More on midset
I wanted to spend a little more time on mindset and reactions, as a follow on to my earlier post, from a slightly different angle.
I reached my personal epiphany some years ago that there were threats in this world that could not be reasoned with. It began on 9/11, and solidified when I became a dad. I realized that I was responsible for this little girl, and that I needed to protect her. Part of protecting her is keeping her safe from physical threats, but part of protecting her means making sure that she has a dad in her life. So, I have an obligation to keep myself safe. Knowing that there are some threats that cannot be scared, cannot be deterred, cannot be reasoned with, it follows that I have to have the means to stop the threat right now. And I choose the tool that is best able to do that, the firearm.
I’ve spent a bit of time researching what happens psychologically to people who are involved in critical situations. I’ve read Lt. Col. Dave Grossman’s work, Mas Ayoob’s work, John Boyd’s work, and a host of others. I’ve spent a lot of time learning how the brain reacts to stress. For example, did you know that lots of people who drown scuba diving in caves pull out their own regulators? It seems that we have a hard wired panic response to clear our airways, even if that will kill us.
I bring all this up to point out the following: there is a hell of a lot of ink and pixels spilled in the gunnieverse spilled over rational self-defense decisions. The 9mm vs .45 caliber wars are the Platonic ideal of this. Which gun, which caliber, which holster, isosceles or Weaver…we spend a lot of time on these decisions, partly because its fun, and partly because its something we can control in what we all know is going to be an out of control situation. There is also a fair bit of what I’ll call “tactical bullshit”: shallow thinking by people who don’t understand the problem.
The problem with all of these decisions and thinking is that it biases us to think that a gunfight is going to be like we talk about it on the Internet. Namely: I recognize the threat, and I do this, and he does this, and then I do this, and then he does this, and then something happens, and then I do this again, and then the bad guy is down and victory lap. This mental model is broken because it ignores the velocity of the event. You aren’t going to have time to think, or to plan. The right mental model is a car accident. You will hopefully see it coming, and have time to maybe take one action to save your life. (As an aside, if you have ever taken Defensive Driving, it’s nothing more than Col. Coopers awareness scale applied to driving.)
I’ve never been in a gunfight, and God willing I never will be, but I’ve gone through force on force training, and I’ve observed this effect in myself. During Gunsite 350, we did a force on force drill with Simunition guns. I’ve written about the experience here. What was interesting to me is how surprising the whole thing was. Now, keep in mind, I was at a gun school. I had just suited up in protective gear, had a safety briefing, and was being led into a shoot house, were I had been told that something was going to happen. And yet, when the scenario started, I stood there surprised, not knowing what to do. And while I did an OK job, I made a bunch of mistakes. That’s ok…that’s why we train. But I got an insight into how the brain reacts.
Whatever your self defense strategy is, make sure you are realistic about how you are going to be able to react. Don’t over think the problem.
Dry Fire Training
One thing that Brian hammered into us at TigerSwan was that dry fire practice is key to staying sharp. The problem that I have is that I shoot very well…but when I add time pressure, I tend to make mistakes. For a while, I was using a shot timer to prompt me. A shot timer does a great job of a delayed beep, but resetting each time is a pain. ICE training offers an app for the iPhone that adds some additional options, that I have reviewed before. It’s not bad, but it relies on audio cues only. It’s hard to measure “First hit on target within 2 seconds” in a dry fire environment…it’s too easy to cheat, and there isn’t any way to pull the target.
Dry Fire Trainer is the newest application that have seen for the iPhone/iPod, and it adds bunch of features that I like a lot. First, it adds a visual component. You can set the iPhone up at target height, and when a drill runs, the app will show and remove a target. You can also design your own drills, specifying cues, target types, timings, etc. It lets you incorporate lots of different options into your training.
