The Everyday Marksman

"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

I have always liked this quote because it speaks to the heart of obtaining successful outcomes. Today, we’re talking about goal setting and the process that I use for setting goals, planning their success, and what to do after you reach it.

Today’s episode covers three topics. Each of the focus on some important aspect of setting and achieving goals. First, we’ll talk about selecting and writing down a goal. Secondly, and this is where most people fall short, we’re going to talk about how to actually plan for the success of that goal. Lastly, we’ll talk about some of the common mental pitfalls that stop you from achieving whatever desire you have.

Why are we talking about this topic today? Well, that’s a great question.

Everyone I know has, at some point, set a target for themselves. Maybe it’s a marksmanship or fitness-related goal. Or perhaps it was professional.

What was the last one you set for yourself? Did you reach it? If you did, then I’m happy for you. But most people never really hit all of their marks.

I’m not here to sell you a quick and easy path to success. Any goal that’s truly worth something to you will take work, and I know you’re tired of having everyone else try to sell you a short cut.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from talking to the experts, there is no such thing as a short cut.

Success looks an awful lot like work.

My goal-setting techniques are a blend of ideas I’ve put together from the world of technical training, the work of performance coaches like Lanny Bassham, and subtle mindset shifts I’ve picked up from the business world. I want to share this with you because I want you to succeed.

Are you ready? Let’s get to it.

Russell Miller is a triple-distinguished competition shooter as well as a former special operations officer. He’s spent an enormous amount of time coaching snipers and precision shooters, and today he’s our guest on the show.

In this episode, we cover a lot of ground between the world of competition shooting and tactical precision marksmanship. Russ shared some very pointed criticism of US Army marksmanship training.

Some of the main topics I think you’ll enjoy focus on getting started in rifle competition, and establishing a balance between behaviors appropriate for competition versus defensive situations. Additionally, we spend a lot of time talking about the importance of consistent practice to build a foundation of skills that make good marksmanship instinctive.

Show notes for this episode are found at www.everydaymarksman.co/7

Today we're discussing four recurring gun-culture characters: Tactical Timmy, Boogaloo Bob, Fuddy Fred, and Sheepdog Shane. While these caricatures are obviously stereotypes and shouldn't be taken too seriously, there is still a bit of truth to them.

Part of the reason I started The Everyday Marksman, to begin with, was battling my own internal Tactical Timmy.

Each of these characters represents some faction of the gun-owning culture, from the geardos to the warriors. Where do you fall in line?

Complete show notes at

I recently got the chance to speak to Dr. Whitfield East, the research physiologist for the US Army Center for Initial Military Training (CIMT). You’ve probably never heard of him, but he is responsible for leading review and analysis of military physical fitness training for the Army. More importantly, he’s a key player in developing the Army’s new Combat Fitness Test.

Links Related to This Episode

My article on Tactical Fitness

The Mountain Tactical Institute

The US Army’s Combat Fitness Test Information Site

I want to start by stating the obvious: maintaining a strong and capable military, much less a general population, is not a new challenge. Even though modern media likes to act like we’re in some grand crisis where so few of our nation’s youth are physically qualified to join the military, this really isn’t new.

That said, we do have a long history to look back over to compare ourselves against. In his review of military fitness history, Dr. East talks about the legendary Spartans.

To put it bluntly, fitness is a force multiplier. The capability to move faster, carrying more weight, and the endurance to keep up the fight enable forces to do far more than numbers would indicate.

But how did that actually look for much of military history?

During the interview, Dr. East relays how military gymnastics played an important role in developing modern militaries. These exercises are similar to what you expect when you hear the phrase “gymnastics.” There was lots of climbing, bodyweight exercise, and balance work.

This was all done in an organized fashion so that militaries could produce “industrial-sized” capacity.

But things began to shift by WWII.

By WWII, the load carried by soldiers began to increase. Not only that, but so did the pace of combat and mobility required to survive. This was no longer trench warfare, but the dawning of Maneuver Warfare.

At the same time, the US Military saw that the general population was simply ill-equipped to handle the physical demands of warfare. This beget a change in thinking, resulting in much more strength and endurance-based training, as well as physically demanding testing.

This was why we saw the effort for Universal Military Training. In the same path, we saw President Eisenhower form the Cabinet-level Presidential Council on Youth Fitness. That program later became the President’s Council on Physical Fitness under President Kennedy.

But eventually, that motivation began to fade away. Dr. East points out that some of that could be from a belief that we would never fight a ground war again in the era of nuclear weapons.

Of course, history didn’t work that way.

In 1973, the Army again rewrote it’s combat-oriented fitness test to the three-event test so many of us are familiar with now. A significant reason for this new test was that it was gender neutral. There was no specialized equipment required, and the test could be performed by anyone in any place in the world.

The new test stemmed from studying all of the common soldier tasks and battle drills and distilling them down into five main categories.

Move under load to contact

Build a hasty fighting position

Move over/under/around/through obstacles and terrain

React to contact

Extract & evacuate a casualty

The new ACFT includes six exercises, with each one relating to some combination of these tasks.

Three-Rep Maximum Dead Lift

Standing Power Throw

Hand Release Pushup

Sprint Drag Carry

Leg Tuck

The 2-Mile Run

Full show notes at

Full show notes at:

Detailed show notes are found at https://www.everydaymarksman.co/marksman

Today I want to talk a little about something I call The Marksman’s Path. No, I’m not referring to myself. One of the stated goals of this website is to build a better kind of citizen. I wanted to take a moment to discuss what that looks like. So settle in, press play, and let’s get to it.

Universal Military Training (4:17)

One of the underlying themes in this episode is Universal Military Training. The idea surfaced in the late 1940s as we transitioned from WWII into the Cold War. Army Chief of Staff turned Secretary of State believed it was impractical to maintain a large warfighting force like the one we raised during WWII.

Knowing vs Doing (7:03)

I can’t remember when I first came across this idea, but it stuck with me. It’s become too easy for us to access unlimited information and “know things.” In one regard, this is amazing. On the other, it makes us lazy.

“The more I learn the more I realize I don’t know” - Albert Einstein

The trouble is that we’ve become spoiled by all of this information. We’ve become afraid to take action when we have imperfect information. However, that’s often how life’s most important decisions are going to come at us.

Fear Setting (8:50)

I first heard about this from Tim Ferriss.

The idea here is to think deeply about the things you’re afraid of. Pick some negative outcome that you are trying to avoid with your need to “get more information,” and really consider if it’s as bad as you think it is.

Taking Action (9:50)

Now we get to the heart of it: where we go from here. The tagline of this site is, Tactical Skills for an Adventurous Life, so you can imagine where I’m going with this conversation.

In the theme of Universal Military Training, I advocate that we study and practice those skills which contribute to our personal and communal survival and defense. This helps us develop confidence in our own abilities, and inspire those around us to the same.

“Train the mind and the body will follow” - Keith Cunningham

Build a Tribe (13:43)

You can’t go at this alone.

Humans are instinctually social animals. We need a gang to back us up. In fact, loneliness is more dangerous to our health than smoking or obesity. Too many of us think that we’re going to face hard times all by ourselves. But in the entire history of humanity, that’s never worked out.

The simple truth is that you can’t master all of the skills. You can learn a lot, but everyone is going to be better at some things more than others. By growing your posse, you add more and varied skills that improve your survivability.

Examples to Follow (14:40)

If you’ve never heard of Rick Rescorla, that’s too bad. In this episode, I tell his story, and how he employed the principles I’m talking about here to save over 2700 people on September 11th, 2001.

Another example is that of Billy Dixon, a civilian American frontiersman in the mid to late 1800s. He’s perhaps most famous for landing a 1-mile shot with a 50-90 buffalo rifle during the Second Battle of the Adobe Walls. Later that same year, he earned the Medal of Honor for heroic actions during the Battle of Buffalo Wallow.

Detailed show notes with images: www.everydaymarksman.co/john

Show Notes Summary

This was a fun episode to record. When John Simpson reached out a while back to let me know that he had a new book on the market, I jumped at the chance to bring him on the podcast as my first interview. John is a veritable encyclopedia of sniper history and know-how.

During the course of the interview, the conversation wandered through John’s start as an Army Special Forces light weapons sergeant on through his developing sniper training curriculum for both the military and other training agencies. We also touch on why he wrote The Foundations of Sniper Marksmanship.

Beyond that, we also dove into some of the ancillary skills required in order to become a proficient sniper. Among these topics were the importance of physical fitness, flash memory recognition, and the dedication to do the work.

Key Points

If there’s one key takeaway from the entire interview it’s this: becoming good at shooting is not voodoo, it’s the result of doing lots of little things correctly over time. The sum of those little things builds up to something great.

With that, John offered a lot of advice when it comes to learning new skills. Not the least of which was avoid spending time watching others do it the wrong way. The Army doesn’t teach you how to jump out of planes by showing you all the ways you can do it wrong, and we shouldn’t learn marksmanship that way, either.

This relates to a topic I discussed in my review of With Winning in Mind by Lanny Bassham. Study and surround yourself with people who are doing it the right way, and you’ll naturally begin to copy them and become better yourself.

With that, you also need to use objective criteria for judging your performance. The target doesn’t lie, and if you’re not doing it right then it will show. Use a sequence of repeatable and observable steps to make sure you’re doing things the correct way.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

One important message was that you should not try and change something and make it “better” unless you fully understand and master the current way it’s done. Sniping, as we know it, goes back to World War I. I covered some of those elements in my discussion of the designated marksman rifle.

