How Recent, Relevant, and Realistic?
#fridayfundamentals
Your training must be Recent, Relevant, and Realistic.
–Tom Givens
A related comment.
The purpose of almost all training provided by a POlice agency is to shift liability from the agency onto the individual officer.
The Assassin, a very smart street cop with 30 years of experience.
Those quotes always come to my mind when someone says they were trained by a relative or friend who was a cop or military. Putting the Givens comment onto the issue brings up some questions.
- Recent – when did the cop/veteran receive their training?
- Relevant – does the training the cop/veteran received apply to our personal context of METT-TC? How different was their mission?
- Realistic – Did the training even work when actually applied? What was the object of the POlice/military training, officer safety or agency protection? The Assassin’s comment is particularly applicable to that question. Note that The Assassin has 30 years of experience not one year of experience 30 times the way many cops do.
When did the person receive their training? Training doctrine changes over time, sometimes quite rapidly. For example, in the early days of chemical sprays, the doctrine was to soak the front of the adversary’s shirt and let the fumes waft up to the adversary’s face. We don’t do that anymore because we know it never really worked.
Does the training the cop/veteran received apply to our personal context of METT-TC? This is a key question that often is overlooked or ignored. The Mission drives our strategy, tactics, and tools. Both the POlice and military Missions are radically different than ours as Private Citizens. POlice and military operators doctrinally must close with their opponents and make contact with them. That is exactly the opposite of our Mission in which we want to force a Break in Contact. BREAKING CONTACT PART 1: THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF PERSONAL PROTECTION
Did the training even work when actually applied? Over the years, we’ve learned that many of the things we thought were the hot ticket and taught weren’t really that good. There are both strategic (what’s the right thing to do?) and tactical (how do we do things right?) aspects to the question.
It’s also important to remember that POlice/military training is, by definition, a ‘one size fits all’ approach. What’s realistic for one Private Citizen may be completely inappropriate for another. The training community’s fascination with ‘The Struggle’ is a good example.
My point in this post is not to repeat the “Get some/more training” mantra. Rather, my point is to not fall into the Dunning-Kruger trap of thinking you know more than you do. When you say to yourself that you don’t need any training because your father/mother/uncle/brother/friend has already ‘trained you,’ please keep in mind there are some questions you should ask yourself. The word ‘training’ has broad implications in this context because it doesn’t just address physical skills but also mental aspects of how you think about your Personal Protection plan.
My thanks to Mr. Paul Sullivan for stimulating my thoughts about the topic. He will receive a free download of The Tactical Professor ebook Package Deal with my compliments.
Tactical Professor books (all PDF)
- Real Shootouts of the LAPD https://realshootoutsofthelapd.com
- Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make http://seriousgunownermistakes.com
- Indoor Range Practice Sessions http://indoorrangepracticesessions.com
- Concealed Carry Skills and Drills http://concealedcarryskillsanddrills.com
- Advanced Pistol Practice http://bit.ly/advancedpistolpractice
- Shooting Your Black Rifle http://shootingyourblackrifle.com
Package deal of Serious Mistakes, Indoor Sessions, Concealed Carry, and Shooting Your Black Rifle (20% off) https://store.payloadz.com/details/2644448-ebooks-sports-shooting-drills-package.html
Deadly Conduct and Attempted Murder
Those are the charges in two incidents where Negative Outcomes resulted from gunfire. Both situations occurred when people thought they were making good decisions about employing a firearm for Personal Protection but the legal system doesn’t agree. Unfortunately, both incidents are material for the updated and expanded Second Edition of Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make http://seriousgunownermistakes.com that will be published later this year.
Mom charged [with Deadly Conduct] after shooting her 5-year-old son while trying to target loose dog, H[ouston]PD says
A mother [who was riding a bike down the street] has been charged after accidentally shooting her 5-year-old son [who was also riding his bike down the street] while trying to shoot a dog that was running across the street in north Houston, according to Houston police.
