I had the pleasure of attending a fighting while injured course from MDW last year November. Mark Human facilitated the training, assisted by Geoff Carter. I have completed several MDW courses, but the Fighting Injured one is my favourite thus far.
This coming Monday MDW will be running another one. It is sadly already booked-out, but a recent injury brought home how important the things I learned last year really are. To keep a long story short, I had an accident at home that resulted in a deep laceration just below my right elbow. The wound was not only excruciatingly painful, but made it very difficult to do even basic things with one hand. I ended up driving myself to hospital, which was fortunately only 2 kilometers away. In the aftermath I reflected how devastating an injury to a limb can be to not only your mobility, but also your ability to manipulate and operate a weapon. The pain is a distraction by itself, but other factors (like slippery blood) further complicate the problem.
This is why you should learn how to keep your gun (and yourself) in the fight when injured. Your chances of being wounded during a violent confrontation are far from remote. If you can cope with the injury, and stay in the fight, you will improve your chances of survival markedly.
Regarding the course itself: it is a hard day’s work, especially in the hot summer sun. Participants will have to be competent with basic handgun manipulation and drills, because the majority of the course work focuses on emergency manipulation techniques and stoppage drills. Since this is a Fighting Injured course, you can expect a lot of one-handed manipulation and shooting. It is important to have a quality holster, because you will be using it as a crutch. No, not literally and not for your legs. You will also learn very basic first-aid (how to apply a tourniquet, et cetera) and how to drag someone from danger.
I cannot single out a solitary aspect of this course that I consider more important than others. Everything that was presented is useful in the real world, especially if you understand the context and philosophy behind what you are being taught. One thing that did stand out to me, was the fact that you really do want to carry with a loaded chamber. It is bad enough staying in the fight when injured. You really do not need to further sabotage your ability to get your firearm into play by struggling to load an empty chamber, especially when you are in pain and bleeding everywhere.
The Fighting Injured course is something I certainly recommend you put on your to-do list. It is not as glamorous as learning how to fight in and around buildings or vehicles, but I do think it is more important than either of those. Mark made a fantastic and informative little video about this course, which you can watch here. I think he explains it much better than I do.
You can find MDW on Facebook here. They publish all their upcoming courses and information about them on the page.
I hope to see you at one of their courses soon. It is totally worth it.
Stay safe!
Written by Gideon Joubert.
Gideon is the owner and editor of Paratus. MDW supplied all the course photographs.
