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The White Report
STREET FIGHTER - PART ELEVEN
"But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet not withstanding, go out and meet it." -- Thucydides
One of the primary goals for writing the Street Fighter series on DEA Watch is to define and develop the Street Fighter's ethos. I encourage Street Fighters never to take the easy way but simply follow through on your duty in all things, never doing less, always doing more. Being a Street Fighter is not about making small talk and being liked, a Street Fighter is distinguished by outcome, not conformity. A Street Fighter does not depend on an affable personality. It is not about being a smooth talker. Street Fighters elevate the visions of their fellow law enforcement officers [LEO] to loftier heights, raising their conduct to a higher code of morals. Street Fighters follow effective and successful operations with quiet evaluation that will result in safer and increased numbers of operations with positive outcomes. Unless the LEO commits to the Street Fighter Ethos, he will only have promises and empty dreams. Being admitted into the rank and file of a Street Fighter does not automatically bestow privileges or enfranchise authority. Rather, it imposes fidelity and trustworthiness. Welcome to the prestigious and noble ranks of the Street Fighter.
WHAT DEFINES THE TRUE WARRIOR?
In 500 BC the Roman Legion knew that of every 100 men who go into battle, 10 should not even be there, 80 are targets who may or may not fight, 9 are real fighters, only 1 is a true Warrior who will win the fight and bring everyone else back safely. In the attached film clip from Buena Park, California, officers have surrounded a bank where an armed predator has taken hostages. Released hostages say the predator has several pipe bombs in addition to a shotgun. As the SWAT team moved to the front door of the bank the predator fired a shotgun blast shattering the glass at their entry point. One SWAT officer, the Street Fighter stood his ground and returned accurate fire while the rest of his team recoiled back, frozen with inertia. He alone entered through the broken and ruptured glass pulling the remaining hostage to safety. Finally, following his leadership, the rest of the team recovered and moved into the fight. As the Roman Legion discovered in combat in 500 BC, this lone SWAT officer was the true 'Warrior-Street Fighter,' a leader of men. This so clearly and so graphically verifies the Roman Legion theory on leadership and war-fighting. When you have the tactical advantage, close on the predator.
Street Fighters are complex, confident and extremely vigilant professionals. Oftentimes linear in their thinking, not permitting ancillary questions to cloud their judgments. Street Fighters allow little room for fear and self-doubt to raise its ugly head. Yes, there has to be caution and a keen eye for tactics. Fear and doubt can incapacitate, draining the will to fight, resulting in the deadfall of paralysis by analysis. If the Street Fighter allows himself to be totally consumed by what is happening, he will fail to analyze the intentions and weaknesses of his opponent.
Street Fighters must train their minds to slow down the action, to think calmly and logically in the face of violence. Facing into the gunfire creates tremendous tension as the Street Fighter slips into the drone zone blocking out fear and all unnecessary stimulus, focusing on what is critical for mission success. He certainly knows from experience that each rash decision induced by fear will culminate in a bad or fatal outcome. Strive to become the warrior who brings everyone back safely.
THE FIGHT IS ON!
There are two primary ways to win a gun battle: either the Street Fighter hits with his first shot or, he finds cover, conserves his ammunition and returns accurate well aimed shots. The reasons gun battles are lost include: lack of preparation or marksmanship failure.
As Street Fighters our response to the violence of a blitz attack is critical to our living or dying. Sometimes we have just scant seconds to recognize when the surprise attack begins. We must be fully prepared and not waver in our commitment to aggressively confront our attackers head on. The untrained, the shy, will remain static and freeze because subconsciously they know they are unskilled at arms, impotent, helpless and mismatched. Street Fighters know that simply having a gun does not mean you are prepared. Many law enforcement departments allocate insufficient funds to train the Street Fighter to a skill level essential for survival. It is incumbent on the Street Fighters to speak up and demand a workable budget to obtain outside training and the necessary equipment to ensure they win gun battles.
