Priorities


I am constantly barraged by people who have their pet techniques, and a large variety of differing opinions as to tactics. And everybody thinks theirs is the best. I'm really no different. That doesn't make me right and I hope I never lose that perspective. The whole idea is to continue to learn and adapt ever more improved techniques to you. After a while you won't learn anything new in most courses exept maybe a different way of looking at or using the same things.

However, when people argue that only a low level of skill is needed I think they're way off. Even if there were absolutely no instances in the past where some skill set made the difference, I still want to have that skill. The better you can be at all the different aspects of fighting; the better off you will be if the fight does come to you. If your get into a confrontation, Murphy's law is already in full swing. Why would you expect it to change? The more tools I can have prior to the engagement the better. By definition; If you have a weakness that's where Murphy's Law will decide to bite you. The more tools and skill you have the fewer places Murphy will find opportunities to bite you.

"the harder I train the luckier I get" should be everyones motto.

Some people do get lost in the advanced concepts though. They start to forget that adaptability, mobility, speed of reaction, and prior programming are the true keys to dominating a confrontation. No matter how good your "searching for bad guys", and "use of cover" training has been. How you react in the first ½ second will largely determine if you win or lose, NOT how well you use cover or what stance you adopt. All that is advanced practitioner crap that most people learn and immediately adopt into most of their range practice, well before they have ever really mastered the important stuff. Why? Because that is your part in the equation and no one can do it for you. It is also the hard part. How you immediately and instinctively react to situations is a personal programming thing that takes much effort and experience on your part. Most people aren't willing to do that. The trainer's job is simply to give you new techniques, concepts, and ideas as best he can, that's all. If you haven't mastered the basics, he still has to give you something, or you feel you haven't gotten your moneys worth. See the dilemma? Most people who are serious about self-defense get MUCH more advanced techniques than they are ready for, or can use, for this reason. Thus they think the esoteric and minutia are the important stuff before they have even grasped what is most need to survive in the real world. Strange business that we are trapped in.

Things like awareness, observation skills, reading people and their body language, noticing ambush choke points / kill zones, de-escalation skills, defensive driving, first aid and CPR, to name just a few, are probably far more important from a survival skills perspective than the most advanced shooting skills you will get at the "gurus" level 7999 low light dynamic tactics class. Don't misunderstand, higher level skills are a good thing, but please don't lose perspective and think that they are the most important aspects of the survival toolkit.
Training by definition, means you spend most of your time on what you're worst at and enjoy the least. Pracice by definition, is rehearsing that which you already know, so that it "flows" better. Spend most of your time training.

dave vaughan