Lt Col Dave Grossman & Warrior SOS

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

In an email to Warrior SOS, Dave Grossman recently called to our attention once again his incredible and quasi-famous article and book chapter in On Combat.

Below is a link to his site www.killology.com and to the excellent article.
http://www.killology.com/sheep_dog.htm

On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs(From the book, On Combat, by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman)

"Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself.
The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?"

- William J. Bennett
In a lecture to the United States Naval Academy
November 24, 1997

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: “Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.” This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another.

Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

“Then there are the wolves,” the old war veteran said, “and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy.” Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

“Then there are sheepdogs,” he went on, “and I’m a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.” Or, as a sign in one California law enforcement agency put it, “We intimidate those who intimidate others.”

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath--a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

The gift of aggression

"What goes on around you... compares little with what goes on inside you."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everyone has been given a gift in life. Some people have a gift for science and some have a flair for art. And warriors have been given the gift of aggression. They would no more misuse this gift than a doctor would misuse his healing arts, but they yearn for the opportunity to use their gift to help others. These people, the ones who have been blessed with the gift of aggression and a love for others, are our sheepdogs. These are our warriors.

One career police officer wrote to me about this after attending one of my Bulletproof Mind training sessions:

"I want to say thank you for finally shedding some light on why it is that I can do what I do. I always knew why I did it. I love my [citizens], even the bad ones, and had a talent that I could return to my community. I just couldn’t put my finger on why I could wade through the chaos, the gore, the sadness, if given a chance try to make it all better, and walk right out the other side."

Let me expand on this old soldier’s excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial; that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids’ schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school. Our children are dozens of times more likely to be killed, and thousands of times more likely to be seriously injured, by school violence than by school fires, but the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their children is just too hard, so they choose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, “Baa.”

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog. As Kipling said in his poem about “Tommy” the British soldier:

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind,"
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door. Look at what happened after September 11, 2001, when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, “Thank God I wasn’t on one of those planes.” The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, “Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.” When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.

While there is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, he does have one real advantage. Only one. He is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.

There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory acts of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

However, when there were cues given by potential victims that indicated they would not go easily, the cons said that they would walk away. If the cons sensed that the target was a "counter-predator," that is, a sheepdog, they would leave him alone unless there was no other choice but to engage.

One police officer told me that he rode a commuter train to work each day. One day, as was his usual, he was standing in the crowded car, dressed in blue jeans, T-shirt and jacket, holding onto a pole and reading a paperback. At one of the stops, two street toughs boarded, shouting and cursing and doing every obnoxious thing possible to intimidate the other riders. The officer continued to read his book, though he kept a watchful eye on the two punks as they strolled along the aisle making comments to female passengers, and banging shoulders with men as they passed.

As they approached the officer, he lowered his novel and made eye contact with them. “You got a problem, man?” one of the IQ-challenged punks asked. “You think you’re tough, or somethin’?” the other asked, obviously offended that this one was not shirking away from them.

“As a matter of fact, I am tough,” the officer said, calmly and with a steady gaze.

The two looked at him for a long moment, and then without saying a word, turned and moved back down the aisle to continue their taunting of the other passengers, the sheep.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I’m proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, “Let’s roll,” which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers--athletes, business people and parents--from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

“Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?”

"There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men."
- Edmund Burke
Reflections on the Revolution in France

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn’t have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior’s path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to slaughter you and your loved ones.

I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, “I will never be caught without my gun in church.” I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a police officer he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down 14 people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy’s body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?”

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for “heads to roll” if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids’ school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them. Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?”

The warrior must cleanse denial from his thinking. Coach Bob Lindsey, a renowned law enforcement trainer, says that warriors must practice “when/then” thinking, not “if/when.” Instead of saying,“If it happens then I will take action,” the warrior says, “When it happens then I will be ready.”

It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: You didn’t bring your gun; you didn’t train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by fear, helplessness, horror and shame at your moment of truth.

Chuck Yeager, the famous test pilot and first man to fly faster than the speed of sound, says that he knew he could die. There was no denial for him. He did not allow himself the luxury of denial. This acceptance of reality can cause fear, but it is a healthy, controlled fear that will keep you alive:

"I was always afraid of dying. Always. It was my fear that made me learn everything I could about my airplane and my emergency equipment, and kept me flying respectful of my machine and always alert in the cockpit."
- Brigadier General Chuck Yeager
Yeager, An Autobiography

Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation:

"..denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn’t so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling. Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level."

And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes.

If you are a warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be “on” 24/7 for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself... “Baa.”

This business of being a sheep or a sheepdog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-grass sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Testimonials

On communicating:
"I always came away…better informed but also more able to see issues previously overlooked or ignored… His command of the language is of a high quality and he organizes and presents his thoughts in a clear, cogent manner… I have very high regard for this man."

