Firepower, Protection, and Mobility-Choose Wisely

I AM NOT A LAWYER, AND I AM NOT GIVING LEGAL ADVICE ON THE USE OF LETHAL FORCE.  PLEASE REFERENCE YOUR STATE USE OF FORCE STATUTES AS YOUR GUIDE.

     Any contemplation of patrolling in support of armed defense is remiss if the relationships between the capabilities of firepower, protection, and mobility do not feature prominently in our internal dialogue.  It has been said that "You can have two, but not all three."  While GENERALLY true, I believe this opinion is rather simplistic and doesn't fully address the existing nuance and interconnection between these capabilities.  The purpose of this article is to define these capabilities while looking through the lenses of the self, the team, the physical environment, and the threat.  

     At its heart, firepower is a function of applying force against a threat.  In the context of armed self defense, this can be further described as the abiltiy to apply lethal force against a lethal force threat until such time as the threat is no longer able to cause an intended victim severe bodily injury or death.  I reject the idea that firepower is defined in a purely quantitative way (i.e. an ability to fire a specific amount of bullets at a specific rate).  Instead, I believe that firepower should be defined qualitatively (reference the first and second sentences of this paragraph).  Effects on target are the most important thing when we find our lives in jeopardy.  

     Defining firepower is a necessary step in determining how heavily to weigh it against our capabilities of protection and mobility.  As a way of focusing the light through the lenses of self, team, physical environment, and enemy we need to ask ourselves some important questions.  Below are a few of the most relevant:

Am I the only available/willing person to defend myself, family, and neighbors, or do I have help?  

What is the nature of the terrain (natural/man-made), vegetation, and visibility (day/night) of the area I/we need to be able to respond in? 

How does my/our physical fitness levels affect weight I/we can carry, respective to ammo and weapons?

How many potential threats do I/we need to be able to defend against? 

What type of arms and equipment do they likely possess? 

Do my/our weapons enable me/us to place as much or more accurate fire on any threats as efficiently as they can place on me/us (provided I/we apply sound marksmanship funadamentals)?

The answers to the questions above frame our selections of what types of weapons we need to arm ourselves with, the calibers and type of ammunition we want to feed those weapons with, and a general estimation of how many magazines we intend to carry. Before we commit to loading magazines in pouches, however, we still need to examine our requirements for protection and mobility.

     As we begin to define protection, we quickly realize that a degree of nuance exists, yet again.  Of course it is true that protection chiefly focuses on the preservation of life, but there's more to it than just that.  In relation to armed self defense, protection can be defined as leveraging equipment and tactics to preserve the life/lives of the citizen/citizens acting in defense, preserve the lives of any individuals not engaged in active self defense, and retain the ability to project force (as needed) against future threats.  Certainly in life threatening moments it is not easy or wise to divert our attention too greatly from dealing with the immediate problem.  Thinking about protection in an expanded way while we are not in immediate danger allows us to remember that armed self defense has acute moments but is, in fact, a chronic necessity that requires sound protection- oriented equipment and tactics.  "Living to fight another day" serves an expanded purpose-sustained security as a basis to facilitate our local level communities maintaining a civil society.

     As we peer through the lenses to assess our protection needs, we begin to frame the questions we need to answer.  Several of them are: 

What is the nature of the terrain (natural/man-made), vegetation, and visibility (day/night) of the area I/we need to be able to respond in?

Does the terrain (natural) provide avenues of approach that can conceal me/us from sight by high and low points in ground?  

Does the terrain (man-made) create a dense, complex environment where even poorly-aimed shots will ricochet easily or cause spall?

How does my/our physical fitness levels affect weight I/we can carry, respective to armor plates?  

Do I/we have both access and a means to carry obscurants, such as smoke, that can prevent well-aimed shots at me/us?

How many potential threats do I/we need to be able to defend against?

What type of arms and equipment do they likely possess?

The answers to these questions help us decide whether or not we need to wear armor (soft/hard), plan movement routes that provide good cover (stops bullets) and concealment (obscures sight pictures), and consider the carry and use of smoke.  Before we start donning plate carriers or woods rigs, we must first assess our mobility needs.

     Mobility bears a special level of importance in this discussion.  Much of firepower and protection (to a slightly lesser degree) deals largely with tangible things.  Everyone can see and touch weapons, magazines, plate carriers, helmets, etc.  Mobility, however, isn't quite so tangible.  Defined, mobility means the ability to move from one physical location to another in order to either end a lethal force confrontation (in terms of leveraging a decisively advantageous position) or disengage from an untenable position (in terms of terrrain advantage and threat).  There is a tendency for people to place a dangerously weighted value on firepower and protection at the expense of mobility.  Circumstances exist when the ability to move with quickness and agility actually becomes a form of protection for us (i.e. denying the threat's ability to leverage firepower because an intended victim just wouldn't sit still/got behind cover).  Circumstances exist when the ability to move with quickness and agility greatly accentuates our firepower (i.e. maneuvering to a position that negates forms of protection the threat utilizes and enabling well-aimed fire with effects on the threat).

     An examination of our mobility requirements generates some of the following questions:

What is the nature of the terrain (natural/man-made), vegetation, and visibility (day/night) of the area I/we need to be able to respond in?

Does the terrain lend itself to easy or strenuous dismounted movement?

How does my/our physical fitness levels affect my/our ability and stamina to conduct dismounted movement?

How many potential threats do I/we need to be able to defend against?

What type of arms and equipment do they likely possess?

Do I/we have the ability to disengage fast enough to preserve our supply of ammunition and protect our capability for future defensive engagements?

Do I/we have means to move ourselves or others if injured?

     Now comes the hard part.  I can't tell you how to balance the capabilities of firepower, protection, and mobility.  The only thing I can do is give insight into some of my thought process in order to get you thinking.  Your assessment of your needs must be tailored to you, your team, your physical environment, and your likely threats.  You have to ask the questions, and you have to come up with the solutions.  If you have family, friends, or neighbors (no matter how few or many), consider spending an evening taking stock of yourselves, your weapons and equipment, and assessing what balance of capabilities you need.  It is a small but important step in your training.  It will highlight both your strengths and weaknesses, tailor what/how you train, and promote a higher level of situational awareness.