Handheld Versus Weapons Mounted Lights

Transcription

CLOSE-UP CONFRONTATIONS
LOW-LIGHT ENVIRONMENT
WINNING THE “LYING GAME”
TACTICS PREPAREDNESS
AND
SKILLS AND SURVIVAL FOR ALL SITUATIONS
FEBRUARY 2014 ISSUE 4
THE
The Surefire X400 Ultra
produces a brilliant 500 lumens
and includes a laser.
POWER
LIGHT
Handheld Versus Weapons Mounted Lights:
Choosing the right tools for the job!
BY: DR. LEONARD M. BREURE, Ph.D.
As a police officer in the 1980s I carried a large, heavy, not very
bright flashlight.
T
he Kel-Lite and Streamlight of the day
were the only choices back then. They
were OK for basic illumination, but were
extremely awkward to shoot with. Searching
an area while trying to manage a flashlight
and a firearm at the same time was an even
greater challenge.
Things have changed considerably since
then.Today there is a plethora of small, bright,
tactical lights on the market. Choices include
incandescent and LED versions, handheld and
weapons mounted lights. The list of manufacturers and models seems to grow every day.
In addition to choosing a light, users have a
number of techniques to select from in how
to use their light.
Tactical Light Basics
SureFire is probably the number one manufacturer of tactical lights. In their video, “The
Power of Light” they list three requirements
for a tactical light that ap- continued on next page
PHOTO ©SUREFIRE
PHOTO ©SUREFIRE
OF
Hand held or Weapons Mounted light? The
answer is that you need BOTH. In fact, it is
highly recommended that you carry a primary
and a secondary hand held light in addition
to the lights on your handgun and long gun.
Above: Surefire E2D LED Defender Ultra.
TACTICS ANDPREPAREDNESS
CONTENTS
01 THE POWER OF LIGHT:
HANDHELD Vs.
weapon-mounted lights
BY dr. leonard m. breure, ph.D.
08 DOES YOUR BREAKFAST MAKE
YOU “BULLELTPROOF?”
BY “OX”
10 considerations for your
survival in the low-light
environment
BY edward m. santos
13 DEALING WITH CLOSE UP
CONFRONTATIONS
16 LEADERSHIP DEFINED
BY COL. S. RANDY WATT
OUR LAWYERS INSIST WE MAKE THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER: You may die in an emergency, even if you follow this training to the letter. You might get hurt doing
some of the exercises suggested, hurt someone else, or
be subject to civil or criminal liability if you do anything
mentioned in this newsletter. Verify that the actions mentioned are legal where you are before even considering
them. This is presented as a tool to help increase your
chance of surviving natural and manmade disasters.
While we guarantee your satisfaction with the information, we can not guarantee your survival or well-being.
The author provides information about his experiences
and preparations and gives general information. He is
not an accountant, doctor, investment advisor or attorney
and is not in the business of advising individuals on their
specific situation. If you need specific professional assistance, please contact a local professional.
©COPYRIGHT 2014 TACTICS AND PREPAREDNESS. ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED. THIS PUBLICATION CONTAINS MATERIAL PROTECTED
UNDER INTERNATIONAL AND FEDERAL COPYRIGHT LAWS AND
TREATIES. ANY UNAUTHORIZED REPRINT OR USE OF THIS
MATERIAL IS PROHIBITED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE
REPRODUCED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS,
ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPYING,
RECORDING, OR BY ANY INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
SYSTEM WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE
AUTHOR / PUBLISHER.
2
www.tacticsandpreparedness.com
PHOTO ©SUREFIRE
05 WINNING AT THE “LYING GAME”:
LIARS AND LIES CAN BE
DANGEROUS
Surefire ultra-high two-output-mode LED WeaponLight for
Remington 870.
ply to both hand held and weapons mounted
lights:
1.High Output Beam
2.Reliable High Energy Power
3.Tactically Correct Switching
The industry standard used to be that a tactical light should produce at least 60 lumens.
That has progressed over the years to 80,
then 100 and now there are single battery,
compact LED 200 lumen flashlights. Lumen is
short for luminous flux. A lumen is a unit of
measure used to measure the total output of
a light source. The older candlepower ratings
measured only a single spot of light, usually
just the hottest spot in the beam.
Most tactical lights are powered by long
lasting CR123 Lithium Ion batteries.They provide the reliable high energy power source.
Lithium batteries have many advantages over
alkaline batteries, including longer shelf life
(15 years), higher power density, higher unit
voltage, lighter weight, better cold-weather
performance and superior voltage maintenance.
The older, click on side-mounted switching
of the standard police lights was awkward
at best and nearly impossible to manage under stress in the dark. Today’s momentary tail
cap or remote switches do a far better job of
meeting an operator’s needs.
Hand Held Choices
Over the years I’ve collected quite a few tactical lights. My wife has shoes, I have lights!
Some have worked great, others have been
junk. One light that I mounted on a student’s
Glock broke after he fired only a few rounds.
No, it wasn’t made by one of the major manufacturers. Like everything else, you get what
you pay for!
Weapons Mounted Lights
Operators have been mounting all sorts of
lights to their weapons for ages. However,
not since LAPD SWAT got together with SureFire prior to the 1984 Olympics did we really
have a workable solution. Things have come
a long way since 1984 and today’s weapons
mounted lights are nothing short of awesome.
Just ask any of our service members clearing a
house in Iraq or a cave in Afghanistan.
Hand Held versus Gun Mounted
As holsters for handguns with lights attached
are becoming more available, more and more
professionals are opting for a gun mounted
light.While a great aid to shooting in the dark,
a gun mounted light comes with some serious liability issues as well. What’s the liability
issue? Imagine hearing a bump in the night
and grabbing your trusty defensive firearm
(regardless of whether it’s a pistol, rifle or
shotgun) with a light attached (and no other
light source) and going to investigate.
As you’re going around the house, pointing
your light (and the attached firearm) at all the
nooks and crannies, what if you find that the
noise was caused by a child, pet or relative?
If your weapon-mounted light is your only
TACTICS & PREPAREDNESS FEBRUARY 2014
light source, you had to point your weapon at
them to identify them.
Even if the noise was caused by some random event, do you think you’d be able to clear
your house in the dark with a weapon-mount-
If you haven’t experienced the
effects of being in a darkened
room and then having
someone illuminate you with
a high intensity flashlight, you
really need to. The effect is
totally disorienting.
ed light without aiming it at something in the
same room or on the other side of a wall that
you aren’t willing to destroy? Of course not!
That’s why a combination of hand-held and
weapon-mounted lights is the ideal.
It is next to impossible to manage a hand
held light and accurately maneuver and engage with a long gun at the same time. Any-
one using a long gun for
“social” purposes owes
it to themselves to have
a good light mounted
on that firearm in addition to their hand
held light. All my tactical shotguns and black
rifles have dedicated
lights on them. We all
have a moral, ethical
and legal requirement
to positively identify
our target before pulling the trigger and not
to endanger innocent
people in our environment in the process.
John
Meyer
of
TeamOne Network puts
it well, “The gun mounted light enhances an
officer’s ability to identify and engage a target if the officer has justification / reason to
have their gun drawn in the first place. A gun
mounted light is not an illumination tool; consider it to be part of the weapons system.” I
don’t know how many times I’ve seen offi-
Principles and Techniques for Low Light Shooting
V
ery few people or organizations have
done as much studying of the dynamics
of low light shooting as the SureFire Institute. They have come up with seven principles that apply to low light engagements:
1.Read the Light
2.Move to the lowest level of light
3.Avoid or control backlighting
4.See from the threat’s view point
5.Light and move
6.Intermittent light at random heights
7.Dominate with light
With proper understanding of, and training in, these principals today’s operator
can substantially increase the odds of a favorable outcome should they be involved
in a low light encounter.
In addition, the serious student of all
things tactical must have in their tactical
toolbox a good selection of techniques for
using the tactical light. These should include: the Rogers/SureFire technique, the
Harries techniques, neck indexing and the
modified FBI techniques, among others.
In my low light training programs, I
teach seven different techniques for the
use of a hand held light. I have the students practice all of them with the lights
on. After they have had an opportunity
to see what works for them, we turn out
the lights. It’s usually eye-opening when
what a student thought might work well
turns out to be unmanageable. With a little practice students are able to settle on
a technique or two that works for them.
These couple of techniques must then be
practiced until they become a reflexive response.
Besides basic techniques to search and
shoot with a hand held light, students
need to master the skills needed for the
rest of our gun handling issues such as reloading and malfunction clearing. Finally,