Keith Jones of the Indianapolis Police Department told me about the May 2015 attack by two radicalized American citizens whose intention was to kill the visitors at the controversial 'Draw the Prophet' contest in Garland, Texas. Both shooters were armed with 100 round drum-fed rifles. Officer Gary Stevens was caught in the open with no nearby cover as the two crazed gunmen fired at him. Stevens quickly decided that to prevail he would have to go on the offensive and attack. From 15 yards away Stevens closed the distance, firing controlled shots while maintaining an acceptable sight picture. With cold deliberation and knowing misses would get him killed, Stevens took out the first gunman then pivoted to his left, continuing to close on the second gunman, all the time under continuous fire. Officer Stevens was concerned that both downed gunmen could have explosives in their backpacks so he finished the fight by firing headshots.
Just prior to the gun battle, Stevens exhibited acute situational awareness and recognized a potential problem when he saw the gunmen's car come to an abrupt stop, blocking several lanes of traffic. Stevens never froze nor confused himself with negativity. 'This can't be happening to me!' Instead, the thought that flashed through his subconscious was, 'the fight is on.' By aggressively closing the distance and attacking into the ambush he totally changed the dynamics and went from prey to being the hunter. Stevens aggressively counter attacked halting the ability of the gunmen to fire accurately or to flank his position. Using speed, surprise and violence of action he maximized the effectiveness of his pistol while cutting short the gunmen's advantage of range afforded them by their rifles. Officer Stevens exhibited superlative marksmanship combining the perfect balance of speed and accuracy. His use of a flash sight picture resulted in a cone of deadly fire.
In his 1831 Maxims of War, Napoleon wrote: "in audacity and obstinacy will be found safety." The Suits on the other hand typically want to make their agency firearm and tactical training too methodical, too measured, and too myopic. To be effective, firearm and tactical training needs to be bold, daring and even audacious. You must attack your opponent's weakness. Never permit the attacker the time to implement a plan of action. Keep hammering at the attacker until he becomes confused and afraid. As Keith Jones told me, "the operative word in the term gunfight is fight."
FORMER ACTION GUYS [FAGS] FOREVER!
Lieutenant General Lewis B. (Chesty) Puller, a highly decorated Marine who had been awarded five Navy Crosses, retired from the Marine Corps with 37 years of service in 1955. A born leader, he went off to battle with his green eyes gleaming malevolently, a stubby pipe clenched in his mouth and a copy of Caesar's GALLIC WARS tucked into his duffel bag.
On 2 August 1956, Puller was called out of retirement to defend harsh Marine Corps training at Parris Island. The appearance of the stubby, tenacious man with the face of an English bulldog and the chest of a pouter pigeon brought a large crowd to the courtroom. Ramrod-straight, his uniform blouse ablaze with ribbons, the general sat in the witness chair and testified in a drill field voice. As a tribute to Puller courage both on the battlefield and on the witness stand, every night as Taps is played at the Marine bases on Parris Island and Camp Pendleton, when the final note sounds all marines shout b Good Night Chesty"
In October 2017, following in Chesty Puller's footsteps, another gallant stalwart, Carson Ulrich, came out of retirement to defend DEA FAST [Foreign-deployed Advisory and Support Team]. FAST teams initially worked closely with U.S. Special Operations Forces to disrupt Afghan opium trade; their mission later expanded to include Central American countries. Ignoring responsibility, the Suits, who make up a large fossilized bureaucracy within DEA, scurried for cover over a recent news article critical of DEA FAST. Carson boldly stepped forward. Few agents have served DEA with greater devotion and dedication, or in a more professional manner than Carson. With a superb record as a combat leader on Operation Snowcap, later in Bogota, Colombia and finally with FAST, Carson was energetic, audacious and unswerving in his commitment to his buddies and to DEA. Carson owns a firearms and tactical training company, Rustic Ridge Ludus, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He is also a writer, consultant and technical advisor for the television series Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. JFK could have been describing Carson when he wrote: "There are many kinds of courage; bravery under fire, but there is also the courage to risk reputation and career for convictions that are deeply held."
