Are you REALLY ever ready?

[Godsgunman]

We all talk about different ways we train and why we try to train ourselves for the very minute possibility we will ever have to defend ourself or our family, but are we ever REALLY ready? This question is probably more geared toward those who are in law enforcement or civilians who have actually had to defend his/her self. With all your drills and training did you feel prepared when it came down to it? How about after the fact? Do you still feel your mindset/skillset/toolset were adequate or did you find yourself not fully ready for the moment or aftermath? The reason I ask these questions is because we can train the best we know how, which I'm obviously an advocate of, but there are certain intangibles that can't really be simulated so do to those did you find you were truly ready?

 

[Bobson]

I'm not sure a person could ever be perfectly prepared, because it isn't possible to prepare to deal with the mental side of combat without engaging in it. On the flip side, given that limit, a person can be as prepared as possible, which in some sense makes them "ready."

So I'll say yes, there is a point at which a person could be ready. The high success rate of soldiers who see combat for the first time supports this claim. I know we aren't talking about "combat" per se, but we're discussing something very similar.

The fact that many police officers and civilians make poor choices or seemingly basic mistakes in a firet-time use of force isn't proof that we can't be ready - just that most training regimens are ineffective or inadequate.

 

[two gun charlie]

You will never know until it happens to you , and to be perfectly honest I have seen extremely well trained men turn into jelly , I have met little old ladies who took on farm hit squads all by themselves (thanks to the miracle that is a pump action shotgun) and racked up a body count that would have made Genghis Khan proud.
You just don't know , familiarity with your choice of arms is always of great importance but a lot of it has to do with luck , the situation , your mood at that moment , the angles at which your assailants attack from , how well they are armed and I can go on and on . Training can never be a bad thing , but it's never the only thing it comes down to.

 

[9mmepiphany]

What training does is reduce the number of thinks you need to consciously think about when a crisis occurs...your training takes over...so there s less to be overwhelmed by.

We've all heard that you'll default, under pressure, to you lowest level of training. If you rise that level of training, you'll be well served under pressure

 

[Godsgunman]

I agree 100% with what you said 9mmepiphany. I believe anyone with a CCL should do more than just shoot at stationary paper targets and practice drawing and point shooting, close combat shooting, weapon retention, etc, at very minimum. Basically what I'm after is for those members who have unfortunately had to use force to protect themselves or even LEOs having to defend others, did they feel like their training was enough or did it lack in a certain area and did they add to their training after.

 

[JustinJ]

Special Operations guys are incredibly well trained yet still die on the battlefield. I'm not comparing civilian threats to war, but my point is that it so often can come down to simple luck. Preparations allow one to take advantage of opportunities if and when they arise.

 

[Texan Scott]

If you survive your first encounter through any more than sheer dumb luck, you might have been ready enough... barely. It won't feel like it afterward, I GUARANTEE.

If you aren't already carrying a bag to barf in when it's over, you aren't completely ready.

 

[GBExpat]

One other thing is the after effects of the Adrenalin Dump that you are going to experience.

Many years ago, following a couple of unfortunate and INTENSE encounters (one violent), I had learned that within about 3 minutes of the incident being over, I would need to sit down somewhere because my knees were going to jelly on me.

 

[Texan Scott]

^Winner winner chicken dinner!

That adrenaline leaves, and then my chicken dinner leaves. When I start noticing sounds and peripheral vision returns (I experience auditory exclusion and tunnel vision), my knees and hands turn to jiggly jello. Experience has taught me the best way to still them is to kneel in front of, and grip the rim of, the nearest toilet. That way, I'm in position for what likely comes next.

Knowing what happens to your body under stress is surprisingly important. I know from experience that I will lose awareness of sound and peripheral vision; I will experience the whole "slow motion" thing; all my gross motor movements become faster and more forceful than I intended, and my fine motor skills go to heck. My left hand, especially, becomes useful for holding on to things, and not much else.

Knowing things like that, I've learned that under stress, revolvers are better for me than automatics, and rifles with right-hand side controls (SKS, mini-14) are better for me than ARs. Better also for my defend-in-place points to be corners or doorways facing down a hallway. Easier to manage than navigating an open space.

I still won't feel ready for the next one (g-d forbid), but I learn more about managing fear and handling situations each time I squeak through one.

 

[MedWheeler]

I don't think many of us would know until after the fact if he/she was truly ready. I know I have had people at gunpoint, and was very much coming up on "time-to-fire" with at least one of them, a suspect I caught driving a car taken from a savagely-murdered woman killed in a burglary/rape only hours before. Just as he was reaching for his waistband, another patrol car slid up and its driver appeared from my side, shoving a Mossberg at the suspect's ear. Probably saved the suspect's life, as he hesitated long enough for more of us to get there and wrestle him down. We found his gun in the car, in a place that told us it may have fallen from his waistband as he got out.

