Recently I was talking to a friend. I was explaining – or rather, complaining about – my brother-in-law’s sub-par state of preparedness. The response I got was, “he should be good for anything short of Armageddon.” I’d like to like to parse that sentence just a bit because I think there is a lot to learn from it.
The ‘Real World’ Bachelor’s of Tactical Science
Recently I wrote about my “perfect world” Bachelor’s of Tactical Science. When it came to obtaining my “bachelor’s” equivalent of tactical science, I did a lot of things right. I joined the military which gives some training away for free. I got myself into a special operations outfit, which gives a lot of training away for free. As a civilian I’ve been a little lazy at times, and a little time- or cash-strapped at others, but I have still managed to chip away at it over the years in a more “real world” fashion. Today I’m going to talk about what a more realistic version of the “Bachelor’s of Tactical Science” may look like.
Adjusting Your Safety Margins
I could have also titled this article, “Two Places I Don’t Want to Be Right Now.” We haven’t been out much lately. We were about a week ahead of the curve on “social distancing;” we stopped eating from restaurants, going to the gym, and going to BJJ. My girlfriend works from home and my work is travel-based, so naturally that’s shut down right now. As a result we’ve been pretty isolated.
My Thoughts on Military Service
This is the answer to a question I’ve gotten twice from the same reader. The first time was a couple years ago on another platform. He recently got back in touch and said he’d be interested in hearing my thoughts on military service. I’ll give you my thoughts and my biggest pros and cons. Keep in mind these aren’t in order of importance, I just wrote them as they occurred to me.
Housekeeping Announcements, Spring 2020
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I want to make a few housekeeping announcements, updates, et cetera. The picture of guns has nothing to do with this post, just a cool pic that (hopefully) entices you to open this post.
The ‘Perfect World’ Bachelor’s of Tactical Sciences
I have been thinking a lot about my training goals lately. Because I failed to maintain my EMT certification, I am currently in EMT class for the second time. This class was a big goal, but is consuming a considerable amount of my time and training budget. I’ve cobbled together quite a few classes over the years, and there are always at least a dozen classes I’d like to attend in the hopes of getting my “Bachelor’s of Tactical Science.”
Self Defense Law Folk Lore
Greg Ellifritz recently wrote a post about the phrase, “I’m in fear for my life.” In it he concluded that saying (which is not the same thing as being) you are in fear for your life is, “not a shortcut to provide some sort of instant justification for shooting someone.” I recently got a comment on one of my other blogs (the “gun blog”) that I’m going to talk about today because it is another great example – though a less common one – of ‘self-defense law folk lore.’