The Tactical Parent. What It Is and What It’s Not.
Doug has a diverse background, both professionally and privately, in firearms, self-defense, and tactics… but most importantly, he’s a tactical parent. He writes from the unique perspective of someone who’s life involves combining concealment clothing, tactics training, and “everyday carry gear,” with car seats, exploding diapers, and questions like “why did you paint the dog with yogurt?” In our Tactical Parent series, Doug shares his perspective on gear, tricks and tips, defensive tactics, and best practices for parents, grandparents, or anyone who takes an active role in protecting their loved ones.
The Tactical Parent is written from the perspective of a parent who is tactically-minded and who actively seeks to protect their family. While I hope some of what I write will be helpful to those with grown kids, or those without kids at all, the focus of this column is to provide insight to parents who actively seek to protect themselves and their loved ones while contending with the additional complexities of having little ones around.
The Tactical Parent isn’t about “testing gear” to see if it works, or even to test how well it works – the manufacturers already have people for that. It’s also not about comparing gear options to figure out what’s latest and greatest for the covert urban commando/software engineer… at Guns & Tactics Magazine, we have plenty of people who are far more qualified to lend opinion to that than me. The Tactical Parent is not about me being an urban killing machine either and, sorry, but I don’t really have any kick-ass battle stories to tell over a pitcher of beer. While familiar and proficient with many common weapon systems, I’m your typical Glock, AR, and 870 kind of guy.
“The Tactical Parent is about just that – the unique challenges of parenting.”
It’s about the tactical considerations that come when you add the variable of kids. When confronted with a personal defense situation, a solo armed and trained adult has several options. However, tactical parents must be prepared to protect not only themselves but they must also protect those around them who are slower, weaker, and mentally unprepared for a verbal or physical confrontation.
It’s about gear that works well for parents with kids of all ages, who also have neighbors, friends, and family around. I find the gear that serves the purposes parents need and share my thoughts in the column. Let’s be honest – if you manage to don your armor and acquire a rifle to defend against home invasion… you’ll most likely do it in the dark, at night, in your underwear (or less?). We could do a whole column discussing the unique challenges of talking to the police while sporting your armor and your birthday suit (perhaps we even might!)… but at least it’ll be clear to the police who the homeowner is.
The Tactical Parent is about children’s safety and we’ll take a look at best practices to keep your little ones unharmed. It’s about talking to kids about firearm safety, strangers, and age-appropriate tactics they need to know and practice. The Tactical Parent will also discuss raising our little pups to be the next generation of sheepdogs. In general, the Tactical Parent will give you tips and tricks to make your life easier and to help you keep your family safer… and hopefully we’ll laugh a lot too.
I’m glad you found the Tactical Parent and I hope you enjoy it. I’ll do my best to keep it relevant, interesting, useful, and short enough to read while you’re on the toilet. If there are subjects you’d like me to cover, please let me know.