At any rate, I knew then and there he was about to get shot, and that it would have been "clean." I also knew I was ready to make that shot. What I did not know, nor had time to care about right then, was how I would be afterward, but I trusted that I would have been fine. Most well-trained responders (fire, EMS, police, and many privates) will do fine in "automation" until it becomes okay for the knees to go to jelly, and that's the goal.

 

[Texan Scott]

Fear is normal. Some guys act like they weren't scared, or say they weren't. If I believed a guy that said that, I'd worry. People who get EXCITED, but legitimately NOT frightened by, mortal violence are probably not right in the head.

For the rest of us, fear is what keeps us going. It's what keeps the adrenaline going until we don't NEED it anymore. The fear is IMPORTANT. Keeping control of it instead of losing control TO it is what the training is for; it's the thing that allows us to keep control of OURSELVES even when we can't control the situation.

 

[Sam1911]

In Craig A. Mullaney's The Unforgiving Minute he described returning to West Point after his time in Afghanistan, and talking to his younger brother going to school there, and all his young Army pals and being repeatedly asked, "Were you ready?" He didn't even know how to begin to answer the question. It was like he didn't share the same language anymore.

I don't expect to ever be ready.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Lethal or potentially lethal violence is such a rare thing for the vast majority of us here and now that I doubt very many of us could ever be counted as truly 'ready' to deal with it. I have known a few folks to whom lethal violence was such familiar terrain, physically and psychologically, that they were not much perturbed by it, but they had survived dozens if not hundreds of lethal encounters.

That is not a terrain I wish to be so comfortable in, myself, for a variety of reasons.

I am content to consider myself 'ready enough,' and let it go at that.

One of my friends who used to teach ... kinetics ... at a classified facility on Ft. Bragg once told me about spotting a former student in an airport in Afghanistan. The young soldier walked over after a bit and asked, seriously, "How long have I been dead?" Meaning that he hadn't spotted my friend first. There are so many ways of being 'ready' that it's hard to even list them all.

 

[beatledog7]

Whoever considers himself fully trained is the one most in need of training, and whoever thinks himself ready for anything has almost certainly overlooked something obvious.

Prudence requires the constant reevaluation of where one falls short of perfection, and for most of us, that's gonna be a long list until we die.

 

[Z1D2]

Ok I have skimmed. So what!
Ok my post point is. I hunt. I started getting into hunting after I left the army. I recall the first kill it was not a human but I got these "feelings". I took a life.
I have killed my very first deer, it was a 4 point last year. The kill felt different. I got some same feelings. But mainly I felt like a since of best way to say it was respect. I seen the deer and it made me think about the life I took. And I respected the deer in a way. And I was congratulated for finally getting it (my first buck) and I oddly felt like they were wronging that deer. The kill was easier, but I think it is similar, the animal kill, and what the killing of a human will be like for me. I think hunting will help and has helped me be more ready.
But on the other hand I have carried in the home and the wife has surprised me, and I will admit scared the crap out of me. So should I reached first for the pistol? I didn't, I did what I normally do and that's take a swing. So Question is am I or anyone absolutely ready? I would like to believe to a point many are including me.

 

[ChCx2744]

9mmepiphany said:

We've all heard that you'll default, under pressure, to you lowest level of training. If you rise that level of training, you'll be well served under pressure.

Well said. One thing I think that I can take from all my training and experiences is that you really gotta put priorities first, which includes what's going on at the present moment. When I say priorities first, people may think "Family, work, friends, etc, etc." That's not what I'm talking about. I guess this is geared more towards law enforcement or those who are regularly in higher danger situations, but a common theme in law enforcement is writing incident reports or some sort of report in the patrol car. The officer gets so carried away when writing or focusing on the screen that they fail to realize what's going on around them. Many officers get ambushed this way.

Same thing applies to the public. How many times have you entered your car without first looking into the back seat or checking your reflection in the window or looking around? Do you approach your car with your keys in hand, in your weapon hand or completely oblivious and talking on the phone? How many times do you get into your car and forget to lock the doors or just sit there while answering a call or adjusting your seat? How many trips do you make back to your car when carrying grocery bags?

Learning to weigh the important things against the lesser important things constantly as part of your OODA loop (Key emphasis on the word "Constantly") can be a real life saver. Mood and awareness of your surrounding has a lot to do with how you respond to something, especially a threat to your safety or life.

Of course having good open-handed combat and gun skillz will help when the hat drops, but being able to determine if the situation is about to get turned up is more important. That OODA loop needs to be well oiled. Look up every now and then. Look around you every now and then. Check out what people are doing every now and then. Why do you think other people do it? Have you ever looked up to see someone glancing at you at the same time? This is a primitive instinct that other animals do as well. Might as well keep it sharp. Many folks often underestimate the importance behind the art of "people watching." Watching what people do and how they act in public, how they act around other people and their body language has a direct correlation with what they are thinking and what they are planning to do next. It's fun to toy around with in your head.

