Modern Self Protection Podcast

Do you have a plan for if things go wrong?

While no plan survives the first contact, the best part of your plan is the objective. In the Marine Corps, we called it the Commander's Intent. You are going to do this so that this other thing can happen.

When you are the one making the plan, the first thing you need to know is what is the other thing that you want to happen.

I break my planning down to simple things, in this order:

• My Family's Survival, Wife and Child come first and foremost
• My Survival comes next
• My family not getting physically hurt
• Me not getting physically hurt
• I protect those other people that are in my charge
• I protect friends and family
• I protect kids
• I protect other adults
• I don't injure the bad guy if I don't have to
• I protect my stuff
• I seek justice

To see the rest of the notes, check out ModernselfProtection.com/haveaplan

As a contractor, I was in charge of base security at a large FOB (Forward Operating Base) in Iraq. The base commander wanted me to make sure no one ever got hurt on his base. I tried explaining to him that I could simply mitigate the risks from outside the wire but I couldn't stop everything. Someone will fall out of their rack or worse, and what did happen, a soldier committed suicide on the base right after I left. It was horrific, but it was something I couldn't stop or even begin to work on as a security specialist focused on the threats from the outside.

See the rest at ModernSelfProtection.com

Situational Awareness is the one thing that was drilled into me in Law Enforcement and the Military. It is the one thing that directly overlaps from law enforcement, military, and self defense. Why? It is the one thing that will allow you to buy time in an emergency. And time is everything when someone is trying to take your life.

Two things to work on, improve, and practice situational awareness are to notice normal so you can see the abnormal, and ask why people are there at that point in time. What are they doing?

If you work on these two easy things you can move towards mastering your situational awareness and your self-defense.

Noticing normal lets you see when something else is missing or coming. Everywhere you go, there is a normal or baseline. Anything outside that rhythm should stand out to you if you are paying attention.

The one law enforcement always talks about is when it is 100 degrees out and someone walks in wearing a trench coat buttoned up. In the military, it was always looking at what the people are doing around you. If people are leaving quickly or don't show up like normal they probably know something that you don't in a foreign land.

A couple of Marines wrote an entire book about it called "Left of Bang". If you want to know more about noticing normal and then noticing when something is out of place, it is a great book.

The second is to ask "why is this person here?" At first, you will suck at it, but as you do it a bunch you will be able to figure out the stories behind people at the local stop and rob you are at to get gas and a drink. If you do it for a while, you will find that one person that is there to victimize someone. Hopefully, you will figure it out before they victimize you.

Bad guys come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and genders. You have to figure out why that person is looking at you, why they are there, and what they are going to do. If you know this before that person acts, the encounter slows way down and you can buy the most valuable thing in a violent encounter, time.

When you answer that why question you get in front of the reaction curve and you can make that person react to you instead of you having to react to them.

Listen to the podcast to get more examples and motivation on how to be better at your situational awareness (SA).

Thanks for listening, don't forget to check out the Shooter's Club, and if you need ammo check out Lucky Gunner.

Stay Safe,

Ben

A gun and knife are only tools, your mind is the weapon, train it well.

That has been the closing of the Modern Self Protection Podcast for about eight years now. Everything you learn about self-defense should start with your mindset. Your mindset is the one skill that will enhance all the others.

You can break down your mindset into three easy thoughts.

1. It can happen to you
2. Sometimes violence is the answer / Use enough violence
3. Never give up, never give up NEVER GIVE UP!

To see the rest of the notes go to ModernSelfDefense.com

Stay Safe,

Ben

Last week I shot competition with a Sig P365XL and Romeo 0 Dot. I shoot this competition about every other week right now and love it.

What I've learned about the Sig P365 serious of guns:

The Good:

They are a great sized gun Love the family of sizes 12 rounds in the XL makes a full grip even for my giant hands Reloads go easy with the correct flare on the bottom the pistol 15 round mags that work with both grip sizes Accuracy is amazing for such a little gun Reliability on a clean gun has been 100% out of all the ones that have been through classes and the ones I've shot The trigger is good Aftermarket support is everywhere The Cons:

When training with them they get really hot, right where you put your thumbs on a thumbs forward grip The trigger is a long way from the frame and the shot breaks a long way from the frame (something it took my realizing before I could shoot the pistol well) I would have liked a little longer barrel in the XL, 3.9-4" I think is the best there is, the Sig XL has a 3.7" which is just a hair short on the sight radius It recoils up a little more than I would like it to. But that is mostly because of it's small size and weight The Sig Romeo 0 Dot

The Good:

It sits as a dot sight should. Far enough down where they put a notch in the back that replaces the rear sight and you can still use the front sight. It puts the gun on the same plain when you draw it and helps with the learning curve and switching guns. They seem to be holding up with everything I've seen. I haven't seen a broken one yet on the range or in a class The Bad:

Seeing a reflection of the dot where it isn't sucks! I don't know if every dot does this, but I don't like it at all The auto-brightness setting can screw you when shooting from a dark place to a bright place. A manual up/down would be great. I'd rather have a huge starburst from being too bright in low light than not being able to see it at all in the bright light. It looks like it will break. I haven't seen one break yet, but it looks weak. If you want one of these set ups, you should get one. It's a great gun and Dot. I'm always looking for perfect and still haven't found it. But I think this set up will be my next carry gun. Or I'm also looking at a Sig M17 with a Romeo 1 Pro on it. Hopefully I can shoot one of those too.

