Author: hsoi

We each draw our lines differently

/ hsoi

Where do you draw your line (in the sand)?

When was the last time you articulated where that line was drawn?

When you articulated that line, have you subjected it to scrutiny? Have you read stories, considered scenarios, applied it (as a training exercise, in your head) while you go about your daily life? Does it hold up? Does it need adjustment and refinement?

Over on pistol-forum.com “LittleLebowski” recounted his experience of when he had to defensively use a knife in a Hawaii hotel. It’s a very detailed story, including details of his arrest, references to news media reports, and all that he went through. I empathized and identified with a fair portion of what he went through.

What was more interesting to me was flipping through all the forum discussion of his account. The majority of it was comments such as “you shouldn’t have gotten involved”, or “wasn’t your fight”. But there were also counters such as “JV_” saying:

It’s interesting to watch incident videos, like the thug beating up on a big bus driver (who won in the end) and many people seemed surprised that no one stepped in to help the bus driver.

And here we have an incident where someone does step in to help out, and we’re back to the “it’s not my fight”. On the other hand, it’s a domestic incident, and if she turned on the helper, he’d still be in jail.

I don’t look forward to living in a society where everyone stands around and watches bad things happen.

And the discussion raged on, as Internet forums do, tho was overall quite civil.

Still, the armchair quarterbacking was interesting for me to observe and it mirrors responses I received in regards to my own incident.

It’s not really that people are trying to tell me or LittleLebowski that we were right or wrong (tho yes, some are certainly trying to scold or correct), it’s more that people are articulating their own feelings against the backdrop of our event. They might be saying “you shouldn’t have gotten involved” but they really mean “I wouldn’t get involved”.

Really, it’s tough to tell someone they shouldn’t have gotten involved – especially after the fact. “Gee, thank you for pointing out my mistakes… as if I’m totally unaware of them.” You may mean well, but think about what you’re really trying to say and why you are saying it. Someone telling their story is making themselves vulnerable, in hopes of helping you (including learning from the mistakes made). Don’t punch them in the gut over it.

And from that, work to learn. If after hearing the story you find yourself (re)assessing how you would respond to such a situation, good! That’s the point of sharing. You should be using the story to figure out where you stand, and if you need to adjust, if you need to change yourself, if you need to further your education.

Remember: as a result, we will all draw our lines in different places. What’s right for you may not be what’s right for me. It’s good to help guide people towards finding, improving, and making articulable where their line is drawn; just don’t look down on them or chastise them for drawing their line differently from yours. So long as they have a clearly defined and defensible line, so long as they can reasonably articulate where and why, that’s what’s important.

2016-02-01 training log

/ hsoi

So last week didn’t happen so much. Was out on business, too many long days, not enough sleep, and it was more important to sleep than to lift. I know, sounds like blasphemy, but recovery is something I need much of these days — why dig the hole deeper?

Anyways, today starts on Paul Carter’s LRB-Template from his SSL book. I am hoping 3x/week will be better for me, since that 1. shouldn’t dig as deep a hole and 2. that I’ll get more recovery.

Today was about feeling things out, finding weights and such, and preferring to start light. It did feel a little strange doing some overhead pressing before cycle benching, but it also felt good… extra warmup, and I didn’t feel too much was taken out of me.

I also worked to get my rest periods down. Inception had a lot of longer rest periods, which had its place, but it also really stretched out my gym time to 90-ish minutes, which I can’t always afford. I like hitting that 60-minute window, and if today is any indication, I’m back in that slot. I mean, I even took only 1-minute rests between the heavy sets on benching! If things get heavier and I need more time, I’ll take it. But pushing myself, I think that’s good too.

I also have to say, I really do dig the overhead extensions. It gives a range of motion like no other triceps work I’ve done, and if you really do work it all the way to lockout, it’s a lot of work.

Anyways, enjoyed things. I’ll be upping some weights for next time, but all in all, dug it.

