life patrol

"What is the first rule of a firearm encounter?", if you have attended I.S.C.A.P.E. training then you know. When I pose this question at each class, there is several response's like: "have a firearm", "draw quick", "win". Though they are all good answer's when in the heat of the encounter, they do not address the "first rule of an encounter", which is DO NOT BE THERE!! When I bring this up there is a few chuckle's and people look at me like "no kidding", but if you think about it, this is the rule that will keep 98% of people from every being in the situation to have to even start the process of defending themselves. The other 2% are the situation that materialize with the person doing everything correct, but a determined terrorist/criminal makes the decision for them.

This is why I place "situation awareness" as number one on the list of priorities that a person has to develop, which I address in another article. We must have a questioning attitude as we move through the dynamic world of society. People, believe thanks to television and motion pictures that the thug/criminal scumbag will be dressed in dirty clothes and will stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd. But, what about when you are in a hall way or store and you hear screams or shots? You have to process this information and act, now!

We must understand that taking action, does not necessarily mean that we "access" our firearm, sweeping our garment out of the way and getting that good purchase on the pistol. We default ALWAYS to the "first rule of an encounter, do not be there". We take action by utilizing cover and concealment (knowing what it is) and get to an exit. We take action by implementing the plan we made for the area/building we are in, you did have a plan right?
Will the plan be affected by who we are with? Sure it will, it is easy to act alone, but through in the dynamic of your child or spouse and it change's a little. But, with a little training/education and a visual mindset, it can become natural. Let me see if I can give some insight on this with some relation to some lesson's from the military.

Infantry and special operation's do something called "going on patrol", which is "military tactic, which is a sub-unit or small tactical formation, sent out for the purpose of combat, reconnaissance or both". This small unit consist anywhere from 2-12 men. Each person in this patrol, has a specific job there perform, keeping in mind that all are cross trained on the others. The patrol moves through hostile terrain, to reach their objective, at which time there will perform their task, then the real key is returning back to base (home), safely. Starting to see a slight similarity? After all when we leave home to go to the store, in essence are we not doing same thing on a less dangerous level?

Now, long before the patrol even leaves the safety of the perimeter of the base, they have done certain things, because they know that "the devil is in the details". The figure out the safest route to the target and back. They communicate the duties of each member of the patrol, they ensure that each member has the equipment they need and in proper place (inspect), they then work out "the what if's", what are we going to do if this happens and than happens? Then they do what is called Immediate Action Drills (I.A.Drills), which is the patrol rehearse's the reaction to a certain situation, till it is done right and all problems worked out. They plan what to do if fired upon, if someone is injured, if they have to break contact (get away quickly), where and when to meet up if they get split up, and how they are getting back. This way everyone is on the same page, and no matter what happens, they can get "home" safely. There of course if more to this and it goes in more detail, but we can see where some of these thing's can translate to armed citizens using some of the tactics to there advantage. Let's look at a few of them.

Safest route- as we move through our usual routine in life, we pretty much know how to get to the store's, school's, work and various other venture's, like it is second nature. Now, think how you felt when you left your home to go to one of these place's and the road was block for some reason, you was actually stunned, upset and had to figure out another way around. I suggest take a few minutes on paper, smart phone or whatever and sit down and actually draw it out, then plan an alternate route. Along with that in today's world, where would be a good place to pull off and take a phone call or fix emergency issue's. What this will do for you is let you see your world in a new light, and get you start to do some planning. Which will begin the thinking process of being aware. This is extremly critical to do if you are planning to be in an area/city that you are not familiar with! When I am going to a city I am not familiar with, I literally sit down and draw out route from hotel to the places I am going to and have a minimum of one alternate route. In today's world it is quicker, because we have smart phones/computers and all the information we need, and with a "click" we can print it out. If you was going to a foreign town would it not make you more comfortable knowing the rounte, and let you focus on other threat's?
As you can see, this will obvious apply to safe route into and out of any building's as well. We can use the modern tool's actually see where stores are located, where to park and how to approach them. But, what about once we are in the facilities? You must learn to look for exit's when ever you walk into any shop or store! You do not have to, step in the store and goose neck around. As you come into the shop and browse, just casually look around for the exit's, other patrons and employee's. This takes but a few second's, after you get use to doing it.

