Protect and defend>Strategies and tactics

↩ Back

Strategies and tactics

Intro

People want to protect themselves, their families, and their property from harm but you cannot just hope that nothing harmful happens or that someone else will provide the protection, you must make your own protection preparations. You must develop protection strategies and the tactics to use to implement the strategies.

Spheres of protection

The need for protection increases as the distance to the threat decreases and the level of protection required increases as the distance to the threat decreases. 

Spheres of protection are invisible circular areas of increasing radius that surround a person or property, each of which requires a certain level of protection. The level of protection required decreases with each increasing larger sphere, but the area to be protected also increases. 

Difference types and levels of protection are required within each sphere depending on the area of the sphere and the importance of the object being protected. There are two types of protection preparations: strategic plans and tactical actions.

Strategy

A strategy is a long-range, large-sphere, in-depth, overall plan for maintaining long-term protection. It uses low-level, long-range strategic protection techniques to prevent situations where short-range tactical protective techniques may become necessary.  It requires a state of mind where a person is thinking about defensive situations, is aware of his/her surroundings, and is taking precautions to prevent a defensive situation from occurring. 

Strategies employ protection techniques for family, personal, and property protection. They help people develop a protection philosophy that will permeate their daily living and help protect them even when they are not necessarily thinking about protection. Thinking about how you might respond to a personal self-defense situation is a protection strategy. Each strategy has several specific tactical actions to be used to accomplish the overall strategy.

Tactic

A tactic is a small-sphere action used for short-term protection. It takes place within an overall strategy, providing a high-level, short-range protective action that must is taken immediately against a threat that has breached strategic protections. Learning a martial art is a tactical action that supports the self-defense strategy. There are two types of tactical actions: soft and hard.

• Soft tactical action. Soft tactical actions are indirect measures, such as barriers, obstacles, locks, fences, alarms, demeanor, confidence, etc. They are used to delay, deter, or prevent attacks, but they do not cause injury or death.
• Hard tactical action. Hard tactical actions are direct measures such as kicks, punches, dogs, firearms, or other weapons.  They may also delay, deter, and prevent attacks, but they use hard direct actions that may cause injury or death.

Strategy versus tactic

Basically, tactics are short-term actions that are part of a long-term strategic plan. Although the two terms are closely related, tactics are not always in the best interests of the strategy. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 was a highly successful tactic but was a dismal mistake as a strategy as it awakened a sleeping giant and led to the Japanese being defeated. The United States' 2003 attack on Iraq was a tactical success but appears to have been a mistake strategically since the conflict has never ended. 

Shooting and killing a burglar caught in your home at night may seem to have been a good short-term tactic at the time, but after dealing with criminal and civil courts trials for years afterward, you would probably think that your overall defensive strategy was flawed; you probably should have spent more money on alarms and locks, it would have been much cheaper and less trouble in the long-term. 

Sometimes a failed tactic may turn out to be good for the strategy. If your strategy is to earn the goodwill of the people in a country, a tactical missile intended for a chemical warfare plant that misses its target may be a good thing if the target was, in fact, an aspirin factory.

Some strategies and tactics

The following are some strategies and their associated tactics that should be considered as a part of your protection and defense system. The tactics are not exclusive to the specific strategy; they may be used in another strategy, as necessary.

• Strategy to protect and defend persons. Strategy to protect persons, such as self, family, or others.

Home tactics. Tactics to use while at home.

Transit tactics. Tactics to use while in transit.

Workplace tactics. Tactics to use when in the workplace.

Public place tactics. Tactics to use when in public places.

School tactics. Tactics to use when in school.

Empty-Hand tactics. Tactics that only use parts of the body. These are the techniques taught in taekwondo and other martial arts.

Weapon tactics. Tactics using weapons other than firearms, such as a knife, tear gas, pepper spray, or miscellaneous objects, such as sticks, bottles, rocks, soil, furniture, etc.

Firearm tactics. Tactics using firearms, such as a handgun or long gun.

Survival tactics. Tactics to use for survival during extenuating conditions, such as natural disasters, or riots.

• Strategy to protect and defend property. Strategy to protect the home, vehicles, and personal property.

Home tactics. Tactics to protect the home, its contents, and its surrounding.

Vehicle tactics. Tactics to protect vehicles.

• Strategy to protect and defend privacy and information. Strategy to protect privacy, data, and information.

Electronic tactics. Tactics to protect data and other information, computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc. and information on the internet.

Privacy tactics. Tactics to protect private information.

  ↩ Back