What to Do If You Find Yourself in a Combat Situation

You've been found out. Your enemies have followed you back to your hide out and one of them took a pot shot at you from a hundred yards up the road. Luckily for you, the shooter wasn't as good of a shot as he thought he was and only grazed your calf.

What should you do?

Unless you've had military training or play war games on the weekend, this is probably a completely new situation to you. Most people have no clue how to behave in a combat situation.

The information you're about to learn is critical information that might save your life sometime down the road. I suggest reading, then rereading this chapter, then reviewing it a couple times a year. Becoming well-versed in combat survival tactics will vastly improve your chance of survival, especially if you're up against a group who doesn't have the same training.

The first thing you need to do is take cover. Getting out of sight takes priority. Put something between you and your adversary—preferably something bulletproof.

Take a deep breath and calm yourself enough to assess the situation. Panic and fear are a sure way to end up dead. Consider the following items:

         How many people did I see?
         Is it possible there were others?
         What were they doing here?
         What do they want?
         If I hide will they leave?
         Is my family in immediate danger?
         Are they headed my way or waiting for me to make a move?
         Did they look like trained soldiers or common criminals?
         What do I have with me that I can use to defend myself?
         Am I better armed than they are?
         Can I do something to give me the upper hand?
         How badly am I hurt?

Unless your adversary is bearing down on you, there's no reason to make a hasty decision. You don't want to languish in one spot for too long, but you also don't want to make a mad dash across an open clearing where you can easily be picked off.

Look at the lay of the land. If there's a way to move to a different location without being seen, take the opportunity to do so and get away from where your enemy expects you to be. This will give you the element of surprise—or it will allow you to put some distance between you and your attackers.

Take a moment to assess the shape you're in. If you're hurt, how badly wounded are you? Are you in danger of bleeding out or is it a flesh wound?

The answers to these questions should guide you down the path to your next move. If you're badly wounded, you need to put a little distance between you and your attackers, then stop and apply first aid. Your top priority should be to stop the bleeding. If you don't get the bleeding stopped, you're not going to make it too far.

Don't make unnecessary moves and once you make a decision, don't second-guess yourself. Every move from here on out should be a calculated move, either designed to confuse your enemy and put more distance between you and them or to allow you to ambush them.

If you're in an area you know well, use it to your advantage. Knowledge of the layout of the land gives you a huge advantage. It will allow you to determine the route your adversary is most likely to take (the path of least resistance), along with the path you can take where they're least likely to look for you.

You should never be caught outside of your bug out location without a weapon. You never know when you might need a gun and it's better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it.

Getting caught without a weapon is going to require some craftiness on your part. There are items you can use as weapons all around you. You just have to see them as such. That large stick would make a great club. Heavy rocks can be thrown or dropped on your enemy from above. Even if all you have is pebbles, you can fill the bottom of a sock up with them and use it as a bludgeon.

There's one big problem when you don't have a weapon. That's the ability of your pursuers to attack you from a distance.

Adversaries with guns will have a definite advantage if they come across you while you're unarmed. Your best bet is to try to get back to where your weapons are to try to even the odds. Actually, your best bet is to never get caught unarmed, but it could happen.