I.A. drills- Though none of use have the time to spend an hour or two to practice immediate action drill's before we go out the door, can not deny the importance of it. Actually, there are some common problem's all patrol's face that they have S.O.P. (standard operating procedure) drill's for them, and only rehearse them once or twice to ensure that everyone is up to standard before they go out. This allows the patrol members to concentrate on more specific drill's for the patrol. One of those is what to do if "Ambushed", fired upon. Which would be good for us to have the same plan. Patrol, S.O.P., I.A. drills for this action if broken into "Near ambush" and "Far ambush".
Near ambush is taking fire within 150 yards (keep in mind in the military they use rifle's). If the patrol is in a close ambush, they will turn into the fire and begin returing more accurate fire (reason being, is that in an ambush this close, the best thing to do is make the other guy in fear of his life). Now, how would this translate to the armed citizen? First we use pistol's so range will be closer. Second, you will only do this as a patrol would when your life is in immediate danger of death and/or bodily harm (crippling injury). So, we could reasonably set our distance at 7 yards, due to the time lost in reaction, as is demonstrated by the "tueller drill". So, now we have as an example, set our "line of action" at 7 yards, which in turn will make our decision easier to at a minimum get to our pistol and/or get it out. Then we have to take in the circumstances to decide if a trigger press is needed. Keeping in mind, that in an armed citizen's world that the threat could of ceased do to the action you just did, so the thought process is ongoing.
Far ambush is taking fire from 150 yards and beyond. If the patrol is in a far ambush they will almost always "break contact", (disengage from the fight). They will do this by a tactic known as a "peel". One member will give cover, as the other moves to rear, then they will cover him as he moves (leap frog effect). What lesson can be learned for the armed citizen. Even with all the high tech. firearms, gadgets and highly trained warriors, will always get to safety if they can! This is where anything that is 8 yards or beyond, needs to beconsidered time to "break contact", we move toward cover & concealment, creating time and distance to our favor. Perhaps we take the time to work with our family unit, so we can move as one. You do not need to be a S.W.A.T. team, but some small prior planning/rehearsal (sound familiar)and discussing, if this happens, I want you to do this. If nothing else, the spouse, grab your belt and guide you to the exit, so you can concentrate on the threat, would be helpfull, right?

Injured person, this is something that very few armed citizen take into consideration, unless they have served in the military and been down range. The armed citizen need's to understand that the likely hood of having people injured in a situation is high. Also, that the chance's of them being injured is also extremely high. In my advanced class I bring this up, and you can see the look of shock on the experianced people face that they haven't thought of that, as I explain my technique for assesting. So, we can again take a lesson from the patroling tactics and start to create our own plan for dealing with injuries. The one thing I can not express enough is training/education in intermediate or critical first aid (not the basic boy scout or red cross class). Possesing the information is more valuable then having the winning lottery ticket, don't believe me? If you or your child was sitting against a wall with a hole in the side of the chest, would you pay millions to stop it or know how to? Of course, you would as would any reasonable person. So, why not plan ahead and take a course on using procedure to take care of injured people? The reason, it is most valuable, is you have the knowledge and can apply it, even when you don't have high speed medical gear, you can use field expediante stuff. Also, you will learn what you can do with one hand, which is valuable if you are the one injured and the one with the knowledge. Then you can form a more detailed plan, based on limitation if this happens or that happens, and have training reflect it?

The one thing that always makes a patrol successful or faulter is what they pay attention to. Doing patrol's are very taxing on a person, because you are constantly on alet for issues or intelligents. In the armed citizens world, you are constantly being situational aware, which is our determination of the facts. Take the time to sit down and draw our your route, draw out a situation in a store, then think through it. What would be the line? What is the right way to do it, realisticly. Visualising, and planning what to do will give any law abiding citizen a second in favor of life and happiness. I will give up 15 minutes to and hour, of planning to keep that last second of my life from being closer than needs to be.