I went through a similar progression recently with my grip. Two years ago my little brother (actually my cousin) fresh out of the police academy taught me the thumbs forward grip which was good.
I then started watching too many instructor’s youtube videos, many of whom tell you to squeeze as hard as you can. My accuracy went to shit. Like many of you I have a pretty strong grip. Backing off to handshake firm really helped. I do squeeze a little harder with my left hand.
Haha… It’s more a question of the number of people who want the job relative to the number of spots available. It’s as much waiting as it is selection, you just keep getting tested while you wait. That timeline is fluid and is based on forecast vacancies.
Love it.
When I hear squeeze as hard as you it doesn’t take into account that it is all relative. Like most here I lift weights and I also do bjj so for people like us grip as hard as you can means something different from what it means to the average person.
When gripped really hard I shot poorly. It was like I was holding a brick in my hand. I’m not a big guy so I don’t have the biggest hands. When I focused on my palm getting a good feel, that’s the only way I can describe it, and put less emphasis on my fingers I shot a lot better.
The fingertips of my left hand touch my right hand but don’t squeeze. I keep them relaxed. I’m squeezing more palm to palm. I don’t have a choice though because my left hand fingers can’t reach around as far. One way to describe it is it’s like a Gable grip that uses less finger squeeze.
Saturday Morning Coffee Break:
Coffee Break
If you have spent a lot of time in deserts and barren terrain, then you really begin to miss trees and water. If you have never seen aspens in the fall, put it on your bucket list.
Coffee Break:
Thought for the day: Two more slain, rest easy brothers.
Motivational Monday: It doesn’t matter who you are or what profession you have, ask yourself this:_
Are you ready for the lion?
For me, this a very powerful image and reminds of a brother I lost to a crackhead, shot with a Raven .25 auto piece of crap. He too was lying bleeding out on the street, the victim of that insane luck that perps always have in shooting cops. It doesn’t matter how small the caliber is, the bullet always finds a way to kill you.
For LEO’s take a good look at that picture. Put yourself there, your partner shot, bullet hitting below the vest, heavy abdomen bleeding, losing blood. The attack still on going, no cover, returning fire with one hand while kneeling, other hand trying to do anything to stop the flow of blood. The screaming from your partner, because, now they are a wounded animal needing help, no some Hollywood actor stoically facing death. You screaming at the injustice of it all, screaming hatred for the enemy and frustration of not protecting your partner.
Are you really ready?
Can you stop the bleeding?
Can you return fire with one hand in awkward positions?
Can you mentally focus enough to return fire, at least drive them to cover as backup is in route?
If you have never faced anything like this, prepare yourself, because the day is coming.
When it does, will you be ready for the lion?
From MGunz:
So I asked him, how did he manage to stay alive all night? He said “We have a saying here. When you meet the Lion, you will always be alone, so prepare yourself. That night I met the Lion, but I was ready for him, so I lived. He smiled with a mostly toothless grin. I never forgot that story and my take away was that you never know when you may have to face the Lion. The Lion being something, or someone that wants to kill you. It could be a car wreck, an enemy solider, or some mental deranged kid in a high school. In any case, when the Lion comes you can bet it will be when you are least expecting it and probably alone.
I got to thinking about this again after the recent school shooting and all the second guessing about the police response, etc. It was obvious that some of the police weren’t ready to face the Lion, while some unarmed heroic students and teachers did, even thought they lost their lives in the process. They faced the Lion with courage and selfless action. They are beyond hero’s, IMO they’re warriors in every sense of the word.
I have to hope that if you, or I someday have to face the Lion, we will react as bravely as those who did in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. I hope that even if I’m unarmed that maybe, just maybe the fact that I have worked hard all my life to keep myself in decent physical condition, that I have a physical edge that could save my life, or the life of another person(s). It may be just a foolish thought, as no man is tougher than a bullet, but being in shape can’t hurt and it just might be the slight mental and physical advantage that can make the difference when you’re in a tough spot. The final point being that keeping yourself in good condition can mean a whole lot more than just looking good on the beach, or doing better on the football field, It could be the difference between life or death, Military, firefighters and LE know this because they’re professional Lion Tamers. However, in today’s world the Lions seem to be everywhere. Even in our schools. Something to keep in mind when you don’t want to go to the gym, or out for a run. The Lion is out there and he is ready. Are you?
