Guest Post: Six Baskets of Training

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A Modest Outline For Pistol Training For Self-Defense

by George Groot

George is a member of our Facebook Group and has written for us before.

Have you ever been having a nice rational discussion involving the Second Amendment and said some tactical heresy like “I don’t think everyone needs to carry with a round in the chamber”? If so, you know you will be bombarded with a cacophony of “You need more training!” or “Get trained!” or “If you just take this class I’m sure you’ll see it my way.” I’ve heard all of those pointed at me, and I still don’t believe that absolutely everyone needs to carry with a round in the chamber at all times.

I have an actual background in training in the military, and need to point out that not all firearms training currently offered in the United States is worthwhile or a wise use of resources. Bad instructors are out there, as well as good instructors teaching irrelevant skills, so beware and ask around before you plop down the cash for training.

Now, I’m not against training; I am against wasting money on training that isn’t a good use of your time and money. There is a lot of free advice out there on how to train and what to train on, and this is no different. This is based purely on my knowledge and experience, so if you disagree it won’t hurt my feelings. My purpose here is to help people establish a solid base so that they can competently handle themselves and their tools in a stressful situation by focusing their training into areas that are the best investment of time and money to get competent. You won’t become a ninja if you follow my advice, as that requires way more training than I’m going to recommend.

For the purposes of this article, I will write about two types of training: initial and refresher.

• Training is always to produce a knowledge, skill, and ability. 
• Practice is to maintain a skill, knowledge, or ability. 
• Refresher training is when you need to update your skills with new knowledge, or to regain skills that have atrophied through non-practice. 

The second thing is that I’m not going to recommend any classes that are shotgun or rifle oriented. If you can handle a pistol, it is a relatively easy transition to substituting in a shotgun or carbine with familiarization and some range time.

So what training do you need? Let’s lay out six different baskets (two knowledge based, four skills based): Legalities, First Aid, Concealed Carry as a System, Shooting and Moving, Disarmed Defense, and Force on Force. If you make budgets, you can imagine putting time and money into each basket, and let’s see what training you should be getting in order to become competent in each basket for your time and money.

Knowledge Basket 1: Legalities
Who should you contact after using lethal force? When are you justified to use lethal force? What should you do after using lethal force? How should you interact with law enforcement? Why were your actions necessary?

Whatever class you take (such as an NRA concealed carry class) should answer those questions and give you resources to advance your education on your own. After graduation, you need to have the knowledge of what is and what is not permissible, the skills to point out behavior in others that changes a situation to where you can use lethal force, and the ability to articulate that authorization.

Knowledge Basket 2: First Aid
Specifically how to address a gunshot or stab wound along with accidental injuries like broken bones/fractures and concussions. You should come away with the skills to control bleeding and keep someone breathing. This is important because understanding why a tourniquet is worthless for a sucking chest wound is more important than carrying a tourniquet on your EDC kit at all times.

It seems like a lot of people carry gear that they don’t truly know how to use, and first aid in a trauma situation doesn’t leave a lot of time for consulting a manual. After graduation you need to be able to administer self or buddy aid and rush a casualty (or yourself) to treatment, or summon emergency services if available. I recommend “refresher” training fairly routinely.

Skills Basket 1: Concealed Carry as a System
Pick a reputable trainer that focuses on training civilians, not military or law enforcement. Test out your pistol and holster combo with the advice and feedback from a coach/instructor, so that when you are packing in your normal clothes you know exactly how your system works.

After graduation you should know how your system works in your normal clothes, the skill to uncover, draw, present, and fire accurately, and the ability to do this safely and holster safely. You shouldn’t need to retake this class ever as you should have the skills to fully evaluate any changes to your system if you make them.

Skills Basket 2: Shooting and Moving
Pick a reputable trainer and facility that will work on shooting while moving so that you can practice negotiating corners, hallways, and buildings with a firearm in play, in a shoot house if possible and on a flat range with obstacles/barriers as an alternative. You have much more practice walking and running than shooting, but combining the two activities makes both slightly more awkward.

After graduation you should have the knowledge of how your body responds to the stress of multiple physical tasks, the skill to maintain muzzle awareness and control, and the ability to rapidly distinguish between targets. Note that airsoft and/or paintball is a really good venue for practicing these skills, and a fun way to avoid needing to pay for refresher training.

Skills Basket 3: Disarmed Defense
This can be started at any time and continued as necessary. Pick an instructor/dojo/club that focuses on wrestling, jiu jitsu, or mixed martial arts, and engage as you are physically able to engage in training or class. Learn how to control space, escape locks, and be a harder target so that you have a solid base on how your body reacts to bad breath-range conflict with another human being.

Upon graduation (although I recommend continually training at a dojo/club for the exercise) you should have the knowledge of whether you are better at fighting with your upper body or lower body based, the skill to escape a hold, and the ability to remain calm when entangled with someone who means you harm. If you don’t stay active with a dojo/club, you’ll want to do routine refresher training as you can.

Skills Basket 4: Force on Force
After you’ve got everything else covered, consider training with someone like Craig Douglas in his Edged Weapons Overview (EWO) or Extreme Close Quarters Concepts (ECQC) class. This is a great capstone event to tie together your other skills on how to make space, control space, and more importantly when to escalate force.  This is a “post-graduate” level that sort of combines everything else: knowing when it is permissible to use lethal force, contact range through close pistol range, shooting while moving, and how to deal with a knife. There is no graduation from this; your training is really to apply the knowledge you have, identify pre-attack indicators, respond accordingly, and change your posture and escalation as necessary, and the ability to apply that in an unknown situation. Since these courses tend to be expensive, make sure that you put in the practice for your other baskets before paying for refresher training.


If you feel confident in your skills across all six baskets, you probably don’t need to take another class unless you want to learn something specific, like defending yourself inside a car or branching out to carbines and shotguns. If you assess yourself and realize it’s been a while since you trained on First Aid, be honest with yourself and address that. Like I said up front, this is not designed to turn you into some elite master of weapons but rather to make you competent with the tools you have. You can always spend more time and money on training, and there is nothing wrong with that, but don’t neglect your core skills chasing a fraction of a second advantage in room clearing with a carbine unless your job involves a lot of room clearing with a carbine.

$5 Grill Hacks

Godspeed and good grilling to you all. 

Ballistic Armor: Plate Carriers

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

You've selected your ballistic plates based on your needs and have the protection, cut, and material you want. The next step is wearing them, and for that you need a plate carrier, which is nothing more than a tactical vest with special pockets for your plates. (Note: Despite the word "plate" in the name, there is no reason you cannot use soft armor in a plate carrier.)

There are many brands of carrier on the market, and unlike plates it really doesn't matter who makes your carrier so long as it has good reviews for durability and reliability. After all, a carrier is nothing more than a stitched nylon (usually 1000 denier cordura) vest and a choice of options. In my opinion, it is the options which make or break a plate carrier. I have listed these in my (quite opinionated) order of importance.

Straps vs. Cummerbund
A plate carrier has, at a minimum, two pieces: the front and the back. These are attached to each other by straps that fasten in a variety of ways; buckles and velcro are the most popular. Once you have it adjusted for your comfort, leave the shoulder straps in place; that will make putting it on much easier.

You put it on a plate carrier by grasping it by the shoulder straps (or near them on the front piece) lifting it up and over your head, then sticking your head between the plates so that the straps sit squarely on your shoulders. This much is universal. After this, what happens next depends on what your carrier has.

If you have a strap type carrier, there will be two straps with YKK-style buckles on either side. How you fasten them is a matter of preference; some prefer to buckle them separately, others like to keep them buckled and then tension the straps into position. My preference is to keep my weak-side strap already buckled and tensioned, so that all I have to do is fasten and then tighten my strong-side strap. The main benefit of a strap type is that they are faster to put on than cummerbund types. 

If you have a cummerbund type carrier, after you have lowered the carrier onto your shoulders you will need to lift the cummberbund retaining flap on the front of your vest (this is secured with at least 6x12" of velcro, so it might take some effort), grab the dangling end of the cummberbund on your weak side, and bring it into position on the velcro. Once you've done that, switch hands and do the other side. Finally, lower the retaining flap into place. The main benefit of a cummerbund system is that it allows you to wear side plates. 

Regardless of which system you have, the carrier should be loose enough that your movement is not restrictive -- check to see if you can smoothly raise/shoulder your weapon and acquire a sight picture -- yet tight enough that most of its weight is borne by your chest instead of your shoulders. Cummerbunds have a slight advantage in this, although a quality strap type carrier is more than able to do this.

A quality (i.e. non-budget) plate carrier will come with the ability to have a cummerbund attached to it. If your primary intended use of ballistic plates is to protect yourself while you investigate a 'bump in the night', I would forgo the use of the cummerbund and keep mine in a strap configuration. The cummerbund can be added later, if necessary.

MOLLE Webbing
You need this. Fortunately, MOLLE webbing comes standard on practically every plate carrier.

Things to put on your webbing:

• Magazine pouches 
• an IFAK specifically for gunshot wounds
• a flashlight
• a knife
• a radio (or a cellphone in a dedicated pouch)
• a water bladder

The water bladder is probably a surprise. I include it not just for the obvious reason, but for the fact that most level III steel plates and level IV ceramic plates weigh in the 7 to 8 pound range and that one gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds. If you can only afford a single plate, get a 4 liter bladder (1 gallon = 3.785 liters) for your back to balance it out. 