FBI agent charged [with Attempted Murder and other crimes] in off-duty shooting of man on subway
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fbi-agent-charged-off-duty-shooting-man-subway-78019158
Valdivia shot and wounded the man from a distance of roughly 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) after repeatedly telling the man to back up, county prosecutor Robert Hill said in court.
The man had approached Valdivia on a train, sat across from him and asked the agent for money, Hill said. The man muttered expletives and began to walk away when the agent said he didn’t have any money to give, the prosecutor added.
‘Watch your mouth,’ the agent told the man, according to Hill.
After the man turned and approached him again, Valdivia pulled a gun from a holster and shot him, the prosecutor said. Another passenger was in the agent’s line of fire, about 15 feet (4.6 meters) away, [which resulted in an additional charge of Reckless Endangerment] but wasn’t harmed, Hill added.
Note that getting the last word in, e.g., “Watch your mouth,” is not the way to Break Contact. Breaking Contact (Part I) The moment a criminal, or in this case undesirable, breaks contact, let it go. If possible, increase your distance by going in the opposite direction. Moving away from an adversary is a good skill to practice, probably far more useful in everyday life than practicing shooting on the move.
Guns are not general purpose tools for Personal Protection. They are special purpose tools that are useful only in a very limited set of circumstances. The legal system did not believe either of these incidents fell within that set of circumstances. Probably both persons charged will end up pleading to lesser offenses. Whether those will be felonies or not remains to be seen.
The mother’s relationship with her son is unlikely to ever be the same and she may lose her right to own a firearm forever. The FBI Agent’s once promising career is over, even if he is acquitted on all the charges, which is unlikely. At best, he can hope to keep his job as an FBI Agent, if he wins acquittal. The chances he will ever advance or get a good assignment again are minuscule.
If you carry a gun, carry pepper spray, PERIOD. Lacking a non-lethal force option implies that all you are willing and capable of doing to defend yourself and your loved ones is to kill someone. That’s not a rational decision.
Whether it was necessary to do anything in the dog incident at all is questionable but using pepper spray as a defensive tool would have had less consequences. Also try to avoid or deal with having irrational fears about dogs.
The important thing in viewing these stories is not to harsh on the persons involved because that’s easy but non-productive. Rather, try to learn something from their misfortunes.
- Do you consistently carry a non-lethal force option?
- Have you practiced with your NL force option using an inert version?
- If you have irrational fears, have you confronted them and programmed yourself with a rational response to the trigger?
- Have you mentally and physically practiced breaking contact?
Gaining knowledge from others’ experiences is one of the useful legs of Will Rogers’ learning triad. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/116468-there-are-three-kinds-of-men-the-ones-that-learn
Tactical Professor books (all PDF)
- Real Shootouts of the LAPD https://realshootoutsofthelapd.com
- Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make http://seriousgunownermistakes.com
- Indoor Range Practice Sessions http://indoorrangepracticesessions.com
- Concealed Carry Skills and Drills http://concealedcarryskillsanddrills.com
- Advanced Pistol Practice http://bit.ly/advancedpistolpractice
- Shooting Your Black Rifle http://shootingyourblackrifle.com
- Package deal of Serious Mistakes, Indoor Sessions, Concealed Carry, and Shooting Your Black Rifle (20% off) https://store.payloadz.com/details/2644448-ebooks-sports-shooting-drills-package.html
Breaking Contact (Part 5)
#mindsetmonday
Our goal in personal protection is to force a break in contact. We want them to go away, or we want to go away. One or the other.
The final segment of the CCW Safe Series about my concept of Breaking Contact is posted.
https://ccwsafe.com/blog/breaking-contact-pt-5
This edition focuses on success stories. I like those.
[W]hen a concealed carrier enters a self-defense situation with the goal of breaking contact — as opposed to a goal of killing or disabling an attacker — the defender has a substantially higher likelihood of avoiding a deadly shooting or making a successful self-defense claim when all else fails.
Shawn Vincent
Cover is your friend
The teen ducked behind a tree. The prosecutor’s report said one of the rounds fired by the deputy was recovered later from that tree, and several other rounds were recovered from other trees between the teen and the deputy.