we also need to address strong hand and
weak hand only as well as proper use of
cover with the light.
I can’t stress enough the need for proper training and regular practice when
it comes to our low light skills. Your life
could very well depend on it! 3
PHOTO ©STREAMLIGHT
THE POWER OF LIGHT
The 160 lumen Streamlight Nightfighter has
a unique adjustable ring to fit any hand.
cers draw their gun to use the light attached
to it when it was totally inappropriate to have
their gun out.
This brings me to the answer to the question: Hand held or Weapons Mounted light?
The answer is that you need both. If fact, it
is highly recommended that you carry a primary and a secondary hand held light in addition to the lights on your handgun and long
gun. I’m a firm believer in the two-is-one and
one-is-none theory.
So, how does all of this shake out? For me,
when I’m working, it goes like this: I normally dress in civilian clothes with my primary
sidearm, a Springfield Armory MC Operator
1911 in .45 ACP with a rail. That rail holds a
SureFire X400A tactical light and fits nicely
into my Blade-Tech Kydex holster.The Springfield is complemented by a Kimber Tactical
Pro II in a shoulder holster (no light). On
my belt you will find the latest and greatest
two-battery torch from Surefire, Streamlight,
Blackhawk or another high-end, battle tested
manufacturer. I usually wear a 5.11 vest for
concealment and in the right center pocket
we will find a second light, usually a SureFire
G2Z. The Remington 870s that sit behind the
door in my bedroom and the one that rides
in my vehicle are equipped with SureFire
DSF870 dedicated forend lights. Finally, the
Colt M-4 carbine in my squad car sports an
M-500 forend light as well.
If you don’t recognize these lights by name,
3
THE POWER OF LIGHT
Final Thoughts
First, buy the best light that you can possibly
afford. There is a lot of cheap junk out there.
SureFire, Streamlight, Insight Technologies,
Sig Sauer and a few others make great torches that you can trust. Ask guys coming back
from overseas and local law enforcement
what they trust. Talk to people who use and
abuse their gear and have to depend on it for
their survival, not your buddy who has a subscription to some cheesy gun rag and twenty
“safe queens” that don’t have any scuffs and
scratches on them.
Second, get some good training in how
to properly use your light. All of the better
schools and instructors are now offering
low light instruction. The SureFire Institute
is probably the best, but there are a lot of
other good programs out there. (David’s
note: I would argue that Ed Santos (CenterTargetSports.com) and Matt Seibert (InsightFirearmsTraining.com) are two of the
best, if not THE two best low light firearms
instructors in the country. Ed is the author of
“Low Light Combatives” and “Rule the Night,
Win the Fight.” Matt created the high-stress,
low light training programs for multiple Tier
I CQB/entry teams. Ox and I train and talk
with both of these guys on a very regular basis and have the utmost respect for them.)
Finally, practice, practice, practice. Most
shootings occur in low light, yet how often
do we practice in low light? This practice
needs to be two fold. First you need to find a
range where you can get in regular low light
shooting sessions. Secondly, your practice
should involve some type of force on force
exercises.They are the only way that you can
really see what works and what doesn’t.
Hand held or weapons mounted light? If
you have to choose one, it’s got to be hand
held, but if I’m going into harm’s way, I’ll be
carrying both! 3
4
GUN MOUNTED LIGHT CONSIDERATIONS
J
ohn Meyer and his TeamOne Network
have developed several important considerations for those using a gun mounted
light on their sidearm.The basic foundation
that they build upon is that the justification
for drawing and pointing a firearm should
NOT change simply because the operator
has a light attached to the firearm.
They list five “cornerstone concepts” related to the safe use of the weapons mounted light.They are:
1. Carry a primary flashlight
in addition to your
weapon-mounted light.
A weapon-mounted light does not eliminate the need for a primary flashlight. For
obvious reasons, at no time should you
be forced to draw your weapon solely because you need illumination. Once a light
is mounted on a weapon, it should be considered part of a law enforcement weapon
system, not simply a source of light.
2. Carry the appropriate holster.
Be sure you’re equipped with a holster
specifically designed to accommodate your
weapon-mounted light. Being forced to remove your light before holstering hinders
your ability to promptly de-escalate and
may force you to handle a loaded weapon
in a manner that could be dangerous.
3. Avoid mounting your light
when your weapon is loaded.
It’s best to always abide by the policy that
nothing, including any part of your body,
should pass before the muzzle of your
loaded weapon unless you plan to shoot or
destroy it.
4. Ensure sufficient
ambient lighting.
Be sure that your weapon-mounted light
issues enough ambient light to illuminate
the peripheral while your weapon is held
in low-ready position or off to the side of
the target you want to see. This will help
you avoid the need to point your weapon
directly at a subject or location simply to
illuminate it. Again, it’s best to abide by the
rule that nothing should be in line with
your muzzle unless you are in a situation
that would justify your use of deadly force.
At no time should you be pointing your
weapon at a subject simply as a means of
illuminating him in a situation that does
not warrant the presentation of that level
of force.
5. Train for the realities of
low-light situations.
Officers operate in low-light conditions
more than they actually fire their weapons
in those settings. Be sure that your training
isn’t solely focused on firing your weapon.
It must also include substantial focus on all
other low-light operational issues. 3
As holster for handguns with
lights attached are becoming
more available, more and
more professionals are opting
for a gun mounted light. While
a great aid to shooting in the
dark, a gun mounted light
comes with some serious
liability issues as well.
Left: Bersa BP9cc in a
Leatherneck Tactical holster,
designed to carry both the
Bersa and it’s mounted
Viridian C5 green laser.
PHOTO BY OLEG VOLK A-HUMAN-RIGHT.COM
you’ll quickly see that some of them cost as
much as a new firearm.The dilemma that this
raises reminds me of the saying, “Don’t be
afraid of the man with dozens of guns. Fear
the man with a single gun who knows how
to use it.”
At some point, as uncomfortable as it may
be, the prudent choice may be to sell an “extra” gun or two to make a single gun truly exceptional and/or to pay for additional training so that you can actually use your guns
with predictable results in a life or death
situation.
and
L iars
can
be
dangerous
PHOTO BY PAOLO NEO
L ies
Winning At the
“Lying Game”
Certain types of violence are usually preceded with what is often referred to as “the interview.”
I
n an interview, the criminal has identified
a possible victim and now he must confirm his decision. Sometimes the interview
is limited to observing the proposed victim’s
body language; but often the criminal will engage the victim in conversation. He uses this
opportunity to test the victim’s awareness,
self-confidence and willingness to defend
himself. If the criminal perceives the person
as being an ideal victim, he may also use the
interview to intimidate his intended victim
and set the stage for an easy crime.
ing poker counts as lying) you will not be as
good at this game as your opponent. You are
going to need some tactics to help you level
the playing field.
The criminal’s goal is to deceive and manipulate their intended victim. The more
they can deceive you into believing they are
nice guys and that you are perfectly safe, the
more off guard you are likely to be when
they decide to strike. The ability to identify a
lie in verbal communications is an important
part of our awareness training.
Criminals tend to lie.
• A person suspected of stealing says,“I can’t
say who might have taken the money” or “I
would deny any accusations made against
me” or “I can’t imagine anybody would even
suspect me of doing something like this.”
It’s a skill that they practice on a regular basis and it’s a skill with immediate and sometimes self-correcting feedback. If they do
it poorly, they don’t eat as well, make more
enemies and may end up in prison. The better they are at it, the more unconscious the
skill will become and the harder it will be
to detect.
If you don’t lie on a regular basis and don’t
spend time around people who do, (play-
• An armed robber says,“You will not be hurt
if you do exactly what I tell you to do.”
• A street mugger says, “Nobody wants to
hurt you, I only want your money.”
Are these people telling the truth? Should
you comply with their orders?
Are all lies and liars bad?
I’d argue that they are not all bad. Undercover law enforcement officers must lie. People in clandestine services must lie. Special
Forces teams working in counter-insurgency
roles must lie. People who deal in classified,
secret and confidential work end up lying on
a regular basis to protect their patients, clients and work.
In fact, I bet you’ve told someone that you
have less money than you really do when
negotiating over the price of an item you
were interested in buying; maybe even lied
to law enforcement by telling them that you
weren’t speeding when you knew you were.
