GOOD INFORMATION, THE COMBATIVE MINDSET

I received this article from a police officer that I had the pleasure of meeting on Saturday, when I was at the range.  I was glad that we had the opportunity to pick each others brain a little because as a former L.E. Officer & Trainer I know the value of getting other professionals views and opinions on effective training and combat shooting techniques.  Especially as to the validity of their effectiveness in the real world, not just what works on the static range.  This article is about the COMBATIVE MINDSET.  For you folks that are not familiar with this term and what it means, you are already in a very poor situation should you ever be involved in a life threatening critical incident.  Whether you carry a gun for professional purposes or if you are just a responsible law abiding citizen with a legal CCW Permit I would suggest you read and make a copy of this article so that you will have it available for review from time to time.  When I was reading this article I felt that I was reading something that I had written on this subject because the author's views are so closely related to my own. 

SORRY, FOR SOME REASON WHEN I COPY AND PASTED THIS ARTICLE IT BECAME BROKEN UP.  HOWEVER IT IS STILL READABLE. 

Thank you, Sergeant Eidell  for sharing this information with me and allowing me to share it with this blogs followers.

Developing the Comhotive Mindset
By: Briqn Eidell
lf you have been a police officer for any length of time you have probably been involved in a
situation that placed you in danger and caused you to evaluate your performance with a critical
eye. There are many factors that may have contributed to a less than favorable performance.
Did you have any type of training that would prepare you for this type of situation? Have you
ever experienced this type of situation before? How did stress affect your decision making and
performance? Were you mentally and physically prepared for the fight of your life?
Of all of these factors I believe that mental preparation is the most important. I will use as an
example the training of the United States Navy Seals to prove my point. Seal trainin gis 26
weeks long and is probably the most difficult training in the U.S. military. As with every elite
military unit there are those that try out for the glory of being a SEAL. They are usually the first
to drop out. Then there are those that are very physically fit and look like the perfect physical
candidate to be a SEAL. They could be on the cover of a body building magazine but rarely do
they earn the title Navy SEAL. Talk to anyone that has earned that title and they willtell you
that becoming a SEAL requires a mental toughness that most people do not have. The type of
person that becomes a Navy Seal is the type of person that would rather die than quit. From
the moment they made a decision to try out, they also made a mental decision to never quit.
Their bodies may be exhausted but their mind pushes them on.
Let's look at how this can be applied to the police officer. We can provide our officers with the
best equipment and training that money can buy. They may be intelligent, physically fit and an
expert level shooter on the range. They can be self confident and aggressive, ready to take on
the world. But are they mentally prepared for a deadly force encounter? The officer that is
caught mentally unprepared to respond is likelyto lose the confrontation. Being mentally
unprepared creates lag time in your response. This can result in serious bodily injury and even
death. We must develop a different mental attitude that helps us to prepare for the deadly
force encounter before it even happens. We must develop a combative mindset.
What is a combative mindset? The word combative means "ready and willing to fight." Mindset
is defined as "a course of action based on a previous decision. A set path based on reason and
intellect." Combative mindset can then be defined as being mentally and physically prepared to
engage in combat, a willingness to fight based on a previous decision, a decision made based on
reason, intellect and prior experience. Having a combative mindset requires a change in the
way that we live our lives. lt is a change in attitude that helps us to see and prepare for danger
ahead of time. Some people would call it being paranoid; I say it's being aware of your
surroundings at all times. The combative mindset prepares you to see any potential threat
coming before an attack actually occurs. This mental preparation allows you to respond with
speed, decisiveness and efficiency. The prey has now become the predator.
Years ago I was caught walking in a bad neighborhood where I knew there was a definite
potential for an attack. At the time I was not a police officer but had been in the Marine Corps
for severalyears. As I was walking down the street I observed a group of teenage males exiting
a house on the opposite side of the street. As soon as they observed me they began moving
toward me quickly. Since I had already mentally prepared myself for a fight I made the decision
that I was going to use a lock blade knife, which was already open and in my hand, to defend
myself. I kept the blade concealed in a reverse grip and made the decision to use deadly force if
necessary. The group verbally harassed me but they never attempted an assault. I remember
looking each of them in the eye as they asked me what I was doing in their neighborhood. I
don't believe that any of them ever observed my knife or knew what lwas prepared to do if
they had attacked. I don't know why they did not attack but I hope it was something they
observed in my eyes that made them look for easier prey.
As police officers too many of us have the mindset it will never happen to me. Too often, when
something bad does happen, an officer can be heard saying "this wasn't supposed to happen to
mel" We dealwith combative persons allthetime but how manyof ustrain in someform of
combative martial art. As mixed martial arts become more popular there is a greater chance
that we will one day have to deal with someone with this training. MMA fighters are both
mentally and physically tough and they enjoy fighting. Some of us don't even stay physically fit.
We carry a handgun every day and yet very few of us take the time or spend the money to
become proficient with that handgun. Why, because most of us don't really believe that we will
ever need to use a gun to save our own life. I can guarantee you that if a man knew that, on a
particular day, he was going to be in a gunfight he would be practicing with his gun every day to
prepare ahead of time. We don't have the luxury of knowing who, when, where or how we are
going to be attacked. We don't know how many attackers we are going to have to face. We
must prepare as if every day was that day because it just might be. We must develop a mindset
of when it happens and not if it happens. Compare your firearms training to that of a
competitive shooter. Most police officers qualify once a year and shoot two or three times per
year. Ask any competitive shooter how often they are training and then compare what happens
if they lose to what happens if we lose.
The combative mindset is something that must be with you at all times. You cannot keep it
stored away in the back of your mind and then pull it out when you need it. lt must be kept
ready at all times so that you can identify, prepare for and deal with any threat that presents
itself no matter where you are. When I go out to a restaurant with my family I try to always find
a location where I can observe everyone who comes in or goes out. I try to place my back to a
wall and be close to an emergency exit. My family knows that if I tell them to do something
they do it immediately without asking questions. When I go to the mall I carry a gun. When I go
to church I carry a gun. I have made a decision that I will be prepared to defend my life or
someone else's whenever possible. ls this being paranoid or prepared? lt depends on who you
ask. Ask a sheep and they will say paranoid. Ask a sheep dog and they will say prepared. Who
do you think the predator would rather attack?
To be an efficient warrior we must develop the combat triad. Think of a pyramid with the left
side being unarmed and armed martial skills, the right side being verbal and tactical skills and
the base being the combative mindset. lf you have all of the skills and training but your base is
weak the pyramid will collapse. Let's look at it a different way. lf I am a bad guy armed with a
knife and I confront a police officer armed with a handgun, who has the advantage? Most
people would say the police officer. Now let's add some additional information. The police
officer was responding to a suspicious person call with no further information. When he locates
the bad guy, who was just released from prison 2 months ago, the bad guy has already made a
decision that he is not going back to prison. The bad guy knows that he has violated his parole,
the police officer does not. The bad guy is already planning his attack; the police officer is just
trying to find out who the bad guy is. The bad guy is within 3 ft. of the officer; the officer's gun
is holstered and his hands are occupied with a note pad and pen. Now who has the advantage?
Even though the police officer has a gun and the bad guy has a knife, the bad guy has the
advantage because he knows what he is going to do and is already within range to do it.
Now let's change the scenario. The police officer is a veteran officer with a great deal of
experience. He recently completed scenario based training involving a pedestrian stop of a
subject armed with a concealed knife. During this training the officer was taught to look for
warning indicators that might precede an attack. This training is fresh in the officer's mind as he
responds to this call. He mentally prepares himself for a confrontation. The officer, upon
confronting the subject, observes him exhibiting some of these same warning indicators. The
officer notices a metal clip on the subject's waistband. The Officer places his hand on his
firearm and orders the subject to step back while he places an obstacle between himself and
the subject. He calls for back up. Now who has the advantage? ln this case the officer's training
and mental preparation may have saved his life.
lf I could quote two of the U.S. Marine Corps - Rules of Life:
Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance,
deterrence, and de-escalation.
By having a combative mindset we can avoid placing ourselves into certain situations, both on
and off duty. We can often deter the criminal from attempting an attack simply by being alert
and aware while giving aggressive verbal commands and maintaining a strong offensive
position. Remember that predators look for any sign of weakness. lf you look like prey you will
be preyed upon. We must be prepared to use all of our training, weapons and skills including
deadly force, without hesitation. Hesitation can be the difference between winning and losing,
between life and death. We must make up our mind to never quit, never surrender, and never
stop fighting.