[miclo18d]

The more realistic the training the more it seems like training when it happens.

For medical training you want fake blood squirting in your face and loud sounds going off around you trying to distract you.

For shooting, nothing like a shoot house with real door charges and live ammo to get the blood pumping with a simple scenario that keeps getting changed every few minutes to keep you thinking, the odds getting worse as you go or your time on obj keeps getting cut. The Mogidishu Mile type training is good as you just are exhausted the whole time and have to keep moving. No stopping, no time outs, lots of wounded to carry, a million angles, and the bad guys are every where!

Through all of this you must be physically fit as well as mentally prepared. Peak physical condition keeps your heart rate controllable once that initial rush happens. The fight or flight reaction can be controlled. When the real thing happens you almost think it's boring in comparison...almost! Nothing like bullets flying back at you to get that pucker factor increased by A thousand!!!

But even that gets familiar when it's happened enough times. The more often it happens the more accustomed you are to it. If you are getting shot at once a week you get batter at it than if it only happens once a month or once a deployment.same with wounds. The more you see the easier it is to deal with the next one.

I know these examples relate to combat, but the same principles apply to roller coasters and sky diving, or being in an ER or an inflight emergency.