An Origin Story

Maybe not the exact same effect, but most would be really surprised to learn how effective this method is when done correctly. Where did the sling tension method or sling method as I was taught come from in the first place. Those of us who cut our teeth on assaults with a sub-machine gun at some point had to learn this method to work with gas masks or chem/bio suits. Believe me it was not as sexy as it sounds, but it was a mission requirement we had to perfect. The best way to explain how it works is when the sling is properly positioned, adjusted and the platform is setup correctly you push against the sling to create tension or a simulated stock. This tension helps stabilize the firearm.

Learning About Slings

Let’s talk about properly positioning the sling. You can run a two point or one point sling configuration. I tend prefer the two point, but both work well. If you run a sling that can transition between the two its the best of both worlds. I used the Blue Force Gear 221 sling; which gives me this option to much success. In class, I would transition from running a two point, to a one point simply by moving the QD swivel. To further explain a properly positioned sling we talk about the mounting location. If you run a one point, you can either attach it to the inboard or the outboard side. Some AR Pistol configurations have an end plate with a QD attachment that further simplifies your setup. However, if you are running the folding or collapsible type braces this is not an option.

The Secret

Making sure the sling is properly adjusted is the secret. You want there to be just enough tension. You are looking for almost full extension, about 80-90% full extension to be exact. This will allow you to apply force into the sling. It is this force that helps stabilize and reduce recoil while shooting. This works best with pistol caliber AR pistols, but I’ve had much success with rifle calibers. In classes I’ve run the Sig Rattler chambered in 300 Blackout and love the versatility of this little blaster. To make this method work even better, use the inside of your sling to create an improvised cheek weld. This creates a semi-third point of contact. The bad news is it can reduce your options when you try to achieve a shoulder mount. There were plenty of times I would run and gun with the sling tension method, but slow down for a long shot or a high percentage shot using the stock. So for me, I would run with my stock extended. If you get the sling just right for sling tension, it might mean the setup or position of the sling can interfere or get in the way of obtaining a good and reliable shoulder mount.

A Little Preparation

There is not a lot you have to do to your firearm platform. Meaning, if you running a folding brace, it is ideal to keep the brace folded so it is not in your way. The extended brace can sometimes get in the way of seeing your sights quickly. Modern red dot sights have somewhat negated this issue, but still something to consider. Running with no brace makes it pretty clean and easier to run the sling tension method in my opinion.  Something else to consider is depending on the barrel length a concern might be your weak hand position. Hand stops that prevent your hand from moving too far forward will keep your hand away from the hot gases near the muzzle. It also allows you to place a little bit more forward isometric tension into the sling.

How Does It Perform

When you have everything setup for optimal performance using this method you will find speed and accuracy to be pretty impressive. If you have to make a snap shot inside 15 yards it is wicked fast. Back in the day it was all iron sights, but using a red dot sight gives you the ability to step back with more accuracy.  Stepping back to 25, 35 and 50 yards produces more than acceptable accuracy. You are not going to be shooting a sub-MOA group, but you can easily shoot an 8 inch group at 50 yards; which is 4MOA and plenty accurate for most defensive gun uses.

The bottom line is all is not lost if you cannot use the brace. Experiment with this sling tension method and you will find it very capable.

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Gun ownership is such a polarizing subject. And, with the increasing gun ownership in America combined with the tension and friction we’ve seen between people, it’s only going to become more so. That said, gun ownership is a fundamental right protected by the United States Constitution but that does not absolve us of the responsibility we, as gun owners, have to be safe and make ourselves proficient with our firearms.

Today, I am joined by former Navy SEAL, Jeff Gonzales to talk about both our rights and responsibilities as gun owners. We also cover recommendations for new firearms owners, how much time needs to be dedicated towards training (including training without having access to a range), why the beginners’ mindset will help you become a more proficient gun owner, and metrics for improving your accuracy and effectiveness should you need to use your firearm.

Want maximum health, wealth, relationships, and abundance in your life? Sign up for our free course, 30 Days to Battle Ready. https://www.orderofman.com/battleready/

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I had a great time talking to Jeff, who I have known for years.. Jeff has a great story and another great example of a Man who never settled, drives forward and continues to live in that ALWAYS FORWARD mentality. From how he joined the Navy, becoming a Navy Seal, his training, business and body slamming dudes on car hoods over seas… The good stuff. Hope you love it as much as I did and I look forward to your comments! Thanks for the listen

The post Going Rogue with Wes Whitlock / Episode 2 with Navy SEAL Jeff Gonzales appeared first on Trident Concepts.

