How would you defend yourself at contact distance? Fighting inside the hole.
Fighting inside the hole. Kinda long sorry
I am not endorsing any technique, school, firearm, ammo, training or method. I am not claiming to have developed or discovered anything mentioned in this post. I have trained in the techniques listed with both simunitions and live fire drills and still have all my fingers and toes so take it for what it is worth.
No this is not a topic about fighting in a crater or cave. In law enforcement and training circles "The Hole" is the contact distance of zero to six feet. It is someplace you do not want to be if confronted with a lethal force situation.
A person armed with a bat, broken bottle, knife, corkscrew or simply his hands does not have to be a master of ninja skills to cause you great bodily harm at this distance.
Before you shout "I would never let him get that close to me"!!! Most if not all of us do it everyday and never think about it. Public restrooms, hallways, standing in line at McDonalds, waiting rooms at the doctors office, sitting in the lounge at the wal mart auto department waiting on the oil to get changed.
Unless you prepare for fighting at this distance you will not survive the encounter, there simply is not enough time.
For years it was taught simply get out of the hole, create distance which is great and is still a viable option but only works if the bad guy stood still and let you create that distance but the problem was they often pursued so no greater increase in distance was created. Now you were attempting to back peddle and attempt to draw your gun at the same time or had turned with your back to the bad guy with no way to fend off his attack.
But what if you looked at it this way. What if instead of creating distance you learned how to fight in the hole. Instead of backing off you created not space but time to draw your weapon.
If you are not familiar with the "Tueler Drill" you should be. It was the determination of a cop and his teaching and preaching the "21 Foot Rule" that is in use today. The bad guy can close from a distance of 21 feet and cause you harm before you can draw your gun and engage the threat.
Don't believe it try it sometime with a redgun or simunitions or toy. Have someone stand 21 feet from you and when they are ready charge. Can you get to your firearm and engage the threat? Remember reaction is slower than action.
Now imagine the same thing from six feet. What would you do? How would you react? Some techniques that are used for the Tueller drill can be adapted and used here with good results.
Lateral movement, quickly sidestepping the direct attack while reaching for and drawing your weapon.
The J hook, moving to the side and in the same direction your attacker just came from. This forces him to have to stop forward momentum and redirect in the opposite direction.
Supine, what the heck is that? Supine is just the opposite of prone. You are on your back whether by choice or the force of initial contact has put you there. You can draw, fire and accurately engage a threat from this position.
The one drawback to all this? You have to practice the techniques to see what works for you and what doesn't. I dont know about you but I am 51 years old and my body does not react the way it used to.
You must be at a higher level of proficiency with your firearm for these techniques to work. You must be able to hit a moving target at close range with most shooting done with the elbow locked in and without the use of the sights, at this distance you will not get a second chance.
You must get instruction or teach yourself to fire as soon as the weapon clears the holster and your body. You will not wait for center mass shots.
You will begin shooting as soon as the weapon clears you and is on him. It will not matter if the first shot strikes him in the thigh, then groin, then abdomen, then chest as you bring the weapon up they are all hits that cause pain and trauma that will hopefully either cause him to lose interest in you for the time being or mechanically break him so he goes down and stops the pursuit or the attack. Only after engaging and creating distance would the arms be fully extended and have any portion of a sight picture.
Well hopefully I have given you something to think about and post on. Please give opinions, options ask questions.