  • Seated, Behind-the-Neck Press (on the smith machine)
    • bar x 5
    • 65 x 5
    • 95 x 5
    • 115 x 5
    • 115 x 5
    • 115 x 5
  • Bench Press
    • 125 x 5
    • 145 x 4
    • 170 x 3
    • 185 x 2
    • 195 x 1
    • 205 x 1
    • 220 x 1
  • Upright Rows
    • 80 x 10
    • 80 x 10
    • 80 x 10
    • 80 x 10
    • 80 x 10
  • Overhead Triceps Extensions
    • 30 x 20
    • 30 x 20
    • 30 x 20
    • 30 x 20
    • 30 x 20

Sunday Metal – Sepultura

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Been trying Apple Music (so far enjoying it). A playlist “Best of Thrash/Speed Metal” came up, and I thought it’d make for a good Sunday Metal series.

Sepultura – Troops of Doom

 

An unorthodox drill – my results

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Grant Cunningham proposed “An unorthodox drill”:

How do you internalize the idea that it’s the other stuff you do that really keeps you safe? How do you get over the irrational notion that it’s your CCW that does this? As I’ve told more than one class, I think a valuable drill is to occasionally practice NOT carrying your gun. I know it sounds odd, and I know the overly-shooting-oriented defensive training community will excoriate me for saying that, but I believe there are benefits to be had by occasionally doing such an exercise.

About a week ago, I responded to a Letter to the Editor about how “My gun kept you safe” saying “No, it didn’t. My original response to that letter had nothing to do with Grant’s proposal, but Grant’s proposal came in while I was composing and it was good food for thought, so I changed my response. As well, I figured that it’d be worthwhile to partake in the drill myself. I already have times when I don’t carry a gun, such as when I go to concerts. While I lose the use of a tool, I don’t necessarily feel “unarmed”. Again, it’s not the gun keeping me safe, it’s me keeping me safe. But I thought it’d be good experiment to try in a different context.

Different Context

I spent the past week on a business trip. Due to the nature of the trip and the events that would be participating in, having a gun on my person was going to be complicated. I’m sure I could have found ways to manage it, but I thought this would be an interesting context in which to try Grant’s drill. So I made the decision to leave the gun at home.

I also started going “naked” a couple days before the trip, just because I could. But those couple days started to give me my first insights.

Alternative Tools

There are other tools one can utilize.

Knives are a good example. Pepper spray is another. There are times I have a hickory or oak cane. What I might have can be affected by circumstance and situation, but realize there’s more out there. And if you opt to handle one of these others, it behooves you to obtain some sort of training and skill with that tool. Yes, even pepper spray. No, you don’t have to spend 10 years and become a black-belt in it, but knowledge and skill will aid you if you have to use the tool.

One downside? I lost a good ranged tool. While typical self-defense incidents happen in the 0-5 yard range (within the length of a car), there’s still more than enough data on incidents happening at longer ranges. But even 0-5 can be out of reach for some of these tools. A knife is really only useful if the person is WITHIN arms reach, which is already too close. Pepper spray has a degree of reach, but it’s limited and even more so if there’s wind blowing (which there always is to some degree). That is one thing that I was bummed about losing was the ranged weapon.

Change of Habits

For years I’ve carried my keys in my left front pocket. I’m right-handed, but use my left hand for keys. Why? Because it keeps my right hand free for other things. When I started carrying the ASP Defender (pepper spray, and quasi-kubotan), I actually retained my existing habit of the left-hand pocket. Well, going naked for those couple days made me think more about the Defender being a primary tool, and I realized I needed to switch and put my keys (and thus the ASP Defender) into my right-front pocket. Granted I could still work it from my left if needed, but it makes more sense for me now to have it on the right. The unorthodox drill forcing me into this different paradigm paid that benefit of having me rethink and improve my strategies.

Awareness of Awareness

One of the biggest take-homes from the drill was regarding awareness.

For sure, you perk up your awareness. What does that mean? That you weren’t running as aware as you thought you were.

Throughout the week my awareness went to various places.

When I was walking the dog, I realized how easily she caused distraction and my focus to shift. Same thing would happen when I’d be walking around with other people, talking to them. There just are times you have to pay attention to other things, to have the majority of your focus on something else. Your attention is easily divided, and you likely don’t realize it.