I’ve taken some time to reflect on what has happened in Afghanistan, to process what it all meant to me personnally. I went through various stages of emotions; from rage, to sadness, to grief and finally to acceptance. The trouble with Afghanistan in the simplist terms is we should’ve never been there that long.

Lack Of Clear Guidance

I struggled to find a way to express some of these emotions. I can recall the first time I flew into the country, flying over what I can only describe as beautiful mountain ranges. Like many, I found much to like about the country. Having spent my entire adult life traveling all over the world I have seen some pretty bad places. This was about as bad as I’ve seen at the time. The wounds from 911 were still raw and another memory I shall never forget was a detour on our way to the airport. The stop was the Pentagon, specifically the side still smoldering. It left a very deep mark on me. My mission was clear, my resolve was unwaivering. I traveled over the next several years multiple times to Afghanistan. I eventually declined to return, not because I didn’t like what we were doing, but because I didn’t understand our mission and what I was seeing.

Gut Wrenching Feeling

A lot of people are commenting about the last 20 years being a failure. I don’t see it that way at all. In the last 20 years we have not seen a 911 style attack. Our mission was to deny the enemy freedom of movement and keep them looking over the shoulders wondering when they would be next. Take a moment to reflect on the emotions you felt when the twin towers fell. Be grateful we haven’t had to experience something similar. There were moments when peace existed in that 20 year period. When people were free to live their own lives without fear of death. When I first got on the ground, part of our area familiarization was to visit a soccer stadium regularly used for stoning. The trouble with Afghanistan is a lot of people have no idea the horrible death stoning produces. Be grateful you don’t. At a certain point the vibe started to change. Maybe it was a sense of comfort or maybe it was the tide shifting. All I can tell you is what I saw, my observations.

What Its Like To Be A Woman

Years after I left the country for the last time I was asked to give a speech about my experince in country. I was somewhat reluctant, but eventually with some encouragement I agreed. I was asked to go first as there would be a second speaker. They were providing a different perspective to contrast mine. Part of my agreement was not discuss some matters so in the interest of maintaining OPSEC all I talked about was what I saw. The trouble with Afghanistan was how once the shock of being in theater started to wane I realized there were no women to be seen. None. Aside from those within our compound they were nonexistant. As my deployments continued I started seeing groups of woman. According to religious dictate they must move in large groups or with their husbands for fear of retalitaion. What people don’t undestand is honor killing is a normal part of life there. A father to perserve his honor will without reservation seek cruel punishment on his own blood. After more visits I started to see mothers moving along with their children. Still dressed head to two in a burka and I mean from the top of their head to the their feet. Sometimes you couldn’t even see their hands it was so extreme. Then I remember seeing a woman walking in only the tradition head piece, the hijab. I was a little surprised, but nothing could prepare for my last trip where I saw a woman in western dress, a pant suit no less. She was waiting on a street corner. I remember almost missing the turn out of the traffic circle because I had to do a double take to make sure what I saw was real. This is what progress looks like. This is what it looks like when our efforts produce results.

Freedom Is Not Always What You Think

On one of those trips I remember speaking through our intepretors to a local woman. This was well before the progress I described. She was afraid of being seen with me for fear of realaition. I could not look at her or give the impression I was talking to her, but she was kind enough to help us get more information. I remember the interpretor who was also a female saying to me she was afraid, not only for retalition. She was afraid we would abandon her. I was taken back and angered she would make this claim. That was my arrogance. What I’m most distressed about is I reassured her we would not. In the end, we did. Back to the briefing I gave. As I ended my brief, which was short the other speaker began asking me questions. I made it clear it is not my place to speak on government affairs, I was only there to share my observations. She would not relent and eventually the exchange got heated. I can recall ending the exchange by telling her the conversation we were having while vile in my opinion was in fact a privilege. I went on to say, if we were teleported to that soccer stadium I feel she may change her mind. The trouble with Afghanistan is the freedom this lady was exercising is lost to many in countries like Afghanistan.