@idaho I need that shirt…
https://t-nation.com/uploads/short-url/wGBnXZu8zRbSfO3aOvFyVjGuw5p.PNG
I haven’t seen one since I left Iraq. They were really popular around the Travis gym on the old republican guard palace grounds. My suggestion is try either: Combat Iron Apparel or Rogue American Apparel.
Follow up on Monday’s thought: This officer had to face the lion today:
I work in a small town, believe in volunteer service, etc. etc. Our facility is looking at active shooter training for some folks.
Question being, what should I look for in a competent trainer (I would like to look through their stuff and make sure we are getting solid training)
We may have the opportunity to send folks to a live fire type course (it is put on by the police academy here in the state) what type of curriculum and/or trainers should I be looking for in the vetting process?
I’m simply trying to gather information and resources prior to our facility spending the money to have folks come in, or send folks out for training.
What to look for in an instructor…experience in teaching current material to other agencies and get references. NTOA or your state TOA is a good starting point. Make sure the basic tactical model is consistent with what your region uses and your agency’s policy. It should be geared towards patrol response (personnel, equipment, comms,…) not a SWAT entry school. In my AO, I expect officers/deputies from other agencies to be among the first in along with my crew. It’s nice to know we are working from the same playbook as many agencies put people through the same course. The basic class should have a large component of force-on-force (SIMS, UTM,…) and operate in real world structures.
What area/state are you in? Feel free to PM.
Despade,
Good advice from Mixicus. NTOA and the local organizations are always a good place to start, and, I agree the local area police and deputies will be on scene before any tactical team arrives. They need the training first and to take it a step further, the actual “first responders” will be the people on the scene, the ones not injured during the initial attack. I firmly believe in as many people in a community need to be trained in simple, practical tactical trauma care, the most important being how to use a tourniquet. The “stop the bleeding program” is well worth checking out.
I am going to post some information from the NTOA concerning active shooters in my next post.
Advising about a good trainer is always tricky at best because it seems that every tact-cool guy has a training company and an IG account full of flashy tactics. I have no financial ties to anyone I am going to list, just know them from past training or their reputations in the profession. All have multiple years in law enforcement or military and their training has been widely accepted by the LEO community.
I am not going to list their training websites due to respect for this website, but, they are easy to find.
For local police, deputies, civilians, in a basic firearms and awareness class I would check out:
Dave Spaulding
Massad Ayoob
John “Chappy” Chapman
For level one tactics, carbine, pistol, basic movements, basic entry, and vehicle situational awareness, I would check out:
Pat McNamara
Mike Pannone
Aaron Barruga
Dan Brokos
Bob Keller
My 2 cents: For your needs now and how you described them, I would check out Dave Spaulding and Massad Ayoob first. For more advance training, any of the others in no particular order, all are good.
Final thought: These are nationally recognized instructors, but, that doesn’t mean that you have don’t have someone locally just as good. The State’s mandated police training center is a good place to start.
Thought for the day: Active Shooter Information from the NTOA.
This is a modified report from the NTOA and all credit should be given to the NTOA:
An analysis of 97 worldwide active shooter incidents in 2017, identified several trends to consider as we prepare to counter the active shooter threat:
1. Use of edged weapons
There was a marked increase in edged-weapon attacks in 2017. Edged weapons were used in 16 of the 97 attacks (16.5%) that Don analyzed, which represents a host of complications for law enforcement. Edged weapons are easy to acquire and conceal, and require little training to employ. They are devastating in close quarters, don’t run out of ammunition and don’t give off a signature sound that can be used to help fix the location of the attacker. With simple techniques, these weapons can even be smuggled with reliability past security checkpoints employing metal detectors.
