“That One Thing” and “Give me my 5 minutes”

“That One Thing” and “Give me my 5 minutes”

Why do we train? I, as do all of our instructors, continue to go to various training courses, many of which can seem to be a basic type of class. I try to blend in, but inevitably someone will learn about my background and ask why I would ever be there in the first place. It seems people have this mis-notion that if you have a certain resume you shouldn’t have to take another class in your life.

In the military you are either doing your job, or training to do it better. Even after the military my life has been a constant school. I am always taking another class, another course, another certification, another seminar.

Beyond the reasons of military structure or life curiosity, why would someone train constantly, and more importantly why would someone take a course which teaches skills they think they already know?

“That One Thing” usually comes during “Our 5 Minutes”. If I go to a three day course in basic rifle skills, 99% of the material I either already know, I don’t agree with, or it won’t work for me. But somewhere during those three days there is going to be 5 minutes where I learn one new thing. One thing which could one day be the one thing which saved my life, saved my friend or family member, or allowed me to escape a bad situation. As an instructor, it might not even be 5 minutes for me to keep. Perhaps it is something I learn which I can then teach to someone else, and maybe it is their One Thing which will save their life.

Our courses aren’t about how to build a better sand castle. They are about life and death situations. Situations we hope will never occur. But if we find ourselves in that situation, how much is the “One Thing” worth at that moment? Will it matter it took three days to find our five minutes?

3 pillars of a successful warrior

3 pillars of a successful warrior

When we speak of being a successful warrior, many people first question what defines a warrior. We will save the detailed explanation for a later post, but in short any time you are engaged in conflict you have the opportunity to be a warrior or be a victim. We train warriors, and we train you to be a successful warrior. In order to be successful you need to have three pillars of success. Think of these pillars as a leg on stool. Without any of the three, the stool will fall.

The first pillar is Tools.

Obviously in a firearms course one thinks of the tool being the firearm. If you are afraid of getting your weapon dirty, or scratched, or it only works with TLC, it is a collector’s item and not a tool. There is nothing wrong with having guns you keep in your safe, or with which you have a special attachment. Many of us have a gun given to us by a family member, or something we are keeping for investment purposes. Those guns can be used in dire circumstances, but they are not what we would carry on a daily basis. When you understand your primary weapon is a tool, you will start thinking about it in a different way. Having the latest doogle gadget isn’t important if it doesn’t improve the utility of the tool. Having nice shiny chrome pieces, or catchy engraved phrases, or the latest pearl handles don’t pass the utility test. I haven’t seen too many pearl grip hammers or pliers….think of your gun in the same manner. Other tools we have can include knives, belts, batons, sticks, etc. However, don’t neglect your two God given tools... your body and your brain. If you keep your tools in top shape, the next two pillars are easier.

The second pillar is Technique.

Having the greatest weapon ever created means nothing if you cannot properly operate that weapon. If you have superior technique, you can often overcome shortcomings with certain tools. A perfect example is one of our instructors, a 110 pound 5 foot tall female. While her “tool” is smaller than a 6 foot tall 200 pound man, her technique allows her to often win a conflict. Technique comes from training, and training properly. The old saying practice makes perfect is not correct….PERFECT practice makes perfect. You are instilling muscle memory which will become vital in a high stress encounter. While we are talking about stress, an often overlooked technique is mindset. Having a brain is one thing, most people can see the bad guy standing in the alley if we point him out. But are you situationally aware such that you will see him well in advance? If something does happen, do you have the mindset to survive and never surrender?

The third pillar is Fuel.

A firearm will only go bang so long as you have ammunition to feed it. Many times we see people carry a small .380 with 5 rounds and think they are fully protected. What happens when there are multiple assailants, or when you miss due to the high stress? Have you ever considered having additional fuel for that weapon? What about your personal fuel? In the military we carry water and food with us, because we can often be caught in situations where we are away from resupplies for extended periods of time. Are there times when you could be caught without resupplies? In most civilian domestic conflicts the fuel you will run out of the quickest is energy. No matter what tool you have, if you are totally out of breath and dizzy you won’t be as effective. Can you last long enough to escape and survive?

While the items in each of those pillars can be expanded to include many other tools, techniques, or fuels, think about each for yourself personally. When you leave your house today, are you prepared if something bad happens? Do you have the proper tool available? Do you have the proper technique to run that tool? Do you have enough fuel to keep everything operating, including yourself?

If you would like to learn more, let us know. Tell us where you are at currently and where you would like to be ideally. We can recommend a course or additional education. If we can offer it to you, great, if not, we will gladly point you in the right direction.

Dance of Violence

A violent encounter is like a dance. You will have one person leading the action and the other person following.

Criminals are used to being in the lead, and they depend on you to follow the dance. When they jump out of the bush and put a knife to your face, the next usual step is for you to do what they say. This dance has been scripted in their minds, and they depend on it to flow the way they have rehearsed. If you do something that interrupts this script, they have to try and create a new set of steps. 99% of the criminals on the streets of the US are not trained in how to do this quickly, and this is where your opportunity to survive and win is created.

Although we label certain classes “defensive”, that is actually a misnomer. Once we decide to strike, we go into a very offensive mode. We take control of the dance. We are the ones in the lead, and we decide what dance is going to occur and when the dance ends. They have stepped onto OUR dance floor.

Our “defensive” classes all stress how to interrupt their script, and then to strike with speed and decisiveness in the most effective methods. There isn’t necessarily anything graceful or beautiful about the dances we teach. We don’t teach you how to win competitions or to impress people with how amazing you look on a shooting range. We teach you how to take the lead, and we teach you how to survive.

A word about pricing

 

Some people have asked us why our prices are high on certain classes. Here is the best way we know how to answer. Why would we even try to justify our cost? ….because we believe in open communication with our students.

First, relative ...to others in our industry, we are approximately the same price. For a Tactical Rifle class the price is somewhere between $350 and $650 on average for a 2 day class. We charge $500.

But here are a few of the things you should consider:

We also offer other classes on a routine basis which are not as heavily advertised. A one day introduction to defensive handgun is $75. A female self-defense class is $25. Some of our other courses are priced at $125, $250. If there is a particular training you want, let us know. Often we can setup a small group tailored to a certain topic.

All of our training is offered by instructors who are not teaching a static course which they developed 25 years ago. Our instructors continuously go to other schools themselves and refine the course based on the best techniques they learn, and adapt those to the individual needs of the student in the class. We always say sacred cows are not allowed in our class. Some would say if our instructors are always learning new things they must not know enough yet. Really?? If you believe that you aren’t our target audience in the first place.

For the more expensive courses we are often bringing in world class experts to teach you cutting edge tactics. You could perhaps go to San Diego, Florida, Texas, Russia, and the Philippines to train with these instructors, and if you would even be invited to the class you will pay far more with airfare, hotel, etc. Instead we bring the instructors here for you.

Regardless of who is instructing, you will find them willing to explain the “why” behind every technique, and will never put you down, yell at you, or belittle you in any manner. We are military, but this isn’t Full Metal Jacket. If an instructor can’t fully explain an evolution, it usually means they are just reciting something they were told and don’t understand it themselves. You won’t find that here, if we don’t know why, we don’t teach it.

If you are staying overnight we offer free accommodations. Granted, they aren’t the Hilton, but they are included in the price which saves you another $75-$250.

Finally, this is a business, yes, but our primary customer is military, government, and law enforcement. Training civilians is something we do because we believe in our nation and the everyday person who makes it great. We want to make a profit on every course, but we also want you to get the information. If you truly have a hardship and a unique situation, talk with us. There are often things we can do to help.

Blog Intro

OK, before we start we feel the need to publicly state we are professional combative trainers, and NOT professional writers.  We will try to avoid causing our high school English teacher from crawling under a rock, but forgive us for errors in spelling and grammar. 

Our goal is to answer questions regarding gear, techniques, equipment, firearms, blades, clothing, and other topics we feel might be interesting.  On occasion we will also post our general rants and opinions.  Please understand these are our opinions only, and your mileage may vary.