About Me

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I'm the author of four books: Warrior SOS, The Work of Death, Together Forever, and Leaders Wanted. I'm in the doc film Please Remove Your Shoes. I've blogged for The Washington Times, and I write for Guns.com. I've worked for the high-profile U.S.-led Roadmap to Mideast Peace in Israel and Palestine. I've also worked as a SWAT team leader, a Federal Air Marshal and a sole-source training instructor on a classified contract with a U.S. government customer. My master's degree is in Military Studies and terrorism. I'm a former noncommissioned and commissioned Army officer, with service in Iraq. I've been Scuba diving and skydiving; I have trained with members of the U.S. Olympic Ski Team, and I'm an FBI-trained crisis negotiator. My interests lie in helping others and in strengthening America through inspiring moral courage, government fiscal responsibility and accountability, and maintaining principles that have made--and will continue to make--the United States of America a blessed and prosperous country. I'm a father of six, a husband, and a police officer. I reside in Utah, and I'm a Mormon. See also https://jeffreydenning.wordpress.com.

August 10, 2012

CQB Pistol Course, Sat. Aug 25, northern Illinois


Picture accessed from Tactical-Life.com

Warrior SOS is raising money for a good cause. 

In order to get some funds, I’m teaching a course at an awesome facility in Mount Carroll, called www.HollowTrainingCenter.com 

If you’re interested in the CQB Pistol course in a 360-degree shoot house leave a note on the blog. 

The cost is $225 with discounts (really good discounts, if needed) to law enforcement, war veterans and returning students. Please note this is an Advanced Course.

Course Description

This course focuses on advanced pistol handling skills, decision-making shooting, room clearing, handheld flashlight techniques indoors, team work and team movement. With an emphasis on safety, students will engage multiple targets in a multi-room, 360-degree shoot house.

Instructor experience includes:

- Founder/Director, Warrior SOS
- Team Leader, full-time SWAT team
- Top Gun Winner, Federal Air Marshal
- Private Contractor (including classified contract)
- OIF War Veteran
- NRA Law Enforcement Tactical Instructor
- LAPD Advanced SWAT School
- Guns.com tactical writer
- Utah CCW Instructor

 See what others have said about Warrior SOS courses here: http://warriorsos.blogspot.com/2010/11/shooting-course-feedback.html

Gun Stand Off -- What Not to Do

School Resource Officer (SRO) in a Tennessee high school stands off gun to gun for several minutes with a man who worked at the school. The date of the raw footage from CCTV is in Aug 2010.  The stand off begins at 3:00 minutes in this video.


Analyzing tactics are in order. We all can learn from this incident. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but because of the situation, the officer could have been killed and then many more people could have been killed or seriously injured. In this situation, the SRO was justified in using deadly force.

Warriors need to do difficult things for the blessing and protection of others, even when – and especially – when it’s hard to do. Warriors (police officers, security professionals and military personnel) do the job others cannot. If you don't want to be a warrior, find another job. That's okay. Not everyone's cut out to be warriors. Being a warrior isn't fun or glamorous. It's a thankless, difficult duty. If not, there would be no Warrior SOS.

Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind with any tactical situation:

Be prepared to use deadly force. This emotional, psychological and spiritual decision must be made long before the incident arrives. You may have to shoot a man, a woman, pregnant lady or a young teenager. Think about it before the time arrives.

Be prepared to stop a co-worker, a neighbor, a teammate, friend or even a relative. You may have to physically hurt or kill someone that you know or someone you’ve talked with or like or someone you think you know well. An old military adage goes like this: Have a plan to kill everyone you meet. No one said being a warrior is fun. Hollywood only makes it look appealing and attractive, but it's not. There are hard days and difficult times that nothing on the Big Screen could ever accurately portray.

Action is faster than reaction. If someone’s pointing a gun at you, you must act fast. He can pull the trigger anytime he wants to and you’ll be DRT – dead right there.

Shoot already!

Shoot from behind cover.

Get to hard cover – and stay there until the threat stops. Move only if you are gaining a tactical advantage without sacrificing your own safety.   

Shoot on the move if you need to. Practice it. Do anything, but be sure to never – ever – get involved in a so-called Mexican standoff. You could lose. Period. The results could be disastrous. It’s your job to protect those who cannot protect themselves, so do it! Remember, action is faster than reaction.

Don’t ever give up your weapon. At least the SRO did that right.

Shoot center mass. A dear friend and rookie police officer asked me why not shoot someone in the arm or the leg. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. A few years later, after gaining some experience and realizing the threat of human violence, he was shot and killed. Shoot center mass. I wrote an article on why shoot center mass here for Guns.com, where I’m a tactical writer.

Know ballistics and wound penetration. If you’re going to shoot, realize that the suspect might live. Go visit with an ER doctor in a big, violent city. Shoot the suspect if you're justified. Stop the threat. He’s a huge threat to everyone. Hopefully bad guys will drop their weapons, but don’t count on it. Hopefully they’ll live after you shoot them several times.

Shoot until the threat stops. Forget the two-shots and stop drill. Try a six-shot rhythm drill on the guy’s chest. I wrote about that for an Action Target newsletter I posted here in my other blog – the Jeffrey Denning blog. I also demonstrated it here below this with Guns.com. The audience was a couple of cop buddies of mine.


Have a self aid/buddy aid kit handy. You’ll need it when you least expect it.

Know and be confident in your weapon disarming techniques. Know that criminals, crazies and kooks can learn it just as well as you can.  

Lastly, stay safe. Train hard. And fight to win.

Like I state at the end of all of my Guns.com articles….

Until next time continue to hone your skills and keep adding to your tactical toolbox.


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


Cop Shoots 75 yard Shot at Sikh Temple Shooting Suspect: Saves Lives



Police officer in Wisconsin shot the active shooter at the sikh temple from 75 yards away, according to this LA Times report. It was only then that the shooter took his own life. The officer has been described as a "tactical expert" among his peers. He  is also a firearms instructor.

It was alluded in the aforementioned article that the officer shot the suspect with a patrol rifle. Patrol rifles are in the AR-15 family, meaning they are .223s. It is important to note that if you zero your rifle at 25 yards, point of aim/point of impact, then at 75 yards the shot will go high and you may miss your targets. Hold low at 75 yards if that is the case.

Zeroing at 100 yards is much better. You don’t want to have to play Kentucky windage in a firefight under 100 or 200 yards. If you only have a 25 yard/meter range, then the shot placement should be 1-1/2 inch below your point of aim (at 25 yards). For more information on this topic, see this great article at Shooting Illustrated -- and get some training -- by Kenan Flasoski, retired and vetted SOF sniper and owner of FAST762.com.

For those officers or honorable citizens who may not happen to have an AR handy when bad things happen (think Murphy’s Law here), check out the video I made for Guns.com above.  I took a 100 yard shot at a police pistol range with a couple of cop friends of mine.

Train for the worse and expect the best. Stay safe. Train hard. Train smart. And fight to 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