Civilian Tactical Training

I had a conversation with a coworker today. He is concerned about his young family. He’s a guy in his 30’s with 2 kids and one on the way. He’s got a good job and good insurance. He’s saving some money and investing in a retirement. He’s got a house that should be paid off before his retirement. He’s fairly financial secure. Now he is concerned for his family’s physical security. He’s made sure his doors have plenty of locks and has created a “panic room” for his family to go to, but feels he needs to train them. His children are young but are old enough that they can understand the need for protection without being scared. I told him it starts with he and his wife. They need weapons training. Not only safety and operation of a weapon, but using that knowledge tactically. Tactical training for civilians should be general and scenario based. Many ranges offer tactical shooting courses that provide you situations that represent more realistic scenarios, rather than just standing at one end of a range and shooting at a stationary target. Classes are often the best course for many, however, if you do have the property, or can find a place where you can lawfully fire the rounds, you may consider setting up tactical training courses of your own. Remember that the element of surprise is a huge aspect of tactical training. If you do set up your own course, you will need a partner who can change the targets and situations to create a unique training experience every time. Tactical training requires a level of psychological involvement that is simply not applied in ordinary self-defense training approaches. Learning a specific, technical skill for defense is extremely important. But, a technical skill that is only mastered in a controlled environment is only applicable to similar controlled environments, not necessarily real world events. In order to learn a technical skill that will be helpful in any situation, you must be conditioned psychologically as well as physically. With the psychological aspect of tactical training in mind, you will practice your technical skill in a variety of anticipated states, considering factors like stress or exhaustion. Preparing your mind for the possibility of these stressful situations will enable you to perform with greater effectiveness when an actual disaster occurs. Not all tactical training is physical in nature, and hoplology is a great place for many beginners to start. As with most things, research can be a huge asset to a person’s self-defense repertoire. Hoplology is the study of the development of human combative behavior and performance. It is in short, the relationship between different cultures in regards to how and why we fight. Becoming a student of hoplology opens you up to a slightly different tactical approach . Taking the knowledge of why and how we fight into consideration can give you a slight advantage when engaging in combat with a potential assailant. Studying other cultures and fighting techniques can also give you an advantage when approached with any self-defense situation. Not only can you anticipate what might be coming, but you can take appropriate action to combat it as well. One of the things that helped me in combat was the chaos. I could focus on my own task at hand and block out the noise and confusion. When I was in high school my Mother couldn’t understand how I could study with music going. The chaos becomes like white noise, and I was able to concentrate on my task at hand. No one is safe if they only learn how to protect themselves in one type of situation. That is why even if you are focusing on one specific discipline of tactical training you will find that it is both broad and inclusive of a variety of potential scenarios. Any good tactical training course will provide you with multiple situations to overcome, preparing you for a variety of both physical and psychological tasks associated with your survival. Yes, you can learn to shoot the same menacing looking targets in different orders each time at the gun range, but this only covers one scenario and is not effective tactical training. True tactical training will also call on more than one level of physical and psychological needs at any given time, to ensure you are well rounded and prepared for any situation. A good tactical training session might even appear chaotic, but they are highly structured to call on multiple skills to test a student. If you can use your range of skills to make sense and survive the situation, the chaos leaves, which is exactly what you are hoping to be able to apply to a real-life scenario. You can help prepare your family with tactical training as well. There is a fine line between preparing and scaring your children, so always consider their age and understanding level in every training scenario. Drills, however, are important and can give you the life savings seconds you need in a disaster scenario. Many families have fire drills for instance, so considering a few potential events and outcomes that your loved ones can practice to increase your chance of survival is a form of tactical training that can keep your whole family safe and better prepared. There are several important points in tactical training. Avoid highly specialized training classes and events. While it is good to practice in specific ways, broad range courses are best for beginners, so you can build a solid skill set. You can go on to more specialized training down the road. Look for a course with scenario-based training as it can help prepare you psychologically, as well as physically. Hone your skills. One of the goals of tactical training is to take your actions from being intellectual to instinctual. If you’ve ever heard of “muscle memory” you’ll begin to understand using instincts. In high-stress situations, if you can rely on your instincts to help in your defense you have a higher chance of surviving a confrontation. Any few seconds you can spare in mental processing and decision making, due to effective, tactical training could be life-saving. Situational awareness is something you can practice away from the shooting range. Self-defense is a lifelong journey. You must adopt it as part of your regular life and commit to continually practice if you want to truly become a master in the art of self-defense and be able to defend yourself no matter what the situation brings. This mindset is something that can be practiced off the range also. Again I bring up the Cooper Color Codes. Condition White is unaware and unprepared. This is a condition you should try to avoid, as it means you will probably lose a fight. The only time that I’m in condition white is when I’m asleep. And even then, I wouldn’t consider myself unprepared; I’m just unaware. Condition Yellow is relaxed alert. Yellow means you are aware of what is happening around you, but you do not perceive a potential threat. Your mindset should be prepared to defend yourself if the need arises. Everywhere I go, I’m in Condition Yellow. I keep a pretty good watch on the people around me, and I’m continuously rating each person’s danger level in my mind. Condition Orange means that there is a potential threat that has gotten your attention. This can be almost anything and usually results in nothing, at which time you go back to yellow. Condition Orange basically means that if someone turns and I spot a firearm. Instantly, I determine what I’m going to do if he reaches for that gun. Condition Red means that you are in a lethal mode of mindset and will fight if the circumstances are warranted. In our make-believe scenario, the armed guy draws a gun from under his coat. At this point, I implement my action plan that was determined during Condition Orange. This doesn’t always mean fight. If there are too many innocents around or you don’t have the means, your best plan might be to wait and see what happens or even retreat and call the police. These levels are not situational awareness levels. These are a mindset to be in always. Even when you can’t be armed. Being tactically trained and having a security mindset is something anyone can do. It’s important in a prepared lifestyle. Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn