*Thought for the day:
There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home.”
How true for us here on the Tactical Thread. We train in martial arts, situational awareness, and combat skills because at one time in our lives, we have faced loss, threats, injury or someone trying to injure or kill us. Train hard.
Thought for the day:
I am posting some information from an article written by a member of the Korean community, who established an informal network of community “watchers” during the height of the Minneapolis riots. This is not some political and racial crap from me, this is simply taking an after action report and learning from the mission. Many aspects of his article can be used in our own tactical planning. When I was doing PSD work for the State Department, we followed 4 basic rules when we were operating in the Red Zone:
Weapons
Transportation
Communications
Backup
If you read the excerpts from the article, you will notice how important communications was in trying to elevate the threat level. Now, why do you ask, am I talking about this? Well, because riots can happen in any major city in any Western country and we should always have a tactical plan in place. If you live in a city or residential area of a city, I believe you should at least start making a basic plan for surviving a major riot. I don’t know how many of you have large families and a network of friends. If you do, now is the time to set up meetings and establish methods of communication. Learn from this. Have a plan.
The New Roof Koreans Amidst the Minneapolis Riots
In the moment, however, neighborhoods came together to protect local businesses and their own homes — and spontaneous Emergency Networks spread across the city. As a Minneapolis native, this first-hand narrative represents the antifragility of the American people.
As the façade of public safety went up in flames to the sounds of chanting, the eerie nature of the moment didn’t have time to sink in. This wasn’t a nightlong siege of an embassy in a foreign country — this was home. A phone call interrupted. Was it another family member? A friend calling to check in? Or was it word of something new?
In the background, flames leaped from buildings and smoke plumes melted into a dawn skyline. For miles, the smell left a slight metallic taste in the mouth. It wasn’t recognizable, but it was familiar.
The city, this city, our city wasn’t the same in the morning air. All night we were monitoring, watching, and sending out patrols. Little did we know by the end of the week that we’d be convoying nursing mothers away from their homes to safety. Was this Minneapolis, or was it Mogadishu?
We were no longer measuring this event in hours, but days. The previous 24 hours we watched what started as protests turn into burning buildings and a form of looting that looked too relaxed to be anything but surreal. A man in socks and sandals stumbled out from the rubble of a smashed employee entrance with a carton of eggs, some cooking oil, and a half-eaten candy bar. With a casual air, he stepped around a barrier, chuckled at the hull of a burning car, and disappeared into the residential streets. A few miles away, men with body armor and carbines sat inside cars in grocery store parking lots and outside apartments to protect businesses and the community.
Sorting through and qualifying the information escalated to a necessity, as rumors spread like wildfire through social media and news outlets. The white supremacists were coming to town — or was it the Black Panthers? Boogaloo boys or antifa? Believable? Yes, but not nearly as relevant nor immediate as the gas station burning at the end of the block. The National Guard was now using live ammunition? A quick check with a friend in the chain of command said otherwise; another case of bad information reaching further and faster than fact.
It didn’t take long for rumors to breed distrust, with speculation spreading fear that some infamous “them” could be coming to town to take part in the trouble. But how could we verify who they were or where they were coming from, or even where they were going? And then there was the matter of who we were. Were we a group of concerned friends? A rescue operation? The latest evolution of the neighborhood watch?
On the couch rested a plate carrier, hearing protection, and a rifle. Half of the dinner table became a command center, busy with communication on every channel, texts, phone calls, live video, and each social media platform a blur of new information that had to be evaluated.
Nicholas Nassim Taleb, in his work Antifragile, observed that highly centralized organizations were prone to collapse when the head was cut off from communication.
An emergency network stands apart by defining itself primarily around an area of operations, not a rank structure. It’s not an organization that needs hierarchy, but a team that requires cohesion. Spread across Minneapolis, each person represented a node, a point to gather and cross-reference any information that popped up. Some brought unique expertise — a retired police officer, a member of the National Guard, a nurse, another who was social media savvy. No bunkers, HAM radios, or bug-out Hilux imports in sight, all communication took place over cell phones and computers. By establishing various information-specific group text messages or chat rooms, we isolated pertinent, actionable information that could be shared across the whole group while limiting the noise of rumors and conjecture.
Next, we used tools like Google Earth to clearly define and disseminate where each person lived to determine key routes of travel and the greatest danger areas. People could drop a pin where they lived, and if they saw something first-hand, it could make its way onto the map. If a building started burning, it was shared with the group. As time progressed, various streets, roads, and highways would be blocked by police, protesters, or riots, and that’d determine how we’d get people out of a bad place.
When establishing a network as a crisis is in progress, the decentralized nature of the group begins naturally. By self-regulating the various streams of communication, the network prevents itself from getting too crowded, allowing the most pertinent information to stay on the top. By reserving phone calls for immediate threats, part of the team can get rest knowing that if they were needed the ringer would wake them up. Just as some streets set up shifts to keep watch over the neighborhood, so could the network look out for each of its members while some slept for the first time in 36 hours.
For the third night in a row, the city burned with no end in sight. As the skyline began to give way to the gray of dusk, we wondered if tonight we’d see it aglow by fires in this neighborhood. The rumor coursing through the wires and waves of the city was that tonight the rioters were going residential, now that the police precincts had hardened their defenses and the businesses worth looting had been stripped bare. All day, pallets of plywood emptied out of lumberyards for boarding up gas stations, liquor stores, and churches within a 20-mile radius.
A computer had been synced to relay text messages, as it took too long to type on a phone keyboard. A screenshot came in, this time a social media post: THE WHITE SUPREMACISTS ARE MARCHING SOUTH FROM NEW BRIGHTON. If that were true, it would be a problem. Could this information be verified? We didn’t care about who they were, only if the threat was real.
We had more information at our fingertips than we could handle. In order to turn it into OSINT (open-source intelligence), or actionable information, we needed a way to evaluate what came in. People flocked to Minneapolis, some for a chance to get in on the action, others to catch the spotlight for political gain, still more to protect property and people from the fires, or to watch what felt like history in the making. All the attention brought a spotlight and the struggle for it.
The battle over the streets was matched with a battle over the headlines. That distinction meant everything to those who lived where others fought. In the papers and across the web, people argued over who was starting the fires, or who was coming to town, but to us, it didn’t matter — we sent an armed escort to the home of a National Guardsman who was receiving threats. As the street violence continued to escalate, he’d been called in, leaving his wife and 1-year-old child home alone. Despite the curfew, they were quickly and quietly escorted to the safety of family outside the city.
TRIGGERS
It wasn’t the alarm of white supremacists on Twitter that drove us to action, but the reports coming in from government sources and confirmed by our own people on the ground. When rumors of threats began to spread, it became the responsibility of each person to verify what they heard and dismiss anything that couldn’t be confirmed. In this case, the National Guard was briefed on the expectation for the riots to move into residential areas, and we considered it actionable intelligence when multiple vehicles were spotted driving through without license plates. The previous days’ reports and videos floated across Minneapolis, depicting cars stripped of tags driving through in search of soft targets to quickly smash-and-grab them when the police were nowhere in sight.
Social unrest seized Minneapolis in a matter of hours, so the establishment of an emergency network was both organic and reactionary. However, once the channels of communication were established, it was time to become proactive. This meant forming an amalgamation of tactics and standard operating procedures. With people remaining in their neighborhoods, sometimes minutes and sometimes miles apart, we needed to know exactly when it was time to act and how to act.
As we tracked the movement of the riots, mapping out the locations of burning or looted buildings, we were faced with this question. So far, none of us had been immediately threatened. Our hatchets sharp, powder dry, and plate carriers loaded, our team was at the ready, but as the violence escalated, it stayed away from our doorsteps. Our greatest danger wasn’t a torch-wielding mob — at least not yet — but rather the weariness of endlessly waiting for a threat to manifest, hoping that we’d have the mental fortitude to make wise decisions.
Tangible triggers dictate appropriate responses. When someone identified vans without license plates roving around their neighborhood, someone outside of the danger area would drive to their location and provide security for the night. If someone needed food but couldn’t leave their home, another would provide a meal. In the event of a nearby fire, people with trucks were at the ready, fully knowing the hazard of entering a part of the city barred from police, medical responders, and even the fire department.
In the weeks following the riots, after the fires had long gone out and the smoldering wreckage of businesses began to assess how or if they could rebuild, some looked to politicians to save them from the aftermath. Our network, however, remained in place to look after our own. No one was coming to save us, and this was our home. This city was ours, but its eyes had grown wide with suspicion as it questioned who could be trusted. Neighbors debated who started the fires or looted local businesses, and the machine of media turned its attention from reporting on what it saw to arguing over which politician was to blame.
Behind the scenes, men and women stood up to look after each other, not by obligation but by choice. And it was that conscious decision that set them apart. No longer burdened by a search for meaning, they had found theirs — not in trying to identify victimhood, but to act and make themselves more able to act. In Minneapolis, behind the politics and the posturing, these emergency networks still stand, defined not by what happened to them, but what they were doing when no one was looking.
You have to admire the combination of self reliance and sense of community of immigrants. Americans could learn from them or rather relearn from them as they used to be our values too.
I came here to post some thoughts on this very topic before scrolling through and reading this. I came across a video I found interesting.
It sort of brings into question whether the element of knife surprise is needed. I think the lesson is MOVEMENT. Get out of the way while drawing. I am far from experienced in fighting and combat and would appreciate some insight from more experienced/trained people.
One problem with this video is that both people know what’s going on from the start. The shooter can prepare himself mentally while not having to worry about his emotions, as it’s not real. Also, he isn’t carrying his gun concealed which could slow down his draw.
This type of scenario is most relevant to cops who may have to confront a mentally disturbed person with a knife. We have seen video of these shootings.
If someone with a knife gets too close before you can draw without getting stabbed, one option is to fall on your backside, put your feet up to keep distance between you and him (like an open guard position in bjj), and shoot between your legs.
To me, the fact that both know what’s happening makes it more frightening. Gun guy had no chance against the knife BECAUSE he was so focused on the gun and had no time to draw and fire. With prior knowledge there was still very little response time. If someone is across a room or halfway to a third of a grocery store aisle from you and they surprise attack your options become real limited real fast. The main lesson I have gleaned from this forum (and thanks Idaho it’s a great idea. Your dedication to it is most welcome) is movement under attack. No one gets inside a certain distance and if they move fast I move away or to the side just to create time for me to respond.
Thank you for posting the video.
True, still taught today in limited fashion, unfortunately, training with a Tazer has become popular in this situation, which IMHO, is not the proper response for a lethal force situation. I don’t trust Tazers since I have seen them fail 4 times.
This technique is taught in several private training classes and is a very stable shooting position, if you have been forced to assume a on the floor position. training off you back is often neglected, but, vital, because, eventually you will get knocked on your butt.
It also appeared he was attempting to chamber a round after drawing during the first two attacks. Not tactically smart.
Distance, distance, and more distance ( if possible, hard to obtain distance if attacked in vehicle or bathroom)) in a knife attack.
In any attack from firearms to fists, movement is essential to survival. I read something interesting the other day. The author stated the biggest fallacy of most martial training was not preparing students for assaults, that training was to rigid for students. Food for thought, but, I don’t think JJ, judo, KM , wrestling and boxing fail to teach movement.
Thought for the day:
A potential issue is that it will usually be judo vs judo movement, for example.
On some bjj forums posters will say Royce Gracie was not that good at bjj because a high level purple belt could beat him in a bjj match. Whether true or not, Royce wasn’t learning bjj to beat bjj.
Thank you Idaho for passing on the writing of that Minneapolis Korean man. A great insight into true and strong human community in the modern world, the kind many people think does not exist. I got a lot out of that.
Thought for the day:
Never lie to yourself about your abilities or your training.
Experience is knowledge you had after you needed it and it’s the prism through which we view life.
Haha, reminds me of the saying “Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions”.
Better to gain experience when the stakes are low, than wait to gain it when the stakes are high.
Thought for the day:
“Owning a handgun doesn’t make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician.”
A lot of wisdom in this quote by Jeff Cooper and to add another one:
“Just because you have black belt in a martial art, doesn’t mean you can fight’
Since the COVID pandemic and the lockdowns, I have noticed a trend among students: a growing dependence on guns and less emphasis on close contact training. Carrying legally concealed is just one part of self-defense. LEO’S and civilians now face more scrutiny than ever and using a gun in any situation except a dire lethal force attack will only land you in jail and sued. Training for physical attacks is mandatory (IMHO) while being armed. A gun doesn’t solve 99 percent of the problems you may encounter. A LEO carries his death and his hip every day and you as an armed civilian do the same. As least train in the basics of close contact grappling or someone will eventually take your gun and kill you.
Another opinion.:
Unarmed Defense for Those Who Carry
As a primer in what one should do when their personal space has been encroached, sometimes going directly to a gun isn’t the best solution. With that said, unarmed defense core concepts and history provide a way to develop a pathway to being more than the mythical good guy with a gun.
Acknowledging an over-reliance on one skillset sounds like it should be painful to the ego, but it produces a confident humility if addressed honestly. The barriers to entry for unarmed defense training are more personal in nature. Let’s be clear, there’s a gym of this sort in almost every decent-sized city: the same cannot be said for firearms training. Once one overcomes their personal objections, however, they must choose which unarmed training to take.
Someone who has taken up the responsibility to carry in public, must also consider developing a baseline for the worst-case scenario. When focusing on the fundamentals of marksmanship, it becomes clear that the world isn’t built around facilitating a clean draw into a fully extended pistol grip with a firm and confident stance. Snake Oil Salesmen of the Jason Bourne variety will try to make us believe that we’ll always see the threats coming from a mile away.
here’s always a difference between our emotionally charged beliefs and the unbiased statistical data that proves otherwise. Specifically, just because violence often starts surprising, intimate, and uncomfortable doesn’t mean that it’ll magically remain predictable, at distance, and fun if we only scan our sectors. While tests of unarmed skill are quick to humble even seasoned shooters, they should be developed because they’re with us at all times.
There is no perfect unarmed self-defense system, let’s just get that out in the open. At the very least, having a foundation in some form of grappling will allow you to control someone else’s body and therefore control their space. Now then, grappling arts that have stood the test of time come in various forms ranging from Greco-Roman wrestling, American wrestling, Catch wrestling, judo, sambo, and of course the well-known Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
They all have their pros and cons, but what all offer unlike other martial arts is the ability to pressure test your level of skill.
As an example, you’d be surprised by the amount of body awareness that can be developed as a six-month white belt in BJJ over the average neophyte. If you can shut down the space of an untrained fighter’s haymakers, then you control the power dynamic. Grappling is hard and it’s a long road, but the confidence gained, more than make up for the discomfort. You just need to accept and understand that the gun isn’t always the solution to the problem.
Everything’s a lot easier when weapons aren’t plugged in. Punches work, kicks work, throws work, pins work, locks work, all because no one has to worry about getting stabbed, shot or bludgeoned when they’re in a sterilized and safe training environment. With that said, it’s not as easy as you might think it is to find a grappling gym that “trains for the streets.” There’s a very well-known 5th degree Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt named Chris Haueter. He was one of the first 12 non-Brazilian black belt’s in American that were known as the “BJJ Dirty Dozen.” Chris has a quote that goes, “Think street, train sport, practice art.” It’s easy to get lost amongst the available Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gyms that are available, but what’s a quality gym/academy and what will end up being a waste of your time?
The first thing that should be avoided is what I call the “One-Stop Gym.” You’ve probably seen them around your town as the gym that offers “everything.” They teach Karate, Aikido, Tai Chi, Muay Thai, and of course Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Many times, whether it be martial arts or not, you don’t know what you don’t know until you know it. From the outside peering it, it may look like a good gym, but what you’re getting is only a “snippet” of actual BJJ, only a small sliver of unarmed defense. Usually, the coach that teaches the BJJ class is a low-ranking belt as well. If you want to understand quality BJJ you have to find an actual BJJ only gym. A quality school will list their instructor/coach’s lineage on for you to find. You want to look for anything that traces back to the Gracie or Fadda’s roots. They were the original two Brazilians who helped the development of BJJ into what it is today.
An instructor or coach who remains very vague about their roots should be a warning sign, leaving one wary about paying a membership. Though not necessary to look for, but be aware of, is a sport vs. self-defense style gym. BJJ was originally developed for combat, like any other martial art. Yet, over the years those concepts have faded in lieu of competition or “sport.” As aforementioned above with Professor Haueter, as long as you have the mentality and maturity to understand what moves work when your life hangs in the balance and those that don’t, it doesn’t necessarily matter what type of BJJ school you train at. Just sign up, get on the mats, be humbled, learn, and repeat.
Thought for the day:
Wise words, especially when it comes to your own fighting ability. As I found out last weekend, lacking training partners during this COVID pandemic has really degraded my up close skills. Food for thought.
*Thought for the day:
Welcome the strength of the pack … but always possess the ability to hunt alone … with skill, cunning and confidence.
Thought for the day:
“Be true to who you are . I don’t do this for anyone but myself (training) the point is this, fortitude is reinforced or undercut by our daily actions and fortitude is often the glue that holds you together in tough times”
Thought for the day:
The police cannot protect the citizen at this stage of our development, and they cannot even protect themselves in many cases. It is up to the private citizen to protect himself and his family, and this is not only acceptable, but mandatory." Jeff Cooper
I know, I have preached situational awareness here so much, that most of you are ready to puke reading those two words. After two local incidents of violence last week involving vehicles, take the time to educate your family on the folly of unlocking their vehicle and immediately start checking their I-phones.
The very first you should do is LOCK the doors. The second thing you should do is SCAN the area, noting any potential threats. Third, that phone can wait until you take the necessary steps to protect yourself.
Unbelievable failure of the criminal justice system, but, a good example of what can happen, anytime, anywhere. Put yourself in this 16 year old’s shoes and have future plan to respond.
Thought for the day:
“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.” - Marcus Aurelius
What shoes are my fellow civilians wearing on a daily basis? Or for those in a tactical role, on your off days. While some combat/duty boots might cover more bases, I’m looking for something a little more comfortable and less conspicuous, especially in summer time.
Nothing that screams “TACITCAL”.
Everyday shoes are typically Vans or flip-flops. Cross trainers or running shoes that have timed out for working out or my go-to’s for chores, home depot runs, yard work, etc. I’ll wear shoes for a specific purpose such as trail runners or hiking boots if I’m doing that type of activity.