Saturday, February 1, 2014

A look at Battle Rattle

      Let's tick off the Gear Whores (a term of endearment I promise) some more when it comes to some ideas on equipment you train with or you may think you have with you if things go bad. And when I say "go bad," I don't mean the next American revolution or the aliens (the space invader kind) come to your neighborhood trying to harvest your brains. I'm talking about that instant threat of great bodily harm or death for yourself or a second person or persons.

        At home when things go bump in the night will you throw on your battle belt and armor to go outside to check it out? If you train to do that then that is fine. I give good odds you will not even think about that equipment if you have children in the house you have to worry about. First of all this equipment takes time to put on. That is time someone you don't want in or around your home to move around and get to where you don't want them. Odds are if you wore your battle belt or SAPI plate carrier to the ballgame or supermarket you might get the attention of local law enforcement. I'm not saying that it is illegal to wear such things (check your state laws). However, don't complain when the boys and girls in blue ask to talk to you and see WTF.

     I am all for having the right gear for the right job. I'm all about some nifty gadgets and cool little gizmos to make things  tacticool. They do have their purpose during certain situations. I do enjoy exterior magazine pouches, chest rigs, body armor, thigh rigs, Multicam fatigues, and the like. I own ALL of those things and have used them during my regular jobs over the last 15 years. My current profile pic has me in such a getup.

      I don't condone a lot of tactical gear usage in my private citizen classes that they would not use in everyday life. As a matter of fact, when I teach I'm usually in a pair of jeans and appropriate seasonal clothing you would see everyday people in. I use concealment holsters and magazine carriers. 90% of the time I demonstrate all of my handgun usage skills from concealment. Even in my carbine classes I hang the weapon on it's sling and throw magazines in my back pocket. My Remington 870 (my bump in the night gun in my bath robe) has a full reload of ammunition on it in different forms. This is because this is the way you are going to utilize these tools in your daily life if needed. If you train to pull magazines from your vest or battle belt you hand will reach to the same place under stress. I'll give you an example. While I worked overseas my pistol was on my right thigh every time I was outside of the wire. When I came home there was one time right after I had to shoot an animal that was a threat to one of my kids. I was in my own yard. I reached for my thigh and grabbed air. Oh Flip where is my gun? I hadn't transitioned myself to the fact that my pistol had migrated back to my civilian life inside my waist band. Luckily I was quick enough to realize I goofed and got the growling dog broad side.

     On the opposite side of the coin. If you TRAIN to wear your battle rattle for certain situations because you EXPECT trouble to come your way then that is not a bad idea either. There are folks out there that do nothing but train in 30 pounds of equipment and run through the woods. To end this I can say that a lot of folks equate having the most tacticool stuff means that they know what they are doing with weapons manipulation. You can have a vest with everything but the kitchen sink on it and not be able to perform a speed reload to save your life. You can have level IV armor all day long and still get shot dead because you didn't use proper cover to protect the rest of you. The main thing is common sense and deciding whether you want to attract attention to yourself.

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Tim Davis, Jr. is a full time law Enforcement Professional, martial arts, and a part time firearms instructor. He has firearms experience spanning over 15 years ranging from several schools in advanced tactical response, running a Law Enforcement Tactical unit to time spent in Afghanistan working with their law enforcement program. Tim is the co-owner of Appropriate Action in Englewood TN. 

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