The Blame Game

Who do I blame? I can tell you who I do not blame. My teammates and every other person who went there to support the mission. The level of professionalism, herosim and fortitude is everthing you would be proud as an American. The blame rests squarely on our leadership, all of it over the last 20 years. I specificlaly blame our executive leadership for failing to not only have a well thoughtout objective, but an exit strategy. It boogles my mind that in all that time whatever exit strategy might have exists was continually ignored. Now, here is a nastly little secret. The trouble with Afghanistan and many other countries is not everyone wants to be an American, not everyone wants democracy, not everyone wants freedom. That last one hurts my heart, but it is true. We were naive to think we could bring prosperity and democracy to a culture that is not interested. To be honest they will never be interested. Our mission should have ended when we dismantled the enemies will; which happened quickly. From there, it should have soley been to capture or kill the enemy when they popped their heads up with surgical strikes. If we truly were trying to stop any future terrorist attacks, then that would have been the extent of the operation. It might be ongoing all these years, but the footprint would be much different.

When You No Longer Know What War Means

The blame goes further than that though. I blame the politicians masquarading as flag officers. The lethality of our fighting force should always be their top priority. It should be abundantly clear, that when diplomacy fails the war that rages serves one purpose. To impose our will unequivocally and unapologetically. If our politicans understood that better, I believe they would try harder to make diplomacy a priority. For knowing they failed means lives will be lost, on both sides. No stone should be left unturned in our efforts to find an amicable solution. But when none exists, it is time to step away from the table and let loose the dogs of war. When I say step away, you stay out of the picture until the objective is secured. Just because you feel guilty because you couldn’t make peace work, doesn’t mean you endager our war fighters by hog tying their ability to wage war. War is not civilized. War is ugly…for everyone involved. When war is your only option, then you must have a fighting force so ruthless their means bring an end to conflict swiftly. There is no good way to wage war, their is only the way that accomplishes the mission with the minimal amount of casualties. We have lost the stomach for waging war as a country because our leadership all the way up the chain are more interested in feelings and perception.

Shouldering The Blame

The blame goes further. I blame those who elected this politicans. You see, the blame rests squarely on the American people’s shoulders. If you voted for this current adminstration you must bear witness to the atrocities that will occur. It won’t be as popular as say pride month, but rest assured the atrocities we saw all those years ago will pale in comparison to what will happen now. Take a moment to realize, the enemy is already going door to door disarming the populace. They will wait until your attention is focused on the next distraction. They know we are so easily distracted. At a time when this past elections results are challenged it is no surprise we are all outraged by what is happening. I can promise you many of those good people will suffer greatly, unimaginable suffering. You may think that death is suffering, but it will be living each day knowing death awaits you. Watching so many people try to flee their country should be a wake up call to what lays in store for those left behind. I know some and I truly wish they escape safely. That is truly their only option.

You Are Either Part Of The Problem Or…

The blame goes even further. I blame political correctness, wokeness, nanny state and cancel culture. These ideas are the single greatest threat to our freedoms. They are a joke! If you believe in these ideas, then you are part of the reason we have lack of true leadership. It has taken me a long time to come to terms with this, but no longer do I feel there can be a middle ground. If you believe in these ideas, then you do not believe in freedom, liberty or self-governance. A line needs to be drawn to protect our way of life. The trouble with Afghanistan is we allowed it to happen over 20 years. Every change of command, there was a different view point. Every elected official used it as a barganing chip. Every media outlet used it for ratings. As far as I’m concerned, the use of our fighting force must always be reserved for the final option. There is no value in nation building, there is no merit in trying to colonize American values. All of this to end with one final thought. The trouble with Afghanistan is it will be vastly more dangerous now, than pre-911. Allow that to sink, all those who are to blame should take a moment to admire their handy work.

The good people of Afghanistan saw what freedom looked like for a short while. I’m afraid if they want freedom they will have to fight for it on their own.

The post The Trouble With Afghanistan appeared first on Trident Concepts.

There is nothing easy about performing under stress, particularly when that stress is the difference between life and death. I think it is about time we moved away from making bad decisions that feel good and work towards doing the hard work towards better performance.

Don’t Compound The Crazy

My biggest complaint about the craziness we are seeing is the terrible decision making. The vast majority of politictians and community “leaders” are the last people who should be making suggestions outside of their area of expertise. In many cases, they do not know thier ass from a hole in the ground. I tempered that statement quite a bit. But, it is absolutely true. They are not the best people to making decisions that could negatively impact their communities becuase they are incapable of seeing the big picture. I’d really like it if they all grabbed a giant cup of shut the hell up.

