An interesting read.

Tom

Well-Known Member
Adrenaline can be the most wonderful chemical in the universe or the worst. I look back at the best men I worked with in street brawls or the rare shooting incident. Those that are blessed to have adrenaline cause "time to slow down", OMG, what a sensation. Training can certainly augment that and allow mechanical techniques to go on auto pilot. Going to cover, malfunction drills, front sight, trigger squeeze, bladed fighting stance all kinds of good things that once burned into your pshyco motor skill set enhance your survivability. But that wonderful rare ability to keep your head, not freeze up, or over react. I tried to instill that when I was training officers and in my civilian personal safety classes. I used to hand out a copy of "If" by Kipling.

Surviving motor vehicle incidents in four wheels or on two. A combination of training, skill, practice, experience, repetition, and confidence. Situations that were terrifying when you were new and inexperienced become merely annoying when you have the experience.

Bret brings up a great point, those times when you could have shot, fully justified, in policy, probably publically accepted, but decided in a split instant not to fire. Having the extra fractions of a second and the super human intensity that adrenaline provides can save you from a life time of regret and second guessing.

Now having to no longer respond with a yessir yessir three bags full to calls of the unknown, my newest training involves avoiding danger. My wife just loves watching me watching everyone around me within a threat radius. I try to do this discretely with the ordinary people we mostly encounter. The less appealing types get more scrutiny without threatening them, and I/we simply avoid sketchy encounters. I'm painfully aware that I am older, slower, weaker, and look more like prey than predator. I've decided to take advantage of that by not taking chances, but if the situation deteriorates hopefully the element of surprise will work in my favor. That, a pocket .38 and a beaver tail sap can shave a few years off the disadvantage if all else fails.
I've often wondered about the "time slows down" thing. My training was all square range stuff, no run and gun. I've never fired at a person, so no experience there. One thing I noticed in oh crud situations is that time slows down for me. I feel like a sloth, but fortunately, the other guy was always a slower sloth. This phenomenon was never addressed, so I just figured everyone had the same experience as far as slow motion was concerned.