Prioritize your Tools for YOUR MISSION
Prioritizing your tools for YOUR mission.
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Everyone has a “mission”. To paraphrase what Darryl Bolke said in the recent @primaryandsecondaryModcast, your "mission" is what you are willing to die or use lethal force to protect. For me, my normal mission is to avoid confrontation, prevent confrontation from becoming more violent, and finally, to exit a violent encounter alive and unharmed.
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For this mission, what I carry from day to day can remain consistent. Currently, I carry a Glock 48MOS with a Shield mag, POM pepper spray, a tourniquet, quick clot gauze, a utility pocket knife, and as of recently, a Modlite OKW.
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You’ll notice that I didn’t mention a spare mag. My body shape does not allow for me to carry a Modlite and a spare mag IWB, so I'm left with the choice: will the flashlight or extra magazine serve my mission best?
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My light allows me to potentially deselect myself for attack, and identify a potential threat. Once I have identified/blinded my threat the situation will either escalate or deescalate. If it escalates then I have already identified my threat and if the situation forces me to then I could draw my weapon.
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The extra magazine serves two purposes: it gives me more ammo if I am in a fight requiring more than 16 rounds, and it allows me another option if my primary carry mag critically malfunctions. The first purpose is not realistic for my mission, and the second purpose can also be mitigated by knowing the condition of my carry magazine and by keeping one magazine segregated for carry and not training to reduce wear on it.
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This is not to say carrying a spare mag is bad, or wrong! If it fits your mission, awesome! For example, I recognize that law enforcement encounters are very different and require different tools as they have a much different mission than me.
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If ditching the spare mag is not your jam then I hear ya 👍🏻 Certain missions will find a spare magazine more necessary than others and I totally see that. For me personally, trading the magazine for a light makes all the sense in the world 👍🏻 Prioritize your tools for your mission.