Tactical Training for Your Family

Family Training

Broad & Inclusive Training

No one is safe at all 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 trainee. If you can use your range of skills to make sense and survive the situation, the chaos melts away, which is exactly what you are hoping to be able to apply to a real-life scenario.

I had my family learn how to shoot, how to use pepper spray, and how to grapple.  We talked about tactical thinking and situational awareness all the time.  Try to be versatile. 

Drills

Remember 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 lifesaving 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, increasing your chance of survival is a form of tactical training that can keep your whole family safe and better prepared.

Keys to Good 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 instincts. One of the goals of tactical training is to take actions from being intellectual to instinctual. 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 lifesaving.
• 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

·         One of the most popular forms of civilian tactical training  is with the use of firearms. 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.

 

Psychological Aspects of Tactical Training

·         Tactical training requires a level of psychological involvement that is simply not applied in ordinary self-defense training approaches. Of course, learning a specific technical skill for defense is extremely important. However, a technical skill that is only mastered in a controlled environment is only applicable to similar controlled environments, not to situations in the real world. 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.

 

Hoplology

·         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 as not only can you anticipate what might be coming, but you can take appropriate action to combat it as well.

There are many ways to improve your family’s training.  Tactical is just one of them.  Find a course, or person, who can teach tactical training in a simple way that is understandable to your entire family.  Develop or find drills that can be practiced easily.  Make it fun for the whole family and you will find that not only is your family prepared and safe, but healthy and happy.

Semper Paratus

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Burn