WORDS OF WISDOM
While Bob Taubert and I were assigned to the FBI Academy, he shared the seventeenth century writings of monk Yamamoto Jocho about the training of the Samurai Warriors. Jocho wrote: "To give a person an opinion one must first judge well whether that person is of the disposition to receive it or not. One must become close with him and make sure that he continually trusts one word." Approaching subjects that are dear to him, seek the best way to speak and be well understood. Praise his good points and use every device to encourage him, perhaps by talking about one's own faults without touching on his, but so that they will occur to him. By bringing shame to a person, how could one expect to make a better man.
Firearm and Tactics instructors know it is of utmost importance to provide guidance to assist Street Fighters to advance to the next rung on the ladder to excellence. Many instructors are unable to figure out how their advice should be given. With the wisdom of Yamamoto Jocho in mind, let me call to your attention a potentially deadly mistake I see many off duty officers making.
OFF DUTY OPEN CARRY
The armed law enforcement officer must diligently commit to avoid rash and foolhardy behavior. A senseless bad habit which I have noticed is the off duty officer failing to conceal his pistol. I see too many off duty officers falling into this incredibly reckless pitfall. To counter this imprudent and careless decision to open carry while off duty it is necessary to ingrain in the Street Fighter wariness and wise decision making before coming under fire.
More than fifty years ago, the NYPD was dealt a serious blow when an off duty police officer open carried into a 'stop and rob' situation. The NYPD officer was shot execution style in the back of his head by a lookout. There were also concerns over an increase in Blue on Blue shootings. Studies had revealed that the badge displayed on the belt was not as readily identified as when the badge hangs around the neck and is centered in clear view on the chest. The NYPD command staff was committed to implement a new policy directive that would prohibit off duty open carry and mandate that badges be worn around the neck.
By sheer coincidence, as members of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics pistol team, Bob Manning and I had arranged to try out a new combat pistol course with the NYPD firearms instructors at Rodman's Neck. As we finished at the pistol course, we were invited by Jim Cirillo and Bill Allard from the NYPD Stakeout Squad to observe a re-enactment of the 'stop and rob' scenario but with a different outcome. Using lessons learned, Jim's team portrayed an off duty officer with gun concealed walking into an armed robbery in progress. In the re-enactment, the officer successfully blends in as the Gray Man. Remaining unnoticed the officer survives.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Some off duty officers try to defend their carry mode by comparing themselves to uniform officers whose pistols are exposed. The fallacy is that the uniformed officer's holster is rated level three for retention. If the uniform officer goes hands on with his attacker he has on his belt an asp baton, stun gun and oleoresin capsicum to fight off the predator's gun grab, equipment not possessed by the off duty officer.
In The Art of War, Sun Tsu wrote: "Let your movements be as dark and as impenetrable as night and when you fall, fall like a thunderclap." Street Fighters want to be the Gray Man, to be underestimated. You are at your most vulnerable when you lose your element of surprise. Cease to become a target and don't let predators see you coming. Action beats reaction and when the open carry officer is attacked he may die. A tactician will never allow the predator to see him coming. The Gray Man is pure vanilla without a single characteristic to make him memorable. The Gray Man presents nothing that a predator would notice. The Gray Man allows the egocentric predator to stand in the spotlight, while he remains secured in the shadows.
My suggestions are meant to be an antidote to this self-destructive pathway by providing combat wisdom and soundness of action in the face of violence. Street Fighters must develop combat wisdom before the beating heart of the blitz attack finds them totally unprepared. The Street Fighter knows that by choosing to stand out in a crowd you invite undue attention. Getting noticed by choosing open carry when off duty increases the potential to get you killed. I challenge YOU to become a Street Fighter who conceal carries when off-duty. Is open carry when you are off duty really worth risking your life???
HOW PREDATORS LEARN TO KILL
It certainly was not happenstance last year when a predator gunned down five BART and Dallas police officers. His tactics and gun handling skills were first rate. Where and how did the shooter acquire such skills? Could it be from high tech video games? In 2016 the worldwide box office for the film industry was $38.6 billion. In that same year, global revenue for the video game industry was $91 billion.
