Your Tactical Training Scenario…Position of Disadvantage

You are walking home from the grocery store and carrying several bags of food. Two men are walking behind you and yell out to you: “Hey Johnny!” You turn and tell them your name isn’t “Johnny” and that they have mistaken you for someone else. They apologize and you continue walking home.

Within seconds, you are hit from behind and knocked to the ground. Your attacker stabs you in the armpit before you even know what’s going on.

What do you do?

Read the short link below to get some more information about the scenario:

http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/17245655/mpbd-man-stabbed-walking-home-wit...

Unfortunately, this is the reality of a lot of criminal attacks. It’s the criminal’s job to make sure he has you at a disadvantage before he commits his crime. Many novices assume they will have plenty of time and forewarning. They assume they will be able to draw their weapon, flee, or have time to call the police. The reality is more like the scenario described above. You won’t even know you are in a fight until you are knocked to the ground and stabbed.

Some things to think about here:

– Have you ever trained to draw your weapon while your hands are full? What do you do with the items in your hand? Drop them? Throw them? Keep them? What if the “item” in your hands was your child?

– Have you ever trained to draw and fight from the ground?

– Have you trained weak hand tactics? What if that stab wound disabled your gun hand? Would you be able to access a weapon with your non-dominant hand in a compromised position?

– Have you ever trained to shoot or fight when dizzy, dazed, or off balance? If you get hit in the head, all those things are likely to happen.

These are some of the things you should be considering if you are training to prevail in a real criminal attack. Making tiny groups at 30 feet slow fire with your handgun just isn’t enough.

Assume that you will start the fight from a position of disadvantage and train for that possibility.

Greg Ellifritz is a retired firearms and defensive tactics training officer for a central Ohio police department. He holds instructor or master instructor certifications in more than 75 different weapon systems, defensive tactics programs and police specialty areas. Greg has a master's degree in Public Policy and Management and is an instructor for both the Ohio Peace Officer's Training Academy and the Tactical Defense Institute.