That Magical Boomstick: Fail

"I'll just shoot him/them."

How many of you have heard those words uttered by Gunners and Patriots who are dismissive of the importance of close quarters fighting?  The average Tueller Drill gives you, at most, 3 seconds to clear leather and engage an armed attacker with your sidearm.  Realistically you should cut that time down to 1.5 seconds.  Then you should consider that most shooters you know will not be able to clear leather and double tap a charging attacker with kill shots before the attacker scores with a blade or brick or whatever the hell he's brought to the party.

Now factor in just a bit of reality.  The above drill assumes the shooter is aware of the attacker and his potential advance.  It assumes Cooper Orange.  It assumes, usually, that the sidearm is in a holster that is unencumbered.  It assumes a whole mess of factors that are very likely to be absent when you need your sidearm.

Most people get attacked while their pistol is concealed.  Most people get attacked when they are not at Cooper Orange.  Most people get attacked when they are not looking.  Most people get attacked when they are distracted by kids or pumping gas or whatever-the-hell they are doing.  Most people get attacked when they least expect it and in some variation of darkness.  Most people can expect to be attacked from the blind side while being deliberately distracted by a second Bad Guy (or Bad Girl).  Many people, especially when being attacked by real tyrants, thugs and bullies (oh my) can be expected to face a swarm, not an individual.

And in the North American Liberty Games currently underway (with momentum increasing) many people can be expected to surrender that 21-foot cushion as soon as a Bad Guy points a weapon at or closes the gap with wives and children.

The point is simple - there are many, many ways that an unskilled thug can take your firearm(s) out of the equation, at least for a few moments.  And a skilled enemy has even more tricks up his sleeve.  If you think you are safe because of that Glock under your coat or even that AR slung across your chest, you are wrong.

The most important techniques I teach in Fight to your Weapon are those that permit you to get your hands free when a Bad Guy has your wrist or multiple baddies have both of your wrists.  If you think you are going to engage in RevWarIII and never have a Bad Guy put his hands on you, you are wrong.

If you think you are good enough to handle those attacks and don't need to train, you are wrong.

If you think you are going to fight every battle at rifle or pistol range, and never get close enough to an enemy to get wet, you are wrong.

If you are a Team Leader, whether you are part of an organized Militia outfit or an NPT as defined by DTG, and you have ANY member of your Team who is thinking this way, I would suggest you unfuck his mind, or turn him loose.  That sort of delusion will get your Team jacked-up.

At your next training session, arm your guys with AirSoft pistols and give any 10 year old boy a wiffle ball bat, then turn him loose on each Team Member from 21 feet away, and see how many of your guys get tagged.  If that doesn't convince your guys to improve - you need to weed them out of any serious caper.  You can't afford Stupid.  Have you ever seen a man getting surprised and tackled while using an AirSoft pistol?  If he even manages to get it in his hand, he's going to reflexively pull that trigger while being taken to the floor, spraying pellets everywhere.  Imagine if your entire Team is around and that happens while he's pulling the trigger on a 1911.

Team Commanders: If you come to Idaho to train at the Studio in 2015, one facet I will add to your weekend (or 9-day course) is a Train the Trainer Red Team module that you can take home and institute with your men.  Anyone who is not serious enough to train Combatives properly is not serious enough to be part of your core Team.  Put the lazy ones on the bench.

I'll post our 2015 training schedule probably during the holidays.

Sorry - I probably will not travel for training next year. 

In the meantime - figure out who on your Team is more liability than asset, and deal with it.

Every Team needs bullet stoppers...

Kerodin
III