Figure 8 Defensive Drills in Depth

Here's another important video from the Personal Defense Network. This time we're going to talk about the Figure 8 Drill in Depth. And when I say in depth, obviously I mean the targets are going to be scattered and not all in one plane. This is going to help us work on our balance of speed and precision, taking into account not only different types of targets, the predictability of the target, the position of our body, but also the distance, which is a factor we haven't incorporated into the Figure 8 Drill yet. So you can see that I've got some targets that are going to be very close to my Figure 8 and others that are further away.

This target is within the limit of not being an extreme close quarters situation, that two arms reach rule. So I'm very close to it. In fact, if I were much closer, I wouldn't even be responding with extend, touch, press. I'd probably be trying to stop the threat in some other way first, and not automatically reaching for my firearm. This target here is a steel target, and of course, it's important to remind the audience at home that we are using frangible ammunition.

If you do not have frangible ammunition, you're not using unjacketed, non-toxic frangible in an environment like we are here at the Valhalla Training Center, you cannot train safely this close to steel. With lead or with jacketed ammunition you run a risk of injury that is not acceptable shooting at steel reactive targets this close. But in this environment, this would give us the simulation of a low attack. Maybe a dog trying to attack us, some other animal, or someone who's been knocked to the ground but still a threat. Maybe I've engaged them with defensive fire.

They've fallen to the ground. I'm in my ready position assessing, and now they come back up at me, pick up a gun, grab a knife, start to get up, and still pose a lethal threat. I still need to react to this person who is down below the normal plane that I would be engaging if someone were standing and charging at me. If we look at the targets along the back wall and the front, you're going to see that some of the numbers are the same. Now we've seen this in the Figure 8 Drill before representing multiple targets.

So, my training partner may call out multiple targets, or he may simply call out one number that I have to scan and assess and see how many they are. Of course, we want to make sure that if we're training this for any length of time, we turn around, let our training partner change the targets around, change the numbers, do different things like that. The more reactive targets, the more realistic targets you have involved in the Figure 8 Drill of any kind, particularly the Figure 8 Drill in Depth, the more realistic it is. One thing we're going to do that's a little different this time also is we're going to use these as our markers for the Figure 8 Drill. You've probably seen us use other things, or you thought of using other things for your Figure 8 Drills at home, but these are the kinds of things that are always going to be around at the range.

If you're shooting, you've got empty ammo cartons, you've got empty ammo boxes, throw them down, and use them as the markers for your Figure 8 Drill. Make sure your training partner understands the Figure 8 Drill, understands the angles involved. And again, when you're using Figure 8 in Depth, if you have targets that are very close, you wouldn't want to train here to extend, touch, and press. This is too close. It's within two arms reach.

So it would be inappropriate to have these targets positioned where they are so close to the markers unless your training partner understood the concept of extension, touch, and press only being part of our outside of extreme close quarters, outside of two arms reach rule. So to make sure that we modify our drill today, I'm actually going to move this up to here. And now, when Peter and I get into the drill, someone is less likely to be in close proximity within two arms reach of that target, if we happen to call its number or whatever number ends up there while we're standing here. Notice now that I've canted an angled, of our Figure 8. So our Figure 8 doesn't have to be 90 degrees offset parallel with our backstop.

We can Figure 8 in any direction. The idea is to create a 360 degree environment. The more varied the positions, the more varied the locations and numbers of the targets, the more of a challenge it is for you to maintain your balance of speed and precision. Getting those combat accurate hits intuitively, as efficiently as you can. And of course, if we were in 180 degree dirt range or 180 degree range like this, where we're safe to shoot out to the sides, we could even put targets over here or over here and begin creating an even more realistic environment.

Let's have Peter step in. Peter's gone through the Figure 8 Drill before, both in depth and in the regular way, when all the targets are in one plane. He's going to begin going through the Figure 8. I'm going to put on my safety glasses, and I'm going to start calling targets, and we're going to see how this looks. Four!

Another great training opportunity to work through a failure to lock back. So, what we're going to do now is I'm going to pick this magazine up, and I'm actually going to mark the bottom of the magazine. So by putting a mark in the bottom of the magazine, just using this empty piece of brass or a pocket knife, whatever I might be carrying, by putting this mark in the bottom of the magazine, we're going to keep an eye on this one. I could probably adjust it and get it working right, but we don't want to count on that. And we're going to keep it on it throughout the training day.

Come on out, Peter. Continue the Figure 8. Three! We want to remind our training partner to focus on combat accuracy, make sure we're getting good combat, accurate hits in an area that reflects something and is likely to significantly affect our target's ability to present that threat to us or the person we're trying to protect. So we want to make sure that we're getting those hits in exactly the area that we intend to, not just anywhere on the paper or in some general region.

Five! Another great aspect of the Figure 8 in Depth is that any target that happens to be in the way when you call out the designated threat target becomes a bystander or cover, or at least concealment, and it forces lateral movement and true assessing of the situation before you can actually recognize and respond to that threat. You might hear a gunshot and get into that natural crouch, and the hands come up to protect the face, and everything else that happens automatically when we're startled, but you still may not have recognized the threat until you find it, and then you can respond appropriately with your lateral movement, extension, touch, and press towards the threat. Figure 8 in Depth, this allows us to practice that while balancing our speed and precision, when we finally get the opportunity to shoot at the designated threat. Figure 8.

Two! Four! Another thing you can do to make the Figure 8 in depth or the standard version more challenging and somewhat more realistic is to put a smaller target area on top of the regular target. What this will do is actually allow you to work with the idea that the longer the duration of a critical incident, the more important the need for precision becomes. So because of movement, because of injury, because you're running out of ammunition, whatever the situation may be, we also want to train ourselves that after a reload, we may need to put more cognitive deviation control into our training and into our shooting in a real incident because of the distraction, because of the loss of the grip.

We're going to have to make sure we get a good grip. We focus on deviation control at an appropriate level to get the shot we need to get after a reload. So from now on, after any reload, during a critical incident reload situation, Peter's going to slow down and actually use balance and speed and precision to get the hit right inside of that smaller target area on the target that he was last engaging before the reload drill. This could also work for a malfunction Five! Seven!

Two! Figure 8 in Depth is a great way to add variety to your training on a square range, simulate a 360 degree environment, and work on your balance of speed and precision. Check out more videos just like this one at the Personal Defense Network.