Three C's of Multiple Person Response

Here's another important video, from the Personal Defense Network. Fundamentals of multiple person tactics, revolve around what I call the three CS. And whether we're talking about a professional, armed, team military, law enforcement or security, or just two guys that happen to spend a lot of time together or maybe two family members that happen to both be armed, in a home defense environment, we're always gonna talk about the three CS, as our fundamental components. The three CS are coordination, communication and cooperation. And they all work together, to ensure that you'll be as safe as possible, when working with someone else, even if it's someone you've never worked with before.

Assuming you do have time to plan, and to actually train together, What we're talking about in terms of coordination, is having that plan. And if you're a part of a team, it's going to include SOP or standard operating procedures. Maybe it's going to include what type of gear you have, or what your preferred position would be, under a certain circumstance. Or what your response will be when you're planning, and you actually know or have a good idea, that you're about to go in harm's way. Well, when you prepare to defend yourself, and you are legally armed, and you maybe have a firearm stored in your home, for defense of that home and your family, or you have a firearm that you wear on your body, as you go about your daily business, you also have a plan.

And that plan is your coordination. So, when you're working with a partner, or someone who is maybe a family member or a coworker, that could be in your environment, when you have to defend yourself or defend them from harm, you need to coordinate, you need to plan. You need to be able to tell your wife, "under this circumstance, I'm gonna have a firearm, and I'm gonna have a flashlight, and I need you to be on the phone, calling the police." Or maybe you're gonna tell your coworkers, that it's important for them to get on the phone, or lock a door, or close a window, or do something else under a certain circumstance. Maybe, you're gonna be working with someone to coordinate, Who's going to drive a car, or who's gonna unlock a car, if you're in a bad situation in a public environment, like a parking garage or outside of a strip mall, or something like that, where you need to get away from a situation but maybe you've gonna pay attention to an area, keep your awareness up, be prepared to deploy a firearm in your defense, if necessary, but at the same time, someone else could be executing the other half of that plan. Which is getting someone on the phone, or looking for a flashlight, or illuminating an area that you weren't sure, whether someone was hiding or not.

All these types of things are coordination. And they're gonna play a large role, in your work on the square range, your drills, the terminology that you'll use. If you need to tell someone, "Hey, I've got a guy over here, who's a threat." Well saying, "Hey, I've got a guy over here who's a threat." Is probably the best way to do that. But talking about it ahead of time, so that people know what you're gonna say, you know how you're gonna say it, is part of that coordination. It's part of the plan.

Communication is the second C. And communication is obviously very, very important. Whether it's someone you've never worked with before, or never met before, or never seen before, or someone that you deal with everyday, understanding that communicating during a critical incident, needs to be part of the plan, is very, very important. Even if it's someone you've never worked with before, as long as you stick to basic concise, and clear fundamentals of communication, you'll be able to be effective and efficient, even in the midst of a chaotic, dynamic situation. Understanding that you should talk mostly about, what you see, what you need, or what you're going to do, is the fundamental most important thing, about the communication C.

Understanding what you see is very important, and sharing that with other people. "There's a guy here with a gun." Maybe you're on the phone with nine-one-one, and while you're holding your firearm in the ready position, or you're hiding in an area with a firearm in a holster, or you're in your home, maybe barricaded, being on that phone with nine-one-one, is interacting with someone else. Better yet, being able to devote your full attention to being prepared to defend yourself, and having your coworker or family member, or just someone you happen to be in a situation with, with the phone behind you, responding to what you're saying, and sharing that information is again, part of that communication. So what you see. There's a guy here with a knife.

There's a guy here threatening me. He's wearing jeans, he's wearing a dark shirt. I'm at 431 Eavesdrop Lane, whatever it may be. I'm at this store in the mall. Or, I'm in this scenario.

I'm in this color car. I need to go to here. I need this. Come over here. Call the police.

All very clear, very concise statements, that talk about, what you see, what you need, or what you're going to do. Of course, we talked about verbalization, as an important part of interacting between two people, that are on the same side, but part of that communication is also going to be, saying things to make it clear to someone, that you're prepared to defend yourself. So part of your communication plan, should include the warning. The very clear warning to someone, that you're going to be prepared to defend yourself, or that you and someone else are prepared to defend themselves against that threat. And the perception of that threat is best expressed, through clear, concise communication.

So we talk about coordination as being the plan. We talk about communication is being the way you coordinate, what you need, what you see and what you're going to do, with the other people on your environment. The last C is cooperation. And cooperation is probably the most important C in the bunch. Because at the end of the day, if you didn't have a plan, or if your plan started to fall apart, if you weren't able to communicate effectively, or if you're dealing with someone who isn't able to communicate effectively with you, you fall back on cooperation.

Cooperation simply means doing what needs to be done. Or getting someone to do what needs to be done for you, in a certain situation. If you're trying to move out of an area, and get out of the way, and someone else there that you're trying to protect, or that's supposed to be working with you, to help you protect each other, they aren't doing what they need to do, you need to get their attention. You may need to use your communication to do that. Or you may need physically to actually, turn around and grab them, and get them to move out of the way.

Get them to come through this door with you. Get them to get out of the way of someone that may be trying to hurt them. Remind them, "Hey, you've got a firearm too. Or, "Hey you've got a cell phone." "Take myself cellphone, do this." That cooperation may not always be nice and polite and calm, especially given the circumstances, under which you're gonna be forced to defend yourself, but cooperation simply means, getting done what needs to get done. Working with someone else to achieve that goal of getting to safety, ending an attack, or stopping someone's ability to hurt you.

Coordination, communication, cooperation. The three CS of multiple person tactics, in a critical incident. Check out more videos, just like this one, at the Personal Defense Network.