Sheepdog Tip of the Day

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Gary Klugiewicz is a law enforcement trainer who does a lot of work in
corrections, especially cell entries, where two or more corrections
officers charge into a cell to take a violent or threatening prisoner down
onto the floor. Gary says that many prisoners, having nothing better to do,
initiate lawsuits at the drop of a hat, most often when force has been used
against them. To try to prevent this, he now includes tactical breathing
techniques whenever he has to use physical force. He charges into the cell,
takes the con down, sits on his back, and says, "Listen, I want you to
breathe. I'm not going to get up until you breathe. Breathe in, two, three,
four. Hold it, two, three four. Let it out, two, three, four. Hold it, two,
three, four. I'm not getting up until you do this." The prisoner obeys
(since he has no choice), and within seconds the effect from the breathing
procedure kicks in and mellows him. "You know," Gary says, "these guys sue
for anything, but I've never had anybody sue me for making them
breathe." Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Loren Christensen tells of a rookie officer on his agency who was not only
incapable of shooting someone, but he would not even wear his sidearm. The
officer was hired in the winter and because he wore a long, heavy uniform
jacket, his training partner did not know that the rookie was locking his
entire web belt and firearm into the car trunk at the beginning of each
shift. When the training officer finally caught on--about three weeks
later--he immediately drove the rookie back to the precinct. The new man
was terminated a few days later, and rightfully so. Now, this man may have
been a wonderful husband and father, and an outstanding citizen, but he had
no business in police work. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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In Loren Christensen's book, Crazy Crooks he tells of one documented case
in which one dumb crook became confused when he did not hear his pistol
fire. He turned the gun around and peered down the barrel to see if there
was an obstruction; it was clear. Dumbfounded as to why it did not go bang,
he squinted down the barrel even harder and pulled the trigger again. Lt.

Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat

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When Barbary apes wish to approach a senior male, they borrow a young
animal which they carry, in order to inhibit the senior's aggression. Some
soldiers do likewise. A British infantryman watched Germans emerging from a
dugout to surrender in WWII: "they were holding up photographs of their
families and offering watches and other valuables in an attempt to gain
mercy." Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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Davis & Friedman, The Emotional Aftermath of Crime and Violence: Stress
applied to the individual is not necessarily harmful. It is only when the
stress is prolonged or overwhelming and the individual is not able to cope
with it that it becomes harmful physically and/or psychologically. Lt.
Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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At close range the resistance to killing an opponent is tremendous. When
one looks an opponent in the eye, and knows that he is young or old, scared
or angry, it is not possible to deny that the individual about to be killed
is much like oneself. It is here that many personal narratives of
nonkilling situations occur. Marshall, Keegan, Holmes, Griffith, virtually
all who have studied the matter in depth, agree that such nonparticipation
is apparently very common in midrange conflict, but in close range
situations it becomes so remarkable and undeniable that we can find
numerous first person narratives. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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Establishing strategic objectives, operational priorities, guidelines for
engine and truck company operations, and tool assignments formalize the
critical knowledge, skills, and abilities that our fire service warriors
need to thrive on the fireground. Mastering these skills develops a sense
of confidence. When we trust our knowledge, skills, and abilities, we are
able to process more information, because we are not wasting time thinking
about the basics of our job. Our goal is to devote the maximum amount of
RAM (random access memory, or how much, and how fast, a computer
can "think") to maintaining our individual and team situational awareness
(SA). Christopher Brennan, The Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter
Readiness
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Think you know this? Why not take a random quiz at
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There are two lessons regarding bombs that we all need to learn and apply.
First, whether the scene is a workplace or a school, never evacuate into a
parking lot. Car bombs are the most simplistic type of explosive. While a
killer might be able to sneak a 20-pound bomb into a school in a backpack,
a car parked next to the building can hold and hide hundreds of pounds of
explosives. Do you remember the car bomb at the Sari nightclub in Bali that
killed nearly 200 people in October of 2002? This is why people need to be
cautious about evacuating a school every time it receives a bomb scare.
There will be lives lost should a bomb explode inside a school, but if
everyone then rushes out into a parking lot, a well-placed car bomb could
kill vast numbers of people, with a sniper picking off any remaining
survivors. If students must be evacuated into a parking lot, make it the
faculty lot. The second lesson is to stay away from any vehicle, box, bag,
pipe, or freshly upturned dirt, objects and locations where secondary
explosives might have been planted to continue the carnage. Lt. Col.
Dave Grossman, On Combat
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There are no ultimate warriors, only people up and down the scale. Lt.
Col. Dave Grossman, Sheepdog Seminar for Churches (paraphrased)
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Consider a paint bullet scenario that was given to sworn, veteran police
officers in Nebraska. In the scenario, they were told that they had
received an "officer needs help call," with shots fired. When they got to
the scene, they would find the officer down with the suspect pointing a gun
at the officer's head. "I'm going to kill him," the suspect says. "I'm
going to kill him." The tricky part of this scenario was that the suspect
had his back turned to the officer. When the officers were faced with
this situation (one in which they were fully authorized to shoot the man),
the majority would not fire, and would do so only after the suspect shot
the officer in the head. A significant minority of officers would not even
fire then, but would wait until the suspect pointed the weapon toward them.
Of course then it would be an action/reaction situation, and the officers
would probably lose. Waiting for the suspect to shoot the officer or
point his weapon at you is not an action that saves lives. Warriors need to
decide in advance, to the best of their ability, that they can do the right
thing when the time comes. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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In his book A War of Nerves: Soldiers and Psychiatrists in the Twentieth
Century, Ben Shephard emphasizes the importance of social and cultural
responses to combat stress. In particular, he emphasizes immediate, local
help given by those who understand concepts of military group bonding,
underpinned by supportive leaders and affirming comrades. He also points
out the importance and value of sex, memories of sex, singing, and humor.
Far from being placebos, these are actually powerful survival mechanisms
that have been developed across the millennia to help defuse traumatic
situations by reasserting normality into our lives. Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman, On Combat
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Warriors do not just happen: They are built; they are crafted; they are
nurtured every day. Common among so many of them is their ability to suck
up gunshot wounds and drive on to accomplish their mission. Read the Medal
of Honor citations, and you find that the one commonality in almost all of
them is that though the recipients were physically damaged, they drove on.
They drove on. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Holmes has gathered a list of the symptoms of men suffering from combat
