Punch in the face and fire

[mercop]

Most people are used to beginning a course of fire using two different ques, either visual or audible. For most applications I prefer visual since they are the most realistic and force people to make independent decisions.

Another way to start a drill that can be a real eye opener as some folks found out in class last month is starting off with some good violent physical contact. All you need is some head gear and a cheap pair of boxing gloves. I know it is hard to believe since we all are use our spidey senses to be aware 100% of the time but the first indication that you have that you are in a fight is being hit. Using a holstered airsoft tell your partner how hard to hit you on a scale of 1-10 and then let him give you a jab between the eyes or side of the head. You will experience a certain level of central nervous system disruption and your eyes will involentarily slam shut. If you are a uniformed police or open carry be sure to make note of where your hands go when you are struck. Hands usually travel to the source of the pain. So bringing both hands to your face will leave your weapon exposed. You will also find out that it will take you a little time to regroup and draw your gun. Also try it by being struck from behind. A mouth piece and eye pro are a good idea.

This type of training has led me to do me best to respond to any attack like this like someone pulled the pin on a grenade. If you can learn to respond with overwhelming open hand violence and counter attack I have found that you become more resiliant to the effects of the attack or at least put yourself in a better defensive postion.- George

 

[Wabatuckian]

This is a very good reason to take martial arts - or any fighting system, whatever you want to call it.

My first trained reaction is to grab at the source of pain with one hand, and strike with another.

Example:

A friend of mine was doing his first night as a bartender at a seedy joint. He asked me to come "keep him company," and there would be no gun check for me as I didn't intend on drinking anything but decaffeinated soda. So into the pocket the .380 went.

I didn't get the seat I'd hoped for. In bars I will sit at one of two places: In the back with my back to the wall, or at the bar, where I can use the mirror.

I was off angle a bit due to a fella passed out on the middle bar stool, so I had to sit off to the side. Good, but not as good as I wanted it.

On about my third Sprite, someone came up behind me and tried to pull me off the bar stool.

I countered, put him in an arm bar, hand went down toward my pistol, but saw it wasn't necessary and came back up in a circular motion for a chop to the shoulder, hopefully ceasing the activity as he was still trying to fight.

Before I struck I noticed his hat had fallen away a bit, and I only knew one person with hair that red.

Turned out to be a very drunk friend of mine I'd not seen in years.

Point is, I could have drawn, but did not. I've had some martial arts. The idea is just to get your hands to move separately so that you can utilize more of your tools at once.

 

[mercop]

I have a pretty high pain threshold but if I get jacked in the face I think both hands are going to come up initially. Hopefully followed right away by dropping my elbows to protect my gun and get into the fight.

 

[INRanger]

We trained that way in the Regiment but only with simunitions. You never knew when you went through a door or down a hallway if some ******* was gonna pop out and start laying a beating. It sucked but it proved itself as quality training on more than one occasion for guys overseas. I do believe that if this sort of training is not used under controlled circumstances that it will quickly degenerate into a non conductive training environment.

 

[mercop]

Very true. Most drills we do are about a sub MOV...minute of violence.