Just read an article from a link tactical tailor shared on facebook. It deals mostly with the mindset necessary to ultimately win a potentially deadly encounter.

Someone recently posted how many of us train and shoot and assess or shots on the range, but never go over the mental aspect of defending ones self or loved ones. It is something I personally will be following a little closer.

http://www.breachbangclear.com/site/10-blog/584-10-important-things-to-know-about-violence.html

What I am promoting is accepting that if you have the means to use violence, the training and the desire to defend your life, you must accept that when that time comes, there are no half-measures.

What are your thoughts after reading?

To be mentally prepared for extreme violence in retaliation to violence requires an examination of one's self prior to such condition.  There are significant examples of prominent individuals who had not done this ahead of time and paid for such lack of preparation with their lives.  There are also other examples of individuals who had prepared for this and as a result, maintain their lives to this day.

 

If I were a doctor of some sort, I would love to gather a bunch of people who have seen violence toward themselves and survived and examined principles of the theories postulated in this article to see how many of them stand up to reality.

djg0770 - Read the following for more:

Leadership and Training For the Fight... Paul Howe

Equal or Greater Force... Kit Cessna

On Killing... Dave Grossman

On Combat... Dave Grossman

Sharpening The Warrior’s Edge... Bruce Siddle

The Gift of Fear... Gavin De Becker

 

And watch Paul Howe's (member of CAG/SFOD-D and present at the Battle of the Black Sea/Blackhawk Down) video from Panteo: "Combat Mindset"

 

I thought it was a good article. I think a lot of people have no idea how fast violence can occur and are not prepared to "turn it on" when necessary. I was amazed myself the first time it happened to me. I have never been caught so flatfooted in my life. Luckily it ended OK and with me on top. I guarantee that won't happen again.

 

Some folks just don't have the "Mean Gene" no matter what they want to believe, and will end up a victim no matter how many hours they train on the mat or the range.

 

Everyone that has a firearm in order to defend themselves or their loved ones should read this article. The primer on Boyd's Loop (OODA) alone should be read by everyone.

Target Focus Training writes a lot of blogs on this subject.  I have learned more about violence from them and others in the past two years than I had in my previous sixty.  Could I act swiftly and ruthlessly in a violent encounter?  I hope to never find out, but I believe I have a better chance now than I would have had a couple of years ago.  

 

Here's a recent blog on the subject from their website that I believe really gets to the heart of the matter:

 

Loser by Default

Bunnies are cute because they lack the physiology of terror—they are not big and powerful, they do not have jaws for the breaking of bones and the rending of flesh, they do not stare intently with parallel eyes aligned to gauge attack distance.  They pose no physical threat.  Predators, on the other hand, are nasty, ugly things, unsettlingly obvious in the function that follows their form.  And while we might admire their grim beauty from a distance it’s another thing entirely to be stuck in a room with one.

The recognition of these simple biological facts—bunnies can’t eat us but a grizzly bear will—percolate upward into our psyches and color our social interactions.  The small and weak pose no real threat while the large and fierce do.  Cute is “good”, brutish is “bad”.  We see how the winners and loser get sorted out in violence—the winners attack and injure, the losers get worked—and we recoil from that naked truth.

We empathize with the loser while vilifying the winner.  And so we push ourselves in the completely wrong direction in seeking an answer to the problem of our own survival, vainly attempting to rewrite the loser’s story with a stick in the sand, all the while ignoring the one already published in stone.

I suppose I have lived with this material for so long and so completely that it’s simply become second nature to me—but I am still shocked at the level of unthinking, blind acceptance of the conflict narrative provided by society.  The attacker is the bad guy, the defender the good guy.

It is socially unacceptable to be a bad guy and so we are left with only one choice:  to make a play for second place and attempt to defend ourselves, choosing to think and train behind the power curve.  To hope for the best and “do whatever it takes” because stepping outside the lines will be severely frowned upon…

The prevailing narrative is numbing in its ubiquity, you’re swimming in an ocean of defensive, reactive thought so deep and wide you’d never naturally happen upon the island of contrary perspective:

By definition anything that is socially acceptable is useless in violence.

The fair warning, the fighting stance, the block and cool move—anything that makes you feel good or morally superior about violence will get you killed there.  The truth is it’s a horrible, arbitrary, “cheaty” thing, the undermining of everything we hold dear.  It is, quite simply, the loss of our humanity.  Anything that offends sense and sensibility, the cruel and shocking thing, the gut-wrenching and unthinkable—these must be your go-to defaults if you want to survive and win in that place.

It’s a very easy thing to declare yourself aligned with physical reality in this regard, to shout in agreement and then get busy patting yourself on the back.  And then the very next thing out of your mouth is “But what do I do if the attacker—”  And here I thought you understood that the attacker wins, that you are either the attacker in a target-rich environment or you are one of those targets to be taken by he or she who TAKES?  Your choice of language has exposed your thought process, and by extension, how you will behave in violence.

If the other person is the attacker, then you’re left fighting for second place.