exhaustion. For these individuals the demands of combat have caused too
great a drain on their own personal stocks of fortitude, resulting in
conditions such as a general slowing down of mental processes and apathy,
as far as they were concerned the situation was one of absolute
hopelessness .... The influence and reassurance of understanding officers
and NCOs failed to arouse these soldiers from their hopelessness .... The
soldier was slow witted .... Memory defects became so extreme that he could
not be counted on to relay a verbal order .... He could then best be
described as one leading a vegetative existence .... He remained almost
constantly in or near his slit trench, and during acute actions took no
part, trembling constantly. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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In a school emergency, panic-stricken parents will hear about it via their
kids on cell phones, and drive to the school. Be prepared: 1. Traffic
will be bad, helicopters may be the only way in-and out. If you can get a
medical evacuation helicopter to help get you there do it. 2. Some parents
will be armed. Figure ahead of time how you'll use them. Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman, The Bullet Proof Mind seminar (paraphrased)
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Dr. Artwohl's research found that 74 percent of the officers involved in a
deadly force encounter acted on automatic pilot. In other words, the
actions of three out of four officers in combat were done without conscious
thought. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Unlike operant conditioning, in social learning it is not essential that
the learner be directly reinforced in order for learning to take place.
This means that you can learn behavior, and form attitudes and beliefs, by
seeing a role model get rewarded for a behavior. This includes role models
in TV, movies, and video games. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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Have you ever tried to have an argument or a discussion with a truly
frightened or angry person? It cannot be done, because the more frightened
and angry the person is, the less rational he is. This is because his
forebrain has shut down and his midbrain, the one like a dog's, is in
control. In fact, you might as well try to argue with your dog; he might be
intrigued by the experience but it will not accomplish much. Nor will you
accomplish much when trying to talk to a human being in this heightened
condition. To connect with him, you must first calm him down. Lt. Col.
Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Police officers investigating crimes committed by kids or even by mentally
disturbed adults who have committed, say, massive workplace shootings,
should ask the perpetrators if their crime reminded them of a specific
video game, television program or movie. They should not be asked if they
were inspired by a movie or a video game, as that often makes them angry.
Many of them have great pride in what they have done and they do not want
to give credit elsewhere. For example, when the detective in the Paducah,
Kentucky, school shooting case asked the young shooter if he was inspired
by the movie Basketball Diaries, the kid became enraged. Later, he told his
psychologist, "This is the only real adventure I've ever had and now they
are trying to accuse me of being a copycat." The two Columbine high school
killers even said in their videotape that no one should think they are
copycats. "Those other kids were the copycats," they said, "We had this
idea first." Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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A fire in one spot can be distraction for an attack elsewhere. Do not
dispatch the entire security team to the fire. Carl Chinn, Church Security
Seminar (paraphrased)
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Napoleon stated that the moment of greatest danger was the instant
immediately after victory, and in saying so he demonstrated a remarkable
understanding of how soldiers become physiologically and psychologically
incapacitated by the parasympathetic backlash that occurs as soon as the
momentum of the attack has halted and the soldier briefly believes himself
to be safe. During this period of vulnerability a counterattack by fresh
troops can have an effect completely out of proportion to the number of
troops attacking. It is basically for this reason that the maintenance of
fresh reserves has always been essential in combat, with battles often
revolving around which side can hold out and deploy their reserves last.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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The next paragraph in our performance analysis is called "solution
analysis." Here we recognize all the things that were missing from our
perfect performance. But we must turn them around from a negative overtone
to a positive one. If, for example, we missed a wind shot, we wouldn't
write down, "I missed a wind shot." This causes you to mentally list all
the ways you accomplished this mistake. Instead, you should write down the
solution for this in the present tense, first person, as if you're already
doing it correctly. For example, "I always memorize the wind flags and the
mirage, I relate this to the results of my last shot, and I use this
information to apply the correct setting to my next shot." Linda K. Miller
and Keith Cunningham, Secrets of Mental Marksmanship
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John Steinbeck, The Law: " This is the law: The purpose of fighting is to
win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more
important than the shield and skill is more important than either. The
final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental." Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman, On Combat
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Rudyard Kipling, The Sons of Martha: They do not teach that their God will
rouse them a little before the nuts work loose. // They do not teach
that His Pity allows them // to drop their jobs when they dam'-well
choose. // As in the thronged and the lighted ways, // so in the dark
and desert they stand, //Wary and watchful all their days that their
