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THE WARRIOR EXPERT
This pistol is probably really good at something... but having it as a concealed carry
option would be like driving a Monster Truck at the Indy 500.... tools should fit the
job. Not all guns are created equal and you should choose one that makes your task
easier, not harder!
actual game. When you are defending
yourself, you are doing so from an attack
that ultimately is an ambush in some
form. If it weren’t, then hopefully you
would have avoided it. Even our special
operations military personnel have
trained with us for many years almost
exclusively in Counter Ambush skills
as part of our Extreme Close Quarters
program. In that program, we start with
the premise that the normal CQB procedures
have failed and a bad guy shows
up from an uncovered danger area or
gets in close enough to grab a long gun.
In our S.W.A.T. Training, we assume the
bad guy is not a lethal threat, but does
need to be fought and controlled. In our
Executive Protection training, Personal
Defense programs, Firearms Skill
Development courses, Officer Survival,
Home Defense, Concealed Carry and
Women’s Assault Prevention programs
all assume that you have been caught
off guard in some way and need to process
information prior to executing any
learned skill.
I often say that my instructors and I
don’t just do firearms training, we strive
to help our students learn how to make
rapid decisions and execute complex
motor skills under extreme and unexpected
stress. This enters into all facets
of our programs. How do we do this?
How do we get our students to process
information prior to executing the skills
they’re developing? It can be as easy as
alternating between two commands on
the firing line which indicate engaging
two different types of targets for someone
who just bought their first gun, or
as complex as having multiple, well-rehearsed
and capable role-players engaging
in at-speed close quarters attacks using
impact reduction suits and sim guns
with our country’s greatest warriors. We
even have an App for it, for when you are
training by yourself!
You can integrate this aspect of training
to your own regimen very simply by
forcing yourself to truly perform skills
on demand. Working with a partner, the
next time you are at a range, give each
other short instructions rapidly and execute
the shooting necessary as quickly as
you can. Don’t contemplate the course
of fire and don’t form a strategy ahead
of time. Take the skills you have developed
previously and apply them to the
problem that is presented. This starts to
simulate the ambush moment. Having
MAY/JUNE 2011 n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n USCONCEALEDCARRY.COM
complex targets that offer various levels
of deviation control (sizes of targets), set
at different distances and of different
colors and shapes will make the training
easy. “Shoot the red circle once and
bad guy #3 in the chest multiple times,
GO!” that simple sentence can throw the
average “good” shooter’s ability to apply
their skill rapidly into the gutter. Simply
giving the same two instructions, letting
the shooter think about them, asking
them if they are “ready” and then giving
them a signal to execute ruins the whole
thing and makes your shooting a sport,
not Counter Ambush Training. To keep
your defensive shooting training as real
as possible, focus on high center chest
sized targets the majority of the time, require
rapid multiple shot-strings of fire,
engage targets between 6 and 20 feet
away, integrate a flinch prior to drawing,
perform lateral movement while
searching, reloading, assessing, clearing
malfunctions and doing about anything
other than shooting at a target beyond
two arms reach. Understand that precision
is either yes or no. Shooting a tight
group inside of a large target is just wasting
time, not “better.” Try to perform all
of your gun handling without looking at
your gun. Utilizing these tips will make
it more likely that you are really training
for defensive shooting and not just
“shooting.”
The next time you go to the range,
think about a technique or consider a
piece of gear, think about the nine questions
above. Think about the skills you
are going to need and the context in
which you are going to need them. It isn’t
easy to apply the discipline necessary
to follow the counter ambush training
methodology, but it probably won’t be
easy to survive a true ambush either. H
Rob Pincus owns I.C.E. Training and
teaches firearms classes throughout the
country to students interested in learning
more about using firearms in self defense.
The developer of the Combat Focus
shooting program, Pincus also hosts
and writes for Outdoor Channel’s wildly
popular show “The Best Defense” and
“S.W.A.T. Magazine TV.” His work has
appeared in Police, Tactical Response,
SWAT, and GunWorld.
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