Improve Your Position

I’m often finding more and more parallels between my training and living my life in general.

 I teach many different people and teams from many different walks of life.  In that training, whether it be defensive tactics, operational tactics, firearms handling etc... one of the most basic premises is to “improve your position”.  

 First, I need to clarify what I mean by ‘improving your position’.  In a defense tactics or tactical sense, “tactical position” means taking a skillfully calculated position, based on intelligence and known information, that provides one an advantage over a specific situation.

So, improving your position, in this sense, is attempting to take known and unknown factors into account while minimizing perceived risk.  You don’t really “know” what the situation might be but you can visualize what some potential hazards may be.

The motivation to want to improve your position can mean you don’t feel confident in the position you’re in, you are at a disadvantage in the position you’re in or you can’t effectively accomplish what you want to or need to.

For instance, if you are parking in a parking structure at work you may want to park as near to the elevator as you can.  Possibly park your vehicle so you are facing out of the parking spot.  This ‘improves your position’ to avoid any kind of attack or even if you are attacked. Doing these things considerably diminishes any window of opportunity for a subject to attack you, ambush you, mug you, etc.  This also makes for a much quicker exit with your car as you don’t have to back up first but just drive away.  Another example is if you are attacked, or confronted with, multiple attackers.  In this situation your positioning will be key in safely navigating that confrontation. 

The same can be said in many of our struggles in daily life.  I came from, what we can call, humble times.  My family did not have a lot, we struggled to make ends meet.  I could have easily fell into, or stayed in that way of life or culture.  I simply chose to ‘improve my position’.  My family didn’t not have any money to send me to college, my grades were not going to get me in either.  So, I joined the military.  I made lifelong friends, learned some skill sets I could use to improve my position further and moved on to the next chapter of my life.  

 I now use this term and idea to help my kids navigate the issues they sometimes face.  The question I often pose is “well, how do we improve your position?”  Most of the time they find the answer on their own, sometimes they need a pointer.  Nonetheless, this mantra has helped all of our family in many areas and it has giving guidance to many when I use it as a tool of instruction. 

In tactics and life, there is always a constant reevaluation.  Things can change in life all the time which will change your situation.  You constantly have to be evaluating how to better improve your position.