Mitch
BOM 2/09-Keeper BOTtLe
I've been watching and enjoyed the recent threads on defensive tactic for a while and I guess have become motivated to write a small novel about my options on training as a whole.
Back before I gave up my MP-5/M-16 for a pair of golden handcuffs and a computer terminal, I made my living as a soldier, MP & Cop, executive protection specialist and trainer. So to say that I have options and can write some essays on these topics, is an understatement. Anyway, let me bring up a topic that Ive spent countless hours debating with many professionals over the years. This is just my opinion and there is a multibillion dollar industry that doesnt agree with me, so take it with a grain of salt.
There is a lot of good information here, but I'm not as sold on the firearm, knife, baton, hand to hand stuff taught in one time short classes as most are. I was a certified PPCT (Police) instructor and sole tactics instructor at my last military base to MPs, react forces, SRT, etc. I earned black belts in judo and ju-jitsu when I was younger and competed seriously, so its not that Im not a martial artist. Before an injury took me out of Special Warfare I had been part of the first gulf war, invaded Panama well you get the ideal. And in all that I never found the real world examples that people could go to a day long, couple day long or week long training course and develop the muscle memory and finite motor skills to use when the proverbial impact of the fan occurred.
Dont think Im putting down getting training, Im not, I strongly advocate it. But, Im saying that training people who do not have a good foundation in fighting has marginal benefit at best and even if they have a foundation it only has benefit if it becomes part of a routine. This is in regard to physical skills, mental skills are a whole different category and bode very well with short term courses as long as they become part of routine.
As a cop (MP and reservist on local PD) I rarely saw people use the take downs, arm locks, pressure points, PR-24 skills etc when a use of force situation came up. Choke holds became head locks, a PR-24 became a baseball bat and take downs became tackles. The exception were a very few officers that had years of training in martial arts and usually were still active with a martial arts club and likely had incorporated the techniques into their style and developed the muscle memory to do them at their club.
My general opinion is that if you take a bunch of well motivated people and drill them hard for a weekend, most will be able to walk fairly quietly with balance and navigate corners, stairs, logs etc. by the end of it. But, if they don't practice it and make it part of their routine, it will be gone quickly as several studies document. Getting them to fight with a knife, disarm an attacker etc. is a pipe dream. And since most classes spend about half an hour on each skill, your chance of doing any at all well is slimmer yet.
So, I advocate that for the average person (like my wife) who is not, and has not been, a professional and needs to develop defense skills they are far better off learning skills that they can practice every day. Leaving their physical skill development to long term programs like martial arts clubs, shooting clubs and the like. Even if you never develop any hand to hand skills and only marginal firearm skills, you can teach yourself to remain alert, be aware of reactionary gap (how close you let others get to you, or how close you get to areas that people could pop out of and suprise you), be aware of cover and concealment, plan exit strategies for the places you go and repeated what if scenarios routinely.
So if youre sitting in a restraint, walking to your car, leaving work, going to the supermarket, etc. you should be asking yourself, where are the exits, what is cover, what is concealment, figuring out a plan for as many different scenarios as you can come up with and discussing with your family what you should do in each situation. My wife and I do this, one will just ask the other where the cover and exits are, and without looking we try to remember what we have to use around us. Then we'll talk about what could happen and possible reactions to it. If its dark and we are in a area not so great, we walk a bit further away from each other so you cant surprise both of us easily. We carry firearms most of the time, we carry a knife almost always, and Im a big strong fairly bad ass guy, but its our offensive approach to defense that I think serves us best.
And if you want to learn point shooting, put a laser on a handgun and practice pointing the unloaded weapon at anything and everything in your house and hitting the laser to see how you did. In a matter of weeks you will be able to bulls eye wall sockets, light switches, door knobs and a person in near total darkness if you need to. Ive been to several point shooting classes and none of them worked as well as this.
Its getting into another topic, but I believe everyone should have a vest and shotgun/carbine at home with a good light and laser/night sights/dot sight on it. If you property is large you should have radios with ear buds as well.
Everyone who can carry out of the house should do so with a handgun with night sights and have a very good light as well.
And where you can't carry a handgun or if you cant carry a handgun you should have a knife and very good light.
Every house and/or car that could have a firearm left unattended in it should have a gun safe, cabinet or lock box bolted to something solid.
My rant has ended, now what would you do right now if an office worker went postal, a home invasion started, etc.?
Back before I gave up my MP-5/M-16 for a pair of golden handcuffs and a computer terminal, I made my living as a soldier, MP & Cop, executive protection specialist and trainer. So to say that I have options and can write some essays on these topics, is an understatement. Anyway, let me bring up a topic that Ive spent countless hours debating with many professionals over the years. This is just my opinion and there is a multibillion dollar industry that doesnt agree with me, so take it with a grain of salt.
There is a lot of good information here, but I'm not as sold on the firearm, knife, baton, hand to hand stuff taught in one time short classes as most are. I was a certified PPCT (Police) instructor and sole tactics instructor at my last military base to MPs, react forces, SRT, etc. I earned black belts in judo and ju-jitsu when I was younger and competed seriously, so its not that Im not a martial artist. Before an injury took me out of Special Warfare I had been part of the first gulf war, invaded Panama well you get the ideal. And in all that I never found the real world examples that people could go to a day long, couple day long or week long training course and develop the muscle memory and finite motor skills to use when the proverbial impact of the fan occurred.
Dont think Im putting down getting training, Im not, I strongly advocate it. But, Im saying that training people who do not have a good foundation in fighting has marginal benefit at best and even if they have a foundation it only has benefit if it becomes part of a routine. This is in regard to physical skills, mental skills are a whole different category and bode very well with short term courses as long as they become part of routine.
As a cop (MP and reservist on local PD) I rarely saw people use the take downs, arm locks, pressure points, PR-24 skills etc when a use of force situation came up. Choke holds became head locks, a PR-24 became a baseball bat and take downs became tackles. The exception were a very few officers that had years of training in martial arts and usually were still active with a martial arts club and likely had incorporated the techniques into their style and developed the muscle memory to do them at their club.
My general opinion is that if you take a bunch of well motivated people and drill them hard for a weekend, most will be able to walk fairly quietly with balance and navigate corners, stairs, logs etc. by the end of it. But, if they don't practice it and make it part of their routine, it will be gone quickly as several studies document. Getting them to fight with a knife, disarm an attacker etc. is a pipe dream. And since most classes spend about half an hour on each skill, your chance of doing any at all well is slimmer yet.
So, I advocate that for the average person (like my wife) who is not, and has not been, a professional and needs to develop defense skills they are far better off learning skills that they can practice every day. Leaving their physical skill development to long term programs like martial arts clubs, shooting clubs and the like. Even if you never develop any hand to hand skills and only marginal firearm skills, you can teach yourself to remain alert, be aware of reactionary gap (how close you let others get to you, or how close you get to areas that people could pop out of and suprise you), be aware of cover and concealment, plan exit strategies for the places you go and repeated what if scenarios routinely.
So if youre sitting in a restraint, walking to your car, leaving work, going to the supermarket, etc. you should be asking yourself, where are the exits, what is cover, what is concealment, figuring out a plan for as many different scenarios as you can come up with and discussing with your family what you should do in each situation. My wife and I do this, one will just ask the other where the cover and exits are, and without looking we try to remember what we have to use around us. Then we'll talk about what could happen and possible reactions to it. If its dark and we are in a area not so great, we walk a bit further away from each other so you cant surprise both of us easily. We carry firearms most of the time, we carry a knife almost always, and Im a big strong fairly bad ass guy, but its our offensive approach to defense that I think serves us best.
And if you want to learn point shooting, put a laser on a handgun and practice pointing the unloaded weapon at anything and everything in your house and hitting the laser to see how you did. In a matter of weeks you will be able to bulls eye wall sockets, light switches, door knobs and a person in near total darkness if you need to. Ive been to several point shooting classes and none of them worked as well as this.
Its getting into another topic, but I believe everyone should have a vest and shotgun/carbine at home with a good light and laser/night sights/dot sight on it. If you property is large you should have radios with ear buds as well.
Everyone who can carry out of the house should do so with a handgun with night sights and have a very good light as well.
And where you can't carry a handgun or if you cant carry a handgun you should have a knife and very good light.
Every house and/or car that could have a firearm left unattended in it should have a gun safe, cabinet or lock box bolted to something solid.
My rant has ended, now what would you do right now if an office worker went postal, a home invasion started, etc.?