 

[threefeathers]

Yes and No. I saw combat in my 24 years as a 19D and you get to a level of readiness in a situation that you respond instantly but you live in what is called condition orange.
As a civilian I've drawn my gun twice, fired once and both times I was in condition white and **** went down very fast.
One situation was just after I came from a session at the V A and I was in a sorry for myself mode and the other was in a Pep Boys at closing. I responded correctly but I was very lucky.

 

[ShootingTargets7.com]

I've experienced combat more than a few times as a 95b in the 10th mountain div
and one thing I can say is you really can't answer that question until it happens.

Some of the biggest "tough guys" are the first ones to get paralyzed with fear and lose their cool.

That said some of the quiet shy guys can be as calm and cool under fire as a robot.

You never know until it happens to you, you can try to train for it, but nothing will effect you like the real legitimate fear of death.

The first time is always the worst and you get used to it fast. The problem is the first time could be your last time if you lose it.

 

[two gun charlie]

Adrenalin dump is the least of my worries when it comes to an armed confrontation , I am more concerned about how I will cope with being wounded if that should ever happen. Will my little medical aid case be sufficient , will the ambulance get here in time .....

 

[Deaf Smith]

Are you REALLY ever ready?

Sure. Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not.

Can't stay 100 percent 7/24 but you can for situations that might get unpleasant.

Deaf

 

[mbt2001]

Food for thought along with my $0.02.

No, no one is "ready" for a deadly encounter. I am sure that most of the deadly encounters would have been handled much differently if the people were "ready". Cody Lundin, the survival instructor, once said that no one is ready for a survival situation, that is why it is a survival situation. If you are "ready"/prepared, you are camping. He also said something to effect of, I do not want to "survive" I want to LIVE.

When I was in high school (90's) I remember reading a Jim Grover column where he said that in a gun fight, do not hope. You have no right to hope. Hope is dead. I remember thinking that fit well into many of the martial mindsets handed down to us. Armed encounters are not about walking away alive = win, they are about living a principled life so that one doesn't fear death. Take the fear away and you take the freeze away. Training does that, it tries to turn the situation into a move counter-move scenario. The japanese call it Mushin (no mind). Where you do not clutter the mind with planning. The planning stage is over, the battle is now upon you.

There is an old Samurai saying "Always be waiting for your time to die." That translates a little dry in English, it should say: Always be EAGERLY waiting your time to give your life in a worthy pursuit.

Surviving an armed encounter is not about always having a gun and being quick on the draw and quick to fire. Sometimes that wins fights, but much of the time that action is the result of a lot of other failed actions. Sun Tzu says that the supreme victory is to win without fighting. Fights rarely ever MUST happen. When those rare times come up, remember that you have been waiting for this moment, it is the culmination of a principled and disciplined life and no matter what happens you have lived according to your code. Then no one can defeat you, for you have lost nothing.

If you find yourself in one of those situations, act, but do not ever make the mistake of thinking that the only alternative is: fight, with a holstered gun, squared to the target, at 7 yards. Be careful in dangerous situations of thinking violence, that will feed the encounter. Be calm, think calmness and prepare for the possible battle. You will then enforce your Ki on the opponent.

I have said it before, but the warrior ethos is NOT about death and killing, but about life. Martial traditions are not about training someone how to kill, but about healing those that have.

 

[FM12]

I try to subscribe to the often posted on the internet theory of "Be polite to every one you meet, but also have a plan to kill them."

 

[BLB68]

I'm as ready as I'll never be.

 

[mljdeckard]

Nope. You just run out of time. You will sink to your lowest level of training.

 

[gamestalker]

My life has been one deadly encounter after another, in all honestly, I find myself remembering yet another to add to the list every now and then. I've been kidnapped multiple times, once when I was a 12 yr. old kid, robbed, randomly targeted and violently attacked several times, and also had two attempts to blow me up in my car in 1980. With the exception to the the attempts to blow me up in my car, all others have pretty much been random evil perpetrated encounters aimed at taking my life, or mine and another. I think the worst of them has been the kidnapping attempts hands down. Those encounters were at the hands on pure evil, and I'm certain they had no intentions of letting me, or anyone with me survive.

I've had a good deal of training over the years, and I continue to drill when ever possible. But if I said training and drills have contributed my survival, I would be lying. Time and chance, and the fact that I had a firearm are the primary reasons for having survived most of these encounters.

As to your question, I don't ever feel ready. It just seems that when things happen, it's never expected, and I never have a clue as to how it is going to go down. I feel the majority of incidents have taken place in such a short span of seconds, that any type of choreographed response on my behalf would have been impossible. To say I'm ready, would probably only go so far as to a particular state of awareness I try to maintain, and the fact that I'm never without a sidearm, ever.

GS