This is reality, I’ve known this, and anyone that denies slipping into Condition White from time to time is dishonest with themselves.

I did find myself paying more attention to things. Had one opportunity for some light MUC (Managing Unknown Contacts) practice. Being in semi-familiar surroundings, I spent time looking, watching, orienting myself in ways to survey what was going on and adjust behavior. But that’s another thing: when you’re “just passing through” there’s only so much you can fully assess.

The bottom line is: we can never be 100% dialed in, 100% aware, 100% knowledgable of all things. So what can we do to help manage that reality? How can we make decisions, have behaviors, etc. that, if they can’t help us gain advantage, at least minimize the loss.

There’s no single answer here. It’s just something to think about. It’s something to seek solutions on.

Sometimes you gotta go

There’s sayings like “don’t go to stupid places, with stupid people, and do stupid things” (Thank you, John Farnam). For sure, that’s a valuable piece of advice to keep you out of most trouble. But sometimes, you have to go to less than desirable places. For example, the place I had to go on business, I had no control nor choice over. Is it in a bad part of town? Not really, but for sure there are elements of “less than desirable”. Even speaking with other people working in the area, they all had minor reservations about the area. In fact, I spoke with someone else during the trip that said he was walking to get lunch and came onto an encounter with some dudes, a gun, and something “going down”. He immediately removed himself from the situation (he was no way involved; just walking down the street), but still.

Or on a more mundane note, some of the evening activities were known to be “unfriendly” to someone carrying a gun. For example, attending a Dallas Stars hockey game denies licensed firearms carry by law, and also requires passing through a metal detector. Or having a happy hour at a microbrewery that would have 51% signs posted. How to manage your carry gun, on a business trip, in such situations?

Sometimes you gotta go. And if you gotta go, what can you know ahead of time to help you with your decisions and course of action? The more you can know, the more you can learn ahead of time, it will be helpful in determining your course of action.

Drill Conclusion

I’m back home. My gun is back on my hip.

Of the drill, Grant writes:

If you find yourself feeling different, more careful or less confident without the gun, that’s your cue that you haven’t been paying nearly enough attention to your real safety. It means that you’ve assigned too much of your well being to a device of very limited utility. Your gun is a talisman, not a tool. It also means that you need to devote some of your training resources to those other skills I listed above and integrate them into your life.

If, however, you feel completely confident and change nothing about your routine or your habits, then you probably have a good understanding of your concealed gun’s real place in your personal security planning. That’s how you know you’re at a point of balance, which means you’re safer overall than someone who isn’t.

Strive for balance.

I didn’t feel too different. I changed a couple of things, I was given opportunity to think about some things from a different angle. But overall? Didn’t feel too odd or weird, I didn’t feel naked, I didn’t feel vulnerable.

I’d say, at least in terms of how Grant summarizes things, I have a good understanding of my gun’s real place in my personal security planning.

Of course, there’s always room for improvement, and I’m happy for having undertaken the drill.

Thanx, Grant!

Vicious Cycle

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

If you were treated like shit, viewed with hate and contempt on a daily basis as you did your job, would you want to stay in that job?

I wouldn’t. And you wouldn’t either.

So can you blame good cops for leaving the profession?

The last few years have seen a significant shift away from public support for those sworn to protect and serve. There has always been an element of the public that hates police. There always will be, provided the police are doing their job. It is not these people that concern me, it is the every-day folks that are less and less supportive that create the greatest issue.

“If the people of this country don’t start treating law enforcement officers better the frequency of officers leaving that are both good at what they do and wearing a badge for the right reasons will continue to rise. It is becoming increasingly difficult for officers to risk everything for a public that is growing unsupportive and, oftentimes, outright hostile.

Full letter (h/t Greg Ellifritz)

Think about where this leads.

If good cops leave, that means there won’t be as many cops. That means there won’t be as many people available “to protect & serve”. That means you’re on your own.

If good cops leave, that means an increase in job vacancies. But who wants to fill a job where you know from Day 1 you’re going to be treated like shit?

But if there are those willing to stay on the job or fill a vacant position, think about what sort of person that will be. I mean, the “good cops” have already left, so what remains…?

