You change your carry ammo on a schedule… right? Here are two ways to set it up; Time-based or usage-based. Time If you carry every day you should change out your carry ammo every two years max. If you aren’t carrying that gun every day and it lives in the safe more than on you, five years is the max. Ammo doesn’t really go “bad” in that time frame but, it does start to show wear and can have some corrosion on the casings. Ammo is exceptionally precise in length, width, depth, circumference, and weight. Any change in any of these measurements can make the bullet go off its intended line or ca ..read more

Do you want to be a leader when the time comes? start leading now. Leadership is as important in life as it is on the battlefield. I know most of you won’t end up on a traditional battlefield someplace, but you may find a little piece of hell on earth that you have to save yourself or your family from. If the time ever comes when you have to defend yourself or your family, it will feel like a battlefield. If you want to lead yourself, your family, and others through those times you have to start preparing now. Here are 5 things you can do to start becoming a battlefield leader: Learn Build R ..read more

De-Escalation is a skill you should be using as a tactic. When was the last time you practiced it? Like every skill you have for self-defense, de-escalation should be practiced any time you can. I actually got a chance last week on the way home from work. It looked like a traffic accident between a bike and a car had just happened right at the entrance to my neighborhood. At first, I thought I’d help medically, but when I noticed that the driver and bike rider are having a screaming match I knew I wouldn’t need that skill. Both men were yelling mostly absurd things and blocking the road. I th ..read more

How skilled are you with your EDC? Are you skilled enough? Do those skills matter? You’ve seen all the pocket dumps. I’m sure you have argued and heard the arguments of what gun is better to carry and why. Whether it’s for the zombie attack or to carry every day. We argue about gear all the time. Then, sometimes, we talk about skills with that gear. I’m here to tell you that tactics are more important than the gear and the skill you have with the gear. Your understanding of what is going on and your move toward what you want to happen is your tactics. A definition of gear is obvious, it’s the ..read more

Everyone seems to be catching up to me lately… and it sucks. I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps including a combat tour and being part of an anti-terrorism force. I left the Marine Corps to return to Iraq as a private contractor for the U.S. Government fighting terrorism. I gave a large portion of my adult life to fighting terrorism and the horrors that most people don’t want to deal with. To me, a terrorist is about the lowest scum on earth. Then in 2008, I was called a terrorist for the first time by then-President Obama. The term domestic terrorist had just started and I was on the list ..read more

Going against the grain takes humility, guts, and the chance to lose. Last month I went to shoot a competition with Bob Mayne at the Handgun World Podcast. Not unusual, Bob and I shoot competitions at least once a month if not more. I normally beat him, but there have been times when he has beaten me. We are normally in the middle of the pack someplace when it comes to overall scores. Last month was different because I invited a former military guy and current law enforcement guy that are always asking about shooting and one of them tells me how good he is at it. My arrogance and experience co ..read more

Should you give medical attention to a bad guy after you are forced to defend yourself? If you have to defend yourself should you give medical aid to the person that just tried to hurt you? No. Is the simple easy answer and should be the end of it. There are only two reasons this may not be true, and I would argue that it should still be the rule: 1) If you are legally obligated by law to help people under any circumstances, or 2) the person you had to defend yourself against is someone you care deeply about and you really don’t want them to die. Barring, or even in the two exceptions above ..read more

Habits are good and bad, but Training Scars will get you in trouble. Baghdad, Iraq 2003: I’m back right 2003, Iraq, somewhere between Kuwait and Baghdad: There I sat, doing what I was trained to do. Dressed in 75 pounds of combat gear including body armor, 14 mags, M16, 3 Frags, 2 Smokes, radio, and dozens of other pounds of assorted crap that a Marine in combat needs, but you wouldn’t think of like binoculars. I was in the back of an open-topped truck with 20 other Marines in crammed together, hiding behind sandbags for cover as a machine gun opened up on the convoy from the only structure wi ..read more

Be prepared for anything is about accepting what is and acting upon it. Last weekend I participated in a church mass shooter training event. Most of the time I’m the instructor or coordinator, but this time I actually got to participate. My church got a bunch of volunteers to volunteer to be actors in the scenarios. Our head of church safety organized and ran the training. It was a lot of fun, and I got to mix it up with the bad guys more than once. Didn’t even die this time. Not bad…. but… Most of the scenarios were normal church shooter events; one domestic violence, one attack on the pastor ..read more

Should you get involved in a crime in progress? Click the Image to Subscribe on iTunes Yesterday on the way home from work I saw a crime in progress or what looked like one. I was driving down a busy street that has a large homeless problem and high crime. It’s a shortcut to miss some traffic through downtown San Antonio. It is a shortcut I use a lot. As I stopped at the light I saw one guy running full speed from around the back of a business and someone hot on his heels. The second guy gave away that a crime was probably in progress. He was holding something inside his pants right above his ..read more