If you've been searching for information on breaching - how it's done, why one tool is used over another, considerations and constraints - this is the one guys. This week, I sit down with Steven Laster of Core Vision Training and dive into the topic and skillset of breaching. Steve is former Army, and currently active on what I would consider a pretty high volume SWAT team. Throughout our discussion we hit on various tools, including Rams, Halligans, Shotguns, torches and saws, we even spend time talking about the benefits that Hydraulic breaching tools bring into the discussion. From weight and length, to pro's and con's and risk considerations when using something like a shotgun. Steve is truly passionate about this work and shares a ton of information throughout the conversation. If you're aspiring to learn more about the skillset, I guarantee this will be a great starting point for you.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Go Take a Class! While you can certain do a lot of self study in today's day and age, with the access to articles and videos we have, instructor led courses are still the best source of information and learning available. While they alone won't magically make you better, getting the hands-on opportunity is invaluable in your personal journey of preparedness. Unfortunately, this concept is still one that is widely unadopted, leaving us with a community full of overly-empowered individuals, who parrot the opinions of strangers online, or worse, draw vast assumptions based on personal emotion. In this discussion I dive into how shallow the knowledge and understanding in our community really is, and why we haven't grown more as a whole, over the past several years.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Not having a personal background in military or law enforcement, I wasn't sure I would ever actually have the chance to teach in the 2A space. Sure, I have a lot of years under my belt as an educator, teaching music and marching band, but is that really relevant in the context of shooting, self defense, tactics, etc.? Well, I finally had a opportunity presented to me to give it a go, and I spend this weeks episode talking all about it. From my apprehension about the outward appearance of someone with no operational background teaching, to the excitement of being able to revisit something that was previously a huge part of my life, and my personality. This ended up being an incredible experience, and I'm very happy to share it all with you!Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
We roll through Thanksgiving, officially into the last month of the Calendar, and lots of strong economic indicators as things politically heat up across the country. In this installment of the Sunday SITREP, I talk about some crucial current events, talking about tensions across the country as religious protests increase and the friction heats up between protestors and residents in key cities across the U.S. With things become so tense, especially in the wake of the murder of two National Guardsmen in D.C., there's a lot to consider, and a lot to evaluate. Additionally, I talk about the retail spike from Black Friday, my observations on our culture throughout the largest shopping day of the year, and also how to take advantage of the sales and opportunities. Lots of opinion, and lots of entertainment, as always!Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Fresh off Black Friday weekend, I sit down with Kevin Holland of Custom Night Vision to catch up and talk about night vision, lasers, comedy, and more. It's always interseting to me when I get to chat with industry experts, some of the surprising stories and details their able to share. Being that devices like NODs are so prohibitively expensive for many folks, my assumption would be that when people are able to purchase finally, they've done a lot of research on basic use and common experiences. Kevin and I talk about end users, and how in fact, that assumption is incorrect. We touch, additionally, on IR lasers in the market today, what he recommends (and doesn't) while somehow also managing to get into public education, livestock shows, getting kicked out of school, and how to build a quality rifle. There's a lot packed into this discussion, you're definitely going to like it!Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Almost Cover is a social media presence that many of us may know, and many more of us may relate with. They started as a page, or rather a pseudo "art project" sharing good photos and funny video clips. Rather quickly however, this team of former veterans has turned into something else entirely, changing the world in ways that I think few realize. In this episode, I sit with Irish, one of the team members and founders of Almost Covert. We talk about his beginnings in the Airforce, touch on his time after service working with charity organizations, and end up at the work he and his colleagues do today, fighting human trafficking overseas. Throughout the conversation we touch on the evolution of the team, the evolution of gear and tactics, and even take time to speak on the importance of evolving leadership. This was a outstanding discussion, and one that I hope speaks to you all. Check it out.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
I finally have the opportunity to sit down with Rick of SSV Concepts, catch up, and have a great discussion. Just as the title says, we get into dogs as a low tech early warning system and the realities of dealing with them, combatting drug operations and how the landscape has changed, and general dumb ideas, that may not be so dumb. We spent time talking about utilizing data and personal outputs to track and maximize your own performance, and that of your team. We even took a moment to touch on the idiocy of public perception, and legacy media. I love being able to connect with Rick, and get his no nonsense opinions. As a police officer in Iowa and member of a SRT team, as well as an instructor and competitive shooter, there's not shortage of insight or information in this discussion!Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Breaching has long been one of the most valuable skillsets in our community. To defeat our enemy, to eliminate the threat, we must be able to access that threat, access the hold of our enemy. While there's been so many advancements in breaching technology, the core concepts always remain. In this episode, I sit down with Chris Kuras of Good Dude Concepts to talk about breaching work as a part of a SWAT team in Florida, as well as what he's been able to bring to the conversation with the invention of his Breaching Rescue Bar, or B.R.B. As a tool that is accessible to all walks of life, with intentional design to lend itself to numerous needs, it fills a gap that many professionals and civilians alike have had to work around for years. We got into a lot in this discussion, and if you're interested in learning the skillset, this may be a great starting point for you!Check out Good Dude Concepts - https://good-dude.com/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/good_dude_concepts/Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
While we call this all a community, with the social media platforms, the training events, the video content, the knowledge transfer, and everything in between, we really love to argue amongst ourselves on what's right and what's wrong. Some of these debates have been repeated thousands of times over, with different folks each claiming to have "the right answer" and feeling emboldened and empowered to tell their peers why what they're doing is wrong, and unnecessary. I'm not sure if this episode will make the problem any better, or simply add to the issue. Regardless, I share my thoughts on common opinions to key discussions within the community, as it particularly relates to general preparedness. While any one of these can be argued from multiple different angles, here's how I see it, and hopefully it can help you make sense of it all as well.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
We're approaching the one month mark, and the U.S. government remains in shutdown. As we come upon the Novermber 4th election day, many wonder if we'll see a resolution. Additionally, news has broken of a suspected terror attack here in Michigan, planned to take place on Halloween. As always, the Sunday SITREP is the opportunity for me to share my thoughts and insights on current events, and provide some commentary that may help you fill in the gaps on what's going on, what's already happened, and what we may see next. Theres a whole lot going on in the world, and the SITREP is my way of bringing some critical events to the forefront of the discussion. Check it out, and as always, don't forget to like, and subscribe!Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Garrett is back, and this time, we're deep diving into the Carbine platform and everything that goes with it. From competition to practical shooting, we found a way to touch on a whole heck of a lot in this discussion. There's so much detail and nuance when talking about performance shooting, from optic height to grips, to muzzle devices and more. We found opportunities to talk about almost all of it in this conversation. Both myself and Garrett shared lots of personal experiences and opinions on some of the hotly contested ideas in our community, like optic risers, and found that we also had some surprising disagreements on things like how to go about zeroing your platform. Lots of great content and conversation here, and if you've been looking for some ideas on how to up your personal development, this may just be the ticket. Check it out!Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Brandon Wombough is a former Marine, and currently the armorer at T-Rex Arms. Following up our discussion last month in the wake of the Kirk assassination, I wanted to take the opportunity to sit down with Brandon for a conversation. We touched on many different topics including personal accountability and prioritization of efforts, to how you can test yourself and your own capability, and talking the realities of pride and ego. Of course, we had to spend some time getting into the community, talking about drones, talking about the ergonomics of some laser aiming modules and how many of us focus on the wrong aspects of the gear and the training. All around, this was a fantastic discussion and I think if you're looking for more information, as well as a unique way to tie your faith into your life and your endeavors, this would be a great listen for you!Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
While many of us are still reeling from the tragic death of Charlie Kirk, many more of us have responded to the tragedy with righteous action. It's often unfortunate that we must see evil to know its existence, and adjust our preparation. Being reactive, rather than proactive is never preferable. Perhaps one of the most affected populations in this turbulent time, are faith based institutions and organizations. I sit down this week with Jonah Norman to talk about not only Executive Protection, but about the work being done at multiple levels to make centers of worship more safe, and the importance of carrying that work out for the right reasons. There's a awful lot packed into this discussion, including the importance of advance work and intelligence gathering, understanding the reality and perceptions of good versus evil, penalties for lack or preparation and more. I truly believe this conversation provides some critical insight for many of us, seeking to do more.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Fresh off of our group training trip to Ben Franklin Range in Pennsylvania, I sit down with Blake Flannery of Orion Training Group and Maneuver Training Solutions, to talk about the work we did in the shoot house. Additionally, we dig into some of the concepts, as well as context, to structure clearance work and CQB in general. There's so much information and opinion floating around within the training community on this subject, it's hard to really grasp what can truly be called right and what really is wrong. To this end, we talked about some of the different and outdated systems and styles of CQB, the importance of initiative driven tactics, and make some parallel connections between infantry tactics, and structure clearance. This was a great opportunity to debrief after the trip, but also a fantastic discussion for those of you looking to learn and understand group clearance work.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Unfortunately, as the time has gone on over the past few years, it seems the world around us has only gotten more violent. While we at one point all wanted to believe it was a question, a discussion of right versus left, this religion versus that religion, it's becoming more and more obviously that the lines that are being drawn, aren't as clear and convenient as we would like them to be. In this iteration of the SITREP I talk about a handful of recent events, attacks on houses of worship that are a powerful illustration of the danger we all face as a culture. Additionally, I share my thoughts and some feelings and insight on how we got here. What led us to this point, and more importantly, how can we walk this back? What does the process of healing look like, and how can escape from what has started to feel like inevitable and consistent chaos in our day to day lives.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Personal Accountability. In my experience, it is the single greatest characteristic that I've seen in high performing individuals. While many folks claim they desire to be a highly capable individual with a high level of preparedness, the truth is that many simply fall flat. Accountability is at the crux of that issue more often than not. In a discussion that hits very close to home for me personally, I dig in to why it's so important and I add color and context to the situations that I think many of us run in to, while trying desperately to be better prepared, and more dangerous individuals. At the end of the day, we have to prioritize ourselves, our happiness, our families, and our own interests above those of peers who may not share the same drive, determination, and ambition that we have for ourselves. My hope is that this insight is helpful for some of you who may be having similar struggles, and are trying to find a way to break free of some of the weight that's holding you down.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Understanding your tools and how to use them to solve problems effectively is probably the best way to summarize much of what our training is about. Just as with any skillset or trade, if you don't know to use those tools, or understand the entire purpose of having them, you're going to run into issues, and certainly will be less effective. This is why it becomes so frustrating for many, seeing the emulation and "copy-catting" that is triggered by influencers, when it comes to equipment and supporting gear. Everything from optics and lights, to plate carriers, armor, and belts then becomes the constant focus and concern, rather than the hard skills that should instead by our pursuit. In this episode, I dive into this, and offer up some helpful tips and strategies for how to be more thoughtful, and certainly more effective, in this journey.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
The fallout from the assassination of Charlie Kirk has weighed heavily on everyone's minds. What is next? What will we do? Why do we feel this way? To do my best to tackle those questions as well as bring insight on how to honor his memory, I sit down with Jeremiah and Brandon to break apart everything that's gone on over the last several days. Specifically we talk about faith, and the inherent morality that comes with it, and how it must be our guiding principle as we push forward in a world that seems to feel more and more dangerous and uncertain. As someone who isn't very far along in their personal faith journey, it was fantastic to hear both of these men speak with conviction, and share their thoughts on what's going on, and how we can all contribute in a positive way.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Unfortunately, I'm releasing this SITREP out of cadence, but in light of these events it's something that is needed. Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA and a major political voice in our country, has been assassinated. During his stop at Utah Valley University to kick off a public speaking tour, he was shot. This comes as a major blow to many, and serves at least as a shocking reminder of how far our society has fallen in these turbulent times. As always, I share my thoughts, my feelings, and do my best to speak on why this is so impactful, regardless of if you agreed with Charlie and his opinions or disagreed.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!
Night Vision. The super power that we all want, and the only capability which can be purchased. Unfortunately, to many, it's perceived to be unattainable due to the financial constraints which surround it. What many folks don't realize though, is that you have more options available than what you might think. To explore the options, and talk in depth on used and surplus options, I'm sitting down with Shane Sharp and Ty Morgan from Terrace Unity Solutions. TUS is a Michigan based night vision company just a few minutes from me, and a resource I only recently realized I had access to. We get into the comparisons and benefits between surplus and new devices, as well as some common questions like L3 versus Elbit versus Photonis, and do our best to fill in the gaps and add some much needed context to the common concerns that folks have. If you've been chasing the dream of owning NODs and haven't been able to make it happen, give this one a listen. I think you may learn a few things.Visit our sponsors!Our Patreon - www.patreon.com/prepared_mindset_podCustom Night Vision - www.customnightvision.comHerrington Arms - www.herringtonarms.comRMA Armor - www.rmadefense.com 'PreparedMindset5' to save!