For example, I set up a basic TigerSwan drill: React to the cue, then get two well placed hits on target, with the first hit in two seconds or less. I set the timer to a random start, between 1 and 5 seconds after the cue. I wanted both “Shooter ready” commands, and a start beep. I get a second beep two seconds after the target is revealed, and the target stays up for 5 seconds total. I set up 5 seconds between drills, and set for 5 repetitions. You can save these settings as a “dill” and and organize drills into “regimens.”
The app will even keep stats for you: how many times you have run each drill, etc.
It’s a great addition to the training arsenal, and at $2.99, a bargin. Link to the app is here.
Lasers as a training aid
When I first started shooting, I loved using a laser for practice because it made sighting easy. When I started training seriously, I realized that the laser has a downside: it trains you to look at the target instead of the sights. I became very anti-laser and thought that they trained in bad habits.
Post TigerSwan, I’ve started using the laser again in one drill. Draw the gun, make sure you have a perfect grip and a perfect stance. Put the laser on a target. Pull the trigger perfectly. If you are doing everything right, the laser will not move at all. Not a millimeter.
I’ve found it very useful in diagnosing from “good enough” and “perfect.” Like shooting at 25 yards, it makes small mistakes apparent immediately.
Home again
Just got black from the blogger shoot. What a blast! Met some great people, learned a ton, and had a great time. I’ll have a full report once my everything stops hurting.
On the road again…
Ugh.
O-dark-30. Leaving for TigerSwan class. Must drink coffee.
More when my brain stops hurting.
Gun School Pro-tips
As we continue our countdown to the Gunblogger class at TigerSwan, I thought a few gun school pro tips would be in order. These tips will help ensure that you get the most out of your training experience.
- Make sure your gear works before you get there. Line time is like gold. Every drill that you have to sit out because your gun went down is like money down the drain. Put a few boxes through your gun to make sure any feeding issues, etc, are ironed out before you get there.
- Dress to impress. Most every school that I know of believes that the show must go on, regardless of weather. Make sure you have the right clothes to stay comfortable no matter what mother nature throws at you.
- Have a holster that is fitted to your gun and a quality gun belt. This isn’t the time for the $20 gun show special “universal” holster. A real gun belt and fitted holster will add to your comfort.
- Keep an open mind. You are paying them to show you how they do it, not to show them how you do it. If you are learning a technique that is different from one you know…give it a chance. You can decide what works best for you after the class.
- Have fun! Shooting is big fun. Learn as much as you can, but don’t take yourself and your performance so seriously that you don’t enjoy the experience.
More on training
Some thoughts on training:
I’m very excited about the upcoming TigerSwan class. It will be interesting to compare the TigerSwan doctrine with Gunsite doctrine. Anyone who has read me for any length of time knows that I worship at the alter of Jeff Cooper. When I first started becoming a Gunnie, there wasn’t much serious defensive training for the non-professional. There was Gunsite, which was just coming back under Buzz Mills’ administration. There was Thunder Ranch. And that was about it. The idea of anyone other than police or military getting professional-level firearms training was simply not a mainstream idea.
Fast forward to today, and it seems like everyone who has ever taken a shooting class is opening up their own school and developing their own doctrine. The examples of just plain bad training are legion. So what do I look for in a quality shooting class?
- An appropriate understanding of the mission. I’m an armed citizen. I’m not a professional law enforcement officer. I’m not a full time warrior. The odds of me needing to know how to join a SWAT stack are pretty low. The odds of me needing to get good-enough hits on man-sized targets at reasonable distances, under more stress than I have ever known in my life, is actually pretty good. It makes sense to emphasize the latter, not so much the former.
- A doctrine that is focused on meeting the needs of the shooter. Everything in life is a trade-off. I’ve decided to become an armed citizen. That means that I have to carry around an uncomfortable hunk of steel with me. I have to dress a certain way, act a certain way, and can’t go certain places. I make that trade-off because I think that it is a better choice than finding myself in a place where I need a gun and don’t have one. Sometimes, that trade-off means that I carry a smaller gun than I would like. That’s ok.
- A focus on the fundamentals. As interesting as the high-speed, low-drag, blah-blah stuff is, it doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t get hits on target. Proper grip, sight alignment, trigger press gets you most of the way there.