In video games, missions take place around the world and many of the locations are real and haunting. When weapons are fired, empty cases eject from the virtual rifles and pistols. Guns even recoil. When guns are empty the movement of the player's hands are accurate. The soldiers move in a realistic tactical manner. Combat veterans supervise the creation of many of the firearm manipulations and tactical sequences to make sure they are technically accurate.
During gameplay, players can either point shoot their weapons at the expense of accuracy or aim using their sights. The iron sight profiles for all the guns are technically accurate. When looking through optics, the reticles are also accurate. When aiming at any adversary 200 yards away good players learn to sight above the shoulder. Shooters learn to zig zag randomly while in the open, knowing it is much harder to hit an erratically moving target.
Without specifically studying the specs of a particular firearm, through hours and hours of practice, these game players learn the shape, function, cyclic rate of fire, caliber, magazine capacity, sight picture, safety controls, magazine changes and other critical data at a near subconscious level. These well-trained psychopaths bring their best game when they are sending rounds your way. How can we prepare ourselves for that real life confrontation? Dry Fire. Dry Fire. Dry Fire.
WHY DRY FIRE?
Street Fighters already know that during a blitz attack vision, hearing, fine motor skills and ability to make rapid, effective decisions will deteriorate quickly. What the Street Fighter may not realize is that most quarterly firearms training teaches you how to perform a task on a flat range under the direct guidance of a firearms instructor. However, this type training does not carry over to performing these exact same tasks under the extremely chaotic strain of a blitz attack.
It is a verified fact that without continuing supplemental practice, Street Fighters will undergo the phenomenon of losing a minimum of 50% of their skill sets over several weeks. This translates to diminished speed and accuracy. The reality of the blitz attack is hidden until the last few seconds. You may not anticipate the attack at 30 feet or at 10 feet but may have only inches before you respond. By following this suggested dry fire protocol, you will seamlessly integrate situational awareness and fighting with your pistol by reprograming your startle response so that you are able to instinctively and instantaneously respond to a blitz attack without panic.
This dry firing component is critical for the Street Fighter. He may be able to faultlessly perform drills on the square range but when you add in the stress of facing a blitz attack within the blink of an eye, your mind may go blank. Dry firing drills are the catalyst that will help you prevail in a gun battle. But remember only the Street Fighter who religiously practices will be able to function at a high level.
Bob Taubert constantly reminded the agents and task force officers we trained at the FBI Academy that skills are perishable and that continued practice is critical for retention. During a blitz attack your conscious brain shuts down and your subconscious takes the lead. You will not have time to think about your training, you will only have the time to perform what you have programed your mind and body to achieve. It is vitally important to practice until you embed 'unconscious competence', the ability to function without conscious thought. By following the dry fire regime, Street Fighters will have trained their subconscious to immediately counter attack.
DRY FIRE SAFETY
SCHOOL HOUSE DRY FIRING TIPS
1. You can download dry fire targets from the 10-8 Training Group. These targets provide an eight inch circle as it appears at 7 yards, 10 yards, 15 yards, 20 yards, and 25 yards while standing at a distance of 12 feet from the target.
2. While you are dry firing watch for wobble. There will always be a tremble since your pistol cannot be held without a quiver. As you press your trigger, you do not want to see your front sight drop. Your goal is to keep your front sight in the rear sight notch. You proceed with your dry fire sequence working each circle from 7 yards to 25 yards.
3. On each pull of the trigger, hold the trigger to the rear, work the slide to cycle the action. Maintain felt contact with the trigger. This is very critical when you accelerate trigger pull to shoot fast. If your finger were to come off the trigger resulting in trigger slap, your shot may break low left for the right hand shooter or low right for the left hand shooter.
4. Work your dry firing sequences from the chest ready, a compressed low ready or a high ready. From the high ready you want your front sight to drop into the rear sight notch as you present to the threat.
5. From the chest ready, bring your front sight straight into the rear sight notch. You want your presentation to be straight on the gun target line.
6. From compressed low ready, bring your pistol up onto the target line and break your shot.
7. After completing the ready position drills, then practice from concealment. Turn left or right and present to threat. Depending on how much space is available, you can practice forward, back and lateral movement.