2. Increased vehicle attacks
There was also a marked increase in vehicle attacks in 2017. Vehicles were used as weapons in 13 of the 97 attacks (13.5%), and once again, this has significant ramifications for law enforcement. Vehicles are a fixture in commerce and everyday life, but it’s important for law enforcement to consider tactics for vehicle exclusion in public events and in public spaces. An additional complexity in dealing with vehicles is the recent trend in many law enforcement agencies to modify use of force policies to place strict limitations on the use of deadly force against the drivers of moving vehicles. At a time when the vehicle threat seems to be increasing, officers may ironically feel less prepared than ever to adequately defend themselves and the public from a driver intent on destruction – something for police administrators to consider, before making policy changes.
OTHER LESSONS:
The first few minutes are critical. Time equals lives in active shooter attacks, so an effective response must be launched immediately.
Potential victims must protect themselves. There will be an inevitable delay between the initiation of the attack and the report to police. There will be an additional delay between the notification of police, their arrival on scene and their first contact with the attacker. None of these delays work in the potential victims’ favor, so civilians must be trained and equipped (emotionally and physically) to protect themselves from attack while they wait for law enforcement assistance.
Rapid action by the first officers on scene is imperative. The clock has been running for a while before you got there. You cannot delay your response. Time is lives.
4. Use of force policies must support the police officer. The authority to use force must be delegated to the individual officer, who will use their best judgment to make an appropriate call in real time. An agency’s use of force policy must not handicap the officer or slow response.
Tactical teams will arrive too late. You cannot wait for SWAT. They won’t get there in time to resolve the incident. A successful resolution of an active shooter event requires an immediate response by potential victims and patrol officers.
Don’t wait to build a four-man team. Early active shooter protocols emphasized building a four-man entry team and moving in formation to confront the shooter, but almost two decades’ worth of experience has shown that four-man teams rarely, if ever, stop attackers. Don is unaware of a single active shooter incident that was stopped by a four-man team in formation, but this tactic still forms the basis for many departments’ active shooter protocols. ( This concept of 4 man team is not what we taught or teach, having 4 officers arrive at the same time or close enough together to make rapid entry is rare. One or two together probably, especially a two man car, but even 3 would be a luxury. Maybe that happens, I just have never seen it, even a do or die help call has officers arriving minutes apart).
Solo officer entries are essential. Agencies need to teach effective tactics for solo officer entry in an active shooter situation because time equals lives. Statistics indicate that a single officer response is the most common circumstance when law enforcement stops the active shooter.
Rescue and treatment of victims must begin quickly. Police must carefully coordinate with fire-EMS assets to provide rapid treatment of victims to ensure they get suitable medical care as soon as possible There are many avenues to explore here, including adding Tactical EMS (“TEMS”) personnel to police tactical teams, getting fire-EMS assets into the “warm zone” with police protection, and training law enforcement to rescue and transport victims.
The Las Vegas shooting demonstrated that the true first responders are those in attendance when an incident takes the goal of the First Care Provider network, which is the only Stop the Bleed program designed and implemented by first responders, is to provide agencies with an easily implemented strategy to enlist their communities. What better way to engage citizens than to empower them to act when a disaster – manmade or natural – strikes?
Again, using the Las Vegas shooting as an example, few departments would have the mutual aid resources to respond in a timely manner and begin to address the critical aspects (500+ wounded, barricaded threat, unknown location of the shooter) of the situation. We know that during these critical responses sufficient resources will not be immediately available and departments will be stretched to breaking point.
Final Personal Note: Is it so much to ask the average citizen to at least take enough personal responsibility to learn how to apply a tourniquet?
@idaho @theuofh Thanks to all of you, will be spending the next bits of free time looking up the alphabet soup I’ve been given, ha, hopefully be able to put something together for the administration here in the next few days. As always, the insight is greatly appreciated.