brethren's day may be long in the land Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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In Vietnam and in World War II, most 18-year-old kids responded with nausea
and trembling after the first time they had to kill in combat. They pulled
the trigger, and then watched as another human being fell at close range,
gurgling and dying. Though many of these young warriors vomited after their
first kill, they found that the next one was easier because they knew what
to expect. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Like the British, who took their soldiers home from the Falklands by long,
slow sea voyage, we must understand the need for cooldown periods, parades,
and unit integrity during the vulnerable period of returning from war.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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If you are in an administrative supervisory position, and you are listening
to a high-speed chase on the police radio, pay close attention to the
officer calling the pursuit. If the officer is losing fine-motor control in
his voice, then he is probably also losing fine-motor control in his hands.
If his voice sounds like Barney Fife or a 12-year-old girl--high-pitched
and over-the-top excited--pull that officer off the chase. If you hear the
calm and in-control voice of an astronaut, a fighter pilot, on the radio,
let him proceed. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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You have to be judge, jury, and executioner and decide in a split second
whether to kill or not. Do not take this responsibility lightly. Train to
make the right decision. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, The Bullet Proof Mind
seminar (paraphrased)
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The time to decide whether you can kill another human being is not in the
middle of combat. The time to decide, to the utmost of your ability, is
right now. Dr. Ignatius Piazza puts it very clearly and succinctly to every
student at his Front Sight Firearms Training Institute: These are terrible
decisions to make and we would like to avoid them at all costs. However, if
you do not make the decisions in advance, I guarantee you that you will
hesitate to make them later and that hesitation may make the difference
between you living and dying. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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If you don't have a solution, then say to yourself, "I need a solution
for ..." This creates a positive approach and attitude toward solving a
problem. Linda K. Miller and Keith Cunningham, Secrets of Mental
Marksmanship
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Pomerleau and Lazzarini found that when the average police officer
experiences a stress induced (i.e., adrenaline-induced) heart rate increase
in the area of 145 beats per minute (bpm), there is a significant breakdown
in performance. But this is not true for everyone. Apparently, if you have
practiced the required skills extensively, you can "push the envelope" of
Condition Red, enabling extraordinary performance at accelerated heart rate
levels. Let us call this zone, roughly between 145 and 175 bpm, "Condition
Gray." (Beyond Condition Gray is "Condition Black," an area marked by
catastrophic breakdown of mental and physical performance.) Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman, On Combat
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Compulsive states are similar to conversion hysteria, except that here the
soldier realizes the morbid nature of his symptoms and that his fears are
at their root. Even so, his tremors, palpitations, stammers, tics, and so
on cannot be controlled. Eventually the soldier is likely to take refuge in
some type of hysterical reaction that allows him to escape psychic
responsibility for his physical symptoms. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On
Killing
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Through violent programming on television and in movies, and through
interactive point-and-shoot video games, modern nations are
indiscriminately introducing to their children the same weapons technology
that major armies and law enforcement agencies around the world use
to "turn off" the midbrain "safety catch" that Brigadier General S.L.A.
Marshall discovered in World War II. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Most elite modern armies are built around a professional corps of small
unit leaders, drawn from the ranks with advancement based on merit, usually
operating behind their men during combat to directly influence their
actions. While this is the norm for today's successful armies, the Romans
were the first to systematically introduce these factors to the battlefield
on a large scale over a long period of time. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On
Combat
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In addition to traditional marksmanship, what is being taught ... is the
ability to shoot reflexively and instantly and a precise mimicry of the act
of killing on the modern battlefield. In behavioral terms, the man shape
popping up in the soldier's field of fire is the "conditioned stimulus,"
the immediate engaging of the target is the "target behavior." "Positive
reinforcement" is given in the form of immediate feedback when the target
drops if it is hit. In a form of "token economy" these hits are then
exchanged for marksmanship badges that usually have some form of privilege
or reward (praise, public recognition, three day passes, and so on)
associated with them. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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One phobia that pushes almost everyone's button is interpersonal human
aggression. That is the Universal Human Phobia. If I walked into another
crowded room and emptied a pistol into one of them, or hacking at one of
them with a machete, up to 98 percent of the average audience would
experience a true phobic-scale response. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On
Combat
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Tell your kids to fight to save themselves if needed. Preparation does not
cause anxiety, denial causes anxiety. Running and throwing things is better
than sitting quietly and waiting to die. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, The

Bullet Proof Mind seminar (paraphrased)

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Flash bangs are a great tool that saves lives in these tragic, violent
times, but most police officers and soldiers do not carry them on a daily
basis. If you carry a weapon, however, you have a "flash bang." You pull
the trigger, it flashes and it bangs. We know that a firearm is a
psychologically daunting instrument. If you are a police officer, you must
understand that in a large percentage of combat situations, the perpetrator
is going to fire the first shot--meaning that you begin the engagement on
the receiving end of a flash bang. Proper mindset and realistic training to
develop autopilot responses can help warriors to overcome this problem.

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat

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Letter from Officer Jim Holder: ...As I turned onto the street, I saw
Howard on the ground in front of his unit with a small crowd of citizens
nearby. I tried to comfort him, but I was unsure what to do for him. He had
wounds to his face and below his vest in back. He gave me a description of
the shooter as the paramedics arrived. I helped load him into the
ambulance, rode with him to the hospital and was with him in the operating
room. When they wheeled him out, I thought he was going to be okay, but
when I went into the recovery room, I was told he was dead. I broke down
and cried as I stood there in operating scrubs. Detectives ushered me out
before they brought in his wife. I was driven back to the police department
still wearing the scrubs, which I objected to. I wanted to walk in the same
way I walked out: as a police officer in uniform not a crying lump in
scrubs with all my peers looking. They called in our department
psychologist, who I had not seen since he made the decision whether I was
to be hired as a police officer. In my mind, I thought if I showed weakness
they would fire me, so I said I was okay, and essentially refused to talk
to him. Over the next few months I changed drastically. My work
performance came almost to a halt as I spent most of my time drinking
coffee and bullshitting. I was short tempered and moody and I began to
slowly withdraw from my wife. Then I decided I didn't love her anymore and
wanted a divorce. I drank heavily and experienced flashbacks to the night
of the shooting. Once, I drove by the scene of Howard's shooting and I saw
a police unit with its lights on in the same position as Howard's had been.
But when I turned down the street, it was dark and empty. Several times I
saw Howard sitting in the briefing room and I also passed him driving
another police car. I went to see the psychiatrist again and he did help
me a little, though I wasn't completely up front with him. A while later, I
moved out from my wife and in with a single officer. I drank and chased
women and drove myself in debt. Several times, as I sat alone in my room, I
put my gun barrel against my head. I'm still amazed I didn't pull the
trigger. After a few months of this, I realized I was killing myself. My
wife, wonderful woman that she is, held on through all of this and kept in
touch through mutual friends, since I rarely returned her calls. I called
her one day and told her I would go to marriage counseling with her; we
eventually got back together. Today, I take my job much less seriously.
I still do it to the best of my ability, and take survival seriously, but
the job no longer consumes my life. My wife and I have a 10-month-old son
now who I love. It scares me to think how close I came to losing my wife
and never knowing my son. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Of all the complimentary physical skills that marksmen require, the one
that contributes the most to the subconscious skills is aerobic fitness.
Aerobic fitness is all about being able to deliver oxygen to the blood, and
oxygen to the blood results in clear vision, clear thinking, and controlled
performance. The marksman must learn to apply the breathing techniques that
will support his shooting performance: respiratory pause, "gulp of air,"
forced breathing, and combat (or four-square) breathing. Linda K. Miller

and Keith Cunningham, Secrets of Mental Marksmanship

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Whether you are in the heat of battle or just in the theater of combat, I
believe for most people just being there is the most intense (at least
prolonged intense) experience they ever have. In many ways it's a very
simple existence. Many of the cares of the ordinary life do not intrude.
However, you are completely focused on a mission that you feel is vital and
that you are contributing to--you feel very alive and form deep bonds of
intimacy with those about you. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Have your loved ones rehearsed dialing 9-1-1? Remember, their fine-motor
control will deteriorate, as will their near vision. Your life and their
life might depend on their ability to poke 9-1-1 when their world suddenly
comes unglued. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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In Dr. Dave Klinger's superb book, Voices from the KillZone, he tells of a
SWAT officer who fired a ... burst from a fully automatic submachine
gun ... reported that while he did not hear his gunshots, he did hear
the "clack-clack" sound of the weapon cycling as the slide moved forward
and backward, ejecting spent casings and delivering fresh rounds to the
breech. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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When people become angry, or frightened, they stop thinking with their
forebrain (the mind of a human being) and start thinking with their
midbrain (which is indistinguishable from the mind of an animal). They are
literally "scared out of their wits." The only thing that has any hope of
influencing the midbrain is also the only thing that influences a dog:
classical and operant conditioning. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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Bruce Siddle's research identified that one of the responses to elevated
heart rate and sympathetic nervous system arousal was a loss of depth
perception, or a distorted sense of distance. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On
Combat
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A police officer could have the same adrenaline dump flooding through his
body as a soldier in combat, but his combat event takes only a few trigger
pulls to resolve, leaving him with adrenaline still surging through his
body. For the officer to sleep, he must first come down from his adrenaline
rush. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Sheep: Only baaaaad men carry guns. Sheepdog: Bad men and me. They shoot, I
will shoot back and make them stop. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, The Bullet
Proof Mind seminar (paraphrased)
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Rocky Warren: " When it comes time, sheep bleