The Vehicle Defense Course Conundrum.

There are some outstanding vehicle defense courses out there, being delivered by some amazing, and highly experienced instructors. Unfortunately, there are some that are not so outstanding, delivered by not so amazing instructors.

However, contrary to belief, there is no such thing as a "generic" vehicle defense course - it's literally impossible to even have such a thing.

For clarity, the only vehicle defense course we deliver, is our Street Scene System of Training (SSST) Level 2 - "Private Citizen" Vehicle Defense Course, where we cover carjacks, road rage incidents and crowds surrounding your vehicle - we do not deliver any other vehicle defense course, as a stand-alone course.

Role-specific, vehicle defense instruction (for law enforcement, the military, PSD teams and Undercover Units) are all contained within the course contents of the following courses:

• SSST Level 5 - Street Extraction Procedures
• SSST level 6 - Street Clearance Procedures
• SSST Level 8 - PSD Pre-Deployment Training
• SSST Level 9 - Undercover Officer Training

The information, skills, tactics and knowledge that are taught on any vehicle defense course, have got to reflect in what capacity you are going to use these tactics (law enforcement, military, undercover unit, surveillance team, private citizen, executive protection agent).

What might be taught to an undercover, anti-gang, law enforcement unit, won't be the same for a private citizen.

What is taught to a hi-profile PSD team, won't be the same for a 2-man EP Team.

And I know that everyone claims to know this, but it would seem that many people, including trainers, do not.

LEO and military units, all have clear and identifiable training requirements, dictated by their operational role and which their training syllabus is built upon (or should be), and that is why it is not possible to have a generic vehicle defense course - the differentiators between all these groups, is too vast.

For example, what you do, if you have to defend yourself in and around your vehicle is dependent upon so many things, both within, and outside of your control:

1. The environment that you're in.
2. The vehicle you're driving - (2-door, 4-door, motorhome)
3. The capacity you are working/travelling - (this is a particularly crucial consideration, as it is dependent on whether you have any officially mandated powers).
4. Your weapon system and where it is "normally" kept/carried - (this is something that is too often overlooked during training, with everyone keeping their SBR's placed conveniently down the side of the footwell - for range purposes - but may not reflect the realities of how you would operationally stow them).
5. How much ammunition/magazines do you normally or operationally carry? (there is no point in training with magazines up the ying-yang, whilst on the range, when you would, normally/operationally, only carry two normally, because training like that, does not reflect YOUR reality = it is not functional.)
6. The amount of magazines you normally/operationally carry, will dictate your response options - it's as simple as that.
7. Who are you travelling with? Trained/armed people? Untrained/unarmed people? Your kids? Someone else's kids? Your grandma? Any person with mobility issues - ALL of that will shape your response options.
8. You are NOT in control of anything outside your vehicle.
9. You are not in control of any "untrained" individual INSIDE your vehicle - (an untrained panic-stricken individual, inside your vehicle, is going to shape what you do - their emotional state and your obligation to keep them safe, will all play a part in how you respond to threats in or around your vehicle).

"...we are more shaped by the things we have little control over. The way we gain greater control is simply be being more conscious of them..." - Christopher Browning (author of "Ordinary Men".

10. Do you drive through a crowd? Can you? (see # 3)

11. Do you remain in your vehicle and brass it out? Or do you bail? (see # 7).

12. If you do decide to bail, what door do you bail from? Does everyone bail out their own door or do all occupants bail out the same one? What about granny? What about the baby in the car seat?

13. If/once you bail, where you gonna go? What are you taking with you?

14. An acceptance of nothing is going to happen the way you want it to.

The list is endless...

How you react to a weapon engagement, whilst inside your vehicle, will be determined by one thing and one thing only:

1. Are you REACTING to it? Or are you INITIATING it? Because both options require two completely different approaches - it is not a generic response.

The only thing I can attest to, is that you don't wanna remain in your vehicle, if you are REACTING to being brassed up - you just don't, and all the fancy twists, turns and well practiced, synchronized seat, fire positions, will not replace the distinct disadvantage that you will be facing, by already being behind the curve, in your REACTION time, to someone else lighting you up through your windows.

Vehicle Defense courses have GOT to be based on the horrible and messy realities of being attacked, whilst in your vehicle, and one of the most regularly overlooked aspects of that, is everyones emotional reaction - the panic, the fear, the "this isn't happening" thought process, that everyone will be going through.

The content of Vehicle Defense courses must be more than just an adherence to the "2-up and bags of smoke" philosophy - there has to be knowledge transfer of a more academic and informative nature - the human factor of it, because if we ignore the human factor and simply go with the "do the whole village" approach, then when it does happen to you, the reactions of all the other people in your vehicle, are really gonna drop a massive turd all over your plan.

There are tactical firearms training providers out there, who take pride in the fact that none of their courses have a classroom component to them, and that all their training is range based - as if that somehow improves the training value of them.

Training others (in anything) requires the trainer to have experienced what they are teaching others to do - and without that experienced-based instruction? Well...I'll let you guys mull that one over.

Neilly Davis QCVS is a former undercover soldier with a British Intelligence "Special Duties" Unit, and the director of training & chief instructor for Go Noisy USA.