Tell me then how treating cops badly will do anything other than make things worse.

9mm vs. .40 S&W vs .45 ACP – this is still a topic?

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

I can’t believe that this “debate” is making rounds again.

Yet, I guess I can see why. I know better than to read the comments, but sometimes I’m a sucker for punishment. From that it’s evident that even today, with mounting evidence – both anecdotal and scientific, with technological progress, and with so many other factors today, that there’s zero reason to have this “debate” any more.

But you know… some people still believe the Earth is flat and wish to continue that “debate”.

Can we please discuss things that actually matter and merit discussion? Nah.. never mind. Doesn’t get clicks.

Why do USA cops shoot so many people?

/ hsoi

Greg Ellifritz posted this on Facebook:

My friends from outside the USA often ask me “Why do cops in the USA shoot so many people?” The answer is that we deal with violent crazy people who are trying to kill us or someone else. Take a look at this National Review study on all the police shootings across America last month. Read the short narrative on each case. Sure, there are a couple of shootings that look unjustified, but in almost all of the others, the cops were being attacked by an armed criminal at the time of the shooting.

Here’s the study Greg references.

Throughout time there have always been people that don’t like the police/law-enforcement, but it’s become rather a popular topic as of late. The narrative/spin that tends to be promoted/hyped is that cops just like to kill people, or something along those lines.

But when you really look at the facts behind most OIS (Officer-Involved-Shooting), you find most are quite justified and there’s really no other way to solve the problem.

Facts are pesky things, especially when you don’t ignore them.

So like so many things in the world, if you’re upset about the symptoms, stop trying to just address the symptoms. Look deeper. What’s causing these people to commit their crimes in the first place? Can we solve those deeper problems? Solve those root causes and you’ll solve both their base problem and the issue of cops having to shoot people.

I know. It’s easier to get angry and outraged and Tweet about it, than to actually work to solve the tough problems. But solving the tough problems is the only way to make things better.

2016-01-25 training log

/ hsoi

You work to make due with what you’ve got.

Due to circumstance, I have to modify my gym time. The key tho is to still get good work in, using what’s available to me.

So when all I’ve got is dumbbells up to 40 lb and an adjustable bench well… you do what you can to bring up the intensity and workload.

I am slightly starting on my new plan. I am going 3x/week, with a push/legs/pull sort of approach of the LRB-template. I just don’t have full facilities to work within.

So do my warmup, then start benching. To bring it up my approach was to use the 40’s, work sets of 10, rest 30 seconds between each set, use a 3-0-1-0 tempo, and really focus on just using the pectoral muscles to move things. That was fairly decent, with the last couple sets feeling it somewhat.

Then onto flies, doing a few more sets than I’d normally do just because again I needed the workload. Lateral raises. Again, a little more workload than normal. See here on these, I normally do less than 40 lb anyways so it worked out alright.

Finally, overhead triceps extensions. Never done these, but they’ll be part of my LRB work so I figured why not do that for the triceps work. I probably could have gone heavier but I figured 20-rep sets would be good. I really liked these — got a great range of motion, far more than on other extensions type exercises. And it does make me think that I should NOT go too heavy on these lest my elbows hate me in the long run.

In the end, about an hour of work, had a pretty good pump, and not too bad given circumstance.

  • Dumbbell Bench Press
    • 20e x 10
    • 30e x 10
    • 40e x 10
    • 40e x 10
    • 40e x 10
    • 40e x 10
    • 40e x 10
    • 40e x 10
    • 40e x 10
    • 40e x 10
    • 40e x 10
    • 40e x 10
  • DB Flies
    • 25e x 12
    • 25e x 12
    • 25e x 12
    • 25e x 12
    • 25e x 12
  • Lat Raises
    • 20e x 10
    • 20e x 10
    • 20e x 10
    • 20e x 10
    • 20e x 8
  • Overhead Triceps Extensions
    • 20 x 20
    • 30 x 20
    • 30 x 20
    • 30 x 20
    • 30 x 20
    • 30 x 16

“My gun kept you safe” – no it didn’t

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Over the past few days, a letter to the editors of the Boston Globe has been going around.