Did you ever think of giving a mugger your
“mug money” or “mug wallet” instead of your
real one or using a similar deception with
criminals? Can you tell me how that’s NOT
lying? Does it make you a bad person?
I don’t say that to complicate the issue;
5
winning at the lying game
just to point out that in an ideal world, lying
would be a black and white issue, but we’re
not living in an ideal world.
The liar’s mindset.
When a criminal engages in conversation
designed to manipulate his victim, he knows
he is going to lie and, therefore, must hide
his true intentions. And while some violent
criminal acts are impulsive, most crimes are
planned and mentally rehearsed prior to being committed.
It’s important to note that many people
feel NO guilt about lying. Some people feel a
religious justification for lying. (For example,
it’s OK for Muslims to lie to Infidels.) Others
feel a moral justification for lying (the end
justifies the means) and some have a psychological justification for lying (Life is about me
and you’re just a pawn in my game.) Some
people don’t think that the gravity of the lie
is worth getting upset about (a husband telling his wife that she doesn’t look fat.)
In other words, some people exhibit guilt
when lying and others don’t.
How liars lie.
When someone tells the truth, they tend to
be direct and to the point. Liars are evasive,
answer a question with a question, talk in
a passive voice and they keep on talking as
though they are trying to convince themselves. Keep in mind that in social situations,
this pattern also shows itself when you’re
talking with people who are converting
thoughts to speech for the first time or who
are trying to formulate a response to a moral
or ethical question on the fly. In other words,
sometimes honest creative thought and lying
look the same.
Let’s look at a case where it is a criminal
who is lying:
Q. Did you steal any of that missing money?
A. Why would I steal money from where
I work? I am not the kind of person who
steals. I have a good reputation and I would
deny any accusations that point to me as
being involved in this.
If he is not the thief, why didn’t he just say
no? The answer is guilt and anxiety.
If our street mugger who says, “Nobody
wants to hurt you, I only want your money,” is
telling the truth why wouldn’t he say,“I won’t
hurt you, just give me your money.”
Phrases such as: I can’t; I could, would or
should; that’s a hard question; the answer is;
all suggest that the person may be holding
back all or part of the truth.
If a person’s answer to a question has nothing to do with the question or if the response
is a rambling dissertation, then he is probably
suppressing his guilt or anxiety. The study of
language and the verbal behavior of liars are
very complex. For the purpose of this article
we only wish to stimulate your thinking and
show you how, by paying close attention to
what people say, you can become reasonably
sophisticated in the art of spotting lies and
deceptions.
Follow the three strike rule.
Liars have all kinds of verbal tools that they
use to evade and misdirect people away from
the truth. You don’t have to become an expert in language to spot a liar. We suggest you
follow the three strike rule:
Ask someone a question. If you get an evasive answer, ask the question again. If the
person avoids or evades the question, ask it a
third time. A person telling the truth seldom
has to be asked the same question twice. A
liar will almost always engage in verbal games
as he tries to hide his guilt, anxiety or true
intentions.
On the street the three strike rule becomes
the one strike rule. Dealing with strangers,
where the chance of violence is high, we suggest that one evasive response should raise
your state of awareness from condition yellow (aware) to condition orange (danger is
likely).
For example, a suspicious vehicle is parked
near your house.You approach the driver and
ask, “Why are you sitting here?” He responds,
“I ain’t doin’ nothin’.”
The driver has not answered the question.
PHOTO BY JOHN SULLIVAN
When a criminal engages in conversation designed to manipulate his victim, he
knows he is going to lie and, therefore, must hide his true intentions.
6
winning at the lying game
The question was why not what. The response was evasive. That should be enough
to warn you that trouble may not be far away.
People who lie to you should be considered as potential threats to your safety and
well-being. Be careful. Liars are not always
dangerous people, but dangerous people always lie.
Why do criminals or other types of dangerous people lie? Because lying is a great way
to either lull you into a false sense of security
or distract your attention away from the liar’s
real intentions. It makes no difference whether the person is a mugger, armed robber or
simply a trouble-maker in search of a fight.
Their rules of engagement are pretty much
based upon the rule: “never give the victim a
chance to defend himself.”
Acts of violence are seldom purely random
events. Bad guys, crooks and troublemakers
often know their victims. They may be a coworker, neighbor, someone you meet or deal
with on a regular basis, even a family member.
Spotting lies can be a valuable early warning
signal that tells you trouble may be brewing.
For most people—even experienced criminals—lying can be uncomfortable or difficult,
so they will often tell a partial truth. They’d
rather lie by omission, not commission.
Here’s a recent example of language that
may very well indicate a lie. There were rumors circulating that singer Whitney Houston and her husband were using illegal drugs.
When she was asked by a reporter if it was
true, she got angry and said, “I am not a drug
addict. If I were an addict, it would adversely
affect my performance on stage.Therefore, as
you can see, I am not a drug addict.”
The problem here is that she was not accused of being a drug addict, only of the occasional recreational use of an illegal substance.
She got angry, over-reacted and did not answer the real question.
A person who has committed a crime or
may be in the process of “interviewing” a potential victim must also deal with the same
kind of stress that results in a fight or flight
response. Hiding guilt or bad intentions
creates a great deal of stress. There are five
stress-response states involved in verbal and
non-verbal communications. Four of them are
negative responses: Anger, depression, denial
and bargaining. They represent a general rejection of the situation. The fifth response is
admission of guilt.
To detect lies, you must sharpen your listening skills. The presence of stress can be
revealed in a person’s voice. We must pay attention to verbal quality and content. Verbal
quality involves changes in the pitch, volume
and rate of speech.
Fear-provoking questions tend to cause the
pitch of a person’s voice to rise. It may also
cause the voice to crack.
Stress also tends to cause a change in volume. It is more common for a person to raise
the volume, almost to the point of shouting.
This is a sign of anger and may indicate a fight
or flight response to a threatening question.
Some people will lower the volume of their
voice under stress. This may indicate signs of
depression or a state of denial. Stress also may
result in some form of speech dysfunction.
Deceptive people tend to have more speech
problems than people not under stress. Prob-
Spotting lies can be a
valuable early warning signal.
lems may range from stuttering to slurring
words and usually include the addition of
nonspeech sounds such as “ah,”“er,”“um,”“uh”
and other similar sounds.Then there is verbal
content. The next time you ask your spouse
or child a question that they don’t want to
answer, observe their response.
People covering up guilt or hiding bad intentions try to use some form of distraction
or misdirection. Here are some verbal response signals to watch for:
Anger.
Watch for obscene language; attacks on you;
attacks on the subject or facts in question; attacks on minor details or trivial information.
This may indicate lying.
Depression.
If the person you are questioning mentions
sleeping problems; comments about feeling
depressed or emotional problems; brings up
family or job problems, talks about leaving
town—even committing suicide, they may be
trying to change the subject or redirect your
attention away from the problem.
Denial.
If the person claims memory failure: “I was
too drunk to remember.” If they use guilt
phrases such as “You’ve already made up your
mind that I’m guilty, so why should I discuss
this?” If they stall answering a question by
coughing, repeating the question or laughing;
if they try to distract or change the conversation by statements like, “Why would I take
the money and not pay my bills?” Then the
person is probably using deception to reject
reality.
Bargaining.
People who use religious statements such as,
“I swear to God” or “I swear on my mother’s
grave” or they substitute soft words to describe harsh deeds or make statements that
elicit sympathy may be attempting to plea
bargain a deal. They are holding their admission of guilt until they work out an acceptable compromise.
As we said earlier, certain types of criminals
who commit violent acts tend to screen their
victims. This means talking with the target.
It means they will probably be telling lies to
create a distraction that gives them the advantage of surprise.
Your ability to quickly spot lies gives you
the advantage. Listen to your gut. Learn to listen carefully to the sound of a person’s voice,
to the way they answer your questions and to