Stay Out Of The Way

One of my favorite presidents, in fact role models as a kid was President Theodore Roosevelt. One of my favorite quotes from him was “The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” This is not happening in the vast majority of our large cities and metropolitan areas. The problem is how can you take credit for something if you don’t get involved and how can you deflect blame if can’t point fingers. My sincere wish is to see better leadership who seek out the true experts on the subject in question. They seek council because they are not ego driven. They listen because they recognize they don’t know everything. But most important, they make the right decision…not the popular decision.

Being Able To Look Far Enough Forward

What I have seen done to our law enforcement is an embaressment. I have tried to affect positive change in my sphere of influence, but it is hard to make macro changes at the micro level. When I get pulled aside and asked a question as it pertains to my ares of expertise I take it seriously. I’m objective in my response knowing the information I provide is important to informed decision making. I strain my answers through two filters. What is reasonable and what is sustainable. Often times, I can provide plenty of responses that are reasonable. The real problem is what is sustainable. If you have been in the business long enough you realize it is not about the beginning, it is about the end. Too many times I have seen programs developed that sounded good on paper, might have been executed well in the beginning, but over time became unsustainable due to a variety of reasons. Most of those reasons should have been clear enough for the decision makers to see, but often times they fail to look far enough down the road.

Infinite Levels Of Stupid

Recently it was brought to my attention how a law enforcement department was pursuing a new program to “shoot to incapacitate.” I could write volumes on how bad of an idea this is, but it will fall on deaf ears because there is a lack of true leadership. Leadership, that doesn’t cower to public opinion. That fails to put the welfare of their subordinates as well as the public as a priority. To use deadly force for any other option other than deadly force is mistake that will have ripple effects across so many different lines. The reality is asinine policies such as these will gain attention. This attention will feed their faulty decision making matrix. Breeding belief in their plan, despite so many opposing views. There is no good outcome from these types of feel good policies. There is only the public at large continuining to suffer and loose faith in their elected officials and public servants.

You Get Out Of It What You Put In

Again, when I look at this decision I look at it from a macro level. The biggest question I have is how do they intend on implementing this program along with how do they intend on sustaining. We already know law enforcement suffer from a lack of training. Firearms qualification, whatever the interval is often repurposed as training. Rather than address the issue, standards are adjusted. I get how hard it is to run any type of qualification program where failure to qualify could be dismisal. It shouldn’t matter the outcome. When I think about this policy or other similar policies I have three questions. How much resources do you intend on allocating to ensure success? How will you define success? What are the consequences for failure?

My intention was not to draw a disparging light to those who are undertaking one of the most important jobs within our nation. My intention was to voice my frustration in the hopes of preventing this type of leadership making bad decisions from taking root elsewhere.

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Years ago, I participated in a conversation with some truly amazing men about being a monster. In this conversation, the goal was to describe a being so terrible nobody would every choose to confront them or if they did, pay seriously for their choice.

Men Need To Be Dangerous

Years later I would discover the renowned author and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson. Having read most of current literature one passage that always resonated with me was his discussion on being a monster. The idea is men are dangerous. They need to be dangerous to protect their families, to provide for them to mentor them into adulthood. Men need to be dangerous. Dangerous is often associated with negative connotations. I choose to look at dangerous in a positive light. It has been a central tenant to my being since as long as I can remember. It has driven me to be competitive, to be tenacious, to take risks, to fail and fail often with the explicit purpose of trying again and again…to never quit.

The Razor’s Edge of Control

I like this metaphor, but there is a down side to all the glory that comes with being dangerous. The ability to be in control. To live on the ragged edge of control. It is inspiring and horrifying at the same time. But, this razor’s edge is the precise reason mankind has continued to be the dominate species on our planet. It hasn’t always worked out in our favor. It has produced war, crime and violence. These are the negative by products to being a monster. But, it takes a monster to defeat a monster. It is when you lack control, when you react rather than respond. When you allow feelings and emotions to govern your being you are not in control.