Dry fire drills lack recoil control. Recoil control occurs only during live fire. Everything else, malfunction drills, reloads, etc. can be accomplished through dry fire.
TRIGGER CONTROL DRY FIRE DRILLS
Dry fire is terrific practice that compels you to hold your weapon as still as possible while concentrating on manipulating your trigger. Mindfully follow these steps.
BEAT THE FLINCH WITH DRY FIRE
Acquiring the sight picture is difficult for most shooters. Even more difficult is pressing the trigger without disturbing the sight picture. Shooters flinch in anticipation of either noise or recoil. Usually the shooter either pushes with hand or body or they will tug the wrist to the side or milk the trigger pushing the muzzle of the pistol straight down. Right hand shooters have a tendency to throw shots to the left; while the left hand shooter has the tendency to throw shots low right.
There are five components to engaging your trigger: the take up of slack, the trigger pull to release the hammer or striker, the position where the trigger is all the way to the rear, the reset where the pistol can be fired again and finally, where the trigger is all the way forward. Slowly go through each of the five components as you pull the trigger while saying to yourself: 'breathe in, slack out; breathe out and press; weapon fires; reset. Establish your cadence: slack, press, reset, slack, press, reset. Let your rhythm manipulate your trigger, freeing your mind from flinching.
Shooting the figure eight movement drill helps to mitigate the flinch. At first your sights are all over the target but as soon as your sights are acceptably aligned giving you a proper sight picture, break your shot. Initially your shots will be spread haphazardly across the target. Eventually you will begin to notice shots grouping together.
You are working your trigger press since you can't just stand there and slowly, ever so slowly squeeze the trigger. Then in anticipation of the bang, you flinch and jerk the trigger. Your window of breaking your shot is very limited. The reason the figure eight movement drill reduces your flinch is because your mind is inundated with muzzle awareness, self-control of your trigger finger, body coordination and proper grip. You have so many stimuli swamping your mind; you no longer worry about the bang causing you to flinch. LET RECOIL HAPPEN. One of the best remedies to help shake the flinch is dry fire. Watch the video clip closely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WYlRcuLpR4&feature=youtu.be
LASER BEAM TECHNOLOGY AS A TRAINING TOOL
Dry fire is about settling down, concentrating on the basics. There is absolutely no substitute for discipline and practice. Prevailing in a gun battle is problem solving at high speed. Street Fighters must make tough decisions, usually in a blink of an eye. Begin by spending time every day with dry fire practice coupled with live fire range work. Focus your sessions on your carry pistol. The skills the undercover Street Fighter needs to give him the confidence and weapon proficiency to prevail in a gun battle can be learned from dry fire practice with laser beam technology to simulate where the bullet strikes the target.
The most critical skill that must be acquired is accuracy. You cannot catch up fast enough in a gun battle if you miss with your first shot. Accuracy in the combat pistol craft comes from grip, trigger control and sight alignment. A laser beam enhances all three. Sight picture doesn't matter if you can't control your trigger to keep your muzzle from roving off the target. A study of the history of gun battles reveals that the shooter who hits his adversary first prevails. This demands a quick, smooth draw and acquiring a fast sight picture as you press out to the threat. A fast draw does not come from a spastic, jerky muscle movement. It is critical to your survival as a Street Fighter that you acquire the ability to fire an accurate shot from the holster in two seconds or less.
Your range instruction, because of extreme safety concerns, is way too static. The undercover Street Fighter must develop skills that help in a gun battle. He must learn to move and shoot, move to cover and engage the threat. Donb t move just for the pretext of moving. Move only when the protection of cover or the creation of distance gives you a tactical advantage. You don't want to be just flinging lead down range. Laser technology teaches you to place aimed, accurate fire into your assailant, giving you confidence in your ability as a marksman. Confidence gives you courage, and courage comes from demonstrated ability. Hard dry fire training gives you the capacity to hit your opponent on demand and that will create the courage to prevail in the blitz attack.