Stay Safe,

Ben

Thanks for Listening, don't forget to check out Shooter's Club and Lucky Gunner for ammo.

Stay Safe,

Ben

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Are you always looking for the "new gun?" Do you fall into the shiny new syndrome?

Do you ever get shiny new gun syndrome?

I do. But is it good for you? When should you want a new gun. When should you get a new gun? Does it matter?

Yes, it matters. The more you stick with one gun, the more you will know that one gun and the better you will be with it. Keep trading guns and you will never know everything you can about the gun or be as good as you could be with it.

But is there a time to change that old gun for something else?

Yes, no, and maybe... I think when your old gun is no longer fitting how you fight, carry, or use the gun, then it is time for something new. If you have just worn out a gun, maybe you should just buy another of the same make and model and keep going.

Listen to the podcast and find out about the gun I'm thinking of getting a why? And why I don't like switching guns?

Stay Safe,

Ben

Modern Self Protection Podcast, a self-defense podcast for normal people. Click the Image to Subscribe on iTunes Glocks have internal safeties but no external or manual safety. Are internal safeties on a handgun you carry for self-defense enough?

Should you have a manual safety on your concealed carry handgun?

The answer, like most things in our world is "it depends".

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"Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on." - Nick Fury the Avengers

If you watch the news things are bleak at best. No matter what happens out there we are done is what the news says. I've decided to not watch the news. Because what do they know?

I've reached out to a bunch of my friends and they have reached out to me. You are not alone about some of the things you are thinking when you watch the news.

Have we passed the point of no return? I don't know... but it doesn't look good.

I've been asked what to do by a couple of people. The answer is simple but not easy.

First, you have to have your life, your relationships, your health, and your wealth shored up and ready to go.

Check out the rest at ModernSelfProtection.com

How is your hope for the future? What is your plan for the future?

Without hope, we won't do anything. You have to have hope for a better future. Admittedly, the future is tenuous at best. But it always has been.

For at least 100 years people have been worried about the United States collapsing. As long as we, the American People, don't turn on each other, America will live forever.

My worry is that we are turning on each other. And people are talking as if the next civil war is inedible. They are probably right, but I'd like to push that another 150 to 200 years before it happens.

We have to hope for the best, have a plan for that, and prepare for the worst and have a plan for that.

The best is what we have had in the last couple of years to a decade. Life has been good for Americans and the world. It has been nice.

But an old saying made famous by G. Michael Hopf in his book "Those Who Remain" says

"Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times."

It's a pretty wicked cycle. Somehow in our modern world, we have made some men strong and others weak. Now it seems like the weak men are leading the country creating hard times. Some men during the last couple of decades have been tested and made hard by battles.

Many of us fought the war on terror and like most of the last "wars" America fought we seem to be losing. I sight the "war on poverty," "the war on drugs" and the almost war on immigration. But the problem goes back to the Korean "War" that never was and has never ended.

Now some people think using the same "war" tactic in America to make policy the way they want it will work. Sure, why not?

Wars are bloody horrible things. We think it's something romantic and heroic. We, the American Colonies thought that when the Revolutionary war began. Then, we the American People thought that during the first couple battles of the Civil War. Now I see that again in people throughout our community.

Get the rest at Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst at ModernSelfProtection.com

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The top 4 self-defense techniques aren't some awesome kick, punch, or hold. The first three come in the form of your preparedness to defend yourself. The last one matches who your, what you are willing to practice, and what you can do for your self-defense.

We are all different with different lives. We will all face different attackers if we ever have to defend ourselves. Going back to the 80's movie "WarGames" quote by the computer at the end is "the only way to win is not to play."

This quote goes for self-defense as much as it does for global nuclear war. There is no way to truly win a self-defense situation. You will come away with something you don't want. You will lose something. If you fight and disable your attacker easily there will be a law enforcement inquiry and you will lose half a day's time just trying to answer questions (at the least). There may be a formal investigation and you might have to go to trial to justify your actions.

If you let the attacker win, you could lose everything up to and including your life. There is no "winning" a self-defense situation. You will lose something if you are truly defending yourself.

Here are the top 4 Self Defense Techniques:

1. Mind Set
2. Situational Awareness
3. Be a Hard Target
4. Fighting Skills

See all the notes at Modern Self Protection Top 4 Self Defense Techniques