Violence of Mind by Varg Freeborn

Author:Varg Freeborn [Freeborn, Varg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: One Life Defense LLC, Varg Freeborn
Published: 2018-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

TACTICS

Do you even know what the word “tactical” means? That word is the absolute most abused word in the training world. I really try not to even use it. A good friend of mine, a very experienced instructor and SWAT guy, has a saying about this that always makes me laugh. He says, “you could write the word tactical on a bag of dogshit and some motherfucker somewhere would pay money for it.” I am pretty sure he is right. In classes, I always ask students to define the word tactical. Very rarely can anyone correctly define it. Before you read any further, what is your definition of “tactical”?

Quite simply, the definition of tactic is: an action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end. Most people, especially civilians, will never reach a truly “tactical” level of training. You’ll notice in my taxonomy, “tactics” comes after skills, techniques and procedures. In my view, tactics actually have less application in self-defense, since it involves heavily pre-planned series of actions across a situation, rather than responding to said situation.

Think in terms of self-defense and rules of engagement. If what you did ended in the death of someone and you also admit to strategically planning that specific end, you could have quite a hard time in court. While there are some good reasons to pre-plan for events like home invasions and other scenarios that may happen in a predictable area, it must not be disregarded that you cannot pre-plan a death blossom ambush that would undeniably result in someone’s death without expecting your plan to be scrutinized for your possible conviction. Like it or not, it is the society we live in.

Aside from that fun legal fact, tactics are a collection of skills, techniques and procedures applied to a specific set of problems to achieve a specific end according to a predetermined plan. In terms of training, it is way down the road from fundamentals work. For the civilian, it may apply to fighting around vehicles and home defense, for example. But I would argue staying within mission parameters, and being realistic, would require one to be more on the procedural level, allowing them to respond to each evolution in a fluid situation, rather than having a set plan that forces the situation actor to adhere to that plan regardless of changing circumstances. It is very important to understand that difference. Remember how I explained how objectives will change inside of a mission for the average person in a defense situation? Tactical planning tends to limit that ability to change and locks the plan to achieve specific objectives regardless of changes in circumstances.

Since this is an introductory level book, I am not going to go into any detail about tactical training here. If you are ever ready for tactical level training, or it is required for your job, the opportunities will be opened up for you. Until then, focus on fundamental skills and getting to a procedural level with your skills. In this text, the orientation work will take on a more tactical nature.

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