You Need The Monster

A growing trend in our country is the taming of the monster. It comes in all forms, from the cancel culture’s male toxic masculinity to male shaming to lopsided court systems. My response to these and other attempts at taming the monster is simple, pack sand. These types of agendas are driven from one source; fear. It is fear, cowardice and timidness that drive these and other stupid agendas that aim to tame the monster. I say this loud and clear, you will never tame the monster. You need this monster, you want this monster for the simple reason evil exists. You are so afraid of this evil that you must drag others down to your level because you know one thing is for certain. You are an easy target of evil and that scares you to death. If you can bring more would be targets into the field you stand a better chance of surviving.

The World Needs Monsters

Right now, more than ever we need monsters. Monsters who are in control at ever corner. Monster who are dangerous and know it, but yet still live life peacefully. We are the best at defending our way of life, our beliefs and our families. When it comes to defending liberty the monster is your ace. We have tried to soften the monster, by feeding it vegetables, body shaming those who are muscle bound, trying to take away our claws (guns & knives) and telling us we are wrong in our thought process, that our sound strategic and tactical thinking is wrong. They will attempt with their shrill words to emasculate the very nature of monsters because it benefits them. We need monsters to raise monsters, strong, kind and virtuous young men to protect our way of life.

The truth is and shall always be we need monsters. Terrible, ferocious and unrelenting monsters that love, teach and ensure our species will survive (the monster species).

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The Never Ending Cycle Of Change

We are in a constant state of flux, forever changing. Maybe things are cyclical, maybe we are just seeing a lot of crazy happening at one time. Maybe there is a subversive movement to remove a democratically elected government. The truth is it doesn’t matter. As our world changes, so too must we change. Or maybe a better word is adapt. We need to adapt to our new surroundings and that includes our gear, methods and choices. I didn’t really put much thought into this idea at first. The idea of adapting to my new surroundings fresh out of the Navy was my first experience. I was looking at a job in Arizona while I was currently living in California. The two states could not be more different on guns. Having been brainwashed by California I was freaked out by the freedoms and liberties of Arizona. It took some adjusting, but that is exactly what was necessary. Taking stock of my new situation and environment then adjusting accordingly.

Don’t be Lazy

We need to do this somewhat regularly, but definitely anytime there is a major life change. Whether that is the addition of a spouse, children, new job, new home or new city do not assume things will remain the same. I’m speaking about your self-defense plan and emergency action plans. You have to resist the urge to keep doing the same thing because that is how you always did them. While it is possible the outcome would be tactically sound, it is laziness. Take a moment and address the newness in your life and ask yourself does this alter my plans. If so, then take a moment to address how. Then come up with new solutions. Practice and rehearse your new plans until they replace your old ones.

What Was Old, Is New Again

A good example for me was when my first kid was born. My spouse was not too keen on self defense and I was use to doing things on a team. It took some time for me to adapt to being alone in the tactical sense. Then there was another change when my new job had me traveling all over the country. Each city I visited had different rules and laws. Then as my children become old enough for their own self-defense needs to be a dinner time topic. Of course, there is this global pandemic thing, but probably the biggest change is the rioting and violence. This alone has had me rethink my daily loadout, my responses and my emergency action plans.

Evolution Is A Thing

When the pandemic was in full swing we saw some societal decay. Namely in the form of consumables being limited or not available. At the time, my daily carry firearm was a sub-compact pistol. The likelihood of having to engage multiple targets at various distance through intermediate barriers was hard to justify at the time. The sub-combat was looking more and more like a good choice even if it meant a downgrade in class and capability. It took me time to evolve to the sub-compact. I was fighting the smaller capacity, smaller frame and reduced capabilities. Truthfully, I got use to the change pretty quickly with some dedicated practice.

Thinking Worst Case

Currently, I have had to change not just my pistol, but other force options as well. I’m back to carrying a compact pistol with the larger capacity and capabilities. I returned to ammunition historically superior at intermediate barrier penetration and lethality at extended ranges. I opted to include less lethal tools both on body at within close proximity. I have modified my carry rifle to be lighter and smaller, thus easier to carry discretely. Probably the most important change has to do with my rules of engagement. I’m sure everyone has their own ROE’s or whatever they wish to call them, but taking stock of the current situation will more than likely lead to a change. I’m fine with the changes, but are you. Have you sat down to rethink a whole bunch of scenarios using negative visualization?

Times are tough, but we are tougher. We have to adapt and overcome our new situation in an effort to bring order back.

The post Deadly Force Options appeared first on Trident Concepts.

