Fall Readiness For Smarter Self-Protection

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First frost hit and we took the hint: it’s time to rethink not just jackets and batteries, but the way we prep, train, and carry ourselves through the season. We start with a fall gear audit—simple steps that pay off fast, like checking battery corrosion, rotating food, and pulling forgotten gadgets from the “oh yeah” drawer. From there we get practical about privacy with Faraday phone sleeves, weighing real‑world benefits in crowded spaces against the hype, and we share how to test them in a calm, rational way.

Lighting becomes an unsung hero. Today’s headlamps are lighter, USB‑powered, and red‑light capable, making them ideal for late dog walks, campsite tasks, and first aid when both hands must stay free. We talk through tradeoffs, including how to avoid spotlighting your face at distance, and why neck‑worn lights can be a smart alternative. Then we pivot to what really changes outcomes: time. The same patience that makes a great sauce makes durable skills. We walk through a safer path for new shooters and returning owners—non‑ballistic self‑defense, fundamentals of safe handling, and only then concealed carry law, holsters, and everyday decision‑making.

Along the way we explain why firearm fit matters more than brand hype, how range passes encourage consistent, perfect practice, and how to avoid locking in bad habits you picked up from well‑meaning advice at the bench. We emphasize avoidance and critical thinking as the highest form of self‑defense, and share how families can turn range time into real bonding and steady progress. If you’re upgrading your kit, starting your training, or gifting confidence to someone you care about, this conversation gives you a clear, humane roadmap to do it right.

If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who needs a smarter start, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. Tell us: what’s the first piece of gear or training you’re upgrading this season?

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Well it got down to 28 degrees at my house last
night, and if that's not a suresign it's fall, I don't know
what you're waiting for.
It's time to change your gearover, and if you haven't done
it, you're a little behind.
And we've updated our websiteand I want to tell you all about
that.
So uh come on in and let's getthings started.

(00:28):
Hi everybody, I'm Bill Bateman,part of the team here at Refuse
to be a Victim, personalProtection Training, and we're
located in the Medford, WhiteCity area, 6800 Kershaw Road,
where Kershaw and Corey cometogether in that rather annoying
20 mile an hour uh sharp turn.
You can't miss it, you gottaslow down.

(00:49):
So fall gear changeover leads tosome interesting things, at
least at my house.
It's a time when I go throughand update the clothing choices
I have.
So if it's going to be winter,I'm gonna want warmer clothing.
I'm gonna check my batteries forsigns of corrosion, I'm gonna
check the pull dates, I'm gonnacheck to see that I didn't
accidentally eat half of thosegranola bars when I got a

(01:12):
feeding frenzy on a uh hike oneafternoon.
You get the idea.
Make sure you're ready to go.
And in going through mysupplies, I don't know about
you, but I have that drawer, Ihave that closet area full of
stuff I bought to examine totalk about here on the program,
and haven't used since.

(01:34):
And change over time is a timefor me to re-evaluate and
rethink.
Kind of like Thanksgiving.
You gotta put up with uh UncleYou Know Who and uh the tinfoil
hats, and yeah, uh there's allof that.
And so it's time to rethink,reevaluate.
So, a couple of examples of whatI did.

(01:56):
Looking in the oh yeah box, Idiscovered a Faraday case for my
phone.
If you don't know what that is,that's a uh little uh case in
which you put your phone, whichshields it both from EMP and
being read by RFI units, uhremote uh interface units that

(02:16):
will take your information.
Now, I'm torn on this.
I talk to 10 people, half thinksit's gobbledygook, some think
it's happening every day.
But I bought one and I testedit, and I didn't, you know, seem
to lose any data.
But now going out in shoppingand going out in large crowded

(02:38):
areas, more and more people aretalking about let's just put the
phone in the case.
So I found it.
I'm gonna be testing it, I'mgonna be reporting more and more
on that.
And if you have any thoughts, ifyou have any information or have
it experienced, if you've got areal life example, I'd like to
hear about it.

(02:59):
The address is up front.
So that's uh that's one of thethings I found and putting into
service.
The other, and this isinteresting, is it's called a
headlamp.
Well, duh.
It's uh something you wear onyour head and it's a light, and
it is so you don't have to holda flashlight.