More importantly, though, marksmanship has a very long history. In his book, John uses illustrations from the 1889 Army Firing Regulations manual. These depictions of the classic rifle shooting positions are nearly identical to what we still practice today.

Know Your Limits

During the interview, John relayed a story of a police sniper student who turned in his rifle and admitted he wasn’t ready. John appreciated the honesty and said that he’s rather someone “Brief your limits before your capabilities.”

Memory Training

Another interesting topic we delved into was the role of memory. I mentioned Kim’s Game, which up until this point I thought was an acronym for “Keep in Mind.” In fact, it’s a reference to a Rudyard Kipling novel with the titular character Kim O’Hara.

John also discussed a concept called Flash Recognition. The idea came around during WWII as a way to quickly recognize enemy aircraft. John argued that it’s still very effective, and provided examples, but that the military abandoned it after they continued to “fix” it until it didn’t work anymore.

Ballistics Downrange

Another key point of the discussion focused on the behavior of bullets as they travel downrange. One of the reader questions was about whether or not bullets get more stable as they travel.

The short answer is yes, they do.

Read the more detailed show notes with images at www.everydaymarksman.co/john

Links/Resources Mentioned

Everydaymarksman.co

Twitter: @evrydaymarksman

IG: @everydaymarksman

First Things First

Before I get into things, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been sticking with me for the last several months while I got this off the ground. The words of encouragement and enthusiasm really did make a difference in helping me push to the finish line.

Podcast Timestamps

My background (2:46)

What we do at The Everyday Marksman (9:17)

Why start a podcast? (13:44)

What should you expect (15:30)

My Background

So if you don’t know me yet, my name is Matt Robertson and I run The Everyday Marksman.

I’ve always been “the adventurous type,” much to the chagrin of my mother. I spent 10 years as an officer in the US Air Force, though I don’t think that qualifies me as an expert in marksmanship. You see, my specialty was nuclear weapons and ICBMs. Marksmanship and shooting just happen to be something I’m very enthusiastic about.

One of the big things that came out of that career was instructor experience. I spent most of those 10 years as both an informal and formal instructor, ultimately earning the qualification of Master Instructor prior to leaving for the private sector.

I came to the shooting sports the same way as most millennials: video games. That grew into playing paintball, and eventually my first real range session. I shot all through college and my professional career.

The rest of my life is filled with moments that emphasize the importance of self-reliance and survival skills.

What we do at The Everyday Marksman

The Everyday Marksman is a resource of information. It started as a personal blog about getting better at shooting, but now it’s about more than that. It’s a blog about personal growth through the learning and application of tactical skills.

My goal is to build a better culture, both for the shooting sports and the country at large.

When I talk about tactical skills, I don’t mean cheesy marketing speak. I’m referring to military skills that used to be common knowledge among citizens. In an effort to build I better class of citizen, I want to bring these skills back into the forefront.

With that, The Everyday Marksman is about more than marksmanship. We cover topics encompassed by physical fitness, survival skills, mindset, gear, and more.

Why Start a Podcast?

I love writing, and you probably already know that if you’ve been through my longer articles.

Reading a long article is not always practical for most people. We all have busy lives and sitting down and taking the time to read a 3000-word article doesn’t always happen.

So reason number one for the podcast is that it’s easier to consume. You can listen to it while you’re commuting to work, exercising, or doing chores.

Reason number two is that podcasts have a slightly different audience, so it gives me a chance to find new members to bring into the community.

The third reason is that podcasts are more personal. It isn’t just written words on the page, but my voice. You can hear the inflections, imperfections, and humanity. I think there’s something really neat about that.

On a selfish note, I also started the podcast as a way to improve my own speaking skills. Knowing good speaking techniques is one thing, taking the time to really practice it (especially in front of others) is another thing entirely.

What You Should Expect

Going forward, you should expect a mixture of solo episodes and interviews with experts.

Solo episodes should run between 15-25 minutes. Interviews will usually be 45-60 minutes. Early in the podcasts’ lifecycle, episodes will arrive every other week while I learn the ins and outs of audio processing. As I get a handle on it, the frequency may increase to once per week.

The best way to get a hold of me is through the website at everydaymarksman.co, from there you have access to my social media channels, subscribe links, and our community forum.

This trailer marks the official launch of the Everyday Marksman Radio podcast. I'm your host, Matt Robertson. I'm a former military officer turned corporate tech training guru who happens to have a love for the shooting sports and the outdoors. The Everyday Marksman is a site and community focused on personal development through the learning and application of tactical skills.

To that end, we focus on marksmanship, physical fitness, winning mindset, survival skills, gear, and new resources to learn from.

New episodes go up on Thursdays. In the meantime, check out the site at https://www.everydaymarksman.co