The pistol that sits in your holster can be a false security blanket; it is your skill as a marksman that counts. This skill can only be earned the hard way, consistent practice with laser beam technology. Being armed with a fighting pistol, adequately trained as a marksman and mentally dialed in, you become a Street Fighter difficult to kill.
TAKE PRACTICE TO A NEW LEVEL
Dry firing at a paper target, door knob or light switch will help Street Fighters train in the fundamentals of marksmanship. Training with a commercial product called Laser Ammo brings a whole new dimension to acquiring marksmanship skills. Laser Ammo is easy to use. Simply lock the slide of your pistol to the rear and insert the laser cartridge. The Personal Electronic Target (PET) is no bigger than a smart phone and rests on a tripod stand. PET comes with various sized targets that easily slip into a slot giving the Street Fighter various difficulty options.
PET has three modes. P1 counts your hits; P2 is a shot timer and will beep once your shot hits the target, and P3 is all about rapid fire and split time between shots. Laser Ammo helps to improve marksmanship by having a visible laser show where your rounds are striking.
Dry fire practice can be boring and tedious. You can change a normal routine into a dynamic practice with PET. Using Laser Ammo, the undercover Street Fighter can create drills that mimic real life, fight to the death situations.
SKILL DRILLS
When I attended the Covert Carry class taught by former Delta operator Mike Pannone, he taught a Mind Games drill. Mike instructed us to draw as fast as we could and take the shot at the appropriate pace to achieve the desired level of precision. The drill is designed with two major components intended to consciously contradict each other. When you draw rapidly, your body is receiving the physical cue to go fast. Now after your body has received that very distinct subconscious cue to go fast, you must consciously tell yourself to slow down. The intended goal is to draw fast, slow down and get onto your sights. With diligent practice the sequence will be printed into your subconscious.
Mike's drill takes twenty minutes. Fire 50 rounds from 15 yards into a 6-inch round steel plate. All shots are fired from concealment.
NICK'S CORNER Nick Deem, a Street Fighter with the Lake Station, IN police department also attended the Covert Carry class with Mike Pannone. Nick is incorporating Mikeb s basic drills into his training curriculum and is expanding on those drills to address the specific needs of the officers he trains.
Nick's Drill For Concealed Draw The target is a 3 X 5 Index Card displayed lengthwise. Load 3 magazines with 5 rounds each. All shots fired are from concealment. Record time after each movement. For each shot missed add 5 seconds.
TEXAS STRAIGHT SHOOTERS Texas Ranger Frank Hammer explained why he had been victorious in so many shootings, "The greatest thing about shooting with a six gun is to hold it steady and not shoot too quick. What I mean is this: a man who is nervous cannot shoot straight with a six shooter grasped in his hand. The muzzle of the gun will wobble with every nervous pulse beat in his hand. When youb ve got to fight it out with a six-shooter the only sure way is to make the first shot count. Take it slow. Don't get excited." The one superlative thing you want to achieve is to hit your mark. That mark should be the broadest part of his body. Draw quickly and aim, not at his head or legs but at his stomach, for that is the widest part. Be deliberate, pause and aim with the utmost deliberation, and when you are sure your muzzle will land the bullet squarely in the middle of his stomach, pull the trigger and it's all over. Really it is very simple. Just keep cool and take time to aim straight and that's all there is to it. However these were mere techniques because Frank Hammer credited God for his gun-fighting prowess. "They say I am a good shot. I know I am. There's something of higher help thatb s looked down the gun barrel with me and told me when to pull the trigger." Texans are tough men and none came tougher than Texas Ranger Frank Hammer. He was to the Lone Star State what Wyatt Earp was to Arizona and what Wild Bill Hickok was to Kansas. His iron will was molded in forty tumultuous years as a peace officer. His iron courage was forged in the flames of gunfights with desperados culminating in his shooting to death Bonnie and Clyde in May of 1934. Frank Hammerb s pistol is alongside my Colt 1911a1 in the National Firearms Museum. TO DARE IS TO DO In the immortal words of the Roman Legion Centurions, "to dare is to do, either kill or be killed." Street Fighters must differentiate between combat marksmanship and