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  /  Firearms   /  Concealed Carry   /  Hardened Resolve – Why I’m Increasing My Training

Hardened Resolve – Why I’m Increasing My Training

Complacency kills. If you spent any time in the military you’ve likely heard this term and it reflects the idea that the moment you get comfortable you will die. To always be on guard and ready, because once you are out of the wire you are in a war zone. Complacency in a war zone is different than complacency in a day to day scenario, but the idea of complacency kills is still very much a valuable one to have.

Complacency as a concealed carrier means leaving your gun at home because it’s more convenient, or because you are only going to store for a minute. That’s complacency. I don’t advocate for fear or paranoia, I advocate for situational awareness and readiness. As we’ve seen mass shootings in normal, everyday areas. Places like Wal Marts, a Garlic Festival, and downtowns. These shootings have claimed innocent lives due to the cowardly hands of three manlets who will not be named.

Photo courtesy of Department of Defense

Terror has no cohesive color, religion, or purpose. It exists and it’s the goal and job of smarter people than me to figure why and how to prevent it from forming. My job and your job as a concealed carrier is to simply defend ourselves from terrorists when necessary. These last few days have hardened my resolve. Carrying a gun at all times is easy, and as a gun writer, I always have a gun or holster, or accessory to carry. I could more though. As Jeff Cooper said, “Having a gun doesn’t make you armed.”

Hardened Resolve

I shoot a lot, a ton, but I’ve decided now to focus on handgun training with my concealed carry gun. Which happens to be a SIG P365. If you, like me, have hardened your resolve you may be curious as to what you can do to improve your lethality.

Photo courtesy of Mark Miller

Of course, seeking out professional firearms training should be your first priority. On top of professional firearm’s training, a proper tactical medicine class could teach you invaluable life-saving skills. I’ve spent a ton of money on accessories, guns, holsters, 80 lower jigs, and so much more that I need to start moving that money from gear and guns into training and ammo.

Beyond professional training what can we do to become more lethal tomorrow?

Closing the Gap

Hitting a human-sized target isn’t your only goal. That’s an easy task to accomplish, any day 1 shooter cna do that. We have to identify our goal. In these situations, the shooter is often armed with a rifle, and as concealed carriers, we are armed with pistols.

Ultimately, our training goal is to be able to take on a shooter armed with a rifle. You’ll already have an equipment disadvantage, so you need to close that gap with your ability to shoot and score decisive hits on target.

This means being able to confidently hit a target in the head at 25 yards consistently. Oh and you need to be able to do it in low light situations, and from behind cover. Oh, and you should probably be doing it with something similar to an adrenaline surge.

Photo courtesy of Heath Layman

Actionable things you can do today can be done at a private range in most cases, however, if you do not have access to a private range you can still train at home with dry fire.

Mix in sprints, burpees, or any exercise that gets your heart beating and your blood flowing. Go hard, get out of breath, and then engage a target. If possible use live ammunition. If not, practice with dry fire. Exercise your ability to get on target from multiple positions.

Practice your ability to remain precise on target, aiming for small targets to improve your precision. Additionally, practice getting behind cover and shooting around or over it properly.

If your resolve has hardened like mine, take advantage of the motivation and hit the range. Hit the gym, take a class, and get prepared. Let me know what you will be doing to become a more prepared concealed carrier and how you’ll kill complacency.

About the Author /

Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine gunner who served with 2nd Bn 2nd Marines for 5 years. He deployed in 2009 to Afghanistan and again in 2011 with the 22nd MEU(SOC) during a record setting 11 months at sea. He’s trained with the Romanian Army, the Spanish Marines, the Emirate Marines and the Afghan National Army. Today, Travis serves as an NRA certified pistol instructor and teaches concealed carry classes.

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