Evan Thomas
Inactive
Much of this is just a roundabout way of saying a few pretty obvious things about reacting to a threat -- or any other "emergency" situation:animal said:It seems to me, that no matter how much you train or in what way you train, once a fight begins … all but the most basic elements of the training are rendered useless by things that come up in the situation. Plans and scenarios never seem to fit into reality but different parts of the things you learned by planning and practicing out scenarios do. Parts of the training become almost invaluable and one thing you learned 10 years before and nearly forgotten, may be the thing that saves your bacon.
Increasing the speed of choosing between the little things you’ve learned and apply them to the situation at hand … is what I’m wondering if it can be taught.. Often it seems to come naturally as a consequence of training, but it also sometimes seems that people can become "over-trained" in a particular method, and they’re lost when they can’t adjust. Cross training helps, I’m sure, but is still indirectly targeting the problem.
- The more experience (or good training) you've had with something, the more knowledge and skill you have available.
- "Life experience" counts, too. If you have decent problem-solving skills, they'll generalize from one situation to another.
- Reacting emotionally in an emergency gets in the way of applying what you know.
- One of the main functions of experience (or realistic training) is to help you stay calm, so you're able to make efficient use of what you know, and efficient equals faster, pretty much.
And this also brings out the value of knowing what you don't know, which also comes with experience: being able to say "I'm not equipped to handle this, and I don't want to make things worse, so it's time to yell for help."
And, Glenn, regarding the "no-bozo rule"... it's not that we wouldn't throw the bozo a rope, get him to shore, and get some hot liquid and sugar into him -- of course we would. But we're not gonna go chasing his canoe for him, give him our own spare clothing, or do anything else that will jeopardize our own chances of having a safe trip. His friends are going to have to do that stuff. (Unless he's running the rapid alone, in which case he's... way beyond "bozo.") But your point about the limits of altruism is a good one -- we would do all those things, and share body heat as well, for someone who's part of our group.