(03:19):
Well, I was pretty much againstthese the last time I talked
about them because actually at ahundred yards wearing one of
those, you have perfectly framedyour face.
And if you're in a uh criticalsituation, you don't want to be
doing that.
In a more realistic andhopefully calm situation, if
you're up at the lake and you'resetting up your campsite, it's

(03:42):
just downright ideal.
Now, in the last few years,they've gone from uh somewhat
bulky and somewhat heavy to LED,uh so they're lighter, new
long-use USB-powered batteries,so they are lighter.
They even have motionsensitivity, so they'll come on

(04:03):
when you need them, and theywill do red light to keep your
uh night vision, which can bevery, very useful.
They even have some you can weararound your neck, and this is uh
kind of exciting.
Uh my wife brought up, and Ithank her for this.
If you're ever involved in doingfirst aid or wound care, one of

(04:25):
those lights is absolutelyvital.
You're gonna want your handsfree and you're gonna want uh to
be able to see clearly whatyou're doing, especially if
you're trying to deal withbleeding uh or getting stuff out
of a wound.
Somebody's fallen off theirbicycle and you're getting the
gravel.
Yeah.
It's it's not fun, but it needsto be done, and it's important.

(04:50):
Is that a rattlesnake or is thatwood over there in that pile?
Those type of things in acampsite or out in the woods or
when you're going from point Ato point B are really, really
useful.
10 30, 11 o'clock, I'm outwalking the dog.
The dog has decided they want tostart going off-road.
Yeah.
Not good enough to walk down theside of the street.

(05:12):
They want to get up there on thegrass, they want to get up there
in the bushes.
Is that a raccoon?
Uh, you know the th situationwith that.
Part of it's controlling thedog, obviously, but part of it
is uh seeing where you're going.
So rethink your gear at gearchange and reevaluate what your
life is now versus when youbought it.

(05:35):
I have some items that were Igot uh 10 years ago because I've
been doing this quite a longtime, and now and then a full 10
years, especially when you'regetting on to the uh into your
60s, 70s, and 80s, that 10 yearsis a lot of time.
And is that product gonna workfor you now as it did then?

(05:58):
And look at your needs now.
I look at if I'm going toevacuate, and the fire we had
here in our area about fouryears ago totally changed my
thinking on what you're going toneed and how you should prepare
to evacuate.
We've talked about that manytimes.
So uh look at your real lifesituation today.

(06:21):
Think about it uh as you'regetting ready for Thanksgiving
and clearing out the sparebedroom if you're gonna have
some company.
Another thing is uh the use ofyour time.
Now I'm known for making aspectacular spaghetti sauce.
Now there's good stuff out therein jars, absolutely.
It's good for a quick meal, um,and it uses almost the same

(06:42):
stuff I do in my world-famousspaghetti sauce.
But my secret, and I'll give youtwo of them.
One is smoked Roma tomatoes.
Give them about two hours on thesmoker and uh slice them up and
then begin your sauce process.
Really makes it nice.
And the other is time.

(07:03):
I simmer my sauce for at least24 hours, and that's the secret
ingredient in a lot of things.
Time.
It's the same thing in training.
And in thinking about the timewe put into training and the
work we do, led Phil and I toredesign uh our classes, how we

(07:23):
present them, how we make themavailable to you, and we have
rebuilt the website.
Uh we have put on the front pagewhen you come into the website,
you're going to see uh a usualgreeting message, and we're
going to see the individualclasses.
So if you just want to take aclass, please do.

(07:45):
They're available, they'reregularly scheduled.
But if you're a new shooter, andthat's what kind of sparked
this, we had a new shooter, aperson literally buying their
first firearm.
They wanted to buy the gun andthen get their first concealed
carry class and uh then startbecoming a concealed carrier by
the end of the month.

(08:07):
I don't think that's a goodidea.
If you have no experience withfirearms, you should get basic
classes in firearms managementfirst.
You should learn protocols,trigger control, how to clear a
jam, all the things that youneed to do to safely operate a

(08:30):
gun, and then look at advancedtraining.
With that in mind, we've alsocome across individuals that are
looking for good self-defense,but maybe they're not quite
ready to go the gun route yet.
Well, we understand that.
So with those ideas in mind,you'll see on the uh right-hand
side of the webpage, right handside of the home page, the uh

(08:53):
the packages.
And these are designedespecially for new shooters or
for people who've been away fromfirearms for a good long time.
If you put that thing in adrawer and haven't done anything
for five to ten years, A, you'reprobably gonna need to clean it.
Uh, but B, a lot of things havechanged.
There's new ammunition, there isnew uh gear available, there are

(09:16):
new laws and new rules.
So you need to be up to date.
This is serious stuff.
If you're new or you're comingback to it from a long time, we
have several classes I thinkyou're gonna like.
One is the non-ballistic class.
It is for those who don'trealize that you are carrying
ten perfect self-defense weaponswith you at all times.