Small Business Powerhouse

Recently, my good friend and fellow firearms instructor, Pat McNamara had his Instagram account shut down. Unless you have lived under a rock for the last decade you know Instagram is a picture story telling platform. Before we get too far into what happened, let’s talk about the impact platforms such as Instagram have on small business and entrepreneurs. More than a third of American adults use social media in some capacity. That number has steadily climbed over the years and if you are an astute business person then you realize the strategic value of engaging with the public via these platforms. I, unlike many of my contemporaries refused to jump on the bandwagon early on and paid dearly.

Hard Lesson To Learn

Call it residue operational security or the idea of being the silent professional I did not embrace these platforms and it was a mistake. As a small business owner social media allows you to connect directly with your customer/fan base. Most consumers use social media to explore and research new brands. Part of this discovery is getting to know you, your brand and your services. It allows the small business owner to leverage a robust marketing strategy without breaking the bank. Recent studies have shown the value of social media engagement towards fast tracking a brand towards more prominence in their field. All in all, this is a powerful tool literally in the palm of your hand.

Censorship Is Never Cool

So, what is the catch. To put it bluntly, censorship. The suppression of words, images, or ideas that are “offensive” is considered censorship. When people impose their political, ideological or moral values on others by denying them a voice it is censorship. It is an ugly word with an equally sinister agenda. Regardless of where you stand or what your beliefs you have to recognize the pendulum swings both ways. You may be sitting there and secretly celebrating when a toxic individual, who spreads hatred and or threats is locked out of their account. You might be thinking, “good, they get what they deserve.” I’m not the judge of their actions or consequences, but I do know it is a slippery slope to start interfering with free speech.

Winning Team

I personally believe one of the worse things to happen to our society is the introduction of the politically correct movement. Being politically correct is nothing more than a form of censorship. If you do not subscribe to the winning team’s values then you are labeled non-politically correct. There in lies the problem, we are not on the winning team. While we may be righteous in our beliefs and the pursuit of our freedoms, we are at the mercy of those who control the social media platforms. Back to Pat and his recent experience. For no apparent reason he was shut down, locked out of his account. I got wind of it almost immediately and within a short period of time there was great synergy from the firearms community to help. Very quickly he started a new profile and with the help of a lot of people was able to share what was happening. Joe Rogan found out about it and used his voice to help get the word out and then other folks were able to get involved and help him get his original account back on line.

The Lines Are Blurred

The moral to the story is in today’s volatile climate you don’t have to speak out or against. You just have to be successful, be a good person or be a role model for others to follow. What happened to Pat can happen to anyone of us and more likely less than a positive outcome. Some are quick to encourage the small business to seek out other options, but the whole point to these social media platforms is they give the little guy a fighting chance. They allow us to compete on a much larger scale. It is not that easy, to jump ship and try something else out when you so heavily rely on these platforms to make a living. Like it or not, there are not many other options.

About the only thing we can do is band together and let our collective voices be heard. It worked for Pat, hopefully we don’t see this happen often, but maybe it will work for others.

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Be Happy

I see people all the time come in and out of the range putting holes in paper. What do I see, I see them having a good time. I see them having fun. This is something I have forgotten at times. That my trade, my profession can be fun. It is not without its challenges or setbacks, but I do have a lot of fun. Both as an instructor, student and observer. This point was driven home at my most recent Professional Development session the other day. I had eight drills to assess my current skill level. They are diverse and range from fast and close, to precise and far. The most important consideration for me is do I have any weaknesses. Where are my deficiencies. I know I have them, I just don’t always know what they are or even how to fix them. I’ve talked about it at length, but there are essential skills anyone serious must achieve mastery. These essential skills will not ensure you win your deadly force encounter, they give you the best fighting chance.

Poor Performance

I was looking forward to my range session, I like the alone time. I miss training with friends, but sometimes I need to be alone with my thoughts. I was also rushed, putting out fires is a routine I do not enjoy, but a fact of life. When I finally got to the range I was feeling rushed and frazzled. Instead of enjoying my training, it turned into work. It showed in my performance. I will evaluate my skill and asses either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. If I get an “unsat” I will then review the specific essential skills, what was I testing. Then, review my past performance. Is this an area prone to problems in the past. If not, then I ask myself was I putting my best effort or just going through the motions. In this session, I was doing a lot of going through the motions. My mind wasn’t fully connected with my actions.