A deputy and a trooper mistakenly fired 8 rounds at an innocent boy.
Be aware of not only who is around you but what is around you, including things that can prevent you from getting ventilated.
Trooper 1 stated to investigators that at the time he exited his patrol vehicle he believed the gunshots he was hearing (Deputy 1’s gunshots) were actually that of LEATHERMAN towards himself. He stated he fired in self-defense at LEATHERMAN believing he was being shot at.
My Battalion Commander made the comment during Civil Disturbance training that the POlice are, at most, used to operating in pairs. Pairs generally only exist in large urban areas. When an ad hoc group of POlice come together, such as in this case, it’s very easy for things to go South quickly. The LAPD has very strict requirements for a supervisor to assume command as Incident Commander when groups of officers assemble. In cases such as this no such control mechanism is possible and things can easily get out of hand, as they did. My advice is that if you see a group of POlice from different agencies gathering, leave the area immediately.
Note also that Officer 1 was downrange of Deputy 1 and Trooper 1 while they were firing at the innocent bystander. Struggling with Subject 1 on the ground to take him into custody might have saved that Officer’s life.
The full 27 page report from the State’s Attorney about the incident is available to download from the news article.
Another of my rules is that if I were to hear shots fired, I am going the other way as quickly as I can. Nothing good comes from ‘running to the sound of guns’ as a Private Citizen. Something something, curiosity killed the cat, something something.
Being Mindful Of and Avoiding Danger
#mindsetmonday
Dr. Sherman House, the Real Dr. House™, https://civiliandefender.com/ was an armored truck guard for quite a while. He turned me on to the fact that such robberies often begin with unannounced gunfire by the robbers. When I see an armored truck at a grocery store or other place, I wait in my car until after it leaves.
Armored truck guard shot in the face during robbery attempt at NE Houston bank, HPD says
Tactical Professor books (all PDF)
Real Shootouts of the LAPD https://realshootoutsofthelapd.com/
Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make http://seriousgunownermistakes.com
Indoor Range Practice Sessions http://indoorrangepracticesessions.com
Concealed Carry Skills and Drills http://concealedcarryskillsanddrills.com
Shooting Your Black Rifle http://shootingyourblackrifle.com
Advanced Pistol Practice http://bit.ly/advancedpistolpractice
Package deal of Serious Mistakes, Indoor Sessions, Concealed Carry, and Shooting Your Black Rifle (20% off) https://store.payloadz.com/details/2644448-ebooks-sports-shooting-drills-package.html
Breaking Contact (Part 4)
Breaking Contact Part 4 is up.
https://ccwsafe.com/blog/breaking-contact-pt-4
Marissa Alexander, Alexander Weiss, and Jerome Ersland are the cases discussed in the post.
The lesson for concealed carriers is that if you manage to break contact with a perceived aggressor, do not re-engage.
Breaking Contact (Part 3)
#fridayfundamentals
The CCW Safe https://ccwsafe.com/ series about my concept of Breaking Contact continues with Part 3.
https://ccwsafe.com/blog/34532
Part 2 of the series focused on situations where the concealed carrier initiated contact. Part 3 focuses on incidents where the carrier was initially approached and failed to take the opportunity to Break Contact.
I hate platitudes when they’re used in an attempt to simplify a complex topic into a sound bite. “Better to be tried by twelve than carried by six” is one of the most commonly parroted sayings in the firearms community. While many times we are presented with the optometrist’s question, “Which is better, A or B?,” decisions that are made in advance and are going to affect the rest of our lives seldom are binary. I like to think we’re smarter than parrots that have been trained to say one or two things.
As Shawn points out, the decision process has several more options.
When the goal is not necessarily to kill or disable a would-be attacker, a defender is open to other options that carry less legal risk and may produce more positive outcomes.
When breaking contact is the goal, sometimes it is better to disengage rather than attempt to de-escalate.
My personal paradigm is:
- Avoid
- Escape
- Confront
- Resist
Any attempt at de-escalation, even when benign, is a part of Confront. Disengage is part of Escape. Escaping is higher on my priority list than Confronting.
