I have been so excited to see so many posts on training. You might have suspected that I am a big fan of it.
Yesterday I read a post by Duke over at Down Range Report. There is so much good information contained in that one post, I had to read it a couple of times to fully digest it. In the comments Stephen from Standing Outside Looking In made reference to how vital training in a real world type environment is. I agree, of course, but I mentioned that even without intense training people can sometimes beat the bad guy. I did very little right and I am proof that sometime luck is on your side.
Their point is that, yes, one can beat the odds from time to time and for whatever reason make it out of a hairy situation, but the more training one has the more likely they will be in control of the situation and can rely on skill over luck. That could not be more true.
I only mentioned the fact that there are times when people who have no skill or relatively little experience with a gun, have been able to thwart an attack, because I wanted those just starting out on this journey to know mindset is an important part of training. Mindset has become an obsession of mine. No matter where anyone is on this journey, I want them to know, without a doubt, they can survive. Gun fight, knife fight, fist fight, zombie invasion, no matter what the odds, you will survive. Incidentally, Nancy R has a brilliant post on being on this journey.
For the record, I know Duke and Stephen both are aware of the importance of mindset. In fact, I learned everything I know from people like them.
This morning I read an post by JD that lays out all of these points pretty well. Train, train, train and train some more because you never know what might happen, but regardless, you still might need a little luck.
Well done.
Thank you.
I agree with this up to a point. As a relatively young person I am guessing that your reflexes are pretty sharp. I would wager this is what carried you through your encounter and not luck. As you get older you are going to slow down and this is where training kicks in. But this is my opinion.
Your right. I think the problem is that all of these situations are complex and not easy to understand let alone to explain. Luck is a word I used because I don’t know what other word to use. Since I have had time to reflect on my attack and as other have shared their insight and wisdom with me, I can see I did more right than I realized, but still that day could have turned out much worse. I don’t really believe in coincidence and I consider myself to be a person of faith, but I don’t like to use that faith to explain why I was not brutalized more. Other women have been in similar situations as me and they were not as fortunate to have something interrupt the attack and save them. Why? I don’t know the answer. I do know that it is NOT because my life is more valuable or because God loves me more. I am no more important than anyone else. I don’t know why and sometimes that is still the one question that keeps me up at night. Part of healing is not trying to accept the gift and not answer all the whys. I try to find meaning and value in what happened(not in the event itself. That was meaningless and wrong, but in the lessons to be learned), to help myself and others to do more things right, I use the word “luck” as a kind of catch all for the things I can not define or explain about that day.
I generally try not to put links in comments, but Tara wrote a great post about mindset. Being a professional writer, she was able to put it in words that made an impact, whereas I might not have been able to. If you’re interested, check it out.
http://www.thegundivas.com/2011/01/die-in-parking-lot-by-tara-janzen.html
You won! 😉
Training in situations that might occur outside of a shooting range or a gym (for physical training) are great. I have found situational awareness to also be a great tool. It is easy to get distracted these days while you are doing normal activities like shopping, going for a run/walk, driving and the like.
The more aware we are of what is around us the better we can hopefully avoid situations where we need to use our training.
You’re so right. There is a pretty good feeling when you draw and it mostly happens on its own. It takes a bit of time to get there and practice at home is just as critical as range time. I didn’t really start seeing the results I wanted to see until I started practicing draw and dry-fire at home.