Chapter 6 - The Old Standard
Amanda picked up the rifle again and turned slightly toward the line, muzzle still safe, discipline perfect.
“You told your shooters nobody here could meet the standard,” she said.
Ryan’s jaw flexed.
“The wind is unstable today.”
“The wind is always unstable.”
A few men looked down.
Amanda continued.
“The problem is not the distance. It’s not the plate. It’s not the wind. It’s what happens before the shooter ever takes position.”
She looked at the men behind Ryan.
“You trained them to fear missing more than you trained them to correct.”
Nobody moved.
Commander Brooks watched the shooters now.
He saw the truth in their faces.
Amanda gestured toward the bench.
“When an instructor uses humiliation as pressure, shooters stop processing data. They chase approval. They rush breath. They grip too hard. They miss, and then they believe the miss proves what the instructor already said about them.”
Ryan’s voice sharpened.
“That is a lecture, not an evaluation.”
Amanda looked at him.
“No. That was the evaluation.”
Brooks turned toward Ryan.
“How many shooters failed before she arrived?”
Ryan did not answer quickly enough.
Amanda did.
“Thirty-seven attempted. Zero completed five consecutive hits. Twelve showed correctable technique failure after verbal interference from instruction staff.”
Several shooters looked at Ryan.
Not angry yet.
Worse.
Recognizing.
May you like
Ryan had made them believe the failure belonged entirely to them.
Amanda had taken one shot and made them question the room.
