Self Actualization - Imagination - Inoculation

Last week’s SWAT training started with the Commander busting my chops.  When I saw him he had this shit eating grin on his face.  I asked him what was up.  He replied, “oh nothing much just trying not to get too big or run too slow”

He was of course referring to information on the new class I sent to the team:

[Many Officers lift weights and run.  That is fantastic.  However, those training methods may actually work against an Officer in a violent use of force confrontation.

Training to move heavy weights slowly and to run at a moderate pace for miles does not improve the attributes required to control a violent aggressive criminal.

Combat conditioning focuses on enhancing strength and endurance training by adding explosiveness]

That’s fine, I bust chops so I expect to have my chops busted in return on occasion. 

However, I think my point was proven with the training we conducted that night.

After weapons qualifications we moved to a “undisclosed location”.  The actual location isn't a secret but part of the training was making sure no one ever knew you were there.  That and phrases like “undisclosed location” add to my international man of mystery cred.

The skill we were training was low light / no light maneuvers

The training we conducted was similar to the show “The Great Escape”

We were broken into 8 men units.  We had to get all 8 guys undetected through an urban environment to a check point several blocks away.  Pick up an item, carry that to another check point several blocks away.  Put the two items together and return to the starting point undetected.

There were 2 “guards” in marked squad cars on patrol in these urban areas.  If the guards shined their head lights or spot lights on you and your team had to start over again.

Local police knew we were there and what we were doing.  Part of the training, as I mentioned before was to make sure that no one else knew we were ever there.  Implied was that if the local PD received complaints of teams of large men in camouflage and tactical armor roaming the city with automatic weapons -  you, and your team had to start over again.

So although the guards only had 2 cars, they had a relatively small area to patrol by vehicle and were supported by every other car on the street.  We had to assume all headlights would get us sent back.

Even though we were wearing all our gear and carrying our equipment we were not allowed to “neutralize” the guards.

So we had to achieve our goals using only

• Stealth
• Communications
• Team Work
• Effort

You get sent back, what is the big deal?  That last one effort is the big deal.  As fun as this sounds it is a lot of hard physical effort.  It’s challenging because you have to quickly cover large open space.  There is limited cover, street lights, pedestrians, and vehicles everywhere.

Sprinting, jumping diving, carrying a 4 man ram, carrying an injured officer on a stretcher.  It is all ball busting hard work.  The type of work you don’t want to do twice if you don’t have to.

Remember the SWAT Commander busting my chops about:

[Many Officers lift weights and run.  That is fantastic.  However, those training methods may actually work against an Officer in a violent use of force confrontation.

Training to move heavy weights slowly and to run at a moderate pace for miles does not improve the attributes required to control a violent aggressive criminal.

Combat conditioning focuses on enhancing strength and endurance training by adding explosiveness]

This is exactly what I was talking about. 

Secondary training effects:

• Operant conditioning
• Getting caught is punished – Stealth is rewarded
• Fear of having to do it over helps simulate “combat stress”

Which leads me to:

Self Actualization - Imagination - Inoculation

Nice alliteration J

What do I mean by this?

I am a self actualized nerd.  I own it and I am proud of it.  As such I have a good imagination.  So I wasn’t just leading a SWAT team on a training mission we were the Devil’s Brigade, we were Kasey’s Commandos behind enemy lines.  The fate of the free world depended on the success of our mission.  If a light was shinned on us we were dead and so was freedom, justice, and the American way.

In retrospect a grown ass man playing G.I.Joe may seem pretty lame, but it made things more “real” for me.  Because it was more real for me it better simulated combat stress.  I’ve mentioned many times before you can’t accurately reproduce combat stress with out putting the trainee’s life at risk.  But you can combine; competitions, risks – rewards and punishments, and physical stress to approximate it.  Because the combat stress was simulated, I received inoculation to combat stress.  The been there done that part of my brain has something it can refer to when I am sneaking to an actual position

This was fun, we saved the word, but it kicked my ass.

Doctor Keckeisen self prescribed a couple of ibuprofen and a couple more Miller 64's to be able to function the next day.

Booo Fucking Hoooo.  Suck it up Sally

  

Shugyo is a Japanese term.  I don’t really know an English term that encompasses this idea.  Shugyo can mean ‘sweat and motion,’ it can be described as ‘pushing your limits,’ but the ideal that it expresses best is:  “Embrace the suck.” 

It takes a lot of hard work on a regular basis to develop and maintain all the skills and attributes necessary to be a successful Operator.

Don’t shy from it, don’t cry about it, revel in it.

There is a price to be paid to be able to do things that few others can.  Enjoy paying the price required to do these things. 

Be the 1st to show and the last to go, and put a smile on your face.  The best Operators I’ve had the pleasure to work with embrace the price that must be paid.  Whether it is in pouring rain, blistering sun or knee deep snow they push hard until the job is done.  They make comments like, “Can you believe we are getting paid to do this?”

When the weapons are cleaned and the gear stowed away they tend to share each other’s company (and maybe a cocktail or two) and talk about how even though that sucked it was fun (and maybe brag a little bit about how bad ass they are for having gone through it).

The only way to earn the skills necessary to be an Operator, the only way to earn a seat at that table is through blood and sweat.  Know that ahead of time, embrace it while you are going through it, and enjoy the rewards as they come.

So along those lines I need to spend as much or more time sprinting as I do writing about the need for Officers to sprint.

And with that I will leave you with one of my favorite comic book quotes

“The key isn't winning -- or losing, it's making the attempt. I may never be what I ought to be, want to be -- but how will I know unless I try?

Sure, it's scary, but what's the alternative? Stagnation - A safer, more terrible form of death. Not of the body, but of the spirit.

An animal knows what it is, and accepts it. A man may know what he is -- but he questions. He dreams. He strives. Changes. Grows.”
― Wolverine

Chris Clarmont and Frank Miller's "Wolverine"

Train hard (embrace the suck), Train smart, Be safe