. Moving between prone,
sitting, kneeling and standing. Rapidly
engaging a threat at distance while quickly moving between standing, kneeling
and prone. As a C.O.G. what I notice is
that as I move forward in time this simply hurts more. I am blessed enough that I can still make
times, shoot a score required for an instructor . . . but . . . I genuinely
feel it at the end of the day. For the
older shooter there is a balance here between allowing pride physically hurt
you, and honestly assessing where you are in the scheme of things. Pay attention . . . and be open to the simple
fact that at some time you won’t “make times” . . . and you won’t be able to
smoothly move from prone to standing in any type of reasonable time . . . if at
all.
One thing that helps me is vitamin “I” . . . ibuprofen. I “pre-medicate” with about 600 mg about an
hour before range time and every 6 hours for the next 12 hours . . . 1800 mg
for the day. And repeated the next
day. I do this on pack and paddle trips
as well. I find no value in “suffering”. That said, I am also mindful that a day will
come where it won’t provide the relief I will need. A bridge I will cross when I need to.
Range
time.
Being old . . . and an experienced shooter . . . doesn’t
mean you can skip consistent training.
We are all reminded over and over . . . “shooting is a perishable skill”. Because it is. Just because you’ve been shooting for 50 . .
. 60 years or more doesn’t mean you get to skip range time. None of us can afford that luxury. Do the work, put in the time . . . expect
excellence on each and every trip. Pay
attention to changes, do your best to adapt to them.
From
and instructors POV
As an instructor working with an “older” student take a bit
of time and evaluate them as you take them through your coursework. I usually start during the classroom portion
and find out if anyone is on any type of medications that can affect their
performance on the range. While this is
important across the board . . . older shooters can be on multiple meds at the
same time – all of which can be a problem at times. It can also affect your emergency response
plans as well. Ask the questions in private
if you must.
One personal example is that I had a shooter get a bit of a
slide-bite that simply would not stop bleeding.
He was on blood thinners and it took a lot longer and more direct
pressure before things finally clotted and the bleeding stopped.
On another occasion, I had an older shooter have a hard
time with the heat on the range on a surprisingly warm 80-ish degree day in late
March. This one was on me . . . I was
not paying as much attention as I needed to.
By the time I noticed there was a problem brewing, she definitely needed a bit of down time to
recover.
Evaluation of their ability to pick up the sights and get
good hits may well come into play more for your older students. That said, fixing the problem is no different
regardless of age. We’ve had this
discussion before . . . return to the “Drive – Touch – Press” drill, watch what
they do and tweak as necessary.
Mobility will definitely come into play with your older
students yet what I notice is that it is typically speed that is affected. Us C.O.G.s just plain move slower. And, if you ask us to roll around on the
ground, kneel and stand quickly . . . there’s a good chance many of us simply
will have to take a pass. If you have
students that have these problems, take the time to talk about alternatives,
other ways to move to cover, to use cover.
Remember, the bottom line is rounds on the threat regardless of how fast
we’re moving.
Finally, there’s the “SUPER C.O.G.” God help ya!
A few years back I took a CFS course from Rob Pincus. In attendance was a “SUPER C.O.G.” who simply
knew everything, had no intention of evaluating himself in any way and was not
interested in trying anything new. For
two whole days. Honestly, it was sad. He’d spent good money, two days’ worth of
time . . . to learn . . . NOTHING!!! He didn’t even show up to the AAR
session. Please . . . don’t be that
guy. And, as the instructor . . . I
think Rob presented a good example. You
need to demand the best from the students – all of them. Rob nudged, pushed this fellow throughout the
entire course. That’s all we, as
instructors, can do. It is always up to
the student to be open minded enough to search for value. But, in the end, it’s their decision.
Age will affect us all in one way, shape or form. It might be quick . . . or it might be a slow
progression. Regardless . . . we will
all walk down that road. Listen to your
body, take care of it, adapt your firearms if possible to compensate . . . but
bottom line . . . keep at it. Do your
range trips, be the best possible shooter you can be . . . for as long as you
possible can . . .
Now, where did I put that ibuprofen???