--Robert S. Patterson, Dean of Education, Emeritus, BYU (1937-2010)

On leadership:
"He is truly one of the ‘best of the best.’ Jeff’s leadership capability is outstanding… His people skills are outstanding."

--Dr. R. Craig Shakespeare, DMD

On human interaction:
"Mr. Denning is a very pleasant person to work with. He has a frank, open nature with abundant good humor and respect for others… He has a personal magnetism that has a positive influence on those he associates with, and quickly wins the confidence of acquaintances."

--Joseph M. Ballantyne, Former Vice President, Cornell University

On teaching tactics and shooting:
"I have been around guns and shooting all my life... and no one person has taught me as much about weapon skills as Jeffrey Denning. Jeff's ability to identify a persons fundamental flaw and fix it is amazing. His personal weapons handling is so smooth and fluent it's impressive to watch."

--Steve


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Ambush! A Professional Guide to Preparing & Preventing Ambushes

Warrior SOS wishes to thank Mark Monday for his extensive research and skill in helping warriors for many years, and for sending us this article. Keep up the great work!

THE STORY BEHIND AMBUSH!

Lt. Col. Joshua Potter first read the 1994 edition of Killing Zone: A Professional’s Guide to Preparing and Preventing Ambushes by Gary Stubblefield and Mark Monday in 1998 while attending the Special Forces Detachment Officers Qualification Course (the “Q Course,” to earn his green beret). The book was part of his unofficial curriculum of training, and his instructor used excerpts from it to teach important lessons learned from the ambush in the Philippines that resulted in the death of a heroic figure in the Special Operations community—Colonel Nick Rowe.

During the same course, he watched the movie Black Hawk Down (based on Mark Bowden’s best-selling book of the same name) in the auditorium at Fort Bragg, along with many of the survivors of the Battle of Mogadishu and Bowden himself to rate the film’s accuracy. Noticing his instructor sitting through the movie with a copy of Killing Zone (which contained a case study of the Somalia firefight) in his lap, Potter asked him, “Why don’t you have a copy of Bowden’s book with you?”

“Brevity,” he replied.

What the instructor was acknowledging, and what Potter soon came to appreciate, was that Killing Zone contained a sophisticated understanding of ambush, antiambush, and counterambush TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures) in a concise, readable format that was unavailable anywhere else in the military training community.

Potter carefully studied Killing Zone after that, and he used its valuable lessons and insights during three subsequent combat tours in Iraq. But in the back of his mind, he knew a revised and updated edition was in order—one that would cover new adversary tactics, technological assets, and targets that had emerged since the book’s publication.

In 2008, Potter, now a lieutenant colonel, had a chance meeting with Mark Monday at a Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) event, which focused on identifying training gaps in our nation’s understanding of complex operations and irregular warfare. During a subsequent discussion shortly thereafter, they agreed that many of the conditions under which ambushes occur in today’s areas of conflict had changed (while acknowledging that several had remained constant). They also reflected that these conflict areas were now shared with law-enforcement personnel, private security contractors, humanitarian organizations, relief agencies, and common citizens.

As a consequence, they began discussing the need to bring Killing Zone up to date. Gary Stubblefield eagerly agreed, and the hard work began to meld Lieutenant Colonel Potter’s combat experience in Iraq—along with contributions from dozens of veterans of combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other war zones around the world—with the proven instruction in the original book.

The result, Ambush! is already being hailed by military professionals as a vital training tool. In a prepublication review, security expert and CIA veteran David Allen writes:
“Effective ambush is always easier for the savvy attacker to implement than it is for the defender to successfully prevent or repel. And while it may not always be possible to mount a perfect ambush or to defend perfectly against a well-executed attack, knowledge is indeed power. It is this improved knowledge and direct combat experience that Lt. Col. Potter brings to this new book. Such knowledge used in training our warfighters has the potential to convey powerful lessons that can save the lives of our soldiers and civilians who serve us all in defense of our nation’s freedom.”

In his foreword to Ambush!, former secretary of the navy Richard Danzig writes:

“Readers of these pages will realize that the authors have given them the gift of a rich history of ambush; that detailed, subtle, and sometimes varying lessons can be drawn from that history; that nowhere else has this history been compiled and systematically analyzed; and that he who masters the history and analysis gains power.”

Lieutenant Colonel Potter is currently serving on his fourth combat tour of Iraq. Stay tuned for word of how Ambush! is being used today to train troops in the ever-evolving art and science of ambush, antiambush, and counterambush.

http://www.paladin-press.com/product...ry_and_Tactics


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

On Warriors - Pres. Andrew Jackson

You have the highest of human trusts committed to your care. Providence has showered on this favored land blessings without number, and has chosen you, as the guardians of freedom, to preserve it for the benefit of the human race. May He who holds in His hands the destinies of nations make you worthy of the favors He has bestowed, and enable you, with pure hearts, and pure hands, and sleepless vigilance, to guard and defend to the end of time the great charge He has committed to your keeping.

--President Andrew Jackson


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

About Warrior SOS

ABOUT US
Warrior SOS is a non-profit organization dedicated to raise public awareness and help families and individuals who have experienced the burdens of physical, emotional and psychological trauma associated with military, law enforcement and security operations.

HOW WE BEGAN – OUR MOTIVATION
The idea for Warrior SOS began after the founder spoke with his brother-in-law, an Iraqi war veteran, who went to the doctor for a headache, was diagnosed with brain cancer and had brain surgery on Oct 1, 2010. About the same time the wife of a war veteran currently serving in Iraq—for the third time—sent me a SOS in his behalf. Additionally, a special operations warrior in Afghanistan wrote to say two of his colleagues were shot and killed, another wounded. As if things couldn't get more difficult, a lifelong friend and police officer sent a SOS—a distress call, saying he's suffering from the effects of post-war experiences in Iraq seven years later, and in need of help.

The poet's words capture their struggles perfectly: "In the quite heart is hidden / Sorrow that the eye can't see." Warrior SOS was founded to help hundreds, perhaps thousands of more warriors just like them, including their family members.

MISSION STATEMENT
Our mission is to increase the knowledge, skill and attitude of societies' protectors through promoting faith, spiritual and emotional well-being, and through tactical advising in order to survive and win lethal confrontations.

OUR MOTTO
Our motto is Train, Fight, Win. We recognize, however, that Train, Fight, Heal is always a necessary part of Train, Fight, Win.


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

How to win a Gunfight! by Sandy Wall

Sandy Wall retired from Houston Police Department after 28-years. He served for 22 years on SWAT, and was a three-term president with the Texas Tactical Police Officer Association (TTPOA). He is currently the Training Director for Safariland Training Group. Sandy is the founder of the Less Lethal Solutions, Inc. and the inventor of "The Wall Banger."

On behalf of Warrior SOS, thank you for your service Sandy, and thanks for sharing this great article with us!


How to win a Gunfight!
By: Sandy Wall

It’s high noon and the Sheriff slowly steps out onto a vacant Street to meet his adversary and maybe his death. His duster is slung back to expose the gun belt and six-shooter that he carries low and tethered to his leg. With his hat pulled down firmly to where one can barely see his steely eyes that pierce the day, he scans left and right for the ambush that would change this gun-fight into something he could not survive. Yet there is not a trace of fear or worry about his fate or the unknown the end of the street will bring.

How many times have you watched this scenario play out in some of your favorite western movies? The anticipation of what is about to happen makes us all admire the Sheriff for what he has the courage to face. Did it ever really happen like that? Probably not as much as the movie makers would like for us to believe, but it fun to live that experience through the eyes of someone else. We would all like to believe that should that moment come, when we have to fight for our lives, we would have the same steel grit, courage, and coolness under pressure the Sheriff displayed. This is something that we in Law Enforcement (LE) have all pondered and some have experienced first hand. For many of us that have, our performance may not have been what it could or should have been but we survived just the same.

In this article I will attempt to point out what I feel are some of the factors that can make a difference in a gunfight. I base my opinions not only with my own experiences but also the experiences of numerous friends and colleagues over my 28 years in LE. I have also drawn from Dr. David Klinger’s book, “Into the Kill Zone”. This book is a treasure trove of LE gun-fighting experiences. Dr. Klinger interviewed 80 current and former LE Officers and then detailed information surrounding their experiences. His research was funded in part by a Federal grant to research but with all that information compiled he was compelled to write this book to share the experiences with us all. If you haven’t read it, go now and get it.

I’ll start with the obvious…

Training
We all know how important training can be but it is not just training but the right training, performed with purpose, meaning, and on a repetitive basis. The first thing to get cut from LE budgets in TOUGH economic times like these is OFTEN training. Yet the threat is clear and present and does not care about the economy.

Too often LE will go out and perform the same drills/courses with no purpose or passion. It comes down to just trigger time on the range. This is often just a waste of time and money. To go out and sling lead down range with no training objective, skill set, or meaningful purpose in mind, is not efficient/effective firearms training. Every round should have a purpose. It’s not just repetition, but rather MEANINGFUL repetition. The basics are a great place to start. No matter what the skill is, break it down to the mechanics and improve those fundamentals. Once you have the mechanics mastered, start adding stress to the point of failure. As the failure threshold is reached, then back it off a bit and train at that level until the failure threshold can be advanced.

One of the best shooters I have ever trained with told me that to shoot fast and accurate requires the same things you learned in the Academy. Grip, sight alignment, trigger control. Learn to do those three things very fast and under pressure and you will be a very good shooter. WOW! No magic or trick involved, just a lot of practice with a purpose. DRY FIRE until you master the skill and then test yourself with bullets. It’s a lot less expensive, you can do it almost anywhere, and you don’t have to deal with all that anticipation of muzzle blast and recoil. You can focus on the skill set and master it before you test yourself with bullets.

The same process can be applied to any skill set. I don’t care if it’s Dynamic Entry, Rappelling, or Covert Entry. Break it down to its basic mechanics, learn to do them smoothly under pressure and add stress until you start making mistakes. Back off that threshold a bit and work the basics until the bar can be moved. Time limits, scenarios, difficulties, all are a great way to add stress.

All of the great athletes of the world don’t just play the game to get better. They break it down to fundamental skill sets and spend their time improving those. The scrimmages and games are a way of finding out how well they have been practicing.

The last thing I will say about training is please don’t become stagnate. There are always new ways of doing things and you never know it all or can’t improve. Go out and seek new training from creditable sources. TTPOA is a great source of training as well as several training companies and subject matter experts that instruct for a living.

Ice water
This part of the equation is harder to learn, if it can be learned at all. I like to call it the Joe Montana or Roger Stauback syndrome. It’s that ice water in the veins, that coolness under pressure effect that is hard to teach. Most people that have it were born with it to an extent. They just don’t tend to get that excited even when others all around them are. This can be a huge advantage in a gun-fight.

I do believe a significant amount of exposure and experience will somewhat de-sensitize one to the stimulus that others become alarmed by. I believe that frequent exposure to the real thing or realistic training can help. One of the best gun fighters I ever knew was not that great a shot, but he was a deadly adversary to his opponents. He was born with ice water in his veins and it served him well.

In the immortal words of a US Marine Corps. Gunny Sgt., “You, you, and you, panic, the rest of you come with me.” That’s the guy you want on your side in a gun fight.

Luck
One of my best friends used to say all the time, “I’d rather be lucky than good”. He was a hell of a good guy to have on your side in a gun-fight. I did a few times and I was glad he was there. The fact is that I got lucky more than I would like to admit and I know others reading this article, if they are honest with themselves, will admit that they got lucky a few times or they may not be in a position to enjoy my ramblings.

Luck is nothing one should count on nor is it something to brag about, but it has had an impact on LE surviving a gunfight more than a few times, so I thought it worth mentioning. Or do we create our own luck? Louis Pastur once said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

Smart
You must be smart about when and where you decide to fight. LE doesn’t always have the luxury of picking when to fight, but often I read or hear about officers that forced a confrontation or made the fight fair when they didn’t have to. Things like leaving cover and closing distance to their adversary when it wasn’t necessary or moving ahead of their Team or Partner, which in effect means taking them out of the fight. Never make it a fair fight if you have a choice. The Sheriff at the beginning of this article may have picked High Noon because he knew his opponent doesn’t see well in the bright sun light. Better yet, he should have waited until the sun was at his back and in his opponent’s eyes, or positioned someone with a long weapon and high ground. Maybe put on a good set of body armor as a fighting platform or just brought as many friends with him to the fight as he could find. It may not be as sexy but it improves the ability to predict the outcome. Live to fight another day, I always say.

The Intangibles
How about shooting first? I love the line in the movie, “The Shootest”. Ron Howard is explaining to John Wayne what Bat Masterson wrote about in his book about gun fighting. He was mentioning things like proficiency with a firearm and accuracy and Wayne interrupts him and asks, “Did he mention that some people will hesitate, or blink, or draw a breath? I won’t.” As with any type of fight, the one who strikes first has a distinct advantage. Strike first, strike hard, and repeat as necessary.

How about not being an easy target to hit. This could mean that you are behind cover, or you may just be moving really fast. Both are good things, and if you don’t have cover, how about moving really fast toward it.

In closing I would like to put in a plug for the Safariland Training Group’s new course, “Startle Response to an Ambush”. We include many of the things that can determine who wins a gun fight. A friend of mine who used to lecture on the subject would say, “Bring a bigger gun”. It’s hard to argue with that logic either. I say, focus on the things you can do something about.

The true warrior will not hesitate, is not stupid, not ill equipped, is not unprepared, and definitely not easy to hit. You must prepare and train for what you hope and pray you never have to do, or be prepared to suffer the consequences. I love this quote about soldiers: “of every 100 men you send me 90 shouldn’t even be here, 9 are good combatants and they the fight make, ahh but the one… he is a true warrior and will bring the rest home safe”. Unknown

Best of luck, but don’t count on it. Train hard, be smart, and stay safe!


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Just Started WARRIOR SOS

SOS is an international distress signal. Warrior SOS is a non-profit organization dedicated to raise public awareness and help families and individuals who have experienced the burdens of physical, emotional and psychological trauma associated with military, law enforcement and security ops.


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK