I had an incident a few weeks ago in the middle of the night after hearing what I thought was the front door crashing in...Anyway there ended up being no intruder, but I did learn a few things about my Glock 26...The most important was that half asleep I failed to pull the slide back completely and did NOT chamber a round.  I had the gun unloaded after a trip (yeah yeah lazy me) and had not reloaded the weapon. If there had been a problem this could have been the end of me. So lesson one was to keep the weapon always loaded, cocked and locked and two WAKE UP!!!!! This being said I think this was a great wake-up call for me. How often do we slack off and turn into nothing more than range warriors.

I learned how to color code my underwear so I don't put it on backwards.

(yellow goes in front, brown to the rear)

Paul, Thats the same friggin thing that happened to me...A suction cup thingee in the shower fell down...The noise something makes falling into the shower in the middle of the night is REALLY FREAKIN LOUD!!!!

Even if you need to use the head REEAALL BAD, pay attention whether you enter the mens or the womenz rest room!!

The supreme importance of training and calm thinking.

My fiancee and I were scuba-diving off the Spanish coast about a year ago, and got caught by a very strong current off a rocky point.  After trying the (futile) exercise of swimming against the current to reach the rocks, I saw her get pulled away.  So I let go and rejoined her as she aborted the dive and surfaced (this took place at 80 feet depth).  On the surface we got caught in a whirlpool up against a rocky cliff-face.  Everything worked out fine, and the divemaster returned to the boat and picked us up.  Once we were on the surface we joined with an emergency lanyard, so we wouldn't get separated.

It is however frightening to realize what could have gone wrong if we had been less experienced or poorly trained.  We could have used up our air trying to swim against the current.  We could have become exhausted from swimming against the current, started hyperventilating and passed out.  We could have ascended too quickly, risking injury or death from lung overexpansion.  We could have panicked (which is often what kills divers). Luckily we were well trained and experienced, so we were fine.  

My point - training and calm thinking is what is needed is stressful situations.  I have found it to be true in both sky diving and ocean diving, and I think it is true when it comes to running around a house or apartment in the dark with a gun.

It is funny how real life situations can cause simple tasks to be forgotten or done wrong.

A few years back I was working a Lance Corporal who was trained to push a button at a particular moment (had about a 10 second window when he could do it for the desired effect) during an exercise.  The day before, he hit the button everytime within a second, but when the actual moment to do it for real came up the next day, he took 7-8 seconds, hovering his nervous finger all over the keyboard and pushing the button only at the last possible second.

That's one of the many reason my ruger Sp101 .357 is my carry and around the house protection firearm.

It's not that I don't trust myself under stressful situations, I just know once that adrenial gland kicks in, everything changes.

The only thing that can prevent this is day in day out training. I only practice 4 to 6 times a month, still not enough IMHO.

Edited to say: Ditto on the dog idea.

Concentrate!!!  Don't shoot faster than you can hit.

It does not matter who is shooting at you are why.

Almost anything will be welcome cover.

Don't try to reason with someone that is shooting at you.  You just make a better target.

Be aggressive.

If your senses are all screwed up, just keep doing what you are supposed to do and it may get better.

Sometimes it is fun.

Control the bleeding

1)[b]KNOW[/b] where your weapon is, at ALL times. Preferably, keep it within an easy arms' reach.

2)If it isn't loaded, be able to load it quickly, quietly, and in complete darkness, if neccesary.

3)Use your fear; it will heighten your senses, quicken your reflexes, and give you energy when you have none.

Here I was imagining a radio with AC cord, falling into a tub full of water with him in it.....

To hide the bodies of the a@#holes who put me under stress!!!!!

Care to elaborate?