the stories they tell you. If you detect a high
level of stress or you spot obvious lies or realize they are trying to distract your attention,
be on your guard.
Pay extra attention when someone’s voice
or language suddenly changes. It could signal
that they are getting ready to take action.
Try to consciously watch and listen to
people you’re interacting with over the next
several days. Pay particular attention to indicators that the person is engaging in creative thought to come up with their words
or lying. In fact, try asking people questions
where you know they have to come up with
a creative response, rather than a logical one
or one from memory and pay attention to the
subtle changes they make in their speech patterns and even what their eyes do.
One thing that you will quickly see is that
different people look different ways when
they’re lying or being creative and there’s
no one-size-fits-all pattern, unlike what many
books and courses teach. Do this enough
times with friends, relatives and acquaintances, consciously paying attention to the subtle
changes that happen and within a few weeks,
you’ll quickly develop the subconscious skill
of being able to pick up verbal and non-verbal tells. 3
7
PHOTO FROM FREERANGESTOCK.COM. PANCAKES BY CHANCE AGRELLA, COCONUT BY CHRIS WINDRAS
Does Your Breakfast Make You
Bulletproof?
BY: “OX”
There’s an old saying that, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” I agree with that statement,
but only if breakfast is done correctly.
I
’m a body and brain hacker who is always
looking for ways to squeeze extreme performance out of my not-extreme body. Because of this, I look at what I eat for breakfast
as one of the highest leverage activities I do
on a daily basis.
If I drink fruit juice, eat fruit, pastries and
flour based products like toast, pancakes, biscuits and most cereals, I end up on a noticeable blood sugar roller coaster for the day.
When I became aware of this, I started watching the people I’m around and I can fairly reliably forecast people’s future cognitive and
physical abilities based on what I see them
put in their mouths.
As a side note, I see the exact same blood
sugar roller coaster (and a lot more discipline
issues) with our kids when we give them
these same kinds of foods. It’s caused us to
completely rethink whether the act of giving them sweets is an act of love or one that
almost surely guarantees a bad outcome. If
8
you’ve got kids or grandkids who you pick
food for, it’s worth testing out whether
changing their diet changes the quality of the
choices that they make. This change could
make a huge difference in your quality of life.
So, back to breakfast that makes you bulletproof …
About a year ago, I spent the weekend with
some friends, all of whom were incredibly
high level achievers and one who happened
to be the head medical advisor to three world
champion teams in the same year.
Somehow, I’d missed the memo that I
should be putting butter and coconut oil in
my coffee.
You read that correctly; butter and coconut
oil in my coffee. A lot of the research around
this originated with an entrepreneur named
Dave Asprey from BulletproofExecutive.com.
I’m not sure if his story is true, but it IS awesome. He found himself exhausted at 18,000
feet near Mt. Kailash in Tibet, but was able to
stumble into someone’s house where he was
immediately rejuvenated with a cup of Yak
butter tea. That event caused him to explore
the effect of good fat on human performance.
It turns out that the human brain THRIVES
on good fat, and it makes the tummy feel full
and comfortable for longer than most other
foods.
For starters, the addition of the good fats
seems to clear any early morning fog in my
mind almost instantly and keeps my mental
performance at a high level, without noticeable fluctuations, for hours—regardless of
whether or not I have any other food.
There are many mornings where I start
working and realize that the entire morning
has passed, that I’ve been incredibly productive and focused, and that I’ve forgotten to eat
anything.
Without the butter and coconut oil, I normally need to eat two or more times per
morning to keep my tummy and brain happy.
This has been an incredible find for me and
it has made a noticeable improvement in my
ability to perform demanding mental tasks for
long periods of time, my ability to do intense
physical activity for long periods of time and
my ability to concentrate for long periods
while attending presentations and training
classes.
There are a couple of nice additional benefits in that the combination can ratchet up
your metabolism and encourages lean muscle
growth.
Here’s how I make mine. I like my coffee
extracted with high pressure (espresso) instead of low pressure (coffee), so I start with
four shots of chemical-free decaf and two
shots of chemical-free caffeinated espresso.
Then I add two tablespoons of organic, grass
fed butter, a splash of maple syrup and one
tablespoon of medium chain triglyceride
(MCT) oil that’s extracted from coconut oil.
Blend it for 20-30 seconds and enjoy. It’s not
The human brain THRIVES on
good fat such as coconut oil.
greasy and it’s so delicious and satisfying that
you’ll probably start craving them after your
first or second glass.
There are a few important details to the ingredients.
First, the body will tolerate a lot of things
that aren’t good for it, but the more junk you
force it to work with and metabolize, the
lower your performance level will be. In this
case, it means limiting the petroleum based
chemicals that you put in your body in the
form of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and
fertilizers, etc. That’s why I said I use “chemical free” coffee and “organic grass fed” butter.
With the butter in particular, what the
cows are fed will dramatically influence the
quality of the butter. Grass fed butter has better fat than grain fed butter. (Yes, I know that
butter doesn’t eat, but it’s easier than saying
“butter that comes from grass fed cows.”)
Specifically, it has more Omega 3 fatty acids,
more vitamin K2 and more Conjugated Linoleic Acid. In my experience, grass fed butter
such as the Kerrygold Irish Butter that I use
blends better, tastes better and digests better.
In a very non-scientific explanation, most
of the great benefits of coconut oil come
from MCT oil and the MCT oil that you can
buy is concentrated from coconut oil. In addition to being found in coconut oil, MCTs
are found in breast milk and are given intravenously and through feeding tubes to people
who are incredibly sick as an efficient way to
fuel their minds, bodies and immune systems.
MCT oil is digested almost immediately
without adding stress to the pancreas or the
digestive system, which makes it an incredibly efficient food. The more efficient the
food you eat, the less food you have to eat; the
less your food taxes your digestive system, the
happier it will be.
MCT is neat in that most people recognize
the effects of taking it very shortly after consumption. It’s pure brain food and the increase in mental clarity and performance is
quick, noticeable, and dramatic.
One thing that you need to be aware of is
that you will probably have to start with 1/2
or even 1/4 tablespoon of butter and MCT
and work your way up to whatever quantity works best for you. You’ll know if you’re
pushing it too far if you get loose, URGENT
stools. That being said, I’ve worked up to
where today I had three cups, each with two
tablespoons of butter and one tablespoon of
MCT, with no ill effects.
Dave Asprey sells regular and decaf coffee
as well as MCT oil on BulletProofExecutive.
com, but I haven’t tried his brand. The brands
I use are: NOW MCT oil (because it’s the only
kind I can buy locally), chemical-free caffeinated espresso from Nespresso in my Nespresso Pixie and organic caffeine-free espresso
from either Larry’s Beans (on Amazon) or
from local roasters.
Wherever you get your raw materials from,
I want to encourage you to try this crazy
drink. The effects of a clearer, faster thinking
mind are rewarding and far reaching in good
times, can give you an advantage in sports
and tactical endeavors and could buy you the
extra edge that you need in a post-disaster
situation. 3
shoot
300%
better
in 21 days or your
money back...
for less than the
cost of a box Of
practice ammo!
Dry Fire Training Cards –
The Best Way to Keep Your
Shooting Skills In Peak
Condition All Year Long
52 dry fire training exercises and drills that cover:
• firearms fundamentals
• advanced concepts
• dry fire exercise drills
• dry fire complex movement drills
• low-light drills
They are a force multiplier that will allow you to create
muscle memory and hardwire perfect form into your
subconscious mind faster (and cheaper) than what is
humanly possible with just live fire or traditional dry
fire alone.
DryFireCards.com/tnp
9
PHOTO BY Aleksandar Momirovic
It Takes More Than
Equipment and
Techniques to Make You
a Low-Light Winner
Considerations for Your Survival In the
Low-light Environment
BY: EDWARD M. SANTOS
Recently, there seems to be more and more written, discussed and even advertised about working
under low-light conditions.
M
aybe I am just more sensitive to these
issues as this is a subject that I am passionate about and feel compelled to
learn more. Through research, experimentation and clinical study, I am constantly looking for answers. The purpose of this article
pertains to how I believe you can immediately impact your low-light survivability.
Like so many other law enforcement skills
and tactics, it seems someone is always trying
