Hey guys. I'm still pretty new here, but this actually kept me up last night. A nice young couple I know were bragging about how good they were getting at home clearing drills. Now I know they don't have any kids and just the two of them live in their house, so I asked what I thought was the obvious question. If someone breaks in, why are you clearing the house instead of setting up an ambush? They are both pretty type "A" and talked about "taking the fight to the bad guy" and whatnot. That's fine, but you give up a real tactical advantage when you do that, and without some good reason to do so (fighting your way to your child, as an example), you should really be letting them walk into your sight picture while blissfully unaware that you are armed and ready.
So, for anyone who wants to learn from it, I'm going to make this post. Its not gospel, feel free to disagree, just give it some serious thought and ask yourself "why do I disagree?" I'm not going to spout off about why you should listen to me. Anyone can be anything on the Internet anyway. I'll just say I'm no stranger to violence and violent endings, and leave it at that. Let the points stand or fall on their own.
1) Don't let ego get in your way in training (don't be afraid to fail). I was bad at this early on. I wouldn't push myself because I wanted the instructors to think I was good at it already. I was young and stupid, and because of my ego, of not wanting to fail in front of people who expected me to fail and then try again, I retarded my skill development. If you never failed in training, you didn't push yourself hard enough and you don't know where your limits are. Training is where you CAN fail, and then learn from it.
2) Don't let ego get in the way of tactics. Like my young friend above. No matter how good you are, you are better when you use your noggin'. The basics of war apply just as much to one on one personal combat. Defend when you can, attack when not expected. I see way too many folks set themselves up for ambush, and very few plan one themselves. Look at yourself, honestly, and say "do I make myself a target?" Would you walk around in Damascus with a US flag jacket on? Then WTF do you advertise you have valuables stateside? Why give up the tactical advantage of surprise? Ego. You want people to see you can afford big shiny jewelry, that you're a bad ass who attended training at SIG and got the hat, whatever. I'm just another non-descript guy a few years passed his hay-day, and with a pronounced limp. Why rob me to start with, and if you decide to I'm definitely nobody you need to ambush. Which lets me ambush you instead. I saw some kid in line at the gas station the other day, big gold chain...and a gun just shoved in the back pocket of his over-sized shorts, which hung off his butt, so the grip was hanging a good three inches away from his body. If I'd wanted to kill him he sure made it easy, and I could have scored a free hi-point and a gold chain in the deal.
3) Equipment is secondary to skill, and skill is honed only through training and practice. Consumer culture, the gun magazines, whatever you want to blame it on, we get hung up on having lots of guns, expensive and "latest greatest" guns, and some guys constantly churn their collection for the "best". Give a man $1,000. Who would you rather fight shoulder to shoulder with, the guy who spends $200 on a reliable but cheap gun and then spends $800 on good training and practice, the guy who spends $800 on a higher end gun and then slings $200 of ammo down range, or the guy who spends $1,000 on a top end gun and never shoots it until now? Now ask yourself which type are you? Fellows, people home and abroad kill quite effectively with cheap and ugly guns. Don't get hung up on gear.
4) Don't be a jihadist in the caliber wars. You can get it done with any common caliber, regardless of what water jugs or blocks of jelly say. Every caliber and gun has its pro's and con's. Speed of followup shots, muzzle flash, penetration, expansion, all matter. Shot placement matters more, especially with handguns. Pick something you can afford to practice with routinely, can afford quality defensive ammo for, and that is comfortable for you. Don't worry if it isn't the "best", because what's best in one scenario isn't the best in another.
5) Avoid the fight if you can. Murphy shows up at every gun fight, worldwide. All the training and practice, all the gear, and the good tactical evaluation and execution in the world can't overcome that. You can put the odds heavily in your favor by the above, but you can never completely eliminate Murphy and some unskilled spray n pray mud farmer may put a round through you. It only takes once.
So, for anyone who wants to learn from it, I'm going to make this post. Its not gospel, feel free to disagree, just give it some serious thought and ask yourself "why do I disagree?" I'm not going to spout off about why you should listen to me. Anyone can be anything on the Internet anyway. I'll just say I'm no stranger to violence and violent endings, and leave it at that. Let the points stand or fall on their own.
1) Don't let ego get in your way in training (don't be afraid to fail). I was bad at this early on. I wouldn't push myself because I wanted the instructors to think I was good at it already. I was young and stupid, and because of my ego, of not wanting to fail in front of people who expected me to fail and then try again, I retarded my skill development. If you never failed in training, you didn't push yourself hard enough and you don't know where your limits are. Training is where you CAN fail, and then learn from it.
2) Don't let ego get in the way of tactics. Like my young friend above. No matter how good you are, you are better when you use your noggin'. The basics of war apply just as much to one on one personal combat. Defend when you can, attack when not expected. I see way too many folks set themselves up for ambush, and very few plan one themselves. Look at yourself, honestly, and say "do I make myself a target?" Would you walk around in Damascus with a US flag jacket on? Then WTF do you advertise you have valuables stateside? Why give up the tactical advantage of surprise? Ego. You want people to see you can afford big shiny jewelry, that you're a bad ass who attended training at SIG and got the hat, whatever. I'm just another non-descript guy a few years passed his hay-day, and with a pronounced limp. Why rob me to start with, and if you decide to I'm definitely nobody you need to ambush. Which lets me ambush you instead. I saw some kid in line at the gas station the other day, big gold chain...and a gun just shoved in the back pocket of his over-sized shorts, which hung off his butt, so the grip was hanging a good three inches away from his body. If I'd wanted to kill him he sure made it easy, and I could have scored a free hi-point and a gold chain in the deal.
3) Equipment is secondary to skill, and skill is honed only through training and practice. Consumer culture, the gun magazines, whatever you want to blame it on, we get hung up on having lots of guns, expensive and "latest greatest" guns, and some guys constantly churn their collection for the "best". Give a man $1,000. Who would you rather fight shoulder to shoulder with, the guy who spends $200 on a reliable but cheap gun and then spends $800 on good training and practice, the guy who spends $800 on a higher end gun and then slings $200 of ammo down range, or the guy who spends $1,000 on a top end gun and never shoots it until now? Now ask yourself which type are you? Fellows, people home and abroad kill quite effectively with cheap and ugly guns. Don't get hung up on gear.
4) Don't be a jihadist in the caliber wars. You can get it done with any common caliber, regardless of what water jugs or blocks of jelly say. Every caliber and gun has its pro's and con's. Speed of followup shots, muzzle flash, penetration, expansion, all matter. Shot placement matters more, especially with handguns. Pick something you can afford to practice with routinely, can afford quality defensive ammo for, and that is comfortable for you. Don't worry if it isn't the "best", because what's best in one scenario isn't the best in another.
5) Avoid the fight if you can. Murphy shows up at every gun fight, worldwide. All the training and practice, all the gear, and the good tactical evaluation and execution in the world can't overcome that. You can put the odds heavily in your favor by the above, but you can never completely eliminate Murphy and some unskilled spray n pray mud farmer may put a round through you. It only takes once.
