Psalm 144:1
OUR VISION
To see the self-defense community incorporate Reality-Based Training (RBT) and Force-on-Force (FoF) Training in their contemporary personal protection as needed tools to effectively think, train, and thrive for the reality of modern conflict situations.OUR MISSION
To provide a reality-based training program that integrates the full spectrum of force continuum and minimalist approach to personal protection. Hence, empowering law-abiding citizens with confidence, mental acuity, and situational awareness to ultimately prevail against criminal assault.OUR PROGRAMS
At Gideon Protective Training, we provide FoF with particular aspects of our armed defense courses. Our main goal is to educate and train law-abiding citizens on mindset, tactics, and gear that will equip them mentally and physically in dealing with real-world asocial violence.To achieve this end, we adopted interdisciplinary coursework that integrates the full spectrum of force continuum which gives trainees reasonable response options ranging from non-contact responses to less-than-lethal force options, escalating to the use of lethal force as a tool of last resort.
We approach our training program with an integrative and minimalist perspective in mind. We also take into consideration that criminal assaults are commonly characterized by multiple assailants, armed with weapons that are perpetrated at close distance. Our program entails the development of counter-offensive skills necessary to prevail against spontaneous and asocial violent attacks initiated by criminal predators and psychopaths.
OUR DEEP WHY
In the past decades, a form of most realistic firearms training that can closely replicate the experience short of an actual gunfight has come onto the scene to a greater extent. It encompasses the testing and validation of concepts and principles in a fight against a live and aggressive training partner. This scenario-based training in which the participants work against live role-playing opponents replicates a chaotic and unpredictable armed encounters, done in a safe training environment, referred to as Force-on-Force.FoF is conducted with airsoft pistols that fire high-speed but non-lethal projectiles that may inflict some pain, requiring the use of protective gears. It may also include the use of dummy contact weapons such as rubber knives and rubber impact tools. Aside from lecture series and square-range training, there are several reasons why you need to experience FoF which is difficult to acquire elsewhere:
1. IT FORCES THE TRAINEES TO MAKE DECISIONS AND TO REACT WITH REAL-LIFE SPEED NEEDED IN AN ARMED CONFRONTATION
Trainees participating in any FoF drills and scenarios will soon discover two things in making a life-and-death decision. First, it will expose times when you might find yourself too fast to draw firearms or to use force prematurely, only to realize that in real situations, it could result in significant legal problems. Second, getting shot with non-lethal yet painful projectiles shorten the learning curve. It teaches the trainee to be decisive in accessing and deploying his firearm when he has the legal right to do so. On the contrary, being hesitant in the face of imminent danger in the real-world situation will inevitably make him suffer the consequences of grave bodily harm or death.2. IT FILLS THE GAP BETWEEN STATIC, SQUARE RANGE-BASED TRAINING AND THE REALITY OF A DYNAMIC ARMED CONFRONTATION
Live fire training might help ingrain the fundamentals of shooting skills. But shooting at static paper targets provides no movement and no interaction which leads to a significant disconnect between square range training and the reality of criminal violence assault. It in no way prepares you to deal with human aggression. In real life, any situation can instantly morph from a monotonous daily routine to a sudden and violent "three seconds shooting spree" that requires citizen defenders to legally use deadly force. In like manner, FoF can replicate such high-stress situations as role players can move unpredictably, aggressively, and faster than one can ever realize as the scenario unfolds. The ‘attacker’ may be shooting non-lethal projectiles or coming at the trainee with dummy contact weapons.It is only thru squaring off against a live, moving, and breathing opponent that one can relive the experience of a realistic and dynamic armed confrontation. This can never be learned shooting at paper targets.
3. IT PROVIDES A 3-DIMENSIONAL ENVIRONMENT BEYOND THE TRADITIONALLY SAFE 180-DEGREE ENVIRONMENT OF SQUARE-RANGE TRAINING
In live fire training, a 180-degree shooting arena and firing line is often established in the square range for the safety of all participants performing live fire drills and competitions. In addition to this restriction, live opponents cannot be utilized in live fire training for obvious reasons, as this would be extremely hazardous to one’s safety In FoF, however, trainees are allowed to dynamically move, simulate fights and shoot non-lethal projectiles even beyond a 360-degree arena. Trainees are placed in a situation that allows a threat (live opponents) to come and attack from any direction.4. IT GUIDES THE TRAINEE TO SELECT REASONABLE FORCE RESPONSE OPTIONS FOR MODERN CONFLICT SITUATIONS (USE OF FORCE CONTINUUM)
"If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail," said Abraham Maslow. This is also true in the realm of defensive firearms. In the real world, we need to consider that an attack may come in many forms, with different levels of threat and varying degrees of intensity. For instance, you cannot overreact, by just automatically shooting everyone with whom you had just a verbal altercation. You will surely go to jail. On the other hand, you cannot underreact by using your verbal judo on someone who physically attacks and is bent on killing you. You just aid him in perpetrating your murder. Your response should be reasonable depending on the threat level you confront. In FoF, you will discover that you have more tools than just a "hammer." It prepares your mind and body for high-stress situations where the gun is not only the tool available in your "toolbox." Moreso, it will give you the experience of suitably managing whatever action your potential adversary is presenting by applying the concept of force continuum.Force continuum is a use-of-force concept that law enforcement has been using for years in dealing with suspects. It graphically guides them on what their response options are, depending on the threat level which confronts them. By adopting this concept, a civilian defender need not only rely on the use of a firearm to defend himself. He has the option of employing his empty hand and non-lethal tactics.
5. IT PROVIDES THE TRAINEES A HIGH STRESS AND REAL-LIFE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING THROUGH STRESS INOCULATION
There is an absolute truth in the old saying, "You will revert to the level of your training." If you had not been trained at a level that replicates a violent encounter, your mind-body connection cannot respond in a way that ensures your survival in a life-threatening situation. FoF drills and scenarios are designed to put the trainee in a situation that induces stress and fear, thus activating what scientists called the "Sympathetic Nervous System." This is the other part of our nervous system that activates our fight/flight/freeze or our instinctive body response (IBR) to danger.The process of repeatedly training real-life scenarios that simulate high-stress situations, as closely as realistic as possible, compels the brain to perform at a higher level of output each time a fearful and stressful situation occurs. Hence, this type of training inoculates the trainee and exponentially enhances his ability to read a situation quickly, make fast decisions, and solve complex problems and situations in a highly stressful environment.