Years ago I had an Army Command Sergeant teaching a combat driving course. As we were talking about combat he kept repeating “Close and engage” in different contexts. We asked about the phrase and he said “You are either doing it, or someone else is doing it to you. I prefer that it be me engaging”. The fact that he uses the word “close” tells me that distance is not your friend when you want to engage someone. If you are the one being engaged, or fired upon, distance is your friend.
Here is an e-mail sent to an instructor.
“Yesterday I was filling my vehicle with gas at my neighborhood Shell station and out of the corner of my eye I saw an unkempt person lurking around the building and heading to the gas pumps. I lost sight of him for a moment due to vehicles entering and exiting the station. Suddenly, he was on the other side of my pump, headed in my direction.
I thought about what was taught in your class about holding up my hands and issuing a verbal “back off”. I moved around the corner of my car to get an object and distance between the fellow and me. He did not even finish his opening line, he turned and looked for someone else to approach.
I’m so grateful for the training! It was probably just a pan handler, but it could have been anything!”
Note that this was a decision made in advance (to be aggressively uncooperative) and then chosen as a response in the moment. That's the best way.
Remember distance equals time. If the guy has a knife and you've shot him from a distance, you're relying on the time that it take for him to cover the distance to you for that bullet to take effect. In both cases your safety is entirely dependent in what you did effecting your attacker BEFORE he can effectively counter attack whether it is shooting back, or close the distance to injure you.
The bottom line is the closer an attacker is the less you need to be worrying about what you are going to do to him and more about keeping him from doing something to you. Don't fall for the old lie that the 'best defense is a good offense.' Because the closer you are to an attacker the more likely that attitude will turn it into a trading damage contest. Actual defense against a closing attacker is THE most overlooked aspect of self-defense. People are too fixated on what they are going to do to their attacker to make him stop attacking rather than what they need to do to keep his attack from coming in the first place. If both of you go to the hospital or the morgue, that isn’t what I call a win.
I was talking to my good friend Choirboy. We were talking about how most altercations that would involve needing a weapon are usually fast and short. He sent me this YouTube video. If violence makes you squeamish then don’t watch the video.
http://youtu.be/mVDRo7-kwGc
He said that this is a video of Darrell Lunsford, a constable in Nacogdoches, Texas. He was overpowered by three men and shot to death with his own weapon. About 8 months later Trooper Andy Lopez ran into almost the same situation but because of this video, which is still used in training today, he survived. As I watched the video I realized that Constable Lunsford made some fatal mistakes. He didn’t use distance to his advantage.
This is what we were discussing, distance. To keep from being a victim a certain amount of distance is required. I’ve talked about the 21 foot rule. It takes a man 1.5 seconds to cover 21 feet which is also about the amount of time it takes to draw a weapon. So to use distance to your advantage, keep people out of that 21 foot zone around you. Constable Lunsford should have used more distance as he searched the trunk of the suspect’s car. He should have had them sit on the curb or at the least get back in the car. He needed some separation as he put all his attention into searching the trunk. The suspects knew they had marijuana in the trunk and that it would be found, so all they did was wait for the right moment to grab the officer and grab his gun for the fatal shot. At least his death was not completely in vain because that incident happened in 1991 and the video is still being used for training, saving countless law enforcement lives. It’s a lesson you must learn. When someone tries to close on you, and you feel that prompting, then maintain or increase that distance. Don’t let them close so that if you have to engage, it will be at a distance that you control. To use most pepper sprays, batons, stun guns, or knives, one must close the distance gap. You being armed can use a little distance. I’m pretty effective with a handgun at 30 feet. My efficiency only improves if I can close. But don’t ever think a bullet will always stop someone immediately.
This is where your situational awareness and your “spidy senses” will be your ally. Violent people will always go out of their way to give the advantage to themselves. For us sheepdogs, we are not afraid of the wolf like the sheep, but we don’t look for a fight like a wolf. We rely on a strong defense and not an offense. We have to be aware of what is going on and the positioning of others.
My wife and I take care of some vending machines in a mall. My wife was out of town and I had just hurt my foot and was recovering. I had just emptied the machines and had a bag of quarters. I noticed two kids who had paid more attention to what I was doing in the mall than most. One was following me out of the mall. I knew I couldn’t out run him because of my foot. He started to close and I saw his buddy in the parking lot at my 10 o’clock. I turned to face the guy behind me when I got to a car so my back was to the car and put up my hand to stop him. We had some words and he decided I wasn’t worth the trouble I was going to give them. His buddy backed off first and then he retreated. This was in the middle of the day so there was daylight and witnesses to my advantage. Had I been oblivious to the attention they gave me and had I let the guy in back of me close, things might have been different. When someone maneuvers so that they are in a closing position, move. Always watch their hands.
I have a martial arts instructor friend who likes to say “Distance overcomes skill.” This is true in a contact self defense and sometimes applies to gun defense. Like my 21 foot rule, distance equals time.
Most so-called self-defense items have no defensive capabilities at all. By this I mean while they may stop an attacker from continuing with more attacks, they cannot protect you from an attack in progress. If a guy is charging you, a taser, spray or a bullet will not stop his forward momentum. He will still reach you and proceed to do damage to you (e.g. if you taser someone and he slams into you, there's a good chance you'll lose your triggering.) Now you have a guy up close and personal.
That's the fundamental weakness of any distance weapon. If the guy gets close enough to negate the advantage of range, they are useless to prevent damage to you. From a defensive standpoint, you cannot block an incoming attack with these items. Your only hope is to create enough pain and damage to the individual that he is overcome before the damage he does to you overwhelms you.
Distance is usually your friend.
Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn
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