1. Red Teaming (discussed later)
2. Aggressive Intelligence Gathering
There is a phrase used in the intelligence and security fields called "Red Teaming." This is where analysts or staff operations planners quit thinking like what they are and start thinking like their adversary.
Red Teaming is used frequently at high profile installations such as nuclear facilities, military facilities, certain storage facilities, high risk office facilities (typically government), and many other different installations. This may involve sand-table red-teaming where security or intelligence and operations staff members sit down and contingency plan, "We implement Condition A, Opposition may react how?," or with an actual dry run on the facility. This method is actually employed by the US Military, and many others, on their own facilities frequently enough that maybe we as citizens should incorporate the practice as well.
Red Teaming for the Average Joe can be as simple as walking around your house figuring out how you could break in yourself. Things like "Can I open this window? Can I open this door with a credit card? Is it even locked? Do the outside lights work?" can be the difference between a home invasion and an ATTEMPTED home invasion.
Inside the home, there are some other considerations... Can you clear your house? I don't know the answer to that... That's entirely up to you and your level of indoor fighting capabilities. Can I clear mine? Sure. It's not easy, because the indoor layout was reconfigured from how it was originally built and makes things a bit more difficult. I'm not talking run-and-gun like a SEAL Team 6 or SFOD-D Entry Team... I mean move through slowly, silently, and thoroughly secure the entire premises to ensure that your safe haven is exactly that when that bump in the night is heard.
While I'm on the inside of the home... Look at your floor plan... Things that can make clearing your residence difficult may make a great target indicator if your perimeter is breached, telling you where someone is. In my own house, I used to have to avoid specific areas of the floor when I was a hellion sneaking out all hours of the night because they creaked. By the same token, one of them was right near my parents' bedroom so I knew if they were coming to see what I was getting into. I also knew one of my windows made a godawful racket when I tried to open the screen on the outside. Things like that can tell us "SOMEONE is in my home. THIS is where they are."
Staying inside the home, I have heard all manner of advice given "so you can shoot 'em." My personal favorite is leave a knife out in open view... To me this is just asinine. Number one... If you're facing a hardened criminal, they will use that knife on you unless you kill them. Number two... Shooting is not my go to indoors... Hell, it's not my go-to until someone starts shooting at me...
Indoors, I much prefer other tools than the gun for strategic reasons... First and foremost, take into account muzzle flash in a darkened room... Now add muzzle blast... You have a flash-bang at the end of your muzzle every time you give the trigger a squeeze. Knives, Sticks, and the Empty Hand are silent... have no muzzle flash... and will not run dry or have a malfunction short of breaking. They also allow you to gather intelligence. If you blast a perp with a load of 3" Magnum 15 pellet 00 Buckshot, all you've done is stain your carpet... Sure, THAT perp is down, but if he has friends this can go a couple of different ways... If their friend is in a room with one of your loved ones and they picked up that knife you left out... Are you confident enough to take a hostage rescue shot with your home defense weapon with your son, your daughter, your significant other between the perp and your muzzle? What if it goes the other way... What if they use that knife on your terrified loved one on their way out a window? They may very well just bolt at the sound of gunfire and this is a good thing but as you see, two options for bad and one option for good... Something to think about.
Looking at options...
Using the empty hand to defend the home... Waiting on a home invader to throw the first punch is foolhardy. You're behind the power curve. The only advantage you have is knowing the terrain. The only way to maximize that is aggression. No vocalization, No commands, Go violent, and Go about it hard. Snatch the attacker off balance, choke them out, come from behind them, break what you grab, or terminate them if necessary. The advantage of the empty hand is that it can be dialed up or down on the force continuum as much or as little as you need. If you need to terminate them outright (Maybe they're armed, maybe they're visibly attempting to sexually assault a member of your household, etc.) you most certainly can. If you want to secure them and question a "lone" (~+1 Rule Applies!~) perp for intelligence purposes (Number? Intentions? etc.) great. If you're a police officer with the capability to arrest (I know deputy sheriff's here have right-to-arrest powers on or off duty in the county they're sworn in) this is a great option.
Using the stick, you can use it the same as the empty hand by enhancing empty hand techniques. The only real advantage of the stick is if the invader(s) is/are equipped with a contact distance weapon (stick or knife) and is much more forgiving than the empty hand dealing with these. Keep in mind, it is much harder to be gentle striking with a stick than with the empty hand. I see the stick merely as an extension of the hand the same advantages and disadvantages apply.
The knife is a great home defense tool. While it doesn't provide the range of a firearm, a well versed individual armed with the knife is probably the LAST thing you want to face when in close quarters... especially if they know every little bit of the environment the fight is taking place in. The knife is a deadly force option... In the jurisdiction I reside in, it's deadly force even if it's a closed folder. The knife is silent and it's impossible to argue with a sharp point as to it's status and/or intent when gathering intelligence (some criminals may assume your gun is unloaded... That said... All of you need to check your chambers... now.)... EVERY criminal, particularly those who have been incarcerated know what a sharp pointed piece of metal means. This can be used for intelligence gathering, or as a form of psychological warfare to cause the perp to back down. With it being silent, if the perp is armed and you need to eliminate them outright, this can be done without alerting any friends the perp may have. Plus, if you just so happened to time this where the other perp is in sight, seeing their partner get their throat viciously and violently cut out may mean one less person you must injure.
