|
Our firearms training takes a radically
different approach to the subject of police firearms training than
do most training philosophies--we stay within the umbrella of our
over-riding philosophy of "Effective Combatives
Problem-Solving"--teaching officer to fight the way they do in the
real world, instead of how instructors and coaches want them to look
and act. We know that humans don't apply techniques under crisis.
Trained and experienced professionals problem-solve using pattern
recognition that permits them to react as quickly as possible with a
solution that will "satisfice" (a combination of a solution that
both suffices and satisfies to solve the
problem). We provide those pattern recognition skills within the
training, permitting a quicker orientation and better
decision-making skills to solve their particular problem (the
suspect's deadly threat).
Rather than beginning with the concept
of "how to shoot a firearm," we built our training concepts around
the idea of "how to fight and hit with a firearm." We looked at how
officers are murdered, what gunfights actually look like, who we are
training (it is not Olympic athletes who do nothing but shoot and
think about shooting), how much time we are given to train our
officers, how human beings actually act under fire (close range,
sudden violence), and other factors.
Because of this, we teach a
"combatives" approach to armed professionals surviving a short,
sudden, and extremely violent deadly force event that involves
physically fighting with the suspect during the shooting at least
1/3 of the time, and being within "conversational distances" about
3/4 of the time. We have distilled commonalities from enough events
that the concepts skills we teach during the seminars become
operating principles that can be universally applied in surviving
gunfights and winning shootings. Everything we teach is well within
safe tactical doctrine and deadly force policy and law (reinforcing
proper tactics and legally justifiable actions should be mandatory
for every police firearms class) in a safe, disciplined, and
well-run range.
We begin with all training, every
training with "Unintentional Discharge Proofing" exercises that
assist and reinforce safety on the range and, more importantly, in
the field. From there, always within the framework of "fighting
with the firearm," we work from basic hitting exercises to movement
and hitting, to combatives. Each class is different because each
class population is different. Some classes absorb the material and
we finish the day with extremely high levels of difficulty and
advanced practical concepts, while other classes may not advance
beyond what might be considered to be lower level concepts because
the skill level of the individual members will not permit them to
safely participate in advanced, more practical training.
This training is NOT based on
competitive shooting precepts. We do not prepare officers (or the
military in our firearms courses) for "winning shooting matches."
These courses are about fighting, about hitting the other guy better
and before he can hit you--which means better tactics and
marksmanship in the combat environment--NOT just shooting "faster,
Faster, FASTER!" Winning shootings and surviving gunfights is not
about shooting "faster." It is, to paraphrase Rob Pincus, "It
is about putting enough bullets through a bad guy to significantly
affect his ability to continue to harm you in time, on time."
We often get comments in our
evaluations that say, "This is the first time I've ever been taught
to fight with a gun." That, we believe, should be the object of
training armed professionals who intentionally go into harm's way.
That is the art and science of these combative firearms classes--and
why they work to prepare your officers (and military personnel) to
make the right decisions, to be tactically sound, and to come home
with the same number of holes they left with.
|
