> TEOTWAWKI Blog: Do your own thing.

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11/18/10

Do your own thing.

This post from the DVM guys got me thinking. The basic gist is that there a lot of people--experts or know it alls--who will tell you that you're shooting the wrong way. But if it works for you, if you can get the hits on target, safely and in a timely fashion, that's really what matters.

I agree, big time. Take a look at shooting schools and instructors. Each has their own way of doing things - a "right" way. Magpul Dynamics vs. Suarez International vs. Thunder Ranch vs. Shivworks vs. whoever else. There are certainly commonalities and foundational stuff, but there are major differences and as well as more subtle nuances. That also means there are as many "right ways" of doing things. Who to believe?

If you really stop and listen to good instructors or legitimate experts, often times as they are explaining their methods, they'll often say something like "This is what we've found works best."

Does that mean their technique is the end-all-be-all? Nope. It means they've tried/tested/used a variety of techniques and what they're teaching works the best for them - for their abilities, build, skill level, occupation or perceived gunfight.

Extrapolate this to survival. There are just as many schools of thought, if not more. Some focus more on wilderness survival, others urban E&E. Some focus more on retreat living, others on bugging out. Some worry about financial stability, others more on self defense. We could go on and on.

Some will of course tell you that their way is the right way, and maybe even the only way. If you DON'T do it their way, you'll wind up dead in a shallow grave somewhere. How's that for a sales pitch? How's that for narrow-minded thinking?

Learn from everything that you can. Listen to what the experts have to say and what they teach. Then test it out. Educate yourself and develop your own opinions. Find what works best for you, and then do it. Do your own thing.

"Doing your own thing" isn't an excuse to go uneducated and untrained. It's the exact opposite. It's taking the Jeet Kune Do approach of learning something completely, absorbing what is useful and discarding the rest. What do you absorb and what do you discard? That's up to you to decide, after you've done an honest evaluation of the material.

Develop your own personalize style and way of doing things. When your life is on the line, you want something that works for you in the heat of the moment, not Haley, Suarez, SouthNarc, Smith, Rawles, Tappan, Ragnar or whoever. You sure as hell won't be graded on technique, form or adherence to a particular way--the only measure will be if you succeed or not.