Before I move on, I know a lot of people will refer to how easy it is to take a knife from someone... Right. I'm a Level II Instructor in Filipino Stick and Knife Combatives under Julius Melegrito and a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Hapkido... I've covered more knife disarming techniques than most people have seen... We're talking multiple full day seminars of nothing but knife work here... And I don't want to try a single one of them under the type of stress a live, dynamic blade involves! A static knife, on the other hand, is very easy to disarm... Keep that in mind when intelligence gathering! The specific techniques taught and used for this purpose makes it VERY difficult to move let alone disarm when done properly. Always remember: A static blade is very easy to take away... A dynamic blade, not so much... ANYONE who tells you how easy it is to take a dynamic knife away is a total moron!
Next option up is a handgun. I always keep a firearm (and a knife) available for home defense... And it's my Glock 17. It is much easier to move indoors with a handgun than a long gun, at the cost of having to fight with a handgun as opposed to a long gun. Advantages are range, portability, you can mount a light on it, and the sight of it may deter an attacker and either force compliance or retreat. The disadvantages are noise, lack of power (compared to a long gun), lack of capacity (compared to most carbines), malfunctions, VERY easily disarmed when intelligence gathering... Remember: An ATTACK with a firearm is defeated by cover and/or armor... A THREAT in close quarters is very easily nullified with proper training, aggression, and no shortage of balls.
Next option is the shotgun. A true monster when it comes to destruction in the close quarters realm, the shotgun has the capability to plant a defender with the authority that only 3" Magnum 15 Pellet 00 Buck can bring. You can mount a light on it, like the handgun, but with the handgun you have a hand free to use a handheld light to search with... and a lot of people don't have the upper body strength to do that with a street howitzer. Downsides are weight, length, NOISE, recoil, limited capacity, and difficulty in one-hand manipulations in the case of non-semi-auto shotguns.
Next option up is the carbine or rifle. Some are better choices than others. I like a .308 for a general purpose semi-auto... Fantastic when it comes to power and penetration... Penetration... Keep that one in mind when you pick up a long gun. A 5.56 isn't a big over-penetrator, but it can... as can any other round. Pick up your deer rifle, and an over penetration IS PROBABLY GOING TO HAPPEN. We all know this. A manually operated rifle has the big disadvantages of usually limited capacity and difficulty in one-hand manipulations. A high capacity (over 10 rounds) semi-auto with optics and a white light is the way to go. Now, you have to be careful of your movement with any long gun in CQB to prevent being VERY EASILY DISARMED but that's another issue.
So...
Besides the weapon issues, what can we do to protect our homes?
Get a VERY trusted friend, or do it yourself, at a time when no one (like your neighbors) are around and try and break in to your house with surveillance detection and counter-surveillance in place so the bad guys in your AO don't get any ides.
Learn your home's weak points.
Go through your home and look for hiding holes.
Look for weapons accessibility. Many home invasions start unarmed and the attacker uses weapons of opportunity on your family. This can be anything from the shotgun behind the door to bashing you up side the head with a lamp.
Check all of your locks. Ensure they lock, they are locked, and determine what it takes to defeat them.
Invest in motion sensing outside lights and keep the bulbs up to spec and ensure they are turned on.
Get a dog. Doesn't have to be the working German Shepherd I share my home with, but any dog will bark and tell you "Someone is here!"
Train empty-hand.
Train with the stick.
Train with the knife.
Train with the handgun.
Train with the shotgun.
Train with the rifle (as in hunting or precision rifle).
Train with the carbine (like a semi-auto 5.56 or AK).
Train with the battle rifle (semi-auto .308).
Learn to disarm all of the above.
Walk through your house as though you are securing it.
Walk through your home and learn where it creaks and makes racket. This includes doors, floors, windows, etc. Now you can prevent it if you like but you can keep it as a form or warning system as well... If you're a parent that doesn't have a teenager yet you'll thank yourself for this one later... I know my parents had a love/hate with the creaky floor with me a few years ago! LOVED it when it told them "The boy's sneaking out" and HATED it when it told me "Shit... They're coming!"
If you have an alarm system... Keep it up to date, in good repair, and always arm it, even if just stepping out for a couple of minutes.
Talk to your local police department about any robberies or burglaries in the area. Nixle is a great tool that many PD's use to notify the people of certain things and is a great way to gather intelligence. Most police officers are more than happy to help a resident of the town they police ensure the safety of their homes and will help you any way they can.
Last but most certainly not least, learn the laws pertaining to home defense and the use of force in your jurisdiction.
I would also suggest laying out your preferred tools for home defense where they are easily accessible and where you can throw them on quickly at dark thirty. The light and knife I like for home defense both have pocket clips. I always wear the grappling-type shorts I'm going to wear for my morning workout when I go to sleep so I can drop my Glock in my waistband Mexican carry (Sans Holster) if I desire. I can be up and ready to defend the homestead in less than 10 seconds once I'm woken up (easier said than done).
I hope this provides some enlightenment to everyone and generates some good discussion.
Stay Frosty
Stay In The Fight
Watch Your Six
V/R
Kenny Smith
Chief Master Instructor
President, Total Force Training Group