Ladies Night

Ladies of the Night… No Wait… that’s WRONG!

“Ladies’ Night”

Yes… that is better.

Last Thursday, we had Ladies’ Night at Artemis.  Typically during Ladies Night… I set myself up at the front desk and stay put until our clients go into the lab.  Each month, we have a different themed lecture and different speakers.  I usually stay out of the mix.

March was different.  Stacie, who runs our Ladies Night program had asked me to be the “guest” lecturer for this month with a focus on Situational Awareness… The dynamics of the threat cycle and… if I wanted, a little law and philosophy, because… hey… its me.

My impressions (of Ladies’ Night) were not what I expected them to be.  Many of the women that come to this program are regulars, and as such, I already had a fair amount of knowledge of their personalities.  There were a number of newcomers though…  Some had husbands that train at Artemis… or are wives and daughters of law enforcement officers…  others, like the mother and daughter duo… found us on the internet and thought “Ladies Night” would be a good way to introduce themselves to us.

Of the women that I know in the program, I would consider them all to be strong and independent.  Those that train with us regularly have a high level of gun handling skills and understand the basic fundamentals of use of force philosophy.  Some of them… are CCW holders and as such feel a deep responsibility to continuously train.

I hope that my audience found my lecture interesting and intellectually stimulating.  They did ask some very pertinent questions and I am proud to report no one fell asleep during the presentation.

In the lab however, we all became students.

If you have arrived from the newsletter, continue reading from here.

Those that had little to no gun handling experience started at square one and progressed nicely.  They had drilled into them the importance of gun safety, muzzle discipline and began the process of becoming defensive shooters.

Towards the end of the night, our new guests made their way over to the 300 where I was putting clients through use of force scenarios and doing fairly extensive debriefs.

Two of the women and their actions stood out.

Both of these women, I would consider to be “strong”.

They have a good sense of self and are naturally protective of others.  Under a high stress event though, they did the unthinkable…. they failed to act.  They did absolutely nothing… they FROZE.

All agreed… that had these women been protecting their children… their actions would have probably been different… but since they alone were the potential victims, they were far more submissive.

Understandable… but unacceptable!

Each of these women have loved ones that absolutely depend on their continuous existence.  Emotional, spiritual, psychological, and sometimes economic support are provided by the presence of these women…. were they to suddenly leave this world, the psychological trauma left by their passing would be for many of their loved ones, insurmountable.

Moreover, we as creatures inherently understand that in a world of uncertainties… sometimes, tragedy occurs.  We hurt… but we can deal with falling trees and hurricanes.  Monsters that attack our loved ones… well that is something entirely different.

A child will never recover from the fact that their mother was murdered.  The psychic scar will alter forever the course of their life.

We all must be prepared to act.  There are loved ones that count on us coming home.  If we fail to act we are most assuredly putting them in harms way.

You have value.

That value is transcendent.  That value must be defended against tyranny.  There are simply too many people who desperately need you to survive.  Forsaking their needs for the benefit of the attacker is, in my opinion an immoral decision.

You must train… know your strengths… know your weaknesses… and most of all develop the willingness to survive.