to reinvent the wheel. Don’t get me wrong;
as it pertains to equipment, we have seen
some tremendous improvements in low-light
illumination and night vision.
It has been my experience that many agencies fail to understand the critical nature of
realistic low-light training. Sadly, many firearms instructors spend most of their time
10
teaching the popular flashlight techniques
that have been around forever. That’s OK to
a point. Flashlight techniques are important
and they need to be understood. However,
there is more to operating in the dark than
knowing how to hold a flashlight.
Develop an Understanding
I believe you need to develop greater understanding of the physiological and psychological aspects you will encounter while under
stress in the dark. A comprehensive understanding of these factors will allow you to
select and train in the techniques that work
for your particular environment and personal
limitations or capabilities. You need to understand that these are factors that affect everyone who operates in a low-light environment,
A note on techniques:
Many instructors demonstrate the
techniques, but fail to discuss their
specific pros and cons. Take the time
to research the flashlight deployment
techniques you use every day. Learn
about the pros and cons associated
with the techniques that make up your
system. This research may make you
aware of some issues that cause you
to rethink how you manipulate your
flashlight and firearm.
RODS
CONES
RETINA
RODS
The cones in the eye provide us with color and
detail in a lit environment, but in the dark the rods
take over and allow us to see movement rather
than fine detail.
Physiology
At a minimum, learn the function of the eye’s
Rods and Cones. Understand how the cones
provide us with color and detail in lighted environments. In the dark the rods take over
and allow us to see movement rather than
fine detail. Knowing that cones are concentrated in the center of your vision will reinforce your understanding of why off-center
viewing is so critical at night.
Did you know that the amount of light we
need to see at night doubles every 13 years?
Your vision is typically 20/800 during your
initial exposure to a darkened environment.
Develop an understanding of the light to
darkness adaptation rates and the levels of
visual acuity. This knowledge could prove
to be very helpful in assessing your suspect’s
ability to see at the time of your contact.
Psychological
We need to understand that in reduced light,
our mind will try to fill in what our eyes can’t
see. This reality becomes even more difficult
to manage under stressful conditions. We
have all heard instructors talk about Fight or
Flight Response. Lately we are hearing the
term Body Alarm Response (BAR) in the place
of Fight or Flight. The BAR is the body’s response to the high stress of a life threatening
attack situation. Add the psychological and
physiological changes that are magnified by
the lack of light and the Low-Light BAR can
be the most severe you will ever experience.
The most immediate visual change in response to the BAR is that the eye loses its
ability to maintain clear focus on targets at
close distances. During the first few seconds
that you experience the BAR you are unable
to focus on the front sight of a gun. Your visual focus will be drawn to infinity. This is
sometimes referred to as getting “Big Eyes.”
This focusing change toward infinity focus is
due to the transition from parasympathetic
nervous system control to sympathetic nervous system control.
“Tunnel Vision” or “Perceptual Narrowing”
can be explained by the physiological and
psychological changes that accompany the
BAR. As humans we have an innate tendency
to narrow attention upon a threat during extreme stress.
Visual Patience
Visual patience is a term I use to describe the
act of leaving your light on long enough to
identify what you are looking at. Emotions of
the fight and visual patience are often mixed
or confused when we attempt to analyze
the high stress environment of a gun fight.
I often see a lack oft visual patience during live-fire low-light drills or when we are
conducting low-light force on force training
scenarios. On the live fire course, I will often
expose the student to multiple “bad guy” targets that look identical.
Typically these are full color realistic silhouette targets of bad guys holding weapons
of some sort. I often raise the intensity of the
live fire drills by introducing three dimensional mannequin targets. Many times, these
mannequins are dressed in male or female
clothing to add a sense of realism.
I often replace the weapon on one of the
targets with surrender hands. This is a subtle
change in the overall appearance of the bad
guy. The students will typically fail to take
the necessary time to make the appropriate
target identification. They fail to have the Visual Patience to properly identify the target
as a surrender target and they wind up shooting a target that should have been treated as
a no-shoot.
You should spend time training under
similar conditions to those mentioned above.
Get together with teammates and create scenarios that require visual patience. These
scenarios can be practiced during live fire or
conducted during briefings using airsoft or
other simulation guns. The key is to make
the scenarios fun and challenging in a way
that you must use visual patience in order
to be successful. If conducted at the shift
level, they will have the additional benefits
good guys and bad guys alike. Developing
the knowledge, tools, tactics and techniques
to “Rule the Night” and not merely exist in it
could save your life.
A great place to start to improve your lowlight survivability is by studying human eye
physiology, effects of Body Alarm Response
(BAR) in the dark and the low-light skills of
Visual Patience. Don’t overlook the importance of using your light source as a control
device. I don’t have the space in this article
to provide all the specific information to support the above topics. I will however, provide some general factors for you to consider
as you begin your research.
As humans we have an innate
tendency to narrow attention upon
a threat during extreme stress.
11
of developing team work, confidence in your
partners and providing supervisors with a
benchmark of the participant’s collective
skill levels.
Here is where you can tremendously improve your ability to win at night by learning
to use light to control your suspect. How do
you use light as a force option? I bet I’ve
got you wondering now. Imagine your suspect experiencing 5-7 seconds of disorientation as a result of something you do at your
discretion, from a distance, using only your
flashlight. Would you do it? Would you flip
that proverbial switch just before you go
hands on? I bet you would.
By placing the hot spot of your light in the
suspect’s eyes, you reduce his ability to see
you clearly and mount any type of attack as
you approach. He is unable to assess your
physical conditioning, your size, determine
if you are alone, look for an escape route or
look for cover, just to mention a few advantages. Would you find any advantage in putting your suspect in a situation that would
take him about 90 seconds to regain approximately 70 percent of his ability to see that he
had before you flashed him with the light?
Would you consider that to be a tactical advantage to yourself? Sure you would. Try it.
You will like the results.
If you have a quality light source, and
you know how to use it, you can gain the
advantages as stated above every time you
confront a suspect in a diminished light environment. I can’t stress enough that in order
to see these results you must have training,
quality equipment and the confidence to apply the techniques.
If you are to have a reasonable expectation of the suspect’s disorientation, you must
know the light flashed in his eyes is free of
any dark spots or imperfections. Make sure
the light you select and use will project a
clean beam with a pattern free of any dark
spots. Many instructors say you must have
a light with a minimum of 65 lumens. As
technology has improved and prices have
dropped, my preference has changed from
65 to 80 to 100 to 200 lumens.
To many people, using light as a force
option is a new dynamic. I can’t remember ever seeing “The Use of Light” in any
of the footnotes that accompany the various Use of Force continuum charts I have
looked at. Whether the concept is new to
12
PHOTO ©Fenix
Control with Light
Five to seven seconds of disorientation in your attacker can
mean the difference between life and death.
above: The Fenix TK15 is compatible with a tactical flashlight ring or remote pressure switch, and delivers a powerful 400 lumens.
you or not, it deserves your consideration.
Look at both the offensive and defensive
applications of quality light as you begin to
assess the feasibility of adding light as a force
option to your tactical toolbox. We already
have enough going against us as we often
find ourselves in a reactive mode. How many
times have you been told “Action is faster
than Reaction”? We all know it to be true.
Typically, we utilize tactics, training and
troops to overcome many of the situations
we are faced with. Look at the effective deployment of a quality light as another tool
to help you win. You are often working in a
diminished light environment when you are
confronted with a lethal encounter. The very
fact that you are in less than desirable lighting conditions means you more than likely
are using some type of artificial light. As stated earlier, most of you only use the light in
