Immediate Action Drills for the Armed Citizen

[ssb]

jlw

On the latest episode of Lee Weems’ podcast he had John Holschen as his guest. I am not all the way through the episode because it is longer than my commute, but I hope to finish it in the morning.

One thing Holschen discusses early into the episode is a need for or desire for what he referred to as immediate action drills. In a military context, such drills are a way for the responding party to execute a rapid, no-analysis-required response in order to buy an opportunity to subsequently apply a more thoughtful response to the situation. Holschen stressed the need for these responses to employ only one “branch” (as in “See Stimulus A, employ Response 1”) so as to not present the opportunity for analysis paralysis. An example he postulated was to begin movement if you see the wrong end of a muzzle. If I understood him correctly (and I may not have), he had a decision point of closing distance if within arm’s reach and moving out of the way/off line if beyond that range.

In this same vein, what are some other “immediate action drills” for the armed citizen to consider? What is the stimulus and what is the response to that stimulus? If it’s not immediately obvious, why is it a stimulus to be on the lookout for? Why is that response warranted? If the response involves applying force, are there any legal considerations? Other thoughts?

[sharps54]

It is a great episode, I’m interested in hearing more on the skills list discussed at the end, a lot like METL (mission essential task list) in the Army where you pick a standard and once you can reliably meet it you can move on to the next skill. Of course a list like that needs to be reassessed yearly but it can be very valuable.

jlw thank you for your show, it is consistently one of the best ones out there.

[jlw]

It is a great episode, I’m interested in hearing more on the skills list discussed at the end, a lot like METL (mission essential task list) in the Army where you pick a standard and once you can reliably meet it you can move on to the next skill. Of course a list like that needs to be reassessed yearly but it can be very valuable.

@jlw (https://pistol-forum.com/member.php?u=136) thank you for your show, it is consistently one of the best ones out there.

Thank you for the kind words.

[ssb]

It is a great episode, I’m interested in hearing more on the skills list discussed at the end, a lot like METL (mission essential task list) in the Army where you pick a standard and once you can reliably meet it you can move on to the next skill. Of course a list like that needs to be reassessed yearly but it can be very valuable.

jlw thank you for your show, it is consistently one of the best ones out there.

Specific to shooting and your METL…

https://blog.krtraining.com/relative-performance-measurement/

If I understand what you’re getting at, some very clueful people have suggested meeting the list of metrics/standards under “reasonable goals” is sufficient to check the shooting box and move on to another skill set.

[sharps54]

Specific to shooting and your METL…

https://blog.krtraining.com/relative-performance-measurement/

If I understand what you’re getting at, some very clueful people have suggested meeting the list of metrics/standards under “reasonable goals” is sufficient to check the shooting box and move on to another skill set.

Great link, thank you. I think the shooting part is probably the easiest, although possibly the most overthought of the task groups. The tougher thing in my mind is to identify the various task groups and their reasonable goals. First aid, driving, home security, situational awareness, and so on.

[JHC]

I haven't thought of one yet other than flee as fast as your Nike's can carry you.

It's certainly not "assault the near ambush" from the kill zone as we drilled in the Army. Coincidentally Claude Werner was just writing about how that may need to be unlearned by those who engrained it when they had the mission to close with the enemy.

The point of the immediate action drill as I drilled it in Army training was to condition a unit to react with the same immediate action to a specific threat, together to save the time of forming and communicating a plan in certain emergencies. And getting caught in a near ambush is one heckuva emergency.

I don't know, it seems the civilian better think through a situation and solutions very quickly.

But let's see what folks come up with.

[Moylan]

MUC seems like it's designed as an immediate action-type drill.

[JCN]

I haven't thought of one yet other than flee as fast as your Nike's can carry you.

It's certainly not "assault the near ambush" from the kill zone as we drilled in the Army. Coincidentally Claude Werner was just writing about how that may need to be unlearned by those who engrained it when they had the mission to close with the enemy.

The point of the immediate action drill as I drilled it in Army training was to condition a unit to react with the same immediate action to a specific threat, together to save the time of forming and communicating a plan in certain emergencies. And getting caught in a near ambush is one heckuva emergency.

I don't know, it seems the civilian better think through a situation and solutions very quickly.

But let's see what folks come up with.

I love this perspective for civilians.

I think the closest thing to an action plan for me is carjacking scenarios and primarily involves escape.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Took a Holschen, Insights H2H class years ago. Well worth it.

[43Under]

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?50828-AAR-Defensive-Elements-quot-Who-Are-You-With-A-Gun-quot-Muncie-IN-12-4-5-21

I was lucky in that the second time I took the above course, John Holschen was there sort of auditing it and also adding his $.02 when necessary. As good as the class was the first time, it was even better with him there.

I told him to his face that I'd take a class with him on how to watch paint dry. I believe he, Greg Hamilton, and GG were the only people to "win" the National Tactical Invitational more than once. He's that good.

I hope he takes the class described in the Weems podcast further east (Virginia??? Ohio????) so I can take it.

As for immediate action, I think one option is consider the places you frequent, consider likely/possible events that could take place, and then pre-plan responses. (Example:
car jacking with you behind the wheel, carjacking with you outside car in lot/pumping gas, etc). Holschen's ideas are much more generalized, which is, I think, the better way to go. I think once you've done the specifics as I just mentioned, you can look for commonalities between them and then create your IA plans. Maybe?

[awp_101]

It's certainly not "assault the near ambush" from the kill zone as we drilled in the Army. Coincidentally Claude Werner was just writing about how that may need to be unlearned by those who engrained it when they had the mission to close with the enemy.
To that point, several times DB has mentioned working with and knowing high drive type LE that transitioned to the J Frame lifestyle upon retirement for that reason. I specifically remember him telling the story of a guy he knew that was sitting in a coffee shop not long after retiring who recognized a wanted bad guy sitting in there having coffee as well. He said if he’d had his duty gun on he’d have attempted to hold him until help arrived but having “just” a J Frame he decided walking out the door and calling someone he knew at “the office” to handle things was the better plan.



The point of the immediate action drill as I drilled it in Army training was to condition a unit to react with the same immediate action to a specific threat, together to save the time of forming and communicating a plan in certain emergencies. And getting caught in a near ambush is one heckuva emergency.
It’s the same concept but with the “family unit”. If I see something (or someone) odd while we’re out eating and I tell her we need to leave now, I guarantee there’s going to be at least 1 round of 20 questions before she gets up and maybe another round as we’re leaving. OTOH if we’ve already discussed why I might make that call and what she needs to do, then she knows 20 questions can wait until we’re in the car.

And I’d like to offer another thank you to jlw for a quality and entertaining podcast. I can’t always listen the day it drops but I try to catch it within a day or two on Spotify.

[Hambo]

It’s the same concept but with the “family unit”. If I see something (or someone) odd while we’re out eating and I tell her we need to leave now, I guarantee there’s going to be at least 1 round of 20 questions before she gets up and maybe another round as we’re leaving. OTOH if we’ve already discussed why I might make that call and what she needs to do, then she knows 20 questions can wait until we’re in the car.
\

Settle on a phrase that means GTFO now. Normally, one of us asks the other, do you want to go? Are you finished?

If either of us says as a statement: "It's time to leave." That means we get up and go immediately, no questions asked, no stops, don't worry about the check, use the fire door if you have to. The hope is we see it coming left of bang and are exiting before the show starts.