The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by onceamarine:

Jonathan,

Cops may be more trained, but they are not superhuman and aren't tested under fire. In the end, we all have survival instincts, and people do amazing things when confronted with death.

Only someone without any training would so foolishly downplay the importance of training. And only a fool would imply that survival instincts make everyone equal under fire. Of course everyone has survival instincts. When confronted with death, people panic. And that panic is exactly the thing that endless training is meant to help you deal with.

Sad that we've gone from chivalry to men cowering in dressing rooms

What's sad is that you don't know what you're talking about, and its painfully obvious to folks who do. If you hear shots fired in a mall, this is what the professionals are telling you: keep your head down and get out as quickly as possible.

In a deadly situation, your Hollywood-based "survival instincts" to engage the attacker will likely get you or some innocent bystander killed.

If you have to move under fire, it's up, three running steps, and drop to the next good cover. You're not going deep for a pass into the endzone. Three is the magic number. Four is pushing it. Five is straight out. If you're up and someone's shooting towards your vicinity (but not waiting for you to jack in the box into your next move), by the count of three, you'll drop and hear bullets whiz over your head. You might make four if your lucky. Five voids all warranties.

Oh, and before you get up, figure out where you're going to go to next. Then start running and start counting.

The cadence in your head will be: up, one, two, three, drop. ... up, one, two, three, drop. If you get into a groove, you'll start looking ahead to the second point of cover while you're up and running to your first.

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