The author (shown training while still recovering from a leg injury) says, “The ground can be your friend or enemy…train for both!” (Photo provided by author.)
December 06, 2025
By Rikk Rambo
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The raid team’s driver keyed his encrypted radio and transmitted a simple three-word warning to the DEA Task Force tactical operators in the cab behind him: “Five minutes out.” My team and I conducted last-minute weapon, gear, and communication equipment checks that were followed by multiple thumbs-ups. We were a fully armed and operational battle station and deadly serious business was afoot.
While all arrest and warrant service ops conducted by DEA are considered high-risk, this particular mission was exceedingly so. Our drug trafficking targets weren’t just your garden variety baddies. They had multiple AK-47s and other weapons at their disposal and were a special breed of investigative targets that weren’t just “in it for the money.” They enjoyed the power their organization held, and utilized it in full force to terrorize the local populace, and a small-town police department that operated within their sphere of influence. A criminal enterprise fiefdom about to come to a decisive end thanks to multiple federal indictments.
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The DEA raid vehicle rolled to a stop in front of the target location and we immediately egressed to our primary entry-point. The “knock and announce” (an approximate 20 second period in which an entry team knocks on the door while loudly announcing their presence and purpose) was immediately greeted with pounding feet and shouts across the interior of the residence as multiple defendants ran to various corners of the house to escape, hide, or retrieve weapons.
Our team leader shouted “COMPROMISE!” and the breacher immediately executed his mission with practiced efficiency. His ram connected solidly with the door and the primary lockset and deadbolt exploded from the entrance-way frame. I was assigned as the lead entry element and blasted through the threshold as quickly as possible to allow my team to follow and minimize their exposure in the open doorway (referred to as the “fatal funnel”).
I made a mere seven to eight steps into the target location when things went south…muy rapido. With no warning, a gunman dove across the hallway in front of me, from one open doorway through another, wielding a magnum-caliber handgun.
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Explosive muzzle-flashes, shrapnel ricocheting into my eyes and partially blinding me from a round impacting the wall next to my head, and multiple projectiles striking my body armor made it blazingly obvious this was going to be a very trying day.
If It Was Easy, Everybody Would Be Doing It!
Worst-Case Scenario Training In most instances, law enforcement and civilian self-defense shootings are reactionary in nature, with the antagonist making an offensive or preemptive assault to which the protagonist must respond quickly with both sound judgement and decisive, effective tactics. It is not uncommon for this disadvantage to result in survivable wounds we must fight through in order to protect both our loved ones and ourselves.
The following are basic principles to be considered “when the chips are down” and you are forced to fight through a new or existing injury during a deadly force encounter.
From the Ground Up… Breakfall 101: Tuck you head into your chest, roll backwards with the fall, and spread out kinetic impact using your arms and legs as energy dissipaters. (Photo provided by author.) The ability to “ground-fight” when knocked to the pavement is paramount…but even more so if you have received a grievous injury and are unable to regain your footing. Being knocked to the ground physically by an assailant or as the result of a gunshot wound, losing your footing on slippery surfaces, or tripping over objects are all possibilities in close quarter conflict.
When knocked, as the Brits would say, “arse over tea-kettles,” it’s imperative that you get back into the fight as rapidly as possible…but first things first: You have to survive the fall without suffering additional, potentially debilitating injuries.
Two skillsets lead the pack in mitigating the potential consequences of taking a tumble:
Weapon retention Physical and muscle-memory reinforced ability to fall correctly These concepts often work in tandem, and the ability to proficiently spread your body’s kinetic impact out and away from its core while still protecting the integrity of your limbs, head, neck, spinal cord, and weapon-grip requires realistic training.
Don’t let injuries stack up…training to fall properly can preclude accruing additional injuries. Jiu-Jitsu offers several uncomplicated techniques to help you when Newton’s 4th law sends bad vibes your way. This martial arts form’s secret weapon against taking a debilitating spill is called the “break fall.”
Based on my training and field experience with DEA, the U.S. Marshals Service, and Pittsburgh Police, the following video lesson available on the “Knight Jiu-Jitsu” YouTube page titled “How & Why to Breakfall” is up to the task in illustrating the various “breakfalls” that may be incorporated into your physical combatives tool box (courtesy of Eli Knight/Knight Jiu-Jitsu): www.youtube.com/watch?v=aauMRslfCyo
One With the Earth: GroundFighting Combined techniques are best: Shooting prone from behind cover/concealment. (Photo provided by author.) There’s no shame in remaining on the ground once you’ve been knocked there if the situation tactically or physically demands it. Fighting from a prone or supine position has both advantages and disadvantages.
In a gunfight on open ground, you present less of a target to your adversary and may be able to assume a more stable shooting position than when standing.
Conversely, if the area in which you fall offers sparse cover, your options for completely avoiding gunfire may be limited to how far you can roll, crawl, or crabwalk to the nearest cover or concealment.
The ability to successfully engage an opponent with a firearm during a ground-fighting situation can be enhanced by professional instruction in order to master the skills under realistic, stressful conditions with third party evaluators. There’s nothing in the rule book, however, that precludes you from mastering basic marksmanship skills from various prone and supine shooting positions. These primary positions, from high to low, are:
Kneeling Double Kneeling Sitting Supine Prone Rollover Prone Upper-Body Wounds: The Old-West Movies Had It Wrong… If you are a fan of pre-1970s western movies, you may have been groomed to believe the following fact pattern: If you are shot in the torso or anywhere else on your body that isn’t a pinkie-finger, the next stop for you is Boot Hill (i.e. the cemetery). Old-time movie etiquette dictated that, when shot, you clutch your chest, say something poignant like “Ughhh…ya got me pal…” and plunge dramatically from the roof of a saloon into a water trough or hay wagon…dead as a doornail.
