Does TacGun make Tactical Training a Sport?
This is a follow up post to ‘TacGun: What is TacGun? What is a TacGunner?‘
TacGun does not suddenly make what we do here at MVT into a ‘sport.’ Granted, I referred to a couple of semi-tactical sporting activities in the name search for TacGun on the MVT Forum. We do not suddenly have to change MVT training so that we can gather a bunch more metrics on hits or whatever. MVT training is TacGun, and will remain as it is.
The only thing we will change in this regard is:
1) More focus on which teams win in specific TacGun events such as Force on Force Team Tactics. These will remain as they are as training and competition events, we will just focus a bit more on the competitive side, perhaps with prizes.
2) We will bring back the Rifleman Challenge as the TacGun Challenge. Probably first part of next year.
As regards to any ‘sporting’ aspect, TacGun is not a sport like a shooting competition, except where we have competitive events with metrics, such as the TacGun Challenge or Team on Team. It remains a mix of training and occasional competition. MVT / TacGun is a holistic activity, alumni know what it is, and I listed those benefits in the ‘TacGun: What is TacGun? What is a TacGunner?‘ thread as:
TacGun training has immense benefits, and has direct training impact, on the following areas:
Combat Shooting
Weapon Manipulation
Real Combat Tactics
Physical Fitness
Teamwork
Performance under pressure
Communication
Personal growth
Interpersonal relationships
Character development
Competition
Alumni already know this.
So what about this sporting thing? Let me explain. Growing up at British boarding school, and in the BritMil, we had activities which were designated as ‘Adventurous Training.’ These were specifically done not due to their direct impact on warfighting, but for the ancillary benefits to character, team work and leadership development they provided. As such, we would do activities such as rock climbing, mountaineering, kayaking, sailing and so on. These were all sports but other than a bit of amateur stuff, there was never any real competition to it. So we climbed the mountain to experience climbing the mountain, not to see who got there first, but it would be a hard day on the hill. Does this make sense? Sports/activities that had no clear metrics, other than success at the task? We made sailing passages in rough weather not as a race, but to work together on the crew and thus achieve the objective, such as a night passage across the channel, or whatever.
It is in this sense that TacGun, or what we in fact already do at MVT, is a ‘sport.’ It is an activity. As soldiers, we trained on maneuvers but also did adventurous training to bolster those personal skills. With TacGun, as civilians, we do not do maneuvers for our job, but TacGun (i.e. MVT) provides the ability to do those maneuvers and thus reap the benefits of them. Thus, with TacGun, we have made the tactical / combat training the adventurous training, because it provides all those benefits listed above.
All we at MVT are asking you to do now, is adopt the terminology in order to push the message of MVT (TacGun) out there. This is designed to free what we do of the negative connotation that many have with this sort of training, due to the militia / prepper association. It is also designed to make it less unpopular with the tacticool types, who may get interested if they do not see a direct association with ‘the militia.’ We can also pull in the fact that SOF trains at MVT, and use that to ‘impress’ newbies not only with the quality of what we provide, but to remove any ‘militia’ connotation they may associate with MVT.
Thus, I want to make TacGun to combat tactics what GoRuck became to military rucking. Yes, GoRuck no doubt runs competitions (equivalent to the TacGun Challenge), but a lot of what they do is training and just going out and rucking. That is what we do at MVT also, with tactical training classes both at MVT, and what you guys do as alumni in your own time with your own group.
Ultimately, we aim to increase the popularity of tactical training (TacGun) and thus make it easier for you to bring in people for your personal CUTT.