A short list I have been writing and rewriting since the Army. The lines that stayed.
For years I carried the standard Army notebook in the top pocket of the BDU or DCU. Early on they were green. Later they were black. I still have most of them, including the ones from deployments. I wrote a lot of things in those books. Training notes. Range data. Operation Orders during combat deployments. Fragments of ideas that seemed important at 0200 and less important later.
A few lines survived all of that. They survived more training after the Army, years in the security business, and a lot of thinking about what actually matters when things go wrong. These are not every rule I ever heard. They are the ones that kept proving useful.
Rule Zero: Avoid a gunfight at all costs. If it is unavoidable …
My Own Rules
Remember: Speed, Movement, Violence.
He who is most violent usually wins.
Get off the X. Movement is life.
Only hits count.
If your shooting stance is good, you’re not moving fast enough.
Use cover or concealment as much as possible.
Decide to be aggressive enough, quickly enough.
The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.
Things I’ve Learned from Others
Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns. If you can choose, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun. – The OK Corral Rule
Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap.
In ten years nobody will remember the details. They will only remember who lived.
If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and moving. – Army rule
Use a gun that works EVERY TIME.
Someday, someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.
The visible target should be in FRONT of your gun.
Flank your adversary when possible.
Watch their hands. Hands kill.
These are not a complete doctrine. They are the key, in my mind, after years of training, deploying, thinking, and then training again after the military. The rest of the notebooks are full of details. These few lines are what I kept coming back to.
Modern Minuteman
Practical preparedness for everyday citizens.
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Duty weapon with at least 3 extra mags, backup with 2 mags or speedloaders. Knife, slapper, hard back fighting gloves. 100 rounds of ammo + - and hand tools was my edc loadout on the job.
Thirty years in law enforcement taught me one magazine, even high cap, is NOT enough. There’s no such thing as too much ammo during a gunfight.