JimConway
Instructor
30 Nov 10
Upside-down?
From a friend who carries regularly:
"Yesterday, while preparing to put a string of Christmas lights on my front, roof border, I placed S&W M&P into my ky-dex/IWB holster.
Spare magazine in my left, front pants pocket, warm coat, warm cap, glasses. Ready to go!
Through experience on previous Christmas seasons, I've discovered the easiest way for me to attach the lights at the roof's gutter, is by laying on my stomach and side-crawling on the roof.
So, there I was, laying angled downward, head slightly below my feet.
Suddenly, I felt a cold, heavy object moving downward, through my coat, toward my neck!
I gently located my errant pistol, retrieved it discretely, and placed it in the bag of lights that I had on the roof with me, so it remained out of sight.
All of this was done so that my nosey neighbors, who were probably already enjoying my graceless crawling act, would not see a pistol in my hand.
A guy on a roof, with a string of lights, this time of year, is not particularly suspicious. A guy on a roof, with a pistol in his hand, surely is!
And, the last thing I wanted was for my well-meaning neighbors to call the 'unnecessary police.'
I then noticed at least a dozen other (less critical) items that had begun a downward migration from my pockets.
In the end, I recovered most of it, finally got the lights installed, and managed not to break my neck in the process.
But, it struck me how, with virtually all our weapons training done while right-side-up, I had been altogether ill-prepared to confront an upside-down world!"
Comment: Just as we like to do all our weapons training on bright, sunny, warm days, we also like to do it all while upright, and on our feet!
Fighting for your life in the cold and dark, on slick, uneven ground, in the rain, laboriously slogging through mud, broken glass, and dog-shit, while wearing heavy clothing... is bad enough. Now, imagine yourself simultaneously hanging onto something in order to keep from falling and finding your body angled downward, as in the above illustration.
Perhaps we need to test our emergency equipment carry strategy now and then, by at least assuring that it will stay in place during a backward roll, as will likely happen the next time you're unceremoniously knocked on your fanny.
When we train, sometimes we're too interested in "looking good," rather than "training good," by strenuously testing ourselves and our equipment.
/John
Upside-down?
From a friend who carries regularly:
"Yesterday, while preparing to put a string of Christmas lights on my front, roof border, I placed S&W M&P into my ky-dex/IWB holster.
Spare magazine in my left, front pants pocket, warm coat, warm cap, glasses. Ready to go!
Through experience on previous Christmas seasons, I've discovered the easiest way for me to attach the lights at the roof's gutter, is by laying on my stomach and side-crawling on the roof.
So, there I was, laying angled downward, head slightly below my feet.
Suddenly, I felt a cold, heavy object moving downward, through my coat, toward my neck!
I gently located my errant pistol, retrieved it discretely, and placed it in the bag of lights that I had on the roof with me, so it remained out of sight.
All of this was done so that my nosey neighbors, who were probably already enjoying my graceless crawling act, would not see a pistol in my hand.
A guy on a roof, with a string of lights, this time of year, is not particularly suspicious. A guy on a roof, with a pistol in his hand, surely is!
And, the last thing I wanted was for my well-meaning neighbors to call the 'unnecessary police.'
I then noticed at least a dozen other (less critical) items that had begun a downward migration from my pockets.
In the end, I recovered most of it, finally got the lights installed, and managed not to break my neck in the process.
But, it struck me how, with virtually all our weapons training done while right-side-up, I had been altogether ill-prepared to confront an upside-down world!"
Comment: Just as we like to do all our weapons training on bright, sunny, warm days, we also like to do it all while upright, and on our feet!
Fighting for your life in the cold and dark, on slick, uneven ground, in the rain, laboriously slogging through mud, broken glass, and dog-shit, while wearing heavy clothing... is bad enough. Now, imagine yourself simultaneously hanging onto something in order to keep from falling and finding your body angled downward, as in the above illustration.
Perhaps we need to test our emergency equipment carry strategy now and then, by at least assuring that it will stay in place during a backward roll, as will likely happen the next time you're unceremoniously knocked on your fanny.
When we train, sometimes we're too interested in "looking good," rather than "training good," by strenuously testing ourselves and our equipment.
/John