Changing how you speak about, think about and act in violence is a process that takes conscious thought, effort and time.  You can’t rewire your social conditioning overnight.  But you have to stop drinking the Kool-Aid first.  “Self-defense” does not describe the gouging of an eye, or the stomping of a man into unconsciousness.  Only specific, declarative language does.  Say what you mean to do:  “I will defend myself,” is mealy-mouthed and uncertain when compared to “I will attack and injure.”  Reject social convention on this issue—the goal of society is control, the dampening and moderation of our animal nature.

Victory in violence is the cold, calculated use of all your faculties, from highest to lowest.  It’s everything you are aimed squarely at destruction, unencumbered by hesitation or half-measures.  A pure, brutal freedom.

 

Stop forging new links in the chains that hold you back.  Quit accepting what’s rational and what “feels right” when training for the irrational and utterly wrong.  See yourself as the attacker in violence, the doer, the winner, the only thing in the nothing.

Then, with that worst of days prepared for, do everything in your power—everything—to avoid having to unleash it.  Use your understanding of the worst to put you at your best—as long as everyone else plays by the same rules.

–Chris Ranck-Buhr 
TFT Master Instructor

Thanks for the links HE.  I will delve into them.

I don't understand a man not having a killer instinct. Do you not want to live? Do you not want to protect your family and friends or even an innocent stranger from unwanted harm? Don't get me wrong I don't want to hurt anyone, but if need be I wont hesitate to do what needs to be done because when it comes down to it, who is it going to be, you or them...

I don't understand a man not having a killer instinct. Do you not want to live? Do you not want to protect your family and friends or even an innocent stranger from unwanted harm? Don't get me wrong I don't want to hurt anyone, but if need be I wont hesitate to do what needs to be done because when it comes down to it, who is it going to be, you or them...

Did you read the articles? Its all about hesitation and violence of action. We are all (mostly) taught violence is negative and should never be used. This creates hesitation at the moment of truth. Unfortunately that may be the difference between life and death.

OODA loop is definitely a good thing to know and understand. I definitely agree that the evil word violence is not evil. I've always been taught that the only thing that can defeat violence is a stronger violence. It's one of the reasons I was always drawn to Krav Maga. Violence is not an evil trait, it's an action (good or bad). Use of force is the good guy's way of saying "fuck shit up"...no difference

Did you read the articles? Its all about hesitation and violence of action. We are all (mostly) taught violence is negative and should never be used. This creates hesitation at the moment of truth. Unfortunately that may be the difference between life and death.

 

Yeah but what I'm saying is we have an instinct to survive. They are over analyzing something that should be human nature.

Yeah but what I'm saying is we have an instinct to survive. They are over analyzing something that should be human nature.

I get what your saying, but our environment is constantly working against that. You can see it in our laws here in this state.

Yeah but what I'm saying is we have an instinct to survive. They are over analyzing something that should be human nature.

You're under-analyzing what goes through someone's mind when making a survival decision in .350 of a second. It's either fight or flight, and some choose flight....and lose. Those that choose to fight, may not decide fast enough and will lose the advantage of violence. To me, I don't think you thoroughly read this article. You'd have a better understanding if you did. The guys over at Sage Dynamics (they wrote the article for BBC) know what they're doing/talking about.

 

When a bad guy presents himself, it's not like a movie. You don't have time to defend/plan/articulate. You have only your *trained* instinct, whether that's trained to run, or trained to be efficiently violent/lethal.

It's a little more complicated than just "fight or flight" - there is also posturing and submit.

It's a little more complicated than just "fight or flight" - there is also posturing and submit.

I'm simplifying for the sake of keeping it short. My wife doesn't like it very much when I do this while at the Devils game.

Dupe

I believe most gun owners already have made the decision that, if necessary, they are prepared to use great violence, force or whatever you want to call it, to defend themselves and their loved ones. 

 

I also believe that most gun owners never want to fire their gun to defend themselves but will if necesarry.  I think that most intruders in someone's home will more than likely flee once they hear, "Who's there?  I've got a gun, I've called 911.  Get out of my house!" 

 

I believe a gun is first and foremost a deterient but if the threat of violence doesn't stop someone then you have to be 100% committed to following through. 

 

I felt that the article was interesting but felt that it is just giving scholarly backing to what most people would already do.  I've never heard of "OODA" before but if we hear something go "bump" in the night or are put in a dangerous situation, isn't this what most people do anyway?  Maybe I'm giving people to much credit?

I felt that the article was interesting but felt that it is just giving scholarly backing to what most people would already do.  I've never heard of "OODA" before but if we hear something go "bump" in the night or are put in a dangerous situation, isn't this what most people do anyway?  Maybe I'm giving people to much credit?

 

We have a similar mindset in "cave diving," when confronted with a problem in a cave, underwater - STBA (STOP, BREATHE, THINK, ACT). We are trained to do this to prevent the natural "panic" response. Panic is the quickest killer underwater. And, once the panic response, starts, it's difficult to get it under control. If you SBTA immediately, you have a much better chance of finding a solution, or enough of a workaround to get out of the cave and to the surface (and/or complete your deco).