Scenarios

One of the favorite topics of discussion on internet gun forums are scenarios.....Or "What would you do if" situations. These range from actual events with questions of "Did I do OK?" to how to prepare for zombie attacks.

While fun, and often educational, these scenarios leave a lot to be desired as a training tool. Decisions of what would be the best course of action are based on too many criteria to type up in a paragraph. The applicable criteria is often so subtle that it is missed at a conscious level while the incident is actually unfolding. Frequently, very frequently, time is of the essence, and a proper response at one point in time could be very wrong 5 seconds later or earlier. Anyone who has ever been in a bar room brawl knows the roles that luck, timing, position and tactics play in the number of lumps taken. Survival is not about just knowing how to use a weapon, it's about using the weapon intelligently with sound tactics in a constantly evolving reality. That is the problem with scenarios presented for learning, they do not evolve. They do not change in response to input. They are not real situations, but merely propositions. Reality will have opponents responding, threats changing, and they cannot be approached in a static fashion.

Porta Cat is asking some very salient questions in regards to the Tacoma Mall shooting....They are definitely worth a read and a thought. Heck, I thought I knew what I would do. I have, after all, thought about this before. The fact is, however, I do not know, because I am not there. I am not seeing, feeling and hearing all the vague intricacies of the event. Nobody can really say how they would respond, only how they think they may respond. There are a thousand permutations that may change how a person responds. In a crisis, a person reverts back to their level of training, that is true. The problem is, nobody knows just what the crisis will be, so a correct response is as elusive as a prediction of how a person might respond.