TO THE man I sat next to on my way in to Boston:

When I boarded the commuter rail, you were already in the midst of a spirited phone conversation and didn’t seem to care about how loud you were talking. You were talking with someone about the Paris train attack and the growing epidemic of gun violence in America.

You spoke about the “murderous NRA” and “bloodthirsty gun nuts” who were causing our schools to “run red with blood.” You spoke profanely of the Republicans who opposed President Obama’s call for “sensible gun control,” and you lamented the number of “inbred redneck politicians” who have “infiltrated Capitol Hill.”

I found myself amazed at the irony of the situation. While you were spewing your venom, I sat quietly next to you with my National Rifle Association membership card in my wallet and my 9mm pistol in its holster.

I see where this letter is going, and frankly I do understand and agree with the general tone and sentiment of the letter.

However, there’s one thing I strongly disagree with. The letter poetically ended with (emphasis added):

Your liberal self-righteousness and ignorance may have made you feel superior and comfortable, but during that 40-minute train ride to Boston, my gun kept you safe.

No it didn’t.

Your gun didn’t keep you safe. It didn’t keep the other guy safe either.

“Our side” likes to parrot how “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. That guns are inanimate objects and they (alone, in and of themselves) can’t kill.

Well then, by the same token, guns can’t keep people safe. It’s the same inanimate object.

But then by the same token, what keeps people safe are people willing to keep people safe, be that keeping yourself safe, or keeping others safe.

The author of the Globe piece does tacitly admit this, and I grant the prose is constructed and presented for artistic impact. However, let us not blindly parrot the phrase lest we suffer from the sting of our own words used against us.

When I first sat down to write this piece, this second part was to go in one direction. However a couple days after I started writing, respected firearms trainer Grant Cunningham wrote an article Do you carry religiously? You may not be as safe as you believe which actually dovetails perfectly.

The firearm is a very limited-application device in the totality of self defense situations and, being a reactive tool of restricted application, doesn’t keep you safe because it doesn’t prevent an incident from unfolding. It simply gives you a tool to defend yourself once a very specific type of event has occurred.

This is apparently a new concept for a lot of people, even (maybe especially) for those who have been in this field for a while! With such limited application there is no way the gun can really keep you safe — it’s all the other stuff you do that keeps you safe; the gun simply gives you a way out when things go horrendously bad. The gun has often been compared to a fire extinguisher: does a fire extinguisher prevent fires? Of course not. It’s just a tool to allow immediate response in case one breaks out.

Grant’s article was nourishing food for thought, and so I opted to change the rest of my article because of what he wrote.

Grant asserts:

I submit that if you find yourself acting differently, more cautious or fearful, when you can’t carry a gun you have a problem that results in you not being truly prepared for violence. The gun has blinded you to both its proper use and what actually keeps violence from being visited upon you.

And he’s right.

And I know a lot of people believe they are tuned in and “get it”, but this is NOT a place for ego. If any life-context requires humility, it’s the context of personal safety. You need to be humble, you need to be honest, even if it bruises or destroys your ego. Put it in check, step back and truly examine yourself within the context of Grant’s assertion; you probably suffer from it to some degree. Better to be hurt now and have a chance to correct the problem, than to be hurt later and forever denied the chance to correct.

Grant suggests “an unorthodox drill”. I think it’s a good one. I get some degree of practice in it when I do things like go to concerts. But I tend to only do this when I’m put into such specific contexts. Why not other contexts? So I’m going to do that from time to time. I know learning will occur, and I know I’ll be overall better for it.

Put it this way:

If, however, you feel completely confident and change nothing about your routine or your habits, then you probably have a good understanding of your concealed gun’s real place in your personal security planning. That’s how you know you’re at a point of balance, which means you’re safer overall than someone who isn’t.

Strive for balance.

If we can say anyone is a master of balance, it’d be an Olympic gymnast. Even an Olympic gymnast stumbles, even an Olympic gymnast can improve – that awareness of self is part of what brought them to the Olympic level. Have that awareness about yourself. Work to improve.