a traditional sense to navigate, investigate or
perhaps communicate, but there you are in
a low light environment with the flash light
in your hand and you need to take some defensive or offensive action as a result of the
suspect’s actions.
Does it not stand to reason that if you can
gain the defensive or offensive advantage by
deploying the tool you already have in your
hand, you should do it?
The advantages of such actions are many
and go way beyond reaction time in its purest
sense. When you consider the reduction in
motor skill performance and the time wasted
as you decide what tool you are going to deploy after you do something with the light
that is already in your hand, the advantages
are apparent. After all, we will increase both
our reaction time and our movement time if
we choose to deploy a tool other than what
we already have in our hand.
Don’t misunderstand me; I am all about
getting rid of anything that will not be of
benefit to you during those critical situations.
This is one of the cornerstones of my motivation to write this article. At a minimum, the
coordinated, efficient deployment of a quality flashlight is a tremendous equalizer. In
fact, I have always felt the light has given me
a distinct advantage over my suspect.
I believe the single most important thing
you can do to improve your survivability is
to improve your understanding of operating
in the low-light environment. Never before
have we had the tools, access to the knowledge and clinical research available to us to
truly rule the night. 3
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edward M. Santos is the author of “Rule
the Night, Win the Fight” and “Low Light
Combatives” which are both available on
Amazon. Ed is a retired U.S. Army sniper
and has 20 years of law enforcement experience who writes from a position of
experience and expertise. He also owns
Center Target Sports (CenterTargetSports.
com) in Post Falls, Idaho, which is a fullservice range and firearms training center.
Ed splits his time between teaching in Post
Falls and teaching advanced low light and
full light fundamental and tactical courses
at various ranges and departments from
coast to coast.
Dealing with
close up
confrontations
On a regular basis, police officers approach within several feet of a suspect they believe to be armed
and dangerous.
O
ftentimes, the officer’s weapon is
drawn and pointing at the suspect.
They instruct him to put his hands up.
Some of these officers will not go home at
the end of their shift because of a simple
truth I’m going to share with you.
There are times when ordinary citizens
might need to be the one to confront a suspect or offender. Whether you’re in law enforcement and taking the fight to the bad
guys or a citizen and you’re an unwilling
participant in a violent encounter, the rules
we’re going to discuss are the same.
During such confrontations many people,
including experienced law officers, believe
that they have the ability to fire their weapon
the moment they see the attacker go for his
weapon. They further believe that their shot
or shots would hit and neutralize the attacker
before he could draw and use his weapon. In
these situations these officers were wrong.
Some of them were dead wrong.
Reaction time is the amount of time it
takes to start to move after the perception of
danger. In the case of a well-trained shooter,
that reaction time is around two or three
tenths of a second. Well trained, in this case,
could be considered someone who is doing
at least 100 dry fire or live fire repetitions per
week as well as constantly gaming scenarios
and predefining trigger points for confrontations.
So, if you see a need to discharge your
firearm, it’s safe to assume that it will take
at least a quarter of a second before you can
take action.
What does this mean? At close range, if you
are confronting an offender who has a knife
in his hand and his hand is by his side with
the blade pointing downward, you are at
great risk. Even if your gun is already drawn
and pointed at the suspect, you are likely to
lose the fight.
By the time you see him move and you
fire your first shot, he will be accelerating his
In these situations these officers were wrong. Some of them were dead wrong.
13
weight toward you with his knife aimed at
you. Physics being what it is, even if you are
able to shut down his central nervous system
with your first shot, his inertia may very well
still drive the knife into you. The reason behind this is that he acted first, and you reacted. In reacting, you were at least a quarter of
a second behind him. Worse yet, if you were
talking to him, your reaction time would be
even slower, up to as much as three-quarters
of a second, That is plenty of time for him to
cover five or more feet.
This three-quarters of a second is important to know, because the distance that an
attacker is able to travel during the threequarters of a second it takes you to react is
called your “reactionary gap.”
Reactionary Gap
Everybody has a reactionary delay. It may be
two-tenths of a second or it may be two seconds. If your reaction time is three-quarters
of a second and your attacker can close the
distance within one-quarter of a second, they
essentially get a free pass for the remaining
half-second until you get up to speed and
into the fight.
In 1983, SWAT Magazine ran an article by
Salt Lake City Police Officer, Dennis Tueller
that put concrete numbers to this abstract
idea. Officer Tueller directed several officers
see how quickly they could cover a distance
of 21 feet while holding a knife. The answer
was 1.5 seconds.
One and a half seconds was (and still is
in many places) also the benchmark for how
long an officer had to draw his firearm and
fire two center of mass shots.
What that means is that if an officer has
his firearm holstered and a knife wielding attacker decides to attack him at a distance of
21 feet or less, the officer should expect to
be stabbed.
In this example, 21 feet is the reactionary
gap if you’ve got a holstered firearm and are
facing an attacker who is armed with a knife.
If they are any closer than 21 feet and they
start their attack, you’re likely to get stabbed
before you are able to fire two center of mass
shots. This is why one of the most important
things that you can control in a violent force
encounter is the distance between you and
your attacker. This single factor can both
give you a big advantage if you have to go
“kinetic” and provide a trigger that you can
use to take action.
Some martial artists develop the ability to
14
float effortlessly. For years, UFC lightweight
fighter, Clay Guida was one of my favorite
examples of this. He always appeared to be
within striking distance, yet when his opponents struck at him, they found only empty
air. Maintaining a safe distance between you
and your adversary allows you time to react,
move, defend, counterattack or even turn
around and run away.
It makes no difference whether your opponent is using fists, a knife or a striking
weapon such as a stick, you must judge the
proper distance and stay just out of range. If
your adversary shifts his weight toward you
to attack, you glide back (away from him)
One of the most important
things that you can control
in a violent force encounter
is the distance between you
and your attacker.
at the same time, maintaining exactly the
same range. Skilled fighters often don’t even
bother putting their hands up in defense,
knowing their opponent can’t touch them.
Many professional fighters use it as a show
of disrespect and as a way to taunt their opponents into making silly moves.This kind of
tactical skill seems almost mystical, but it can
be learned with a little bit of practice.
Here’s how you can
Develop this skill
Choose a partner and each of you assumes
an aggressive or fighting stance. Keep just
enough distance between you and your opponent so you are just beyond his reach.
Have your opponent begin to move about,
trying to either get closer to you or farther
apart than the set range. You, in turn, will
move with him, always maintaining the proper distance. In effect, you must learn how to
become your adversary’s shadow. It’s difficult
at first, but with practice it becomes second
nature. If you’ve got more experience dancing than fighting, just think of it as being the
same color called a different name. In both
disciplines, you’re simply mirroring your
partner and maintaining proper distance.
Focus your glance on your opponent’s
chest. Your peripheral vision will enable you
to see their feet and hands. If the distance
you want to maintain is four feet, cut a string
to that length and tie it between both of you
onto each of your belts. As your opponent
moves, you shadow him while keeping the
string at full length. If you’re too slow, the
string will sag and if you move too far away
the string will break loose. With practice you
will actually be able to sense the proper distance and anticipate your opponent’s movements. Before long, your opponent will find
it impossible to close or open the distance
between you.
You, in effect, will be in control of the fight.
If your adversary can’t hit you, he can’t
hurt you. You can simply stay out of his range
when he’s strong, yet be able to close in on
him when he’s weak. The important thing to
remember is that you, not your enemy, must
be in control of the fighting range.
This isn’t an option for many readers because of age or injuries, and many environments don’t allow for the freedom of movement that this requires. If, for whatever reason, you can’t control the range, there are still
other factors at play that you may be able to
control that will shorten the reactionary gap.
As an example, having your firearm drawn
and aimed center of mass will reduce your
reactionary gap considerably. In addition, if
you are in your kitchen with a firearm and
your attacker is in your living room with a
knife, simply moving a chair between you
and your attacker or positioning yourself so
that your kitchen counter is between you
and your attacker will shorten the gap.
Each of these techniques will reduce your
reactionary gap and increase safety considerably. If you can fire two center of mass shots
in one-half second by having your firearm
drawn, then your reactionary gap drops to
roughly seven feet instead of 21 feet. When
you add in the time it would take for your
attacker to get around the chair or counter,
it would shrink your reactionary gap even
more.
If you’re confused by the reactionary
gap, think about drawing a dot on a piece
of paper. Then draw a medium sized circle
(the exact size doesn’t matter) around the
dot and assume that the circle represents a
distance of 21 feet away from the dot. You
are the dot. Place more dots on the page to
represent attackers. Any dots that are within
the circle are within your reactionary gap
and could get to you before you could imple-
The one who acts first usually wins.
(Also termed speed, surprise and
violence of action)
If someone has approached you, has a visible
weapon, has expressed their intent to harm
you, they’ve ignored your pleas, retreat is not
an option and they are within your reactionary gap, your best choice may very well be
to go on offense with the intent of attacking
the central nervous system to the extent that
they are no longer a threat to you. This is
because if they decide to start their attack
within your reactionary gap they will, by definition, be able to hurt you before you’re able
to mount an effective defense.
This is a personal decision that everyone
has to make, not only because of the moral
and human consequences, but also because
of how difficult it may be to justify your actions to law enforcement or a jury.
Unfortunately, few martial arts or self-defense instructors or studios teach the concept of pre-emptive attacks in a form that is
moral, ethical and‑hopefully‑legal. Most sell
the fantasy that you’ll always be able to react to a lethal force attack that happens at
smell-the-breath distance if you advance far
enough in their particular system. I don’t
know about you, but I’ve been arrogant and
slow and caught punches square on the jaw
plenty of times in fights! Now I like having
a few tricks up my sleeve that will work if
I face an attacker who is high on meth and
faster than me on my best day.
Regardless, at smell-the-breath distances up to six feet, you have little
chance of winning, no matter what
the combination of weapons is
in the fight‑unless you attack
first. If you react, you are depending upon pure luck;
luck that he misses, and
that you have one or
more center mass
hits.
At less than 21
feet, even if he
only has a knife,
he will have the
ability to kill you,
even if you also get him. That is still not very
encouraging.
So, if you are going to let him make the
first move, you need to be beyond 21 feet,
have your weapon drawn or have an obstacle between you and your attacker. And
that’s no guarantee that you will survive, but
at least it takes away most of his advantage.At
distances greater than 21 feet, you have the
time to put additional distance or obstacles
between you and your attacker.
One of the best books on this topic is
“How to Survive The Most Critical 5 Seconds
Of Your Life.” by Tim Larkin and Chris RanckBuhr and you can order it on Amazon or get
it at https://www.targetfocustraining.com/
bookpdf/
Here are some other things you can
do to decrease your reactionary gap
Give short commands, but don’t get into a
two-way conversation. You can’t do two
things at the same time. If you are going to
talk, talk. If you are going to shoot, shoot.
Don’t try to talk and shoot at the same time.
Remember, talking adds time to your reaction time.
Ignore his questions. If you have to say
anything, only give commands: Stop; Don’t
move; Drop your weapon, are good examples.
If you can’t find suitable cover, at least try
“How to
Survive The
Most Critical
5 Seconds Of
Your Life” is
an excellent
resource to
help you handle
an armed
encounter.
to use concealment. Fight from a darkened
area or in the shadows. An ordinary wall,
shrubs or a darkened window will not stop
a bullet, but it may make it more difficult for
the suspect to locate you to begin his attack.
In your home, try to keep furniture, counters or doorways partially between you and
your attacker.
Set your mental trigger. When confronting
a violent attacker, you must set your mental
trigger to reduce your reaction time.
You can’t pull the trigger on your weapon
unless you have first made the decision to
shoot. So what you need to do is say to yourself,“If he does this, I will shoot.”
You also want to shoot while moving laterally (left or right). This is called “getting off
the ‘X’” and has a physiological basis that’s
worth knowing. As the heart goes past the
pulse rate that’s common for exercise and
If they decide to start their attack
within your reactionary gap
they will, by definition, be
able to hurt you before
you’re able to mount
an effective defense.
ment an effective defense. Any dots outside
of the circle are outside of your reactionary gap and you should be able to eliminate
them as a threat before they can hurt you.
Reducing the reactionary gap simply
makes the circle smaller and you safer.
15
into the range that only happens in extreme
adrenaline states where the brain fears its
imminent demise, vision closes down to
where it’s similar to looking through a cardboard toilet paper tube or paper towel tube.
By simply moving a few feet from where
you were when your attacker began their
attack, they might not be able to see where
you are anymore and their inertia may simply cause them to attack the empty space
where you were.
For example, you give the command,
“Don’t move!” Your attacker has a weapon
in his hand.You tell yourself that if he starts
to move in the slightest way, you will slide
to the left (or right) and shoot, or shoot as
you slide, depending on your level of comfort with arms. No further thought is required. He has lethal force in his hand and
he has taken actions that indicate that he
intends to violently attack you.
This concept works without a firearm as
well: just picture a matador stepping out of
the way as a bull tries to gore the empty
space where he just was.
These concepts are applicable regardless of whether you’re facing an attacker
armed with a bladed weapon, firearm, club
or empty hands.
How can I apply this
information immediately?
Great question. As you’re going about your
day, aware of your surroundings and gaming
scenarios, think about how long it would
take you to react if something were to happen or if you picked up on pre-incident
triggers telling you something was about to
happen. Then, pre-determine your action in
light of how long it would take you to react.
As an example, if I’m eating at my favorite
lunch spot wearing my sidearm in a SmartCarry concealment holster and someone
comes in shooting, I know that my method
of concealment would increase my reaction time and require me to get to a position of concealment before drawing my
firearm and engaging the shooter.
In many scenarios, my first response to
a violent encounter is not to take direct
action; it’s to get to a tactically superior
position where I have an unfair advantage
if the attacker wants to try to hurt me. We
will have more on this concept in a future
article. Until then, feel free to contact me
at [email protected] with any
questions. 3
16
ON L EADERS H I P
LEADERSHIP DEFINED
L
BY: COLONEL S. RANDY WATT, former COMMANDER, US ARMY 19TH SPECIAL FORCES GROUP
eadership, like diagnosis of a major illness, often is not clearly visible on its
own, but is identified by its symptoms.
In fact, it is difficult to put what “leadership” actually is into words. True leadership
is results-oriented and is normally recognizable by what it accomplishes, more so than
what it actually looks like while it is being
done. Much like the ruling in the infamous
pornography case, we may not know how
to define it, but we know what it looks like.
And yet, we still constantly work at defining
leadership in order to get better at doing it.
If you are working at being a good leader,
you are constantly reading and reviewing
media material on the subject of leadership.
There are reams of material available and it
is often difficult to sift “the wheat from the
chaff.” In the last twenty-five years I have read
numerous books and articles on the subject
and each one contained its own definition.
Some definitions were short, one-liners, and
some were multi-sentence paragraphs. Each
one was measured against my own points of
reference, likes and dislikes, examples and
personal experiences. Some held promise,
others appeared to be just plain wrong. I
continued on in my hunt for the right definition, believing that would result in instant
assimilation of the best formula for successful leadership, but I was never able to find it.
Without realizing what was happening,
my search led me to compile several definitions of leadership, combine their effective
parts and then distill them into the simplest
form. The result was an efficient and effective definition, one that matched the results
of years of study, example, influence and experience. It is not a perfect definition, but it
is one that I believe allows us the best grasp
of the tenets necessary to be successful as
leaders in the action-oriented environment
of law enforcement special operations. You
are not required to accept this definition,
however, if it will help guide your leadership
efforts to success, as it has guided mine, feel
free to use it.
Successful leaders have always been capable of accomplishing great things while
working through others. There isn’t a leader
that we (particularly Americans,) consider
great who did not accomplish great feats,
often in times of adversity or peril. And the
leader didn’t do it alone, they leveraged the
power of the subordinates they had authority over, to accomplish the goal. In other
words, Leadership is the ability to influence
others to accomplish the mission.
True influence is accomplished
by developing a strong sense
of teamwork, by creating
shared values within the unit,
by developing a commitment to
excellence within the organization,
by creating a disciplined
organization dedicated to the
accomplishment of its mission.
The three main components of this definition center on an action imperative and are
ability, influence others, and accomplish the
mission. Ability is defined as (1) state of being able; possession of qualities necessary.
(2). competence, skill, a particular talent.1
In order to have a skill, we must put forth
the necessary effort to gain the foundational
knowledge and requisite experience. For instance, in order to be physically fit, we must
first learn what physical fitness is and how to
gain it through a study of its precepts. Then
we must apply that knowledge to exercising
the physical body. When applied properly,
the foundational knowledge plus the physical exercise enhances and speeds the process of developing physical fitness. Exercise
without the foundational knowledge is often
counterproductive. Foundational knowledge
LEADERSHIP DEFINED
without the exercise serves no purpose.
So it is with leadership. In order to have
the ability to lead, we must embark on an
earnest study of the foundational principles,
precepts, philosophies and concepts. This
must be followed by exercise, by our application of this knowledge in a leadership environment, complete with continued refining and development of our skill. This will
produce leadership ability.
To influence others is the core to leadership. When I was a police sergeant, a wise
police lieutenant once told me, “You don’t
get paid for what you do, you get paid for
what you get your officers to do.” He was
absolutely correct. As leaders, our job is not
to do the tasks, but to supervise the tasks,
to get the most out of our team members
that they are capable of. True influence is accomplished by developing a strong sense of
teamwork, by creating shared values within
the unit, by developing a commitment to excellence within the organization, by creating
a disciplined organization dedicated to the
accomplishment of its mission.
Creating positive influence is hard work.
In order to positively influence others, the
leader must have interpersonal skills. Positive influence requires constant effort and
regular inspection. The leader must create
a vision of success, be capable of getting
the subordinates to see the same vision, effectively communicate that vision and the
importance of reaching the goal, and then
focus the team’s energy in the appropriate
activities. Whether it is a selective enforcement operation or a hostage rescue, the
leader plays the critical role in obtaining the
unit’s success.
Negative influence is easy. Poor leaders
believe that influence is accomplished by
shouting, threatening or through other coercive behaviors. These kinds of leaders
believe in the authority of their position
alone and make no attempts to mediate it
with skilled and positive influencing of their
subordinates. They fail to recognize the fundamental truth that one cannot simply order
people to get things done, there must be a
defined, acceptable and shared purpose to
the work. Major-General John M. Schofield
once stated, “The discipline which makes
the soldier of a free country reliable in
battle is not to be gained through harsh or
tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such
treatment is far more likely to destroy than
to make an army. It is possible to impart
instructions and give commands in such a
manner and in such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense
desire to obey, while the opposite manner
and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong
resentment and a desire to disobey. The one
mode or the other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in
“Example is not
the main thing in
influencing others,
it is the only thing.”
the breast of the commander. He who feels
respect which is due to others cannot fail
to inspire in them regard for himself, while
one who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward others, especially his inferiors,
cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.
[underline added]”2
The most effective way to influence others is through the example that you provide.
In order to effectively lead, you must be capable of demonstrating your own commitment to the effort. Dr. Albert Schweitzer is
reported to have said, “Example is not the
main thing in influencing others, it is the
only thing.” If I want people to have a commitment to being physically fit, I must demonstrate my own commitment. If I want my
officers to have excellent shooting skills, I
must demonstrate my own willingness to
reach high standards. In other words, if I
want to “talk the talk,” I must “walk the walk.”
Accomplish the Mission means that, as a
leader, I must be prepared to do whatever is
necessary, within the bounds of law, policy,
ethics and morality, to ensure success. There
is nothing that will make up for a unit’s failure to get the job done. The leader and the
subordinates must be totally committed to
accomplishing their mission in the most effective way possible. History is replete with
examples of the results of failure to accomplish the mission and the devastating effects
that followed. The leadership skill of the
person in charge, combined with his or her
ability to influence their subordinates, will
result in the greatest chance of accomplishing the assigned mission.
In the U.S.Army there is a saying that goes,
“Mission First, Men Always.” What is meant
is that the best means of accomplishing the
mission is through the subordinates, but that
care and concern for the subordinates cannot overshadow the importance of accomplishing the mission. Taking care of our subordinates also means ensuring that the risks
we place them in are truly in keeping with
the importance of the mission. “We will risk
our officers’ lives only when necessary and
only in a calculated manner”3 is an axiom
that all good leaders will recognize and adhere to. There are risks that we are willing
to accept as leaders. We will risk our units’
lives to save innocent lives, such as hostages.
Based on our code of ethics, our personal
morality and our warrior ethos, we are willing to die, if necessary to save lives worth
saving. We always have been and we always
will be. In contrast, good leaders will recognize the fallacy of accepting high risk in
order to protect evidence or property.
Leadership is not easy, that’s why there
have been so few great leaders. This definition of leadership is not perfect, but it does
help a growing leader to identify the basic
tenets of leadership, which is exercising the
ability to influence others to accomplish the
mission. 3
(Endnotes)
1. The New American Webster Dictionary, August 1995, Signet Books.
2. Major General John M. Schofield, Address to the Corps of Cadets,
USMA, West Point, 11 August, 1879.
3. Robert Mathis, 1993, ICS for Law Enforcement.
Randy was gracious enough to allow me to print a series of short pieces that he wrote on leadership. Whether you are in a leadership position or not, it’s important to understand the many traits,
qualities, and behaviors associated with great leaders. If you’re a leader, you need to do this to identify your strengths and weaknesses and decide whether to work on your weaknesses or find a
co-leader who is strong where you are weak. As a leader, you can be a true force multiplier every day, in a tactical situation, and/or in a survival situation. If you’re in a support role, it’s important
to identify your leader’s strengths, accept the fact that they have weaknesses, and help them compensate. And, if you’re in a support role or simply a follower, it’s important to be able to quantify
leadership qualities and traits so that you can effectively evaluate leaders and potential leaders and decide who to hook your wagon to. This is an important skill to have on a daily basis, but
in the organizational vacuum that oftentimes happens after a major disaster, it’s critical to understand leadership...regardless of whether you’re leading, following, or getting out of the way.
17

Handheld Versus Weapons Mounted Lights

Transcription

Similar documents

Arizona Association For Property and Evidence June 3rd, 2015

Reality-Based Self-Defense System

we can help you restore your gun rights

SureFire DSF-500/590 Shotgun Forend LED WeaponLight Product

2015 Winners

DOUBLE TROUBLE Navigating Through Mass Attacks by Matthew J

Nerf Energy - TheChalkface.net

X-treme POWER... - Point Trading Group

Ithaca 37 - Gun Owners` Resource

Gun Mart - December Issue - Perazzi Review

SureFire - sean p. egen - writer