Personal Safety, Awareness, Self
Defense and Firearm Training

In my last job as a SEAL, I had to carry concealed weapons as part of my duties. I went nowhere without a least two weapons.  As the popular Navy SEAL saying goes: “Two is one and one is none.”

Most of the areas that I had to carry in were extremely dangerous.  To clearly define dangerous, in some of the places that I had to carry, if a “good guy” noticed my gun, I was headed straight to a foreign jail, and if a “bad guy” noticed my gun, I was headed straight to a shootout.  For obvious reasons, I needed to avoid both of those dangerous scenarios.

I give this background to ensure the readers that the opinions that I share come from experience and not from theoretical musings.  Take notice that I use the word “opinions” as I use that word purposefully.  I will never claim that what I teach or write about is the right way or only way to do something.  What I will claim is that my opinions are based on experience and significant thought and research.

There are many ways to carry a concealed handgun and all of these come with their individual capabilities and limitations.  It is important to think about the pros and cons of each as well as your expected use before you decide your individual course of action.  In this post, I am going to cover the use of “holster shirts” and the limitations that I see in their use.

As will become evident in future posts, I will usually stick to discussions around defensive firearms use as our primary concern.  I define defensive firearms use as using a weapon to stop or deter a lethal threat to your life or another’s life.  I am not going to discuss these topics from a weekend range shooter, or a competitor shooter’s point of view.

“Holster shirts” come in many shapes and sizes; most are tight and are meant to be worn under another shirt, while others are normal shirts with holsters stitched into their construction.

Holster Shirts

The one capability (pro) that I see with using a tight undershirt type of carry is that they provide for very good concealment of the firearm.  You generally do not have to worry about “printing” (being able to see the outline of a firearm under your clothes) with these types of holsters.

That one positive capability is outweighed by the many limitations:

-       Slow to draw – the more secure something is, the slower it is to get to!

-       Sweeping others  –Crossdraw rigs require that the weapon starts out facing the wrong direction and that results in the “sweeping” (intentional or unintentional pointing of the weapon) 180 degrees, which can be extremely problematic in public

-       Sweeping yourself – another limitation of crossdraw rigs is that it is very difficult to remove a weapon pointing backwards from under your arm without “sweeping” your own arm

-       No close quarters options – when you have to draw across your body, it does not take much for the bad guy to trap your weapon against your body

-       Completely different physical actions from traditional weapons presentations

This last point is the most important.  Whatever you practice the most you will do in a high stress situation. The important part of that this point is that if you practice nothing, you will do nothing…can you say, “deer in the headlights?”

So if you have practiced your weapons presentation out of your favorite outside the waistband hip holster, but you carry your pistol in your long underwear shirt, be prepared for a surprise when the rubber meets the road.

My favorite story is that of my SEAL buddy who lived for new gear.  His house looked like a cross between REI and a Police equipment store, and yes you probably guessed that he was not married yet!

With all of that those options, he was always changing his gear around.  He decided that having a pistol on his belt was not cool enough so he mounted it on the front of his body armor load bearing equipment.  The theory was sound and it did make it more comfortable to sit in a car, but I saw an opportunity to make some easy money.

He was incredibly fast with his pistol and constantly beat me at every competition.  So I offered him a challenge: one shot with our Car-15s and then a weapons transition to our pistols for one more shot. Whoever was quickest won $100.  That much money would be sure to add to the stress level I knew I needed to create for him.

We lined up and the starting buzzer sounded.  Off he blazed with his rifle, beating me by at least half a second, then a blazing fast transition; his hand beat mine to the pistol by a good bit.  Yet, I walked away with a smile and $100.

WHY?

His hands may have been faster, but he was left grasping for a pistol on his hip that was not there anymore.  I will never forget the confused look on his face as he looked down and realized that his pistol was not where his muscle memory told his mind it should have been, it was sitting on his chest instead.

The point of this story is to plan ahead, and practice; getting attacked is not the time to start developing muscle memory.

Larry

Sealed Mindset has undergone some significant changes over the last year.  We have gained some partners and lost others.  We have traded surf and sun for lakes and snow.  We have altered our concerns for political correctness and expanded our offers.

The one thing that has never wavered is our undying passion for providing everyone the resources to be safe.  Safe when you travel, safe when you go to school, safe when you work, safe when you are alone, and safe when you are with loved ones.

As a Navy SEAL who has spent many years working in dangerous environments, at home and abroad, I know what fear is.  Real life is not like the movies where the chiseled hero with the stone faced expression runs towards danger with no fear or concern.  I know fear and I embrace those feelings because I know that they are necessary.  If you have no fear, you are either crazy or dead.

What I worry about is that most people I run into have unnecessary fear.  Unnecessary fear comes from a lack of knowledge; unnecessary fear affects your life and restricts your happiness.  We have made it our mission at Sealed Mindset to provide the tools necessary to allow everyone to educate themselves to rid their lives of unnecessary fear.

We will use this Blog to share information, training, headlines, opinions, to answer student questions, and to offer advice to those interested in living a secure life, with knowledge of how to deal with life’s dangerous “What ifs?”

What if someone follows me in a dark parking lot?

What if I am traveling to Mexico and I am worried about my safety?

What if my child is about to head off to college and I am worried about his or her safety?

What if I want to learn more about firearms, but I am fearful to introduce a weapon into my household?

What if I want to know how to choose a good home defense shotgun, but I don’t know who to ask?

There will be two voices that you will see regularly in this Blog, each coming from very different backgrounds.

Husband, Trainer, Father of Fluffy the 140 lb German Rottweiler

I am Larry Yatch, a Naval Academy graduate and former Navy SEAL.  The most important thing to know about me is that from a very young age I was driven to protect others using force.  The last part of that is important, I am no stranger to fighting and have been intrigued by combat from a very early age.

My entire life from childhood on was focused on gaining as much experience in weapons, defense, and combat as possible.  While my classmates were celebrating spring break from college drinking in Cabo, I was in Pittsburgh learning the art of fighting with edged weapons.  I never thought I would have any other life than that of a professional solider.  A dangerous SEAL operation in Iraq changed that life path; I was seriously injured and eventually medically retired after the navy’s best efforts at putting me back together.

Then, a second life-changing experience occurred, I met my future wife Anne.  Anne’s voice will be the second one you will hear.  She taught me that there was more to being safe than shooting and fighting.  She showed me that knowledge was more important than physical skills.  Of course she had no lack of knowledge – while I was abroad hunting and fighting terrorists, she was learning how terrorists think.

Anne studied every aspect of the enemy at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, where she earned her undergraduate degree in International Law and her Masters in International Security and Anti-terrorism.

Together we founded Sealed Mindset with one goal in mind – to make the world a safer place.  Instead of focusing outside the country, we decided to make a difference one person at a time right here at home.  It has now become obvious to both of us that we made the right choice.

Every student that makes it through one of our courses has dramatic and wide reaching effects in their lives. Our students also become an important part of our lives. These types of individuals who take the time to learn how to assess and avoid threats or learn how to safely carry and employ a defensive firearm can not only protect themselves, but can also protect their loved ones around them.  The best part about changing the way these people see the world is that they will always have a plan of action and will always make the places they go more secure for those they care about.  Those are lasting effects that we know will change the world.

So if you have any interest is staying safe or keeping those you care about safe, come back here often for more education.

Enjoy! Larry & Anne Yatch

I know what most of you reading this post are thinking right now.

WHY.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SAFETY?

No one has ever attacked me.

I’m pretty much aware of my surroundings.

I live in a nice area.

The reason that it is important for everyone who walks into and out of a grocery store to learn more information about personal safety is because criminals are illogical, immoral and unfair.

How about an example that hits home?

If I was giving a speech right now and I walked over to an audience member and full force punched him right in the face, ALL of you other audience members would be SURPRISED, none of you would be expecting that, and most of you would not know how to react.

WHY? Because my actions in this situation are NOT logical.

Better yet, how about the next time you end a meeting at work. What if after leading the meeting I met you at the door on the way out with a gun and said, “It was really nice seeing you today, but please give me all of your money before you leave.” If this happened to your meeting, all of you would be surprised, none of you would be expecting that, and most of you would not know how to react.

WHY? Because my actions in this situation are IMMORAL and UNFAIR.

We are good, kind people and because we feel we are good and kind, we expect others to treat us the way we treat them. We expect those people we deal with each day to be fair, moral and logical, just as we are. This thought process puts us at a very significant disadvantage however, because criminals, by their very nature, do not think this same way.

There have been two tragic incidents that have been in national news in the last few months. We had the school board shooting in Florida: School Board Shooting and the attack on Congresswoman Giffords: http://thelastword.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/08/5793523-rep-giffords-shot-in-deadly-ariz-attack.

It is obvious to all of us now, when we look at these two situations, that the criminals who committed these crimes were obviously immoral, illogical and unfair, YET each victim started his or her day not expecting any trouble, not looking for any signs of distress, and they expected that everyone they would run into would be moral, logical and fair – just as they were.

The only way to stay safe and not live with unnecessary fear, worry or paranoia, is to change the way that you see the world through education. This allows you to identify and see those people that are acting illogically, immorally and unfairly so that you can take action to avoid conflict at all cost. And, in the unlikely event that you can’t avoid the conflict, you will know from your education what to do to physically defend yourself and those you love.

My entire purpose in writing these words here today is to help give each one of you the understanding and language to explain to those you care about WHY it is so important to spend a little bit of time and a little bit of money to learn how to protect yourselves and those you love.

Okay, so the next time you are talking to someone about Sealed Mindset and its personal safety training and either they ask, or you can see that they are wondering, “Why should I learn that?”, you can tell them:

You need to learn more to give yourself a mental edge because criminals are immoral, illogical and unfair. Without this mental edge, you will not be able to see and avoid those who are acting immorally, illogically and unfairly.

Thanks for reading! Anne Yatch