It’s important to maintain your marksmanship skills; it’s a perishable skill set, so it if you don’t stay on top of it your group quality drops off faster than you’d think. While shooting at longer distances is invaluable and arguably more important in the long run, given most rifle fights happen at an average of 300 meters give or take, close quarters cannot be overlooked either. Rapid engagement at these distances requires a balance of speed and accuracy. Go too fast and you miss, go too slow and you die.

In the Peshmerga, close quarters engagements rarely happen since most of the of the fighting happens in fields but eventually a city or village has to be taken from ISIS. So while marksmanship at distance is arguably more valuable in that context, the latter is still important. The Peshmerga have a tough time understanding this concept because they feel it isn’t necessary to train in both for some reason. Most likely this view is based around the belief that if you can hit a target at 100m why shouldn’t you be able to do it closer? Things happen faster the closer you get, generally speaking.

The following footage is of us doing a short and sweet shoot to hone the fundamentals of CQB (Close Quarters Battle) engagement techniques. A simple double tap to center mass followed by a precise shot to the head, specifically to what is referred to as the “T Box” which is a representation of the eyes and nose on a human skull. A well-aimed shot to this specific region will destroy the brain stem, rendering a hostile target instantly inert, provided the path of the bullet remains unhindered and you are facing the target head on. This technique is especially important if the enemy is wearing body armour which may prevent the first two shots from having the intended effect.

We warmed up by practicing the “Failure Drill” static and from there went on to perform it while moving in various directions. Also it was casual Tuesday so we wore shorts and flip flops…