Click on various areas of the symbol below to learn about the elements of the Combat Triad.
The doctrinal foundation of the Modern Technique of defensive firearms is the Combat Triad. It is composed of the three elements of marksmanship, gunhandling and mind set. It is represented visually by Morrigan Consulting using the Celtic triskele symbol; endless and interconnecting, illustrated above.
These three elements are the foundation on which your ability to face and defeat violent criminal assault will stand… or fall. They mutually support and complement one another; all three must be developed to the highest level of which you are capable to insure that you respond properly if violence comes to you. Mind set, however, is the pinnacle.
Man (the species, not the gender) fights with his mind… all else is supplemental. Your weapon is only a tool. You can wield it well or poorly, and the difference will depend on the degree to which you have properly conditioned your mind to deal with the ugly reality of lethal confrontation.
In nearly all of the "failures in action" that are recorded, the good guy did not lose because he could not shoot…he lost because he did not have sufficient training in how to think. This element of the Combat Triad is the foundation on which everything else is based. It is critical. Any defensive firearms training program that does not aggressively pursue the element of mental conditioning is not a complete program.
For those of you who are involved in training others to deal with lethal violence: you have a choice only in how you wish to present this element of the Triad to your students…you do not have a choice in whether to present it to them. To fail to introduce it is to deprive them of the thing that experience has proven to be the pivotal element in saving their lives or the lives of others. To fail to reinforce it at every opportunity during training is inexcusable.
Armed or not, good marksman or not, those with a solid grasp of the proper mindset are far more likely to survive. Those who do not, armed or not, good marksman or not, will probably fail.
Certainly one must be able to shoot well enough to solve the marksmanship part of the problem in a lethal encounter. If one cannot hit what one shoots at, the chances of survival are slim. That is equally true for the person who does not hit, and they are not necessarily the same thing.
Many people who had demonstrated often that they could hit what they shot at did not do so when they came face to face with a lethal assault, and in failing, died.
The degree of marksmanship required to prevail in an armed encounter is not great if marksmanship were the only problem, but it is not. You must, however, be able to shoot well enough to solve your problem, under stress and when things are going wrong. This instills confidence in one's abilities, which relates to your mental preparedness to deal with lethal assault directed at you or the ones you care for or are sworn to protect.
No matter the brand or model of firearm you choose to carry, anything made by the hand of man is imperfect, and can fail. Life being what it is, any failure will probably occur when your mental plate is already quite filled with trying to stay alive.
If the problem in which you find yourself involves multiple attackers, or if the problem becomes an extended one, you may have to give some consideration to continuity of fire (reloading).
If your problem comes to you suddenly and without much warning you will have to bring your firearm into action from wherever you store or carry it.
The solutions to these problems are all part of your gunhandling methodology. If you have learned and trained in a proven, effective system you will probably handle any difficulties and come out on top. If you have not, your shooting ability alone may not save you.
The level of confidence that comes from knowing you can deal with situations that require more than just firing a shot or two is, again, inter-related to your mental preparedness to face and defeat violent criminal assault.
You need to know that you can deal with the shooting problem, and can master any gunhandling problem that may arise in a conflict, too.
copyright © 2000 Morrigan Consulting
