Ran across this article link on Facebook. I am curious what everyone thinks about it. A lot of what is said here fits what my Sifu has taught us. Run first. Yeah. But one thing the article says is to run in a not straight pattern. My Sifu mentioned a lot of people say this, but he recommends to just run straight away as quickly as possible. He thinks this zig zagging makes running away more difficult and that people overestimate the chances most shooters have of accurately hitting any moving target. That it is more important to just get away fast, rather than slow down by doing a pattern. My Sifu did mention the freeze reaction this article goes into here. I like the description in the article discussing why people do this. The hiding thing- I need to ask his opinion on. I know he said in a situation like the theatre shooting, ducking behind the seats wasn't good. But that is because you can't really hide in that one room. I think if I was in a school or mall or something, and where I couldn't run more, I would hide in a room - but by the door to jump the guy if he came in. Rather than huddle somewhere else in the room where I would be a sitting duck if the shooter came in. Me, if I can't escape. I would be thinking, if I am going to die, I am going to not go down easily. The thing is, when I started my MA training, I used to have these thought experiments. Walk down the street and think "what would I do if that person mugged me?" What if a shooter came in here? I started to worry that I was obsessing on my MA's too much. But it wasn't coming from a place of fear- just thought experiments. But I thought maybe I was taking this MA thing a bit too far. The sad thing is, in this day and age, while the chances are still slim, it isn't so outrageous or weird or so out there to think like this. This article talks about doing just such a thing as I started out doing just because it was interesting to me. Anyways, I may say more on my thoughts on the article later. But hopefully this will get the ball rolling. I thought overall it was a well done article. And it made me feel good about my school that much of what was said fit what I have been taught. (Like the general thoughts on priorities when fighting an armed opponent.) Oh and the thing about having the mindset that if it gets nasty, you have to be prepared to do whatever you have to do. This has also been particularly emphasized at my school. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/11/30/what-to-do-in-an-active-shooter-situation/
