Watch the officer in the video. He is ambushed, shot multiple times at close range, and still has to fight. Several seconds pass before he can get his firearm into the fight, establish a shooting platform, confirm his sights, and stop the threat. That is the reality of a sudden deadly-force ambush: you start behind, wounded, surprised, and scrambling for any chance to win.
One reliable way to build the ability to keep fighting when everything in you wants to quit is to practice not quitting on smaller hard things every day. As a Catholic, I know I am supposed to pick up my Cross daily. Life already offers plenty of opportunities to do hard, uncomfortable, virtuous things. If we spend our ordinary days chasing comfort and ease, we should not be surprised when we fold the moment the stakes become life-and-death.
If you are being shot or stabbed repeatedly, something has already gone terribly wrong. Once the initial shock passes and you regain even a little composure, your only job is to stop the person trying to murder you. Fear of death, the pain of the wounds, the blood loss: all of that has to be locked in a box and dealt with later. In those few seconds, focus only on the next action that moves you closer to ending the threat.
Hits to the central nervous system (“switches”) can end the fight instantly; either you die on the spot, or you lose the use of limbs. Hits to the heart, major vessels, or liver (“timers”) usually leave you with seconds, not minutes. You will rarely know which one you just took. What you can know is that the aggressor will keep trying to kill you. Expect no mercy. As long as you still have breath and any strength left, your sole focus is winning the fight.
That is a winning mindset. Winning must come before thoughts of survival. A pure survival mindset has its place, after you stop the threat. Inside the fight itself, treating the encounter like a competition or a fair fight is a loser’s mindset. Professionals do not look for fair fights. They stack the odds with surprise, speed, and violence of action. King David understood this. He refused to play Goliath’s game on Goliath’s terms. He remembered how he had already defeated lions and bears, then used the tools and tactics that gave him the advantage. He did not care what onlookers thought. He humbled himself, identified what it would take to win, and did that.
Deadly-force encounters are not combat sports. Sport techniques and the competitive mindset that goes with them will not save you here.
God forbid you or I ever face this. But if we do, decide now: do not quit. Resolve to keep working the problem until you stop the unjust, imminent, deadly threat. If time gives way to eternity, you’ll know because you’ll be kneeling before the just Judge, the Lord of all lords, and the King of all kings.