straightforward marksmanship. Street Fighters must be able to hit their threat with precise, deadly accurate fire in any circumstance they encounter in a fight to the death. Without the fear of bodily injury, marksmanship stress is self-induced. Street Fighters must prepare themselves to defeat the blitz attack through mental rehearsal, if this happens my most viable course of action will be this. Through extensive preparation the Street Fighter can cut his reaction time to .33 seconds. By being resolute and steadfast, committed to staying in the fight the Street Fighter will not be overwhelmed by adversity. Street Fighters possess zeal, fervidness for their chosen profession. This innate verve pushes the Street Fighter to be the best. With this aggressive combat mindset and by the appropriate use of lethal force the Street Fighter has absolute confidence in his ability because of tough, realistic training gained in the crucible of previous successful outcomes. HOLLYWOOD MOVIES: FACT OR FICTION? As Street Fighters we can learn some valuable lessons from Hollywood movies designed to entertain. The movie Heat provides some interesting examples. Shortly after 911 it became abundantly clear that law enforcement struggled to think outside the box. Today, they seek out authors like Brad Thor to create battle scenarios they were incapable of creating. Let's watch this Hollywood shootout with an eye to thinking outside the box. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_AyMkoyiFM A couple of tactical lessons come immediately to mind: good movement, use of cover, communications between teammates, shooters remain focused while pissing ice water, reloads on the run, committed to hand to hand combat by going to fixed blade carried in an ankle rig, interlocking fields of fire, press check, and passing by downed officers knowing their safety was insured by first eliminating the threat. After an 11 April 1986 FBI Miami firefight, Special Agent Ron Risner, a Vietnam veteran, made the memorable comment, 'always carry as much ammo as you can.' ELAN Elan is the capacity to engage personal honor and moral strength under fire. If you are lacking in Elan then all your weapons, training and best of intentions will be for naught and you will lose the gun battle. Fear can have an adverse effect on our planning and how we assume we will react to a blitz attack. Pseudo warriors, who thought they could close the distance and face into the gunfire, find themselves freezing or lacking the will to get their mind and body to perform aggressively. Some may just simply cut and run, abandoning their teammates. The Spartan King Leonidas tells us that in his experiences in battle, practice of arms counts little, gallantry and valor tells all: "When the screaming starts and blood flows freely in the night, it is Elan that will see the dawn." Skill is of critical importance, as is access to the correct tools, a well thought out operational plan, and being physically fit. All of this falls by the wayside if you lack Elan and boldness. The terror and dread of the blitz attack will make the paper tiger freeze or beat feet to safety. Street Fighters know if they are not valiant, fear will consume them. A most difficult question facing the Street Fighter is how to develop Elan. If Elan is honor and moral strength under fire, facing the blitz attack courageously is the final litmus test of your fundamental valor. If you desire to be brave then become a Street Fighter with moral strength. Make a practice of attacking the things in life that frighten you. This will do wonders to help the Street Fighter beat back panic and cowardice. It doesnb t take a hero to order men into battle. It does take a hero to be one of the men who goes into battle encouraging his men to, "Follow Me." Semper Fi
PRESENTATION
ROUNDS FIRED Two hand presentation, fire one shot
10 rounds
Strong hand only, fire one shot
10 rounds
Support hand only, fire one shot
10 rounds
Draw, fire one shot, slide lock reload, fire two shots
10 rounds
Draw, fire one shot, magazine exchange, fire two shots
10 rounds
ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL
TIME Tier One
3 seconds each presentation
Tier Two
4 seconds each presentation
Tier Three
5 seconds each presentation
No Go
One miss or exceed 5 seconds
DISTANCE MOVEMENT
TIME RECORDED 3 yards
From concealment, draw with strong hand; switch to support hand; fire 5 shots
6 yards
From concealment, draw with strong hand; fire 5 shots
9 yards
From concealment, draw with two hands; fire 5 shots
ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL
TOTAL TIME Tier One
25 seconds
Tier Two
35 seconds
Tier Three
45 seconds
No Go
Over 45 seconds
Frank White
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