Real-world Experience

There is no debate about the fact that real-world experience is an amazing learning point and has driven a lot of what we have learned over the last couple of years when it comes to training. My time overseas on the one deployment I went on taught me so much. Maybe not the traditional things that most people might assume. I learned a lot about teamwork and movement as a team. I learned about keeping your moral and mental health in tack. I learned that ego can really get in your way. I learned that it is important to stay disciplined when it's easy to get complacent. I learned that sometimes you have to put the risks away and focus on the mission at hand. The list goes on and on of things I learned from being lucky enough to go on that deployment.

There is a train of thought however, that is developing in the community that says " if someone disagrees with me and they have no real-world experience they are wrong". Now do not get me wrong, some people have not put the work in and studied enough. Yet they still get in deep water, not only a lack of experience, but also a lack of knowledge and info. If you take a little bit of time to ask the right questions this will become evident. I see it very often that someone questions something and the response is less than articulate. It is simply "that's the way we have done it" and "we have real-world experience so shut up". This is an exposed ego. If you have a real experience that leads to that kit or tactic etc being effective why not share? Now on the flip side people will commit to what they said on both sides and two egos are exposed. Sometimes it is just a lose-lose. The world is not your Private these are folks who want to learn from you not learn about your ego.

Most people do not realize what a slippery slope it is to weaponize experience against people. If you make the statement that they have been disqualified from teaching if they haven't done this in a real-world situation, well then, there are a lot of things you are disqualifying yourself from teaching as well. For the instructor that has reloaded in a firefight but has never experienced going to his handgun, he shouldn't be teaching transitions. For the instructor teaching concealed carry who has never shot anybody stateside, can't teach that.

The list goes on.

So how do we balance out the value in experience and the value in someone who has put in the time to study and countless hours but never had to do that skill in "real life"? We drop our egos and seek to be as analytical as possible. Truthfully you can do the wrong thing in a gunfight and survive or do the right thing and die. Humans seek to feel in control and the reality is, real experiences tend to be pretty humbling.

Now lastly let's talk about those who do not have real-world experience. If you are going to disagree with people who have the real-world experience you need to have done your homework. Often there are things that you may have overlooked. Humility is key. Try and approach it from what could I be missing not how are they wrong. This is also solid advice for anybody.