Well, here’s a spoiler alert: That movie logic is misguided. A recent nationwide study illustrated that the survivability of torso-related gunshot strikes were in the victim’s favor by approximately 92% or better when treated at a Level 1 or Level 2 trauma center.
The lesson here is simple. Don’t talk yourself into dying if struck by gunfire. Your chances of survival are significant…and training and preparation are the vehicles that can carry you through a deadly force situation.
Stay the course, remain as calm as possible, and absolutely do not forget: You’ll have time for wound management (direct pressure with clean cloth-like material or the application of a tourniquet) after the battle is won.
Like a Pirate on a Peg-Leg: Fighting With Existing Injuries When an ideal shooting position isn’t possible, make the best of your circumstances (Rollover Prone position). (Photo provided by author.) If you have suffered a previous accident or sports-injury and find yourself in a deadly force incident while rocking crutches or other orthopedic accessories, prior training and the experience that comes with it can win the day. Most shooters typically engage in handgun practice from Weaver, modified Weaver, or isosceles stance. Training to shoot from extremely awkward positions is what “separates the cooks from the cowboys.”
“Worst Case” scenario handgun training also includes a strict regimen of shooting courses of fire with both strong and support-side hands. In the spirit of realism, you should also be proficient at reloading your weapon with only one hand in the event of a debilitating wound to one of your limbs. Train up on magazine changes and slide-manipulation using only your strong hand or support hand and whatever rigid surfaces or other lever/fulcrum points you can exploit to cycle your weapon’s action.
Take advantage of your crutches or other mobility device and repurpose them into shooting sticks or a makeshift support that an African plains hunter would envy.
There is one harsh and potentially painful reality worth mentioning for anyone “on the mend” with a pre-existing injury such as a broken leg or other debilitating leg/shoulder/arm injury. If you become involved in a deadly force incident, there’s a significant chance you will reinjure yourself. While harsh, the practical and pragmatic truth of the matter is this: If it was fixed once, it can be fixed again…unlike a serious gunshot wound to a vital. Do the best you can but move and fight like your life depends on it, because it does.
Eye wounds are also a consideration, so it is important to channel your inner Long John Silver and include familiarization training that incorporates shooting with both your dominant and non-dominant eye in a variety of stances and shooting positions.
Let’s Get Physical: Hand-to-Hand Combatives A debilitating hand/arm wound necessitates field-expedient methods to cycle your weapon’s action, reload, and get back in the fight. (Photo provided by author.) In a deadly force situation, weapon retention is a primary consideration and hand-to-hand, physical combative skills will give you an advantage. Looking back on my street-cop and Special Agent years, the best advice I have is this…and shocker…it involves structured, practical training.
Proficiency at ground fighting or any other mode of close quarter combat is a package deal. Not all deadly force encounters begin with gunplay and there is a significant possibility you will engage with someone physically at the outset of a fight before weapons are drawn.
Physical combative techniques play a key role in allowing you to disengage, gain space, and create an opportunity to successfully draw your firearm when taken by surprise. They also promote weapon retention skills in the event you get “tangled up” with your adversary. These skillsets can only be ingrained through real-world training by effective instructors.
In that regard, beware of “hand us your money and we’ll give you your belt” martial art instructors that don’t come with high marks. When you identify a five-star instructor, the price you pay for the skillsets you acquire will be money well-spent. Several of the most advantageous self-defense forms designed for real world fighting are Krav Maga, Wing Chun, Muay Thai, Pencak Silat, and Jiu-Jitsu.
Epilogue: “You Should Have Seen the Other Guy…” Spartan Precision Equipment’s “Ascent” tripod legs can also serve as walking sticks and steady shooting platforms when kneeling. (Photo provided by author.) The conclusion of the hallway gunfight was as abrupt and violent as its onset.
Although partially blinded, I immediately trained my selective-fire M16 at the lower corner of the door frame and wall my magnum-wielding assailant dove behind headfirst. It was at this point that my nimble, twinkle-toed foe learned that not having a firm grasp on the dramatic differences between “cover versus concealment” can prove to be a cruel mistress.
I gauged my angle of fire, flipped the Colt’s fire control switch to “wouldn’t want to be you,” and delivered a prolonged but tight burst of fully-automatic fire into what I believed was the “sweet spot” of his soon to be rendered ineffective “cover.” The burst was immediately followed by an explosion of dry wall and high-pitched screaming from the area behind my bullet strikes. With my M16 dry (emptied out), I immediately dropped it to sling position, drew my service handgun, and tactically withdrew to cover.
While luck is always a consideration, it was training, skill development, and proper mindset that proved to be the primary arbiters of this violent encounter. In the end, I survived the gunfight with nothing more than corneal abrasions, a decimated ballistic vest, and a smidgen of tinnitus. More importantly, no innocents or team members were injured or killed. I attribute this outcome to years of intensive, difficult, realistic training and previous real-world tactical experience…with a little bit of tenacity and orneriness thrown in for good measure.
My take-away from this incident and others has always been a simple one…train up to the best of your abilities and never forget: Things may get tough, but you aren’t going to die. Never stop. Use your tactics. Fight through your injuries, and survive!
