Its All Fun & Games Until

Maybe math is more important than you think. You might appreciate it more if you have to work tactical problems. Where you need to clear around corners to a dead space at the far end of the wall; what is called a hard corner. Years ago when I was working as OPFOR for my guys I witnessed an amazing phenomenon. The further back into the angle I got, the less I had to expose in order to gain ground down range. I saw the reverse play out when teammates would hug the corner as they attempted to clear the hard corner. While not ideal, both of these skills are important in the grand schemes of tactical movement repertoire. The problem was how this thinking it went against the grain from conventional wisdom.

It Is Not Always The Why

I remember when teaching a tactical team Active Hostage Rescue skills where managing corners was heavily emphasized. One of the members in their previous career was an architect. As I was explaining corners and the approach towards a corner I talked about obtaining the best vantage point. The better the vantage point the more down range hazards you can clear. Leaving usually the hard corner to visually clear with a dynamic movement. As we worked in commercial buildings we had the opportunity to explore a variety of these types of problems. His curiously was piqued and in the evening after class he pulled out his old drawing program. He created a large scale representation of not why it works, but how it works. I remember his excitement rolling this large piece of paper across his patrol car hood and the careful explanation as to the how.

You Can Only Look One Way

While I cannot remember the technical terms, it was impressive. When you are working in smaller and smaller units the ability to cover all the angles becomes more challenging, almost impossible. Since you can only look in one direction the importance behind achieving the best vantage point becomes huge. Of course, there are points of diminishing returns such as when you have to clear a weak side corner. This forces you to expose more of your body since it typically crosses the plane before your firearm does. A maximum we teach is to maximize your distance and minimize your exposure. When you accomplish these in tandem you create a significant tactical advantage. In order to minimize your exposure you may have to develop the skill of transferring to your weak side to help reduce your exposure. I caveat this technique with a statement that focuses on safety and competency. If either of those are suspect, then you are better off exposing more for improved fighting capacity.

See First Always

There will always be those who have a hard time accepting this technique is simple and effective. Going down range to get the bad guy’s perspective helps. Even then it still takes time to accept; which usually comes with application. When placed in a situation where it doesn’t matter how skilled, how cool your gear is or who’s side you are on it generally boils down to who sees who first. If you are exposing less and seeing more you will come to recognize the value with time. If you step back as an observer you eventually see the light bulbs turn on as they perform more and more runs through a simulator.

When you are playing an adult hide-n-seek game, you will come to appreciate the importance behind these maximums. You will develop these skills out of self preservation.

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The Honest Truth

Is it important for homeowners to understand advanced assault tactics. Is there an argument to be made these and other similar tactics will be beneficial to their situation. Honestly, not really. I’m not saying it is not fun or you will not learn some cool tactics. I’m saying there is not as close a correlation to what they do and what you will have to do in these in extremis situations. Team tactics are complex and work because of a high level of skill and application of tactics. Without constant maintenance there is a degradation and team safety becomes an issue. For the average homeowner, a better approach is to consider the two most likely scenarios; you come home to intruders or intruders come into your home.

I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This

I can speak on first-hand knowledge to coming home to intruders. Half way into clearing my home by myself I realized it was a terrible idea. In the end there were no intruders, but at the time I was under a different assumption. I had the advantage of knowing the layout, the dead spaces and hard corners I would need to clear. What I took for granted was manpower in a situation like this and how it is impossible to safeguard all hazards by yourself. My purpose was to secure the house so my family waiting up the road could safely return. As I continued to probe deeper into the house I took away many things. Distance is your friend, do not go any deeper into the house than necessary. If you identify intruders, back out and call the police. Move to a safe area where the bad guys can escape, do not put you or your family between them an freedom. If there are family members home that is a whole different story.

The Worse Case

Coming home to intruders in your home along with family members present is probably the worse situation. One you need to think long and hard before taking action. Do the intruders know you are present is the first question. If you can maintain the element of surprise do so at all costs. Ideally you would want to move to a location you can strong point, put yourself between your family and danger. Even more ideal is leaving the exit to the bad guys back so they can flee when they realize it is not worth the effort. If however, they are aware of your presence it makes things a lot more complicated. Think long and hard before you act. This is where thinking through the worst case scenario beforehand will pay off. Yes, I mean if you were contemplating advanced SWAT tactics then you better have given this scenario some thought.

