Training for the Fight of Your Life
Training for the fight of your life: Doing difficult actions in difficult situations - Josh Logan - Lead Instructor
Recently I have spoken to other instructors about why I teach certain things to include tactical reloads (reload of opportunity or topping one’s gun off), which was viewed by fellow instructors and some agencies as “too difficult” and “cannot be replicated in stressful, tense, and rapidly evolving situations”. In this article I will address these issues and offer clarification to my counter position.
Let me first explain my version of a tactical reload:
This reload utilizes handling two magazines at one time, swapping out the partially full magazine and replacing it with a fully loaded magazine. My method teaches the student not to place the partial magazine back into your pocket, but into the last and final #2 magazine pouch furthest towards your back. Based on my training and practical field experience, pockets are for car keys, Chapstick, wallet and cell phone, not magazines that could be needed for possible speed reloads (empty gun reloads) in the future.
While speaking to other instructors and professionals from the law enforcement and military community the consensus was that the trend is to simplify training for stressful situations. Topics discussed were the elimination of teaching tactical reloads and only going with speed reloads (empty gun reloads). The fellow instructors’ premise was that during a confrontation, you would not have the conscious mind to perform efficiently or properly a tactical reload.
Here is where I disagree. Tactical reloads are used only when one has the TIME and OPPORTUNITY to do so. This reload is accomplished after an engagement, after a search and assess of your surroundings and identifying it’s safe to accomplish this reload, and finally obtaining cover if possible. One often missed step before accomplishing this reload needs to be done, a deep cleansing breath to not only calm yourself down and clear the mind. It is physiologically proven that the more oxygenated blood that reaches the brain, the clearer the mind; look at yoga as an example of this.
Keep in mind that this reload is accomplished in an EXPEDITIOUS manner, not so RAPID that one cannot accomplish the task. My training and experience has shown that the tactical reload can be accomplished in about the same time as a speed reload anyways.
Are these actions more difficult than simply doing a reload with retention (swapping one partially loaded magazine at a time)? Absolutely! But by doing perfect practice (SEE PREVIOUS ARTICLE) and creating myelination for your tactical reloads, you become more efficient, faster, and have more accuracy in completing this task.
So the question remains to me from students and fellow instructors: “Why are you teaching such difficult things for your students which is above their understanding or capabilities during a difficult situation?”
The answer to this is simple: “We should teach and accomplish difficult actions during training so we will be comfortable doing difficult actions in difficult real world situations.” This reminds me of a universal truth that Chief Instructor of Latent Force, Jay Izienicki states: “There is no defensive situation so bad that you can’t make it worse”.
I can attest to my answer being true because in the multitude of times I have drawn my weapon on armed suspects in accordance with policy, case law, and state law, I have felt comfortable. Was I fearful of what could happen? Yes. Did I feel adrenaline begin to pulse through my veins? Yes. Did I experience all that stress has to offer physiologically and psychologically to include audio exclusion, visual exclusion, and increased heart rate? Yes. The “comfort” came when the mission had to be accomplished and those factors did not create panic and put me in Condition Black (SEE PREVIOUS ARTICLE). I was in control of those factors, could problem solve, assess the suspect’s actions and verbalizations, and finally using the appropriate level of force to neutralize the threat and remain calm in the situation.
For my advanced students chaos is purposely created and then introduced into their “comfortable worlds”. This is accomplished by mixing up partial magazines with fully loaded magazines, mixing within those magazines live ammunition with dummy rounds, creating malfunctions, changing the scenario to create a rapidly evolving and tense situation. This forces the student to PROBLEM SOLVE and THINK during these situations. It reinforces Lead Instructor Jay Wurts concepts on “procedure” vs “technique” (SEE PREVIOUS ARTICLE) during a defensive encounter with a criminal threat. Lt. Col Dave Grossman said it best, “Shooting is 25% mental and 75% physical, while gunfighting is 75% mental and 25% physical.” So all in all, gunfighting, or the act of defending oneself with a gun, is a “thinking man’s sport”.
Lastly, my gear is simple yet effective and I strongly advocate students work to achieve the same. This perfect balance is not by some miracle, but by trial and error and through training and experience gained over many of hours. While my actions can seem difficult in training, my gear is simple and easily accessible. To see how the simple and effective gear setup helps with tactics, movement, and multiple targets in scenario based training that is both in a live fire shoot-house and on an open range, view my instructor profile video (VIEW VIDEO).
In the Latent Force article titled “Simple is Fast: Applying Ockham’s Razor to Defensive Shooting”, you may ask yourself, the author is talking about being “simple” while I am talking “more difficult”, why the difference? We must answer what the meaning of “Simple” and “Difficult” truly are according to Merriam Webster:
Simple [sim-puh l] adj :
1. Not Hard to Understand 2. Having few parts 3. Not special or unusual
Difficult [dif-i-kuhlt, -kuh lt] adj:
1. not easy: requiring much work or skill to do or make 2. Not easy to deal with or manage 3. Not willing to help others by changing your behavior: stubborn or unreasonable
So with these in mind, we can surmise, according to the “Simple is Fast” article, that it is important to understand the “WHY” of doing such actions on the range, and all of our instructors will agree, and that gear must be simple and effective, while actions, must be deliberate, effective, and efficient (SEE PREVIOUS ARTICLE). Difficulty is a state of mind whether it be in the perceived complexity of an action, or the stubbornness of the students mind. Again, we should do difficult things in training so that we can be comfortable in difficult situations.
The question must be asked in this article: Are your actions difficult in training or are you just being difficult?
Stay Safe Brothers and Sisters.