My Own Worse Critic

Now, it is not ideal to have your mind partially engage. However, I can see a silver lining. In the grand scheme of things my performance was still pretty damn good even though I lacked the focus. Sometimes, I can be my worst critic. If I have the opportunity to retest I will if it makes sense. If I feel it was a fluke maybe it is worth doing again to see if there is a different outcome. In this case with three of the eight drills unsat it was me and only me. This meant I would follow up with some remedial training focused on shoring up those shortcomings.

Going Through The Motions

When I made time for remediation I discovered I was in the same mindset. This was work and I was going through the motions. Granted, there is a lot going on the world, my professional and personal life, but I couldn’t focus for some reason. After I finished my remedial session I will retest to see if there was any improvement. There wasn’t. Frustrated, I decided to call it a day. As I was packing up I discovered a loaded magazine. I had just enough ammunition to run through two repetitions of one of the drills and decided why not. This time, I decided to show up and perform. On my first attempt I put in a personal record. I was so close to leaving right then, figuring I would end on a high note. Instead, I ran the last repetition and ended up beating the last PR I had just set. Why? Why all of a sudden did I crush these drills. As I finished packing up I recalled my mindset was totally different. I wouldn’t say I didn’t care, I would say I was having fun.

In the end, this is work is very serious work. I just cannot afford to loose sight on something as important as having fun.

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A Great Punch Line

At first it was somewhat comical. Someone would say in a joking manner, “it’s science, bro.” I’ll admit to laughing at what was nothing more than a punch line. Along the way they became more of marketing ploy, a new way of one upping. Well, my technique or tactic has science so it is better. Then we reach a new level when we start to reject other techniques or tactics because they don’t have this so called science. If your techniques or tactics don’t have science you are not able to worship these false idols.

Science, The New Tactical

Very little and I mean very little in our industry is actually science. Using that term is akin to the new “tactical”. I watch as so many folks clammer on board this new bandwagon in an effort to flex an intellectual fake muscle. Lines are drawn between one camp and another. There is a sense of extreme devotion to one’s methods whether science is involved. It is used to create a perceived advantage whether one can actually be based on a scientific method. It is used to gain a metamorphic piece of the high ground. It disappointing how perverse the term has become and worse used.

A Fair Experiment

When people use the term science it is not science really. It is their own attempt at being scientific, but it is not science. They use crafty terms, but their process would often not meet the scientific method standard. First, what are you trying to prove or disprove. What is the question you are trying to answer. What research currently exists that might answer the question or provide clarity on your direction. Then, what is your hypothesis. In other words, what is the predictable relationship between two variables; the independent and dependent. To be fair, what controls and conditions have you set and most important what is the variability you need to account for to make it all work. Science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing a systematic study.  The two main vehicles are through observation and experiment. When folks try to use science to illustrate a point without understanding science it’s nothing more than an attempt to persuade you by sounding smarter. If you start to dive into the world of science you realize how much you really don’t know.

You Might Be A Pseudo Scientist If

If you see someone use the word science in their statement, take a step back and ask yourself some important questions. Do you know how to tell the difference between science and everything else. Does it define an objective truth? As opposed to outcome based information. There is a big difference and most people don’t want to look further because of their own bias. I’m okay with that, it doesn’t bother me in the least, but own it. Don’t try to convince me otherwise based on your half truths. Instead, be good with what you know or think you know. I can appreciate your intentions, but it is not science.

Lowest Form Of Objective Truth

Our industry has no real science based material. Probably the closest might be terminal performance testing, but even then there are a lot of unknowns or variables. The simple reason is the undeniable fact we cannot account, nor control for all the variables encountered. The pursuit of truth is very narrow, there is little wiggle room. I have listened to a lot “observations” that through their findings have come to a singular conclusion. They all have something in common, they are based off anecdotal observations; eye witness accounts or similar. The funny part is no scientist worth their salt would base their hypothesis on eye witness accounts. Let that soak in for a moment. This one statement smashes many claims to the science alter. Some may lead you to believe their findings are sacred because they are largely due to eye witness accounts. It does make sense to me why they may feel this way. Because in our industry, eye witness accounts are the highest form of legal precedence. However, in science eye witness accounts are the lowest form of objective truth.

The one good thing about all this science talk is I have become more appreciative for three letters and the impact they have our industry. Why…

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