Thought for the day: Some Thoughts on Thinking
Over the past several years, I have put a lot of time and research into looking for better ways to enhance my ability to relax. Now that may sound silly to most of you, but, for me, it’s a never ending struggle. Even exhausted from work or training, my mind will simply not allow me to “relax”. I rarely sleep more than 5 hours and during that sleep, I can basically hear flies fuck. So, not only do I not recover from training or work outs, I stay in a “hyper state” of coffee and Rip It energy drinks. . This “state” will last anywhere from 7 days to 7 months and affects my ability to function.
About a 4 months ago, I started waking up at least two hours before I had to be somewhere, I will drink coffee and set in the dark. I will not try to think about anything, just let whatever thought pops in to wander there and then leave down its own neural path. Strange tides this brings: mostly obscure things from my past that somehow I have not forgotten, images from some movie about someone else’s life that I realize is my own. I have found this to be therapeutic in a strange way, like seeing your life through a different set of eyes. This method of “meditation” has really helped in many small ways, from being more ready for work, for training, for being ready to meet the lion. Find your way, whatever it is, it translates into being a better you.
Another view:
TRAINING YOUR MIND: WHY YOU SHOULD USE MEDITATION TO IMPROVE YOUR SHOOTING.
Shooting is an activity that is physically demanding so it stands to reason we focus our training through physical means. While it is essential to dry-fire, shoot drills and train our bodies, we hardly discuss the mental side of shooting and how we can improve our minds to improve our shooting.
“When you’re thinking about shooting, you’re not shooting,” -Jerry Miculek ( IMHO the greatest revolver shooter ever, look him up on YouTube, prepare to be humbled)
This quote by Jerry Miculek hits the nail on the head because we know how our thoughts can hinder our performance. Many activities in shooting happen so fast that our conscious mind can’t process it to make a conscious decision, hence we ‘fall back on our training.’ We want to train our body and mind so that we can react and perform automatically. Athletes and warriors know this as getting into ‘the zone’, described as a mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed and hyper-focused at the task at hand.
The point of meditation is to control your focus and your thoughts. When you sit down in a quiet place without any distractions your brain will start to do its job and think. Now, are you consciously thinking about the thoughts that pops up or does it seem to come out of nowhere? The universe abhors a vacuum and where there is emptiness the universe tries to fill it. When you try to empty your mind, your brain will try to occupy it with thoughts. Your task in meditation is to put away those distracting thoughts to be one with yourself and the moment. Be honest with yourself. Do you really control every thought that your brain conjures up? If not, then how do you really know yourself and your thoughts? It’s time to take back control.
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” -Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
As stated above, the purpose of meditation is to clear your mind and control your thoughts. When thoughts pop up try not to judge it or let it affect you. Just observe and put it aside. There are many ways of focusing your attention away from your thoughts. If you are a visual type of person you can picture a rotating sphere, such as a basketball, football, a globe, etc., in your mind’s eye and focus your undivided attention to it. When you get to a point of total concentration and focus, the world around you will melt away. Kinesthetic type people, people who use sensation as their primary sensory tool, can focus on their breaths. Observe how the breath goes in through your nose, the diaphragm expanding to bring down the breath to your lungs. Then focus on the sensation of exhaling through the mouth. Deep breathing is recommended for meditation.
Combat breathing focuses on counting during breathing; in meditation you can count and focus on the sensation of breathing to focus your attention. There are diverse opinions when it comes to the practice of meditation but I believe the technique should fit your personality and how you sense the world. With some practice you will be able to learn which technique works best for you and maybe even learn something about yourself.
By training to calm the mind I believe we can improve our shooting performance. Our conscious mind isn’t fast enough to take in all that information then process it in hundredths of seconds to make a conscious decision; thus, we train hard to allow our subconscious mind to work. Meditation can be a powerful tool that trains the mind to clear itself of clutter and help to focus our attention.
Thought for the day (2):
Even thou I try to stay out of politics on this thread, sometimes it seems that our freedoms are being eroded and it pisses me off. I fully understand that YouTube, being a private company/ whatever has the right to limit whatever they wish, but, I have the right to call them flaming, socialist assholes. And to further express my disdain for the current mood of the country, why not go full rant this morning?
