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Reaction time good points

Long Post Warning

I think it was an interesting article. I am going to pick one bone. The author talked about you can't be in condition Yellow all the time.

The problem with that is he thinks he's talking the same language as I am but he's not.

I was taught that condition yellow is "A general awareness that the world is not a safe place and that on any given day you may have to defend yourself."
I could live with that understanding for the rest of my life. Because I do live with that understanding I don't do things like hang out in line in crowded parking lots.

A long time ago a friend of mine was standing in line in a fast food restaurant when some crackhead tried to rob it. My friend got involved, my friend got shot multiple times. My friend also has to live every single day with the fact that he killed somebody that day.

I've already made my decision that if I ever see a robbery occurring in front of me I'm going to let it play out without getting involved unless I have no other option. According to the FBI less than two tenths of a percent of armed robberies actually end with anybody being shot. If that statistic is still accurate the odds are heavily in my favor and I am not jumping in to protect the insured 50 bucks in the cash register.

This is the final point that I want to make.

A lot of people don't like or respect James Yeager but he made a video once about human reaction time (YouTube took it down).

One of the most important points that he made in that video is that when you're faced with a crisis one of the possible defense mechanisms that your brain will use to deal with it is deny that it's even happening.

And as an example he cited people who were involved in mass shooting events that were asked how they felt or how they reacted and they all said I didn't even think it was real I thought it was a movie.

I knew a guy that was a cop in Florida who was not a witness to but he was working during the time of the Miami shootout. He said that when the shootout was going on there were people standing around watching it because they thought somebody was filming an episode of Miami Vice.

Going back to what I said above, what Yeager said was it the first thing that you have to do before you can do anything is overcome that little voice inside your brain that is telling you this isn't happening.

Another part of that video and I'm going to make this brief was that when your face with the situation that you've never been in before your brain will start going through your memories like a little Rolodex looking for an appropriate response to the given situation and if it doesn't find one it will keep going through that Loop looking for "What do I do now?" What Yeager said is that's why we do scenario training. That's why we do "What ifs".

I apologize for this extremely long post
 
The Night Rider said:
Another part of that video and I'm going to make this brief was that when your face with the situation that you've never been in before your brain will start going through your memories like a little Rolodex looking for an appropriate response to the given situation and if it doesn't find one it will keep going through that Loop looking for "What do I do now?" What Yeager said is that's why we do scenario training. That's why we do "What ifs".

I apologize for this extremely long post
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Don't apologize. Best post on any topic I've read all day (so far).

The part of your post I boldfaced is pretty much what I learned from Booya Sam all those years ago as the definition of "panic." ;)

Back when I started in AA over three decades ago, every so often someone would say to me, "Stop worrying about things. 99% of the things you worry about never happen." And I'd reply, "I know. That's WHY I worry--to get that statistic on my side. It's the stuff you DON'T worry or think about that bites you on the ass." :LOL:
 
Study the human reaction to any sudden event and you will see some are “conditioned“ to perceived danger and others are not. Well conditioned urban dwellers know instinctively to duck at the sound of gun fire. Lesser, complacent dwellers might look up from a cellphone and discount the noise as some rascal with fireworks. Even in the slightest of startling, most will draw back, run away, some might scream, it’s those that have absolutely no fighter/killer instinct.

Critical split second is required to assess whatever may be a threat and the remaining split second is for reaction. An intelligent, logical assessment, when it comes to personal survival, can be compromised when matters of liability and emotion are allowed to take over important decision, so factor that into the fight or flight.

Fall forward or slip backwards - we all have enough instinct to throw out an arm to brace for the pavement…right?

I think sport shooting, or any defensive hand fighting offers a conditioning foundation to personal safety…but it might not do enough if the fighter has a fear of hurting the aggressor in the most dire situations. Gotta at least have a war face.
 
Area52 said:
Well conditioned urban dwellers know instinctively to duck at the sound of gun fire. Lesser, complacent dwellers might look up from a cellphone and discount the noise as some rascal with fireworks.
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True story, I used to do security at a power plant that bordered Range Row at Fort Carson. The machine gun ranges were probably a mile from our guard shack, maybe a mile and a half.

I walked out of the guard shack one night to get in our little "patrol car" and go do my rounds just when somebody started shooting on the .50 cal range.

I hit the ground and literally tried to crawl under the car. My coworker (who was an idiot) stood there in the parking lot and just laughed and laughed and laughed.

I got up off the ground, I looked at him and said something along the lines of "Between the two of us I can tell who's been shot at and who hasn't."

It was actually an interesting assignment I would sit in the guard shack all night long and listen to artillery rounds going down range. None of my coworkers had any idea what they were hearing. It doesn't sound anything like what you hear in the movies.
 
KillerFord1977 said:
You’ll never know until the day comes.
Training and more training..
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One of the major reasons I train almost daily in Escrima(Filipino Martial Arts - FMA) is that in this martial arts style you start training with weapons and then move on to empty hand training (most martial arts styles are the opposite).

So how is this relevant to firearms carry?
I'm glad you asked that question...:)
Distance is time, and time is distance. Time gives you choices that pure reaction does not.

We all can't afford to pay for high tech training of reflexes but there are alternative inexpensive methods of training that people in the Philippines and other low income countries have been using for many, many, years.

Rubber training sticks are cheap and don't hurt that bad. So buy a pair and have a trusted friend/relative stand about 10 feet from you and attack you with a rubber stick while you attempt to deploy your unloaded firearm. You'll find out pretty quickly how even simple movements are difficult under duress.

I've had students fall on their asses as they tried to retreat from me swinging a rubber stick at them. It's hard enough to create distance without falling on your ass or stumbling just trying to avoid getting hit by the rubber stick. It's even more difficult to try to draw a concealed handgun as you're creating distance.

I have all kinds of drills like this one that I practice pretty often. One of them is called "Mother in Law"...:) That's where we do a scenario and your adrenaline gets going and the situation changes where lethal force is no longer needed. A designated person in the scenario yells "Mother in Law" and the student who is defending themselves has to stop their self-defense. It's not a perfect drill but the purpose of it is to prepare to disengage from a conflict once the threat(s) is no longer a threat.

One of the hardest things once you get going, is to disengage. It's also difficult to keep your emotions in check. But with all the camera phones and cameras out there, there is a possibility that every one of your actions will be scrutinized by people who couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag.

The more you do these types of drills and add variety the better chance you'll have to not overreact, not pee or poop in your pants and use a minimum amount of force (perhaps avoid deploying/brandishing a weapon) that wasn't really necessary but your fear and reaction caused you to deploy.

Train your body. Train your mind. Keep movements simple(practice short steps front, back, and to either side). Keep moving. Be aware of your environment (especially the exits). If you fall or stumble get your ass back up and keep going. If you get hit or stabbed(we also train with markalots and rubber knives) keep going. It's about survival not style points...:) And most importantly, don't forget to breathe...:)
 
I used to help at a Police Academy in the late 80's acting as a bad guy. One drill that we would run which was eye opening to me was the covered bad guy. I could be standing with a gun at my side with an officer in front of me covering me with his weapon. I was amazed at how many times I got the first shot off. Knowing I was going to shoot and when was a clear advantage. The closer to the original stop time the officers would perform better but once a few seconds passed the advantage was mine. I always thought that was due to the officer starting to process more information while i was only processing one thing, when to shoot. The faster you process you are going to act the better your odds at survival.
 
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