A Self-Defense Question

JT

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I am interested in your response to this question:

What do you consider to be the primary skill to practice to improve your odds in a situation that might require you to defend yourself?

TIA for your thoughtful responses.

JT
 
What do you consider to be the primary skill to practice to improve your odds in a situation that might require you to defend yourself?

Improve your habits and situational awareness to avoid a situation where you DO need to defend yourself.
 
Mindset

No amount of speed training, draw training, accuracy , gear, or anything will matter if you do not have the mindset to defend yourself or others when the time is required. As John Wayne said in "The Shootist" you have to be willing. You cant hesitate, take a breath, or hold out for hope. When it is "Go time" you have to be mentally prepared to be the most violent person in the encounter and to not stop fighting until the altercation is over.

It is why militaries for hundreds of years have broken soldiers down and built them back up into warriors. The act of killing/violence is suppressed in us from the moment we are born until the moment we die. So that instinct for violent action has to be brought back to the surface.

If you listen to the interviews with most gun fight survivors you will always find and undercurrent of where they did not hesitate at the moment of truth. They were able to get violent enough fast enough to overcome their aggressor.

Now, training this mindset is a complicated task, and different for each of us.
 
What do you consider to be the primary skill to practice to improve your odds in a situation that might require you to defend yourself?

Improve your habits and situational awareness to avoid a situation where you DO need to defend yourself.

Yep. Open your damn eyes, know where you are, and quit staring at your phone. Yesterday I was almost involved in a 4 car pileup at 75+ MPH. Almost quaranteed it was caused by testing and driving. I had about .25 seconds to move left into the emergency lane and around a flipping SUV to my 3 oclock. If I had been staring at my phone, jamming to music, or not watching my peripheral then I may not be alive to post this.
 
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Yep. Open your damn eyes, know where you are, and quit staring at your phone. Yesterday I was almost involved in a 4 car pileup at 75+ MPH. Almost quaranteed it was caused by testing and driving. I had about .25 seconds to move left into the emergency lane and around a flipping SUV to my 3 oclock. If I had been staring at my phone, jamming to music, or not watching my peripheral then I may not be alive to post this.

Yikes!

I agree with SA. I had a moving van try to take a left turn from the right lane as I was payipas him. If I hadn't been watching him more than I was the straight road ahead of me, I do believe there would have been contact made. Who knows what would have been the result of it.
 
What do you consider to be the primary skill to practice to improve your odds in a situation that might require you to defend yourself?

Improve your habits and situational awareness to avoid a situation where you DO need to defend yourself.


While I whole heartedly agree with the importance of situational awareness I dont think it prevents everything ie a home invasion. Sometimes trouble comes where you live. Still situational awareness comes into play there also.
 
I am interested in your response to this question:

What do you consider to be the primary skill to practice to improve your odds in a situation that might require you to defend yourself?

TIA for your thoughtful responses.

JT
I find the question to be a bit misleading, because it's not one skill, but rather a combination of skills. They don't work in isolation. With that said, the foundation that makes of it work is, as previously mentioned, mindset and awareness. A core to this the OODA loop. Too long to go into much detail here, but OODA is Observe Orient Decide Act. Observe your surroundings. If you see a situation evolving, Orient yourself for optimal positioning. This could be simply leaving the kill zone or it could be taking the initiative. Decide on what the best option is. Act on it with commitment and intensity. This is of course a very simplistic description.
As I said earlier, it's a combined system. A speed draw or marksmanship is no good if you're not in the right place to use it.
Consider learning so close quarters hand to hand skills. In reality, your encounter will be very close and attempting to go to gun first may not be optimal.



be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet
 
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Avoiding the threat. (#1 skill)
Deescalate the threat.
Evaluate the threat.

Stop the threat.

Drawing the firearm smooth but quick. Very important.

Rounds on target at close range. Very important.

Other than a gun, improvement in boxing (street fighting) and your ground game (because it usually ends up there).
 
Avoiding the threat. (#1 skill)
Deescalate the threat.
Evaluate the threat.

Stop the threat.

Drawing the firearm smooth but quick. Very important.

Rounds on target at close range. Very important.

Other than a gun, improvement in boxing (street fighting) and your ground game (because it usually ends up there).
Pretty much this.
 
Situational Awareness ... see possible problems before they become real problems and how a pretty good idea how to get away from them.
 
While I whole heartedly agree with the importance of situational awareness I dont think it prevents everything ie a home invasion. Sometimes trouble comes where you live. Still situational awareness comes into play there also.
Ever see Dune? Remember the scene when Gurney and the rest enter and Paul has his back to the door? He knew who was coming through the door.

I know my house, and I know the people who visit. Some (family) enter without knocking. It's funny how they all have a distinctive sound. But even if the sound is familiar, if anything is off, my hand is on my gun immediately.

Situational awareness definitely comes into play there too, but you're right in that you have less "situation" to be aware of - once they're in the door you're already in the red zone.
 
Ever see Dune? Remember the scene when Gurney and the rest enter and Paul has his back to the door? He knew who was coming through the door.

I know my house, and I know the people who visit. Some (family) enter without knocking. It's funny how they all have a distinctive sound. But even if the sound is familiar, if anything is off, my hand is on my gun immediately.

Situational awareness definitely comes into play there too, but you're right in that you have less "situation" to be aware of - once they're in the door you're already in the red zone.
When I was younger, after summer of training with a Sholin Priest, I could tell when someone was coming around a corner and usually tell you who it was. ;)

But, situational awareness doesn't nhave to be mystical. It's mostly paying attention
 
As John Wayne said in "The Shootist" you have to be willing. You cant hesitate, take a breath, or hold out for hope. When it is "Go time" you have to be mentally prepared to be the most violent person in the encounter and to not stop fighting until the altercation is over..

As the song said in "Waterhole Number Three", Do unto others before they do unto you.
 
Work on the not optimal and follow through. Was shooting with a buddy and he mentioned something to me after some shots. Basically there is a good chance you won't have both hands to draw, so can you do all that one handed? Optimal is clearing your cover, then drawing. More likely is holding someone off with the weak hand and having to uncover/draw with the strong hand. Can you put good hits on target with a less than optimal grip? Do you stop your practice if it does not feel perfect or fight through it? A little off balance? Hands not exactly where you want them? Oops, why is my shirt coming out with my gun? There's good reason to practice until you have something down. But there is also good reason to be able to deal with less than perfect. Because the attacker gets a vote too. And that will screw up a lot of your plan.
 
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