- Drills that you can use. Any quality class will leave you with drills that you can use to improve your skills on your own time. These should be drills that you can do by yourself, at home or on the square range.
- At the right time, a focus on force-on-force. This might seem a little strange, given my list here focuses on fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. But I’m a big believer in force-on-force training. Before I stated doing force-on-force drills, I thought that a fight would be like an action movie. Strategy, tactics, plenty of time to think and move. After my first force-on-force drill, I realized that a fight is like a car wreck. You literally have a half-second to recognize what is going to happen and react. Force-on-force teaches you to recognize and react without having to think about it. It helps “pre-program” responses into you.
- Finally, and this should go without saying, safety, safety, safety. I’m talking a multi-layered approach to safety, beginning with the four rules and going from there. Any school that has you shoot past your partner, or anything even approaching that level of stupidity is nothing I want any part of. Note that safe does not mean cold range! Gunsite runs a hot range, yet is completely safe. When you are off the line, your gun stays in the holster. Period. Fiddling with the gun is simply Not Done.
It will be interesting to see where TigerSwan stacks up on my continuum. Given that a trip to Gunsite runs about $3,000 for me once you factor in tuition, ammo, airfare, hotel, car rental, etc, it would be nice to have a local option.
TigerSwan, four days and counting
I’m getting psyched for the upcoming NC blogger TigerSwan class. Sean sent out an email with the instructors info:
Brian Searcy – President/COO
TigerSwan’s President, COO, and co-founder, Mr. Brian Searcy, served 23 years in Army Special Operations and spent the last 16 years with Delta Force. His leadership experience included serving as a military advisor in Central and South America and as the Command Sergeant Major for a 1,700 person Joint Special Operations Task Force in Iraq. A decorated combat leader his awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit and the Bronze StarAs a Delta Force instructor, Mr. Searcy authored and taught classes in assault planning, VIP protection, rifle and pistol marksmanship, explosive and mechanical breaching, close quarters battle and hand to hand combat. He also served as the program manager and primary instructor for Delta’s shooting program. As a civilian consultant to the Pentagon’s Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Defeat Task Force, Mr. Searcy worked in Iraq and the United States training soldiers and marines to predict, detect and mitigate the threat of IEDs.
A competitive shooter for over 25 years, Brian has competed at the top levels of competition in both precision and action shooting. Brian is a U.S. Army Distinguished Pistol Shot and has been awarded the President’s Hundred Tab. His other marksmanship accolades include: Overall Winner- 2005 Joint Special Operations Command Small Arms Championships and the 2003 North Carolina Indoor Conventional Pistol Champion.
In addition to receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Government from Campbell University, Mr. Searcy earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Central Michigan University. Additionally he has completed an executive leadership program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Business School’s Finance for Senior Executives.
Looks like he’s the real deal. 
I’ve got to decide what I am bringing. I think I am going to end up defaulting with an M&P. 9mm or .40sw? Choices, choices…
Blogger shoot
I just got off the phone with Sean, who mentioned that we still have a few spots open for the class at Tigerswan. I can’t wait…It should a great class. If you want to attend, let Sean know.
Sen. Klein off to gun school
The blogosphere is abuzz about the story of Arizona State Senator Lori Klein, who is under fire for allegedly pointing her LCP at a reporter.
When I read the story, I shot an email to Jane Anne Shimizu, the PR director at Gunsite suggesting that they might want to offer the Senator a spot in one of their 250 classes. Jane Anne replied that they did just that, and that the Senator has accepted the offer.
Good job, Gunsite, and good job, Senator.
Edited to add:
Much has been made of what Sen. Klein did or didn’t do; whether she swept the reporter or whether he did it to himself. No matter what, the bottom line is that even a few yars ago I can’t imagine that an elected politician would be talking about the fact that they carry a gun for self defense. Self defense is mainstream. Good for Sen. Klein for taking the next step down that road.
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Do your part!
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