Be advised that the more you put on your carrier (specifically ammunition), the more uncomfortable it will be to wear for a long period of time. For this reason I would specifically recommend against placing a sidearm on your carrier; wear it on your belt instead. 

Drag Handle
This is a strap on the back of your carrier, close to the nape of the neck. As the name suggests, this is a handle so that if you are wounded, one of your buddies can grab it and drag you to safety.

Do you need it? Hopefully not. Fortunately, these seem to come standard with every plate carrier I've seen. The nicer versions have a big healthy loop at the back, and the cheaper versions are essentially a strip of MOLLE webbing that hasn't been sewn into sections. 

Interior Padding
A foam lining in the inside of the plate carrier, usually with a sweat-wicking mesh as its outer layer.

This is usually one of the first options cut in budget plate carriers. You don't specifically need it, but it's very nice to have, especially if you wear your plates in the heat and/or for an extended period of time.

Shoulder Pads
These are typically aftermarket pads which wrap around the shoulder straps to give you more protection. In my opinion you shouldn't need them as the weight of the plates should be born on your chest and back, not your shoulders. However, you may disagree. I suggest trying your carrier without the shoulder pads, and then adding them later if you feel they are necessary.

Velcro Strips
These are convenient but not necessary. They are useful for the military and police to show names, units, jurisdictions etc but most people won't need them.

That said, they can be put to use. Blood type is a very popular option, and if you are working at night reflective strips can be useful.

I would recommend against patches that could arouse the ire of authorities, such as Punisher skulls.

Administrative Pocket
This is a fancy term for "There's a velcro pocket at the top of your front carrier." They aren't very large, however. I suppose you could put your Driver's Licence and Carry Permit in them?

Don't pay extra for this.


Next week: the conclusion of this series with a "Miscellaneous" post.

When No Help Is Needed

The protests in cities are heating up, and more people are bringing firearms to them. This has meant, and will mean, that people are going to get shot for doing stupid things, at stupid times, in stupid places, while with stupid people. Nothing good comes from being stupid!

I'll defer to the trained professionals on how to actually treat a gunshot wound; my medical training only covers how to help a patient get to that trained professional if possible. We've suggested several types of first aid equipment and training over the years, and I know we've covered triage procedures for when the casualties outweigh the medical staff/training/equipment available. Use the search box in the upper left corner to find the older but still relevant articles, because today I want to cover another, more unpleasant, aspect of emergency first aid: when do you not try to help?

One of the things I've noticed most first aid classes lack is a defined point of “they're gone, you can't help them any more”. Your Red Cross first aid class isn't designed to teach you how to treat injuries; it's meant to teach you how to stabilize a patient for transport to a facility where they can be treated. It takes more advanced training to cover the obvious signs of death and when it is proper not to attempt to help, as first responders are more likely to be the first on scene to find an obviously dead person.

I dug around through my training materials and several online sources, and they all agree on the basics of when to declare a patient deceased and that medical aid in not going to help them. The following is a basic outline, not an exhaustive one.

Obvious signs of death / Don't attempt to revive:

• Decapitation: if the head is removed from the body, current medical science can't help them.
• Incineration: firefighters are more likely to see this than an average person, but once the body has gone from “burns present” to “charred” there's nothing you can do.
• Decomposition: obvious is obvious -- a decomposing body is not going to heal.
• Bisection: a fancy way of saying “cut in half”.

Presumed dead but has potential for revival:

• Unresponsive
• Not breathing
• Has no pulse
• Has fixed, dilated (open) pupils

If presumed dead AND has any of the following, do not to try to revive:

• Rigor Mortis: I covered this in one of my first articles. Shortly after death, the body goes stiff due to the chemical reactions of the onset of decomposition.
• Lividity of lower extremities: Once the heart stops pumping blood, that blood tends to settle out in the lowest part of the body. Blood pooling under the skin will look like a massive bruise or discoloration, which is known as lividity. Rolling a patient and looking at the underside is all you need to do.
• Massive trauma with internal organs visible: Unless you're next door to a fully equipped surgical theater, there's nothing you can do that will help.

Helping others and rendering aid are good things in my book, but you need to know when you'd just be wasting time and supplies that might be used to save someone else's life.

Vital Fluids and How to Find Them

In any vehicle there are a variety of vital fluids that keep you going down the road safely and smoothly. In order to assess and correct any issues with these systems, you need to know what you're looking for under the hood.

I talked before about finding, diagnosing and correcting a leak in my truck.The images I'll be using are from the engine compartments of two of my vehicles; they're not the be-all and end-all of under-hood layouts, but they give a good example. For your specific vehicle, look in your owner's manual, it should provide a complete layout of all of your vital fluid reservoirs and check points.

