“In June of 2016, Pulse Nightclub in Orlando was the site of the biggest mass shooting in the US (modern times.) What happened that night is a great example of training/conditioning, physical, mental, and emotional, “work- ing.” Most of the patrons were late teens to mid-twenties in age. Most were educated in a post-Columbine world, which means active shooter events were, at the very least, tangentially addressed throughout their academic lives. Most were taught to be quiet, turn off the lights, turn off phones, huddle against walls, in closets, or in bathrooms and to wait for help. So, what did they do? Almost everyone present on that horrible night, did ex- actly what all of the experts told them, from a very young age, to do: hide, be quiet, wait for help. As a result (at least partially) of following directions, 49 of them died and another 53 were injured. “
-Ryan Hoover “Training Matters”
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This is an excerpt from the Appendix article that Ryan Hoover wrote for my book How to Survive an Active Killer.
Read that a few times and let it sink in. Generally speaking, when we notice something isn’t working, or is making things worse, we address it. However, because of the intense nature of the topic and due to our “I want things fast and easy and now and easy” mentality, so many people are avoiding the reality that not only does training work, but in this context, bad training gets you killed.
I cannot say it enough. You must take an active roll in learning to defend yourself. Always. Power points, lectures, books.. they won’t save your life. They can guide you, they can educate you, but they can’t save you. You have to get hands on.
Be good, train hard, stay safe
-aaron
Aaron Jannetti 