Strong Point

If you are home and intruders illegally enter your home you have some decisions to make. If you have some type of early warning to give you a heads up then strong pointing and calling the police is your best move. If you have family members home what next. If movement is required in an effort to place yourself between them and the bad guys here are some down and dirty tips. Retain the element of surprise as long as possible. If you manage to move steathfully to strong point your family then call the police at your first opportunity. If there is no way to get to a secure location to strong point without drawing attention then when you decide to move it’s not about tactics, it’s about covering the ground as quickly as you can and setting up a defensive positions or strong point.

Considerations

The specific movement tactics will vary, but don’t bite off more than you can chew until you are ready to commit. Use the advantage of knowing your layout and plot your course. It may be simple or it could be complex. Think about your fall back positions should things not go according to plan. Maximize your distance and use cover to the best of your ability. Before you break cover, know where the bad guys are and where you’re going. When choosing the defensive firearm it is easy to think of the big guns; like a rifle or shotgun. However, in confined spaces, having to marshal family members or engage in close combat a handgun will serve you better.

While these types of situations are rare, they are horribly challenging in the moment. There is no easy answer, there is just doing your homework before test time.

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The positive from ignorance

Ignorance is not a bad thing, it simply means a lack of knowledge or understanding. Skill development is the tool we use to remove ignorance and replace it with competence. But before you can fill the void, you have to acknowledge you are ignorant at some level. As instructors we must sustain the strengths a student has, but really our job is to improve the weaknesses. The student has to trust the process, they have to put their ego aside and realize this is a skill or better a trade craft that must be perfected over time.

Head banging as an instructor

All this comes up after a long conversation with a fellow instructor. Yes, we do talk about you behind your backs and word does get around if you are a douche bag so bare that in mind. This conversation was more general and really frustration over folks who don’t get it, who don’t understand the process. For many people, training on a firing line is the apex of their journey and for others it is just the beginning. What you have to realize is training on a firing line is designed to replicate certain components to the big picture. You have to isolate those components that lead to success in a gunfight and then reverse engineer them on the firing line.

Needs vs. wants

I turn down a fair amount of work because of this, because there is a disconnect between what you need, versus what you want. I get contacted by teams and units that want to jump right into advanced tactics without having the basics down. Here is a news flash, jocking up with some cool armor in multicam does not make an operator of you. The need to have the basics supersedes your want to look cool. I see the precursor to this attitude on the firing line, failing to perform basic tasks correctly or omitting them entirely. Then you place folks in an advance simulator like a team environment conducting assaults and its no wonder there are failures.

Crawl, walk then run

You cannot run, before you can walk and you cannot walk before you can crawl. Jumping ahead does nobody any good, it puts team members and the public at risk. A good example is teaching people to shoot faster than they can process the available information. The whole industry is guilty of this to varying degrees. Yes, speed is a critical component to the equation, but not at the sacrifice of failing to do your job. If you are moving so fast you fail to positively identify a “shoot” threat or worse you shoot a “no shoot” threat the magnitude of the failure is hard to quantify. Couple this with combat marksmanship under adverse conditions such as low light or reduced visibility while adding the stress of injury or death it is easy to see the failures.

Effective training

I am a lot harder on the professional gunfighter, the individual or team who carries a firearm in the performance of their duties.  There is so little margin of error and many of the issues are known issues such as the one described above. Yet, there are still those who forgo the big picture for the immediate gain sacrificing the mission in the end. Training is a generic term, effective training is what you should seek. Training that is mission specific and identifies your weaknesses so they can be improved, so that ignorance can be replaced with competence.

Amateurs practice until they get it right, professionals work until they cannot do it wrong.

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Life on Earth

In what scenario would that actually be viable? More importantly does it really make sense for the infinitesimal possibility of passing it off actually carrying a second pistol? It’s not like you just got dropped in a video game this very real. If you are going to break someone out of jail, fine that makes sense to me and go for it. However, I think it is a pipe dream to see this happening. It also illustrates a point I see more and more in the industry, which is to justify a position with such a far off possibility just to make someone feel good. If you want to carry a second pistol then go for it, but don’t fool yourself you are doing it just in case you intend to pass it off during a gunfight or critical incident.

Break it down

So, what are those times you will pass a pistol off. If you are the victim of a mugging and your muggers are in your face, chances are you won’t have someone nearby to pass it off and even if you did, why? Sure, I’m sharpshooting, but I almost need to in order for folks to see the truth here. You are not going to hand off anything until you have won that fight, period. Then once you have won the fight, again why? Why would you pass off a firearm.