This is the engine compartment of my Miata. It is a manual transmission car without power steering, so there is no automatic transmission fluid (ATF) or power steering fluid to check. However, the blue circle is the clutch fluid reservoir. This reservoir, as well as the brake fluid reservoir next to it (circled in red) can simply be checked by noting the fluid level against marks in the exterior wall of the reservoir itself. Neither commonly gets low, unless a leak or very severe wear in the system develops.

The reservoir circled in green is the coolant reservoir, and the volume of fluid in this reservoir can change depending on your engine temperature. Your coolant expands as your engine heats up, and will lead to more fluid in this tank. It will have markings on the side for "Full Hot" and "Full Cold." DO NOT OPEN THIS BOTTLE WHILE YOUR ENGINE IS HOT! Severe burning is likely to result. When your engine has cooled, you can open this reservoir to add more coolant if needed, but do not fill above the "Full Cold" marking, thus leaving room for expansion to occur.

The areas circled in yellow are the oil level dipstick and the oil fill cap; the cap is the larger black piece towards the bottom of the picture. Your owner's manual will have instructions on how to read your dipstick, as some of them have several indicator areas on them.

This is the driver's side of the engine bay on my truck. The engine is big enough that it takes two pictures to show things properly. This truck is equipped with power steering and an automatic transmission, so there is no clutch fluid reservoir, but there are ATF and power steering fluids to check.

The purple circle is both the dipstick and filling port for power steering fluid. It's a very small reservoir, but a very important one to safely drive a vehicle of this size. The red circle is again the brake fluid reservoir, and the only difference from the Miata is size.

This is the passenger side of the bay. The yellow circles are again the dipstick and filling port for motor oil. The green is still coolant, and the same warning applies on the big diesel as the baby gas engine. Opening this cap on a hot engine is almost guaranteed to result in very nasty burns.

The area circled in orange has my automatic transmission fluid dipstick. On this engine, it's hidden behind my turbocharger piping, but it's back there and very well marked. On some vehicles, it is on the driver's side of the engine, but it will almost always be towards the rear of the engine compartment and well marked. The procedure for checking this fluid is fairly involved and a bit vehicle specific, so consult your owner's manual for the specific instructions to perform this check.

Keep your engine's fluids topped up and in top shape, and she'll purr like a kitten for years.

Lokidude

Simple Homemade Blueberry Syrup

DIY simple blueberry syrup.

1 cup blueberries

1cup sugar

1cup water

Bring to a slow boil for 12 minutes or so. 

Turn of the heat

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Put in your favorite container and enjoy!

Godspeed to you all.

Custom Hearing Protection

Whether using firearms or operating noisy machinery or (especially if you ride motorcycles) dealing with wind noise, there are times you need hearing protection. Sometimes earmuffs, fancy or plain, may not be the best fit for the conditions, or you may need more than just muffs.

The usual fix for this is earplugs like these, or these, or these.  All of them work; however, the problem some people run into is that they won't stay in place (especially the foam plugs) when you have to talk or move around much, or they just don't fit your ears well.

This brings me to these: do-it-yourself custom earplugs.  They may not be quite as nice as those you can sometimes find being made a gun shows, but they cost a lot less, too.

How they work:

1. Make sure your ears and hands are clean.
2. The kit comes with two small tubs, each with a lump of compound in it.
3.  Take half of each, and knead that together for 30-45 seconds, no more, until the color is even.
4. Roll it between your palms into a smooth ball with no creases.
5. Put it into your ear and push it in place. (A mirror helps.) Don't try to shove it all in; it needs to go a little into the ear canal but not too far, and there should be enough, after you push and fold it in and smooth it, to fill the inner bowl of the ear.
6. Sit down for ten minutes without no chewing, drinking, or talking. 
7. After a few minutes you'll start hearing popping sounds as the mix starts to cure and harden, which will increase for a couple of minutes, then start dying down.
8. After ten minutes you should be able to get hold of the top edge and pull/roll it out.  
9. Set that one aside and do the other ear.  
10. Let them sit for a few hours to completely cure.

The Good: I really like these because, unlike any other earplug I've used, they don't start working back out after a few minutes. They'll fit under a motorcycle helmet, they're washable, and can be had in several colors (my last set was pink, which is very easy to find if I drop one).  They'll also last a long time; one of my sets is almost two years old.

The not really Bad, but keep in mind: the package shows a Noise Reduction Rating(NRR) of 26, which is the same as a lot of low-profile earmuffs, less than some of the foam-type.  Shooting outside, or around loud equipment or power tools they work well; for an indoor range I'd want them and muffs, especially around rifles and shotguns.

For what they are, I give them a five-star rating.