JavaScript is disabled
Our website requires JavaScript to function properly. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser settings before proceeding.
Not talking room-clearing here but I remember them saying G. Gordon Liddy always opened a door with his left hand. Probably some merit there.
One mob boss was offed by shaking hands with his right hand.
 
What is stated here is pretty much correct. All military doctrine teaches the basic principle that it is easier to hold ground than it is to take it (meaning it is easier to take up a defensive possition and wait for the enemy to come to you than it is for you to come to him).

However, you do have the homefield advantage...most burglars have no idea what the layout of your home is or even if you're home. If you manage to hear some "bump" in the night, the element of surprise may still be on your side. Nevertheless, this is quickly lost by "racking a shotgun round" or scanning the area with a flashlight.

My first suggestion in these situations is to just hold were you are, call the police and create a defensive. Nevertheless, this may not always be suitable, especially considering you may have other people in your house (i.e. children in other rooms) that you want to get to before they do.

In these cases, slow, methodical and quiet searchers are in order. Don't give your possition away (via flashlight or noise) unless you have to. Slice the pie when coming accross danger areas and above all else, practice it and get trained on it!

Room clearing is a skill, not something you can read a few books or watch a few videos on. Get some friends involved to hide throughout your house as well- see if you can spot them before they spot you.

And to let you realize just how small the odds are against survival, give the people paint ball guns and it will be the ones entering that will end up polkadotted.
That usually dispels the clint eastwood/wyatt earp syndrome real fast.
 


LOL.... You do realize I was implying beards are overrated towards being manly, right? I only wish I had "baby face genes", because I have a "Fred Flintstone" calibre "hammer and chisel" beard from my Northern Barbarian lineage that curses me every morning, as I prefer being clean shaven.

... and yes, I realize you were being funny as well. ;)
 
LOL.... You do realize I was implying beards are overrated towards being manly, right? I only wish I had "baby face genes", because I have a "Fred Flintstone" calibre "hammer and chisel" beard from my Northern Barbarian lineage that curses me every morning, as I prefer being clean shaven.

... and yes, I realize you were being funny as well. ;)

Yes, of course. I can actually grow one, but I paint for a living, so it's not a good idea. And as far as my tactical ability to breach and clear a room goes, well, let's just say I even get cut to pieces when playing video games with my son.

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk 2
 
TRAIN your family before hand so you avoid clearing rooms. Your house layout is important. Position your family in bedrooms that don't require a lot of room clearing if there is an invasion. Buy/rent a home with a good tactical layout. Maybe all the bedrooms on the 2nd floor... a locked door leading downstairs, so you can isolate the family upstairs from the intruders on the 1st floor. Just one of a million ways to prevent being in a situation to clear rooms to search for family...

Lots of tools available to determine the location of people in your home. Various alarms triggered by motion in various rooms. You could have a master control to turn on lights in various rooms from your bedroom. Cameras in various rooms that you can observe from your bedroom. Maybe a loudspeaker. Imagine an intruder hiding behind your couch in the living room in the dark, waiting for you to come downstairs. Suddenly, the lights come on, and he hears you over the loudspeaker... "Hey you, in the black hoodie armed with the knife. The cops are on their way. I have a 12 gauge, and am going to count to 10 before I come down. I'd advise you to go out the way you came in, right now."

Clearing rooms, typically in teams of 4 or 5, armed to the teeth and wearing body armor, with overwhelming force and numbers, is still incredibly dangerous. The methods taught are to avoid standing still, avoid the fatal funnel, move with violent haste, force, aggression, speed, etc. covering every wall and corner with a different set of eyes. The team bursts in with total initiative, spreads out, and each person is responsible for a different sector of fire, talking all the time (clear left, clear right, clear up, etc.).

For the single commando with a pistol or shotgun, it's suicidal. Running into it, you'll draw fire and give away your position. Going slow and pie-like, you're going to make some noises by opening doors, creaky floors, etc. Try walking through your house in the dark with total silence. Not possible. Walls and doors in residential houses are concealment only, not cover. A perp with any firearm, sitting in the dark, eyes adjusted, can easily waste you as you're on the other side of the wall sneaking around in the dark.
 
I am not suggesting that this video or others like it is a substitute for training. I do find that some of these types of videos can help offer insight. One of the big takeaways should be that room clearing is extremely dangerous, and probably a losing proposition.

Tactical Tips Part-14: Clearing Your Home - YouTube

Agreed that there is no one way to do this and I would believe that most would hope that it was daylight when this is attempted due to a flash light will give away your position. Not good so I'll lay & wait till they become the hunted!!!!
 
So we have talked about hunting someone in our own house. What about the opposite where the bad guy is hunting us in our own house? What kind of things can we do to win that fight? Can we hide behind the bed and ambush the bad guy when he comes into our room? Or, most bad guys are right handed and wont use their left hand so can we hide in the corner where we can see him break the plane of the doorway with his left shoulder first? Or can we get in the prone because bad guy wont expect that? What other ways can we ambush the bad guy?
 
So we have talked about hunting someone in our own house. What about the opposite where the bad guy is hunting us in our own house? What kind of things can we do to win that fight? Can we hide behind the bed and ambush the bad guy when he comes into our room? Or, most bad guys are right handed and wont use their left hand so can we hide in the corner where we can see him break the plane of the doorway with his left shoulder first? Or can we get in the prone because bad guy wont expect that? What other ways can we ambush the bad guy?

You have a tactical advantage in taking up a defensive position and quietly waiting. You know the egress points and choke points and the angles. In my home, I've got a few defensive positions, where I can take concealment behind heavy furniture. You can use book cases, or heavy wood dressers, cabinets full of pots and pans, or other heavy furniture to give you some level of defensive protection. Yes, bullets will pass through these things, but they offer some concealment and also bleed off energy from bullets.

In your 'safe room' you can also strap on any protective gear you have accumulated...
 
re: comment 39 -

One of the most effective bullet stoppers is paper. The kind you buy in full boxes at yard sales - old Nat Geo's, old Encyclopedias
put them in a bookshelf and now you have feet worth paper as cover.

In the urgent situation you can slide the book case as needed.
 
To ambush the bad guy I might hide in the floor crawlspace access door. When the bad guy opens the closet door he wont see me down below floor level until its too late. The bad guy will be too busy looking around at eye level and not even think about looking down. The same could be said for hiding in the ceiling crawlspace and looking down on the bad guy from above.
 

Upcoming Events

Tillamook Gun & Knife Show
Tillamook, OR
"The Original" Kalispell Gun Show
Kalispell, MT
Teen Rifle 1 Class
Springfield, OR
Kids Firearm Safety 2 Class
Springfield, OR

New Resource Reviews

New Classified Ads

Back Top