Sometimes, you just gotta wing it.

While this blog is about firearms training, it is about the "defensive" usage of said arms. While you may never need to fend off Nazi-Zombies or Al-Qaeda at your local 7 eleven, there is always the possibility of being stranded and unprepared.

Last winter, I had an important business meeting to get to early on a monday morning, in a very small town in rural Ohio approximately 3 hours from home. Though I could have driven up the morning of the meeting, I decided to leave on sunday morning, and spend the afternoon/night at a beautiful, isolated cabin nearby. I had a wonderful day on Sunday reading by the fire, surrounded by fallen snow...

Monday morning arrived with several inches of snow. No big deal. I had my vehicle with 4-wheel drive, and plenty of "kit" in my vehicle. But...with temperatures dropping well below zero in the middle of the night, my vehicle decided not to start. While I had considered myself well prepared with a week of food and water in the vehicle, boots, a Carhart, etc...It had never occurred to me that I might need to go for a very long hike through the "middle of nowhere" in a suit. I had spare food and water, a firearm, spare mags, 2 flashlights, an emergency blanket, first aid kit, a pocket-knife and many other assorted trinkets, but they don't exactly all conveniently fit in a briefcase. Especially when you need to look sharp and show up with your computer, iPad and other assorted work-related materials.

Things like snow, traversing unknown distances, freezing temperatures, and vast wilderness often present more of a danger and require more "defense" than an attacker itself. Quite honestly, I feel fairly well prepared to deal with an attacker on the street, but... I spend a lot of time hiking and camping - how often do I prepare to defend myself against a bear or other wild animal?

While "luck favors the prepared", it also "favors the guy with the messy vehicle who happens to have a backpack in his vehicle from camping the week before." While I was easily prepared to make a long hike in the snow, I was not prepared to do it in a suit. Life is often random. Someone prepared to deal with a large variety of scenarios will be better "suited" (pun!) to deal with one they may not be entirely familiar with. And... Sometimes, you just gotta wing it.