I was born to serve this nation in either the military, which I did for 21 years before being forced to medically retire, or on a police force somewhere. To my great dismay and severe frustration, the injuries I received during my last tour in Iraq prevent me from doing either one.
It is my natural nature to protect those who cannot or, will not, protect themselves, serve the public and when I die, I want it to be said that I was a man of God, a great family man, a man who would defend his country to the death, a man of great character, respect, honesty and commitment. God, Family, Country. I have lived my life by those statements.
I take a conversation like this
very seriously. If I am in a position to help my fellow man, I will do so without regard for myself. If it would endanger my family, I would remain uninvolved until the threat/dire situation was gone, then offer any assistance I could.
I personally know my capabilities and have had extensive CQB training. I wasn't a door kicker in the Army, I was a UH-60 mechanic/crew chief. However, I served for the better part of a decade in an aviation group that worked with America's Elite Forces and Agencies. I only left that organization due to the burden it placed on my family. During my tenure there, I was blessed and highly motivated to being trained by some very good men from some fantastic organizations in CQB tactics and techniques. I did not kick in doors and run and gun on missions. On mission, I did my aviation job. I got to experience some tremendously dangerous and life threatening situations as well as numerous, intensively brutal training scenarios. I had a friggin BLAST my whole time there. The reason I say I've fired more rounds than most people will ever fire in their life is due to the weapon I had on my window sill. The fantastic M134 Mini-gun.
If I saw an officer in a gun fight with five gang members, I would attempt to let the officer know I was there to back him up. Simply approaching the fight from a different direction that shores up an officers left or right flank will inform the officer I am there to help as an armed citizen. I would attempt to do so in a fashion that would let the officer know I wasn't a threat, but an unexpected asset for his use and direction.
If that situation weren't possible, to relatively safely let the officer know I was on his/her side, I wouldn't enter the situation until I could do so with a high degree of assurance the officer wouldn't perceive me as a threat or I wouldn't force his attention to me during a critical point in his battle.
If I'm in a store with my CCW and thugs come in to rob the place, I will do whatever I could to prevent harm to others. If that required my drawing my weapon and firing on the criminals, I would certainly do so without hesitation. However, the situation may not require it. I'd rather just let the criminals steal what they wanted and depart with no shots being fired than possibly take a run of the mill armed robbery without active violence to the next level by my introducing my gunfire into the situation.
There are so many variables to take into account for any given situation, it's something that's very difficult to cover completely or even well.
Having said that though, I do believe my intent should be clear to my fellow forum members.