There are enough folks on this board with the real world experience to be able to come up with a good idea of what I’m after. I know we have the combat mindset and what did you do in your first experience threads, but I am looking for something different. We have plenty of romantic threads here on how you should clear your house, and which flash light stance you should use…but I view this as something that needs to be laid to bed before you ever even pick up a firearm. It’s kind of like, the further you get into defensive shooting and the more time you spend around true professionals, the more you realize that all that whiz bang shit that seems cool from reading the gun rags is not where it’s at, it’s the basics. It’s perfecting the basics and being able to perform the basics flawlessly every time, under any imaginable stress that makes you deadly. So I want to talk about mental basics, the basic mindset of a lethal or near lethal encounter.
First off let me say that I have had two armed encounters in my life, one with a shotgun and the other with a knife; both ended without incident, but one could have gone very bad. As stupid as I was for getting into one of them, I am still proud doing what I did that day as I tracked down through some heavy brush a drunk/high out of his mind fleeing felon who ran off with an injured/unconscious 4 year old from a hit and run auto accident with multiply injuries. The responding state trooper would NOT go with me to find said Booger, saying he was waiting for “air support”. He to my opinion is a coward to this day for that. RANT OFF…
As an Uncle to a very level headed teenage young man, Husband to a wonderful Wife, Brother to two men and a teenage girl, I am always preaching situational awareness, self defense, and safety to them. What I am looking for here is a mix of opinions on what your actual mindset or attitude was/should be during an encounter. I talking the flags up, the shits on, here we go situation. In both of my experiences, pure unadulterated rage ruled the day. I was so pissed off that this individual in front of me even thought they could try that shit with me, that I literally “just seen red”. In hindsight, I believe that me being in that state of mind is what allowed both encounters to end peacefully. I believe the others involved could tell I was ready to go there and maybe they weren’t quite so ready. The one guy in the incident referenced above had nearly a foot in height on me and 70-100 lbs. We were in the woods alone, half a mile from any other person, and all I had was a benchmade emerson. Looking back it could have been real bad for me, but all I was thinking about was that limp child he ran off into the woods with in his hands. Also looking back, I see how when I got to that mental point, it was literally only me and the dip shit right in front of me that existed in the world. 5 elephants and hordes of his buddies could have ridden up behind me and stomped me into the ground and I probably would not have seen it. So as I realize, the mindset I had (which was completely natural for that situation) and would have probably let me be successful should I have to fight; also was a double edged sword in that my situational awareness went to shit. I was young in both instances, way before I ever started training and studying on the subject. Now, with all I have read and learned in classes I am still at a crossroads. What is the proper thing to do, chill out, breathe and run with the “cooler heads will prevail” train of though, or let the Hulk in me come out, unleash the Mean Gene, and in Clint Eastwood’s words, “Now remember, things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is."
Is the proper mindset somewhat distance sensitive? Meaning, like with the carbine if at 25 yards in and under and I have a malfunction I immediately go to my sidearm, but past 25, I take a knee and sort it out. With my mind, do I slow down and take it all in further out, and closer up just let him have the fury?
Also, If you let the mean gene show up close, with one person; in my opinion taking away any energy from that immediate contact to look around you can make you loose your initiative, unless you have the person in a position of domination, so what do you do?
I guess in a way, what I am asking is for the Door Kicker, the Cop, the Soldier, Sailor, or Marine; when you are at that door and you know there are possible bad guys on the other side, what is going through your mind the moment before you go in and the as you go in? Are you amped up, full of fury? Cold, calm and calculating? Also, any suggestions on books/reference material on the subject would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks