Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on Guns.com.

Once you have established a defensive mindset, goals and mission, it’s time to train to ensure success. Like your mindset and defense plan, training needs to be based on a realistic assessment of circumstances and necessary skills. In turn, selecting practical training courses to develop the ability to succeed is paramount.

When your goal is successfully defending your family and home, you will need a solid grasp of fundamental marksmanship. If your marksmanship skills are weak – and depending on the type and caliber of your go-to gun – overpenetration maybe an issue.

Most bullets, especially handgun bullets and buckshot pellets from shotguns, are able to penetrate walls of residential buildings with enough velocity to fatally wound a person. So, if your family is on the other side of those walls, the price of a miss can be extremely high. You need to be able to quickly hit what you’re aiming at and nothing else! So, mastering the fundamentals of marksmanship should be a priority.

Home defense often implies defending the home from within, so learning Close Quarters Battle – tactics to enter and clear a room – should be a priority. CQB skills often look simple when they’re demonstrated by police or military, but they’re more complex than most people realize. Applying these skills safely and effectively means doing them methodically and deliberately.

Practical components of CQB training include room entry, weapons retention, armed movement, lowlight shooting, force-on-force and basic first-aid. The concepts are rather self-explanatory but their applications together become complex especially when tested in a life-or-death situation. Some courses may offer a general overview of the process while more advanced courses focus on a single component.

There are often plenty of a tactical training schools, but finding the right one may sometimes be the challenge. So, use your best judgment when considering a course.