What:
Mindset Laboratory's Firearm Combatives & Retention
Mindset Laboratory's Firearm Combatives & Retention
When:
Sunday, March 18th, 2012
Sunday, March 18th, 2012
Where:
Near Southwest side of Indianapolis, Indiana
Near Southwest side of Indianapolis, Indiana
Who:
Shay VanVlymen (Shay) - Owner/Instructor
Andy- Assistant/Fist Suit Guy
Shay VanVlymen (Shay) - Owner/Instructor
Andy- Assistant/Fist Suit Guy
Students:
esrice, MangoTango, AGS Armament, shooter521, akaindy, Magnum, James
esrice, MangoTango, AGS Armament, shooter521, akaindy, Magnum, James
Why:
In keeping with this year's training goal of "hand2hand combatives/FoF", I chose to take this course to increase my combative effectiveness. Hitting people with guns and keeping my pistol retained during an attempted gun-grab are two areas that I had not previously trained.
This was my 4th class with Mindset Lab this year, so I'm becoming more familiar with the weekend training routine. Get up, get ready, arrive at 8:45am, have a bagel, get out the pen and paper, and brace for impact. In keeping with this year's training goal of "hand2hand combatives/FoF", I chose to take this course to increase my combative effectiveness. Hitting people with guns and keeping my pistol retained during an attempted gun-grab are two areas that I had not previously trained.
You can read about my previous classes here:
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...boratory_flashlight_combatives_12_4_11_a.html
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...d_dynamic_fof_scenarios_feb_18_19_2012_a.html
The format of this class was similar to Flashlight Combatives-- we began with lecture in the classroom and then later moved to the warehouse for learning the techniques.
As with all of Mindset Labs' lectures, we started with a safety briefing. We again went over the 4 firearms safety rules, as well as designated a primary and secondary responder for any medical issues that could arise.
Shay then presented an excellent mindset lecture where he touched on aspects of fear, Hick's Law, and Cooper's color codes of awareness. Adopting the kind of mindset that he speaks of is essential to learning and applying the techniques that we would later learn.
We then dove into the theory behind hitting someone with a gun. Why wouldn't we just shoot them instead? When is hitting more tactically, morally, or ethically appropriate? Will it break our guns? Will it cause our guns to malfunction? What if the gun is empty? How will a jury interpret such actions?
Ready to put these theories to the test, we all "de-gunned" and locked away our weapons. Everyone was then patted down and wanded. Once that was done we all headed to the warehouse.
In the warehouse everyone was issued G19 blue guns and Raven Concealment Systems holsters.
We then started working through 3 different strikes with handguns. We talked about their strengths and weaknesses, as well as how each one affects the gun itself. Practicing the strikes with our partners proved that no one would want to get whacked with a pistol.
We then broke for lunch. shooter521, akakindy and I grabbed some Subway and returned back to the classroom where everyone was trying their hardest to come up with appropriate slogans for a Mindset Labs T-shirt. Very few were "appropriate".
After lunch we were back in the warehouse for retention drills. We started with 'guns out', and worked on several different ways to keep our guns ours. I appreciated that the techniques taught were caveman simple. Never once did I see a technique that involved many steps or was so complex that it could never be performed under stress.
We then worked on 'guns in holsters' retention. This one really strayed from the training norm of "jam the gun down in the holster and jump around" that you typically see in various law enforcement training videos. Shay's technique was quite unique, worked well, and was easy to get into and out of.
The next block was on long guns and we used AR-15 and Remy 870 blue guns. Here we saw the pros and cons of sling usage, and worked on striking and retention.
The last couple hours of class was spent putting everything we had learned together and going one-on-one with a live opponent in a protective Fist suit. This stage is always where the lightbulbs starting flickering on.
First round was timed at just 20 seconds. If anyone thinks that fighting (even against only moderate resistance) for 20 seconds is easy, they haven't ever been in a 20 second fight. Its amazing at how such little time can quickly tell you just how out-of-shape you are.
The second round was 40 seconds. Although this one sucked twice was much, it was nice to be able to "fix" your previous mistakes and focus more on your strikes. We also found that trying to retain your pistol becomes tougher against a padded opponent, as striking their arm doesn't make them release quite like we had experienced before.
So what did I personally learn?
- I need more gas for the fight. If my opponent has more gas, he's going to eventually win-- even if my tactics are sound.
- Guns can do more than just shoot.
- akaindy has long spider arms and a kung-fu grip.
- Gun owners are generally judged on one of two criteria: the largeness of their collection or the smallness of their groups-- neither of which has anything to do with fighting.
- There is no "good" tactic for a surprise rear gun-grab.
- Hello Kitty bandaids are awesome.
I know shooter521 will be along later with more pictures and videos, as my camera decided to die halfway through class.
I might have to put this on the list for next year. 