Similarly, in the Gerald Strebendt incident, he unnecessarily moved up the paradigm from Escape to Confront. A confrontation inherently carries more risk associated with it than an escape. As John Hall, former head of the FBI Firearms Training Unit put it:
Any encounter carries with it an element of chance.
My initial post about Breaking Contact (Part I) is located here:
The second is here.
If you would like to purchase my book, click on the image below. The detailed investigations and reports of incidents involving off-duty LAPD officers are very instructional for understanding the differences between Avoiding, Escaping, and Confronting.
Downrange Incident in Rock Hill
This story is about what I call a “downrange incident,” meaning that innocent parties are downrange and in close proximity to the criminal when the shot needs to be fired.
During the initial investigation process, officials learned the 19-year-old allegedly initiated a verbal altercation with others in the apartment. Authorities said the altercation then escalated when the 19-year-old began assaulting those in the apartment and threatened to kill them. The 19-year-old strangled a male who[m] he assaulted, officials said, and was then shot by another person in the apartment in an attempt to stop the attack. Officers said the 19-year-old then turned and started strangling a female in the apartment. He was then shot a second time, then collapsed.
These types of situations happen more often than is commonly thought. Having it happen twice in one incident, such as this one, is rare however. Making a clean close range precision shot should be part of our practice regimen.
From my old YouTube Channel that I can’t access anymore.
Someone thought their car was a holster
Investigators said initial reports indicated the 9-year-old had found a handgun inside the car.
9-year-old believed to have fatally shot 11-year-old boy in car in Pleasant Grove, Dallas police say
My tolerance for this kind of idiocy gets lower and lower with every one of these incidents I read about. Anyone who leaves an unsecured gun in a car is a fool. People who do it can sugar coat their reasons all they want and I’m still going to say:
If you leave an unsecured gun in your car, you’re a fool. If you consider this an acceptable practice, please unsubscribe from this blog; I don’t suffer fools gladly.
When a child gets shot because of an adult’s carelessness about securing a firearm, it’s no different than if the child was killed while the adult was drinking and driving.
Mommy and Daddy, where’s my older brother?
He’s not with us because you killed him when we left you alone in the car with an unsecured loaded gun.
Think about having that conversation any time you feel like leaving your gun in the car.
Breaking Contact (Part I)
CCW Safe is doing a series about our ultimate goal in Personal Protection. I am happy that I have been able to make a contribution to the literature of our Art.
Our goal in personal protection is to force a break in contact [with a criminal attacker]. We want them to go away, or we want to go away. One or the other.
https://ccwsafe.com/blog/breaking-contact-pt-1
This philosophical fundamental is the true meaning of “Get off the X” for the Private Citizen. Sidestepping or whatever method is taught to get off the X isn’t the end or even the important part of the process. Forcing the attacker to withdraw or making our escape is the end objective.
It’s nothing new. Military units have probably been doing this since before the Roman Empire existed. It’s easily overlooked at the moment of an incident, though. For some folks, escaping is a natural response but for others it is counter-intuitive and needs to be practiced.
In some cases, what we’ve learned needs to be unlearned and replaced with a more appropriate tactic. Assaulting through the kill zone of an ambush toward the enemy is a prime example. Infantrymen are taught this from Day 1 of their military training. However, it’s often not a viable response in civilian life. Sadly, the LT Dwain Williams incident https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/02/26/using-cover-effectively/ is an example of how wrong this tactic can go.
As Shawn points out in the Breaking Contact article https://ccwsafe.com/blog/breaking-contact-pt-1, POlice officers are especially vulnerable to falling prey to the subconscious instinct to chase when they are off-duty. Several incidents in Real Shootouts of the LAPD https://realshootoutsofthelapd.com demonstrate this. However, private citizens are vulnerable too and he cites several cases where this occurred.
Practicing, using an inert replica of your tool, a simple Battle Drill of Breaking Contact with an attacker is worth actually doing rather than just thinking about. We learn physical skills through repetition.
If you would like to purchase Real Shootouts of the LAPD, click on the image below.
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