(09:40):
And it is ideal.
It was designed for the women'sclass, and it's also designed,
we've reworked it to make itperfect for couples, uh, for you
and your partner to be able touse the tools you have.
And I'm talking about yourelbows, your fingers, your
knees.
Uh, it's not a martial artsclass per se, but it uses a lot

(10:03):
of the techniques used inmartial arts.
You have to remember thesetechniques were developed for
individuals who were not big,burly, and heavy folks, so they
had to learn how to use whatthey had effectively.
We also have a new shooterclass, and this is what I was
talking about.
If you've been away for a longtime, or if you've just

(10:25):
purchased a firearm, hopefullyyou've had a chance to take our
new shooter class before youpurchased because I see too many
people who are getting afirearm, getting a gun that
doesn't fit their hand.
A large, dirty, hairy uh 44 on aon a petite, small woman or an

(10:46):
elderly person.
It's no not gonna work.
It's you you will not be happyand have a positive, safe
experience.
Getting the wrong size gun isgoing to mean you will not shoot
well, you may not shoot safely,and you're not going to enjoy
it, and that means you're notgoing to practice, so you can
master the skills that you need.

(11:07):
The basic firearms class, and itteaches everything you're going
to need to know.
Some of the jargon, uh,operating your firearm, how to
load, how to unload, uh, how toclean it.
Uh, what about mom?
Well, mom is my owner's manual,and if uh you haven't connected
with mom, then you haven't donethe work you need to do.

(11:30):
There's a lot for a new gunowner to to learn, and that's
what this class is all about.
Then, of course, we have ourconcealed carry.
And uh for a concealed carrier,I can tell you from personal
experience.
I'd been in firearms my entirelife, but when I got my
concealed carry, I got thepermit.

(11:51):
Now what?
When can I use it?
What are the rules uh concerningon my body, off my body, uh the
different types of holsters?
My god, I've not met a person inshooting who doesn't have a uh
lettuce-sized box full of oldholsters they've gone through.
Uh they tried it, they didn'tlike it.
They got the latest and thegreatest.

(12:13):
So the point being, the classesare packaged in a series, a
logical series of events.
And to make it a little a littlebetter for you, we'll make sure
they don't expire.
You can buy and let's use theconcealed carry.
There's a concealed carry andthe concealed carry mastery.
Uh after that, you'll have agood understanding of how to

(12:38):
legally and ethically carry yourfirearm to it safely, make good
decisions.
Uh, the big thing we like tostress is avoidance, because the
best fight you're ever going tobe in is the one you do not
have.
It's important that uh criticalthinking, it's uh avoiding

(12:58):
conflict.
All these things are indifferent setups for you, and
you are going to find that we'veadded, and you get anyone who
gets a package, gets a rangepass at the Rogue Valley
Shooting Sports Association foryou or for your family.
And a family is you and yourpartner and under 18-year-old

(13:20):
children in the home.
That doesn't mean your brotherBob, uh nice guy, but uh this is
immediate partners and progeny,is what I like to say.
You, your partner, and under 18kids in the home.
Now, why is a shooter's pass thevalue?
It means you're going topractice.

(13:41):
And practice does not makeperfect, it makes perfect
practice.
And what I mean by that isyou're going to build in
mistakes and practice them.
Or get bad information andpractice it.
I have been involved personally.

(14:01):
Uh, many years ago I was at ashooting range and an individual
called me over and said, youknow, when you when you hold a
pistol, you you're holding itcorrectly in your right hand.
I'm a right-handed shooter, butthe left hand goes under the
firearm, under, under the clip.
You hold it in your cradle itlike that.
Well, no, that's not how you doit.

(14:22):
But this individual wasconvinced and talked me into
doing it, and I developed a badhabit.
And I practiced that bad habitreligiously, and it took me a
while to get out of it.
Now I'm using a propertwo-handed grip.
Practice is a key part betweenyour lessons.
I can tell you after working atthe range for many, many years,

(14:44):
seeing families come in and makethe use of the range time to
learn safe shooting skills andto learn father helping his son
or mom helping her daughter getready for a match or get ready
for hunting.
And the bonding that happens,the unifying uh force you've got

(15:04):
in a family day at the range isreally something somewhat
amazing to see.
Don't think about training in ahurry.
Uh just because you can get aconcealed carry under an hour
doesn't mean you should.
I have had individuals come tome and say, I took this class,
it was only 45 minutes, and theyhad just purchased a firearm.

(15:26):
Okay, now you have aninexperienced person carrying a
gun.
Not good.
If you're looking at thesepackages for yourself, well,
that's an excellent idea, and itis the holiday season.
What better gift for yourself ora family member, or even a
coworker that you know well atthe office?

(15:46):
Give them the gift ofself-confidence.
This is not a hobby.
This is a lifestyle.
Well, hopefully we've given youa lot to think about in this
episode.
We'll be back again soon.
Hope you have an excellentholiday season.
Be safe, and we'll see you atthe range.