V.I.P.A Tactical Training

The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop people who don't want it badly enough. They're there to stop the other people.
Randy Pausch

So what is stopping you? You want to get fit or fitter, you want to spar or compete at a higher level, you want to shoot faster and more accurately, you want to become a team leader or manager, you want to protect yourself and your family, you want to be rich, you want to be someone people look up to, SO WHAT IS STOPPING YOU?

I have goals, notice I said goals. I have one major goal in my life, my end product as it were, that is where I want to be. But what I need to do on my path to my final destination is broken down into singular goal accomplishments.

This is where most people have failed before they even start. Never mind having a final destination, they don't even have a flight plan, taxi way, take off, flight or approach to be able to land at their desired destination. And there may not be just one flight to get there, there may be lots of them.

The walls Randy Pausch wrote about are indeed there to keep the mediocre behind those who want to dare to achieve great things, but most people fail to see the point of the walls.
The walls are not obstacles, each wall is your immediate goal, how you achieve that goal is up to you, go over it, under it, round it or through it. But guess what, when you get past that wall, achieve that immediate goal on route to your final destination there is going to be another wall, another goal. This is what stops people from achieving their ultimate desire because we never know how many walls, how many goals we must achieve before we reach out and claim our desire.
For some it may be many, for others only a few but you must realise that each wall that is overcome that is another goal achieved, it is another step closer to where you want to be.

There are many reasons why people put off even starting to achieve there immediate goal but the thing is that when you procrastinate, those builders are busy building more and more walls, more goals you are going to have to achieve to get to where you want to be. Put off today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and the walls will mount up, obstacles will mount up which is going to make it harder to achieve that immediate goal, that is why you must start now to reduce the amount of walls, the amount of goals you must achieve along your path.

Any Goal can be reached, that wall breached, there is always a way, finding that way is the work you have to put in to achieve your dreams.

If we look at grappling or ground defence for combat, for every technique there is a counter and for every counter there is another counter and so on and so forth. When the pressure and pain are on, when the mind stops thinking, that is the moment you fail.Failing to achieve your goal means you must look for another route, failing to achieve your goal may mean you give up on your dreams forever, failing on the street though could ultimately cost you your life.

So whatever is your immediate goal and whatever is your final goal, remember:
'A man can be beaten in two ways, if he gives up or dies' Richard Machowic

Stay Dangerous

Rock

Over the last few days I have had some very interesting discussions with some very knowledgeable and very experienced operators and instructors around the subject of training. This was in relation to firearms training in the close protection industry, but the discussion also highlighted for me the training content and the training in relevant and effective skills with regards to members of the general public who train in self protection. This applies to some degree to unarmed police officers who are not firearms trained but who are either training in self protection or are trained in police defence tactics.

For this blog post you will have, I am sure, guessed that I am going to look at firearms training in the self protection world. For those of you who know me, know that I am all about relevant training, realistic training and training that has a direct impact on your actuality.

There are countless systems out there that include so called firearms training within their syllabus, some I have tried, some I haven't and some I wouldn't touch with a barge pole.

One of the systems I have trained in for a long time since its first course in the UK way back in the early 90s is Krav Maga. This is not to either recommend or denigrate that system, I only do that for and to instructors, not systems.

So back to firearms, well for a start in the UK there aren't any, well not legal ones anyway; so the chances of a member of the public who is not working with firearms will probably have never seen one, handled one or fired one. Remember I am not talking about military personnel, PSD operators, armed police officers or executive protection operators who either work with them or train with them for when needed. I am talking about your average member of the public training in a class for self protection.

Could you as a member of the public, not one of the above, name the firearms below, tell me about their working mechanisms, accuracy, rate of fire, effective ranges and most importantly their operating procedure (how you handle them)? 

What is taught in your class is not firearms training, it is firearms disarming. This is obviously a huge difference and as you are reading this you are probably saying to yourself 'Well yes ok but so what'?. well the 'So what' part is what the hell do you do now if you are successful at taking a firearm off someone and no first clue as how to use it. In the picture above we are looking at short weapons, rifles that you train to take from people are a little bit more complicated. 

OK so now you have an unfamiliar weapon in your hands, do you know the state of it, (I don't mean whether it is clean or dirty here either), how do you cock it, is the safety catch on or off? hell where is the safety catch and the list goes on.

We have all seen the excellent and not so excellent pistol disarming techniques on youtube, you get the weapon off the bad guy, step back, cock the weapon, tell him to kneel down, he does so because hey all bad guys do as they are told and yeeeaaah you win. REALISTIC, NOT! You have that unfamiliar weapon in your hand and because this is a bad guy, maybe on drugs, strung-out, drunk, wants to rape you or is just your average, everyday badass mentalist, he runs at you. Now what, close your eyes and pull the trigger not sure where you are aiming and turn your head because hey its going to go BANG. Guess what, too late he is on you. taken back the gun and GAME OVER!

Your classroom training with these weapons looks cool, movie star hero moves, cool, flashy, impressive even but firearms training it is not.

When was the last time you were held up with a gun? The percentage is going to be lower than low.

If this training is in your systems curriculum then do yourself a favour and train in the next bit, don't kid yourself and learn how to use the damn things.

Stay Dangerous

Rock

In the fluid arena of combat you need a number of systems that will enable you to triumph when the time comes. Modern systems being taught today encompass strategies, tactics and techniques from any number of other systems. Even if you are learning a mixture of systems the fact remains, you will have a primary system and probably more than one back-up system.

Your primary system is the one you are going to practice most, your big guns, your main armament, which one is yours, Boxing, Thai Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, or firearms? For example.

Back – up systems need to be in place for the time your primary system gets over ridden. Your back – up system will be used so you can get into a position to once again employ your primary system.

The choice of when to change to a back –up system may be pre-planned but most likely while in combat the decision will be made on the spot and your choices will be dictated by your environment, enemy, weather or the actuality of combat to name a few but areas that are going affect the combat situation.

Even in the heat of combat you need to be thinking ahead, it is just a game of chess and although you need to keep things simple and as basic as possible, at every stage you need to have a back-up in place ready to use.

I don’t teach or use Jiu Jitsu as a primary system, I teach it as one of a number of back – up systems. Different aspects are used in different areas of combat where my primary system is not viable or I am not in a position to use it to its full potential.

Just like your primary system, the choice of what to use as a back – up system is purely down to you, your body type, mental (moral & ethical) mind-set as well as your actuality, where you live and work for example. More on that shortly.

Do you train realistically in your back – up systems? When was the last time you were held at gun point or attacked in your car? Of course you have to train for these situations but you have to realise they are part of your back – up training list, unless of course you live or work in an area where these types of situations happen regularly.

Which brings me on to my next point. Your primary system may not stay as your primary system, you may even have two, sounds odd doesn’t it?

OK let’s look at a couple of examples:

You live in the UK but you work in the Middle East on a PSD team. While in the UK you’re primary system is Wing Chung Kung Fu with Aikido forming part of your back – up system. These are not going to be your primary or secondary systems while at work where you are armed with an assault rifle (you primary system) and a side arm (your back – up system). Your unarmed systems may be your 3rd or 4th choice, each one employed to get you closer too and back to using your primary system.

What if you move house or emigrate? Your new location and your primary system may not be in sync. You may need to change systems around to fit in with threats, laws and all of the other tactical issues your new location will bring up.

Don’t just train blindly, research and plan your combat effectiveness.

Do you have a primary and secondary system and do you know the current tactical situations where these systems may be employed?

If you fail to plan you plan to fail - Benjamin Franklin

Stay Dangerous

Rock