One possibility

Maybe you have to run after someone who fled the scene, yet you found some good samaritan to hold the one mugger at gunpoint. How did you come to conclusion he or she was a good samaritan? Did you run a background check on them, play a game of 20 questions or maybe they just looked nice. I don’t know, but hopefully you see my point and more importantly you have given this some serious consideration.

Maybe, just maybe

Continuing on our path of logic, what’s another scenario it might be feasible to pass a firearm. How about an active shooter scenario in mall or large public venue. So, you find yourself in this location when shots ring out. You then decide to move to the sounds of gunfire. Seems reasonable, but time is a ticking. Once you realize the danger of your decision you decide it might be a good idea to have a buddy. Now, you need to somehow process the available volunteers in the immediate surrounding who may also feel it is a good idea to move to the sound of gunfire.

Why aren’t they carrying?

I would say it is at this point you need to have a serious conversation and again, how do you determine to trust this person enough to pass a live firearm. I mean really, what decision making process did you come to that would stand the smell test. About the best one I can come up with is do they posses a valid CHL on them at that precise moment? Let’s say the one volunteer you were able to find, mind you time has been ticking, does have a valid CHL. The big question I have is why doesn’t he have a gun then? If he didn’t have a gun, you might want to think about giving him one at that moment, is that really such a good idea.

I know I’ve probably pissed a lot of people off and definitely pee’ed in some cereal bowels, but honestly folks does that sound as good to you know as it did a few minutes ago. I’m not saying not to carry a spare pistol, I’m not saying not to arm a good samaritan, I’m saying think it through.

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The nuts and bolts

This standoff lasted approximately 17 hours and in that time several of the hostages escaped. Why is that important, because it was extremely frustrating to the hostage taker, terrorist Man Haron Monis. Why is that important? The mindset of any hostage taker is absolutely important, pretty much all action is based on the likelihood of the situation being peacefully resolved. I don’t blame those hostages one bit for escaping. They took matters into their own hands and given the same situation I’m sure just about every sane person would have done the same thing. However, the actions of the hostages who fled placed the terrorist on a very slippery slope. First off, what sort of person willfully takes part in a hostage taking event. One where there is the very high chance of death, your’s or the hostages? It takes someone who is not right to begin with. Now, add the fact that you have no control and your most precious commodity is escaping. Yah…you are losing control fast and you know it. Your rational begins to fade; anger, contempt and hatred are now what fuels you.

Best case scenario

The decision to rescue the remaining hostages when the situation became so desperate will be second guessed and now scrutinized by a legal body. That should come as no surprise, everyone should recognize your actions or inactions will ALWAYS be reviewed. It is easy to second guess someone after the fact, but what we have to do is put ourselves in their shoes at that moment, with the information they had at that instant. I believe they felt “in-action” would cost the lives of the remaining hostages. The terrorist had 21 shotgun shells on his dead body. He fired two of rounds as the rescue began. Take a moment to take that in, instead of spraying the shotgun rounds at the hostages when he knew the gig was up, he directed the rounds at the rescuers. Rescuers who are equipped and prepared to handle that contingency. Honestly, once things have deteriorate to an emergency assault, we all hope the gunmen turn their weapon on themselves or on us those are trying to rescue the hostages.

Justice served

It is unclear whether the heads shots were the first rounds fired or the first rounds fired where to the chest followed by shots the head shots. I’m sure that will be discovered in the inquiry, but remember there were 11 flash bangs thrown as the rescuers advanced on the terrorist. Those in the know realize that creates quite a bit of smoke, add to the fact the event took place in low light and it is very difficult to expect the ideal “range” conditions. Training is never complete and this type of tactical operation is the most complex. There are a lot of moving parts for sure, but we are all professional and I have no doubt the men who carried out the operation are the utmost professionals. I also have no doubt they are second guessing their actions, they are beating themselves up about what if I had moved faster, shot faster, shot less or even not gone. It appears one of the hostages died of blood loss from a fragment of one of the rounds fired from the rescuers. My heart goes out to her family for their loss and I would want answers for sure. I would want to know the death of my daughter was unavoidable or if avoidable at least that justice was served.

There are lessons to be learned on every operations and this operation is no different. Everybody wants to look cool, but this is the reality of special operations and only the serious need apply.

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger." Friedrich Nietzsche, German Philosopher

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