I want to hit on this again

A couple of weeks ago, I posted on an article that I found at Front Sight, Press about tactics. I thought it was a dandy article but since then, I've been looking around the web a bit and I have noticed that most of the articles on defensive shooting are talking about what to do when you get confronted by a goblin. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, but you're not always alone are you bucky? I'm not. I have my own thing I want to bring out here.

What do you do when you're with your loved one(s) when you're confronted by a goblin?

If you're me, then my first priority is to get my girlfriend to safety. In my own mind, if I have to sacrifice my life to do this, I will. Her safety comes first. Now when I'm alone, the only one dying is the goblin, no doubt about that, but I put my girlfriend above me on the must survive list. I'm a sheepdog that way.

So, let me ask a question or 2 here. When was the last time you took your girlfriend or wife or whatever, to the range with you? What? She's never heard your gun fire? Bad, bad shooter, bad, no bone. Take your significant other (S/O) to the range with you. Even if said S/O doesn't shoot, they should watch you shoot and most importantly, they should experience your gun firing. Why, you ask? Simple. What was your first reaction to hearing a gun fired? Think about it. Now admit it, you froze. You did didn't you? You bet you did, and you don't want your S/O to freeze when the black flag goes up. So take your S/O with you and have her nearby while you shoot so that he/she is used to the sound of your gun.

Next, now that she's familiar with gunfire and doesn't freeze when a gun goes off in close proximity, you have to teach her about the tactics that you intend to employ. She needs to know where you're going to go. You don't want to move and run over her, tripping yourself up, nor do you want her to just stand there while you're putting distance between you and the goblin. You need to teach her how you're going to move so that she can either...move with you or move in an opposite direction possibly distracting the goblin for you. Whatever you decide to do, you need to do it in advance so that you have some kind of a plan before the stuff hits the fan. If you have kids, the whole picture changes, she needs to get those kids the hell out of there and fast. You become the delaying action that keeps the scum off your family so they can escape to safety.

Eventually, you may want to teach her to shoot and get her her own CPL so that she can also engage the goblin. That may be down the road some, but it would be nice if eventually, if she's the "I won't leave your side" type, she can handle your gun if you go down. I'd rather that mine just ran and kept running until the shooting stops then call 911 but your mileage may vary.

Any way you choose to go, your S/O must know to stay calm. What to do and where to go. Most importantly, don't freeze on the first shot, just do what you need to do to be safe. We carry to protect ourselves and our families. While you're training to protect you, you need to train to protect them as well.