Tactical tip: Play “What if?” Games

• Beau Doboszenski, Owner/Lead Instructor

• Originally published January 11th, 2019

Tactical Tip: Play “What if?” Games 

Last week a psycho attacked the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California. He cut his way into the festival through a fence, and used a rifle (brought in illegally from another state) to kill 3 people and injure a dozen others.

Events like these, though incredibly rare, do happen. So how can you prepare yourself for when the rare but terrible happens?

Play “What if?” games.

A “What if?” game goes like this. You’re walking through the mall, and you just say to yourself: “Self, what if a nut with a rifle came from that hallway over there? What do you do?”

Then you answer yourself, of course. Maybe you’d plan to run for cover and deploy a concealed weapon. Maybe you’d grab your family and run for an exit through the back. Maybe you’d head back down the hallway you came from a moment ago. This is the time to think about putting your training into action in a real life scenario.

Wondering how this game gives you an advantage? You have just created a simple neural pathway for your brain to follow if an emergency happens. Neural pathways, even small ones, are very powerful, and improve your ability to “do something” when everyone else will most likely freeze and do nothing.

So play little “What if?” games everywhere you go and give yourself an advantage against a sudden emergency.