I've been conscious about not tactically turtling ever since @Tamara made fun of it on her blog
"The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so."
― Ennius
I can’t think of anyone in the tactical world that also competes in USPSA at A class and above that advocates doing the tactical turtle. It’s inefficient and unnecessary.
Really?
(Curiosity caused me to search on "turtle", and this was the only reference preceded by "tactical"; the rest were all references to "Draw Tippy Turtle U.". )
Is it better? Probably not, but who knows. However, when doing the turtle you have to wear a sweet, sweet boonie hat because it's soooooo operator as fuck.
It's a rule.
We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......
Everything the "operator" says about the tactical turtle is true. That is a great position that helps armor you up, helps protect the KO points on the head, helps add to power production, gives a solid base to take in impact, and gets your muscles tense (which is good for dealing with impact) without being overly tense. For hand-to-hand fighting, especially in a ranged striking encounter, that is the best "stance".
And none of that means shit for getting shot or shooting. None of that is going to be particularly better at keeping a bullet from penetrating enough to kill you, and none of it contributes to having a useful shooting platform.
Should we have as much commonality across platforms when it comes to combat as possible? Sure. Certain things work always - square hips, belt line low, good traction with the feet. Having as much stability as possible while being as mobile as possible. Having a similar shooting platform when you shoot handguns, shotguns, or rifles is a good. Having a H2H position that enables you to fight at range as well as in continuous contact with the opponent's body is a must. But there are some things that have to change somewhat when you make big changes to the platform. You need to always maximize where you are at. When you are shooting, you have to make the changes to enable the best shooting, even if that is different than your H2H position. And vice versa - if you are in contact with the attacker, then you need to make sure your stance/position is the best it can be for that, and that may mean your shooting ability will suffer. In other words, in an entanglement, the turtle IS "the way", but not at distance.
I am all for making all our skill sets as simple as possible, but we can't lose functionality when we do so.
For info about training or to contact me:
Immediate Action Combatives
Maybe some make too big a deal out of this subject. I think it might have something to do with the decade one made their bones in too.
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“Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais