Explosive Force...Your Best Friend

I got an important communication from my Tactical Instructor today. It's one everybody should hear. In a series of training exercises involving scenarios of various attacks by VCA's (Violent Criminal Actors) including car jackings and hostage situations, all participants reached the same firm conclusions:

When confronted with imminent violence at close range,

(1) Those who aggressively (but precisely) explode off the line of force, without delay, and continue to move aggressively, rarely get shot, and unfailingly inflict lethal wounds upon astonished VCAs.

(2) Those who (2) move off the line but then stop moving, get shot
more often.

(3) Those who hesitate, dither, or surrender meekly, seldom live through it.

A precise, but explosive, counterattack, combined with unrelenting and
aggressive movement upsets VCAs' plans so completely that they rarely regain the
offensive. Successful students don't let VCA(s) breath. They finish the
fight!

There is little doubt that the longer you allow yourself to be under the
control and domination of a VCA, the more likely you'll suffer serious harm.
There are surely risks involved in acting immediately and decisively, but there
are even greater risks that attach to doing nothing. When they commence
their attack, VCAs are always weakest and most vulnerable. After they gain
control over you, they will become progressively stronger as you become
progressively weaker. In the end, when you're gagged and tied up, all options will
evaporate. You'll perish, wishing you had acted when you had the chance!

"Delay in the use of force, and hesitation to accept responsibility
for its employment, will always be interpreted as weakness. Such indecision will
encourage further disorder, and will eventually necessitate measures more severe
than those which would have sufficed in the first instance."

United States Marine Corps Small Wars Manual, (1940) page 27, paragraph (d)

Back in the days when US Marines were armed all the time, they served as
escorts on trains delivering supplies to remote outposts. These trains were
often the targets of bandits looking for an easy score. Standing orders for all
Marines so deployed directed that, in the event of an armed assault on the
train, all Marines will start firing immediately! It didn't matter what the
odds, every Marine fired, without delay. Bandits were thus put on notice that
there would never be an "easy score." Whatever happened, whatever the
ultimate outcome, bandit blood would be on the deck, without fail, before it was
all over.

Not surprisingly, armed attacks dropped off dramatically and eventually stopped altogether! A far cry from today's universal "surrender-at-the-drop-of-a-hat" policy, eh?

Resist immediately and aggressively. Don't stop until the threat is eliminated.
Your life may depend on it.

Also: Be aware of your surroundings, not only so that you are not surprised by evil-doers sneaking up on you, but also by taking note of what potential weapons exist within reach. Many mundane items can be useful in a violent confrontation.

Commit, follow-through, survive. Never dither; never hesitate!

The Gunslinger