AFTER ACTION REFLECTIONS…

This was our first workshop for “self-defense in & around vehicles,” and it went really well. Those who attended worked hard and seemed to enjoy our activities. Lots of new things for the group, new ways to engage previously-learned fundamentals and techniques, new concepts and considerations for awareness and defense.

What we did

We always begin with safety, making sure redundancies are in place to protect the group. Along with a safety brief, all persons and vehicles are checked for live, lethal weapons or components.

After that, some discussion was had on mindset, preparation and planning for self-defense in a vehicle. We talked a lot about mindset while driving, route scouting, habitual activity, and dealing with unexpected occurrences.

On to the physical practice, we worked on many different situations and positions inside and around the vehicle, and how best to deal with them as an armed citizen. The morning concluded with a batch of vehicle-related self-defense scenario training.

Some takeaways

There was a lot of good discussion over the course of the workshop. I like to begin with “mindset,” which in this context means your attitude and communication while driving. Staying calm, cool and collected will keep you out of most road rage situations. Why escalate something stupid while you’re armed? Here are a couple other thoughts from attendees…

“A little preparation and planning can be very effective. Seat belt off. When sitting somewhere in a vehicle look around, what are your possible exits to just get the F out of Dodge? Scan,scan,scan your environment. I think one of the big reasons we all did so well is that we were being very observant to carry that vigilance into your life!” – KJ

“My takeaway is that we are in our vehicles a lot and travel to familiar and unfamiliar places often. This workshop made aware to me the items that need to be trained when in and around vehicles and if my family or others are with me…scanning and being aware of the area you are in is critical to buy yourself time to react. It was a fun day!” – LH