Sim training was way better than I expected. We spent more than half the time doing dry runs and that’s just what we needed. We’re not proficient at entries and building searches and that was the emphasis of the training.
Monday was building searches. They taught us a new technique to clear buildings. The old one was the dynamic entry. I’m sure you’re familiar with that one - line up in a stack or diamond/triangle and move. Point man dives into a room and the second guy follows.
The new technique has the first guy pass the door and cover what’s a head (hallway or adjacent doorways). The second guy also passes the door and sets up on the wall and peaks back into the room. The third guy takes the wall before the door and peaks in. Both take turns slicing the pie to see 90 degrees past their side of the doorway so basically all but the corners near the door are cleared before entry is made. It’s slower and safer for us. If we move at the right speed then a bad guy still can’t shoot us as we pass the door. If we use our angles then we can hopefully see him and address him as we slice the pie without exposing too much of ourselves.
Day two was applying that technique to active shooters. We did the same stuff but a little faster as long as there wasn’t any gunfire. Once we heard gunfire or screams we beat feet towards the noise.
We did a large scenario with supervisors running a command post. We had five teams enter at different times and locations. It was chaos. The scenario included engaging multiple suspects, victim extractions, and, unfortunately, officer down extractions. I was in the first group and we only had one officer go down. The second group had six! They got caught in an open courtyard and got pinned down. They also had a blue on blue shooting where two teams engaged each other from opposite sides of the courtyard.
Like I said, chaos! But this shit is real life and it does happen. In one out of every three active shooters, there is a blue on blue shooting. People get so wound up that if they see a person with a gun then they engage instead of taking the time to identify the person and give verbal commands. It’s easy to do. The mentality is to hunt and kill the gunmen so you get tunnel vision.
We did another scenario where there was a shooting in a club (lights off, dance floor type lighting, loud music). As we arrived we hear gunshots and a security guard is shooting at the suspect (who is out of sight in a side room). I was at the back of the stack and grabbed the screaming witness as she tried to run out. I was trying to get info from her when the shots started. The first two guys continued in and smoked the security guard and the bad guy. The security guy was even wearing a black exterior vest that said SECURITY. I’m pretty sure every group killed him. Whoops.
Like I said, good stuff. I wish we could do more of it - even the dry runs practicing entries would be good. Unfortunately, this a large undertaking. The training is two days and it’s taking two months to get the entire department through it. That also means our SWAT team is tied up on this the entire time. They’re missing some of their usual training to train us. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s another five years before we see this again.
It sounds like you do an even more updated version of what we were doing with regard to tactics. We did do more than a simple stack, but less time outside the room where you’re vulnerable in war zones. I went through a school called advanced urban combat (AUC) and we each shot several thousand rounds a day for 3 months. They had a shooting range, a house with moveable walls so it always looked different when you enter, and a building that mimicked a ship on the inside, and you just rotated through those, doing sim rounds once a day, from 6 am to 6 pm. The instructors were dicks with sim rounds tho, they would bounce them off walls to hit us down hallways lol. We also had to do dynamic entries with live fire on targets, some of whom had bananas instead of guns in their hands. Shoot a guy without a gun? Fail. Flag one of your squad mates, ESPECIALLY during live fire? Fail. Tough course, but a lot of fun. The head instructor would take us on 6 mile ruck runs while smoking a cigarette and holding a Monster.
Fun stuff. We did drills like that in ROTC, running through the woods, assulting bunkers, raising Hell. Every once in awhile there would be some scenario that devolved into a wrestling type scramble, and I could rub my superiors’ faces in the dirt. That was the coolest.
Our SWAT team merged together a couple of tactics based on recent research. Some of it was from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and some was from a private company. I think it’s ALERRT.
We didn’t just stack up; they taught us to move two abreast (called a heavy head). If it’s a team of four then the two guys behind stack up on the side entry is being made (which changes as you work down a hallway). Active shooter response is still dynamic and the stack goes out the window. You just run to gunfire and blow through the door ready to engage whatever you find. If you’re hearing shots then you most likely have the element of surprise anyway. If they stop shooting people and start shooting at us then that’s also a win because civilians aren’t being killed (that’s a fucked up goal to have at work, right?).
We have Warrior Mentality type training because of scenarios like that. Some dumbass in Minneapolis wants to ban LEO’s training the Warrior Mentality because it sounds like we’re being trained to go to war. When shit hits the fan, you want warriors responding. If sheep were capable of doing anything then there wouldn’t be a need for us.
I saw GoPro video from the Mosque shooting from a couple weeks ago. Everyone gathered in the corners of the room and laid down. It was like shooting fish in a barrel and the shooter had plenty of time to go back and shoot every single person an additional time. Unbelievable. He killed 52 people in a matter of minutes with zero resistance.
Woke at 212.2 lbs. I haven’t had a clean day of eating since last Friday. I’ve had Easter candy every day this week and some adult beverages most days. We still have too much candy in the house.
I feel you there. We’ve got a ton of candy laying around. I’ve resisted so far but the damn peanut m&ms are calling my name. Looks like your weight is staying nice and low though so that’s a plus
I ate the “sharing size” bag of peanut m&ms Saturday night - all 10.7 ounces. Now I’m eating my kids’ candy. Hershey milk chocolate eggs, mini peanut butter cups, Mr Goodbar, Krackle…
I’ve made some adjustments to my eating to try to counter the bad choices. My plan from here on out is to stay between 210 and 220 lbs. I’d prefer to stay close to 210 but I obviously need to gain weight to add muscle. Hopefully a slow drift upwards here and there will help me add tiny bits of muscle. If I get close to 220 then I’ll do a short cut back to 210 and repeat.
CONDITIONING run the straightaway, walk the curve x 6 laps (12 runs, 1 mile) in 10:06
SQUAT
45 x 10
155 x 10 x 3 No band around the knees today. I was hoping that was part of the reason I feel so weak on these but nope. 155 for 10 really is a challenge.
DEADLIFT
225 x 5 x 5
RDLs
155 x 8 x 3 Hoping these don’t cause crippling soreness again.
TABATA RFESS (4 rounds)
BW x 13, 12, 12, 12 ea
SL LEG EXTENSION - LEFT LEG ONLY
60 x 1
40 x 1
30 x 1 So Tuesday felt great and today hurt to the point where I couldn’t really get any quality reps by gutting it out.
AB COASTER
60 x 5 middle/5 left/5 right/5 middle x 2 sets
I love both the dry runs and the sim training as well. It’s great fun and our instructors are such nice and encouraging dudes.
Last time we had a shooter entering our station (or the house we used). We where placed in different offices and out cue was when we heard shots. That was fun, the first run, we all kind of freezed, officers down everywhere and a single shooter running around.
We got better though.
We have the School shooter scenario as well. We just go in, leave all victims behind and just focus on the shooter… really hope I wont meet that scenario ever.
Societies are being conditioned to be passive and fearful. It’s horrible and, frankly, not how God made us humans to be. He made us to take action - everyone is born with a will to live and thrive. On individual and societal levels, predators systematically work to break down that natural, God-given will.
Woke at 211.4 lbs. I finally recovered from the weekend even though I continue to eat candy. We finished off the beer last night. Hopefully my wife doesn’t buy any more food a bit. That’s the only way I can avoid it.
The awesome news is that she finished her masters this week. She turned in her final assignment and got a 100%. She is now in “I don’t give a damn” mode so I won’t be surprised to see her bring home more beer. Ahh, well. I’ll do my best.
Back day this morning. I’m also waiting for a phone call to pick up my 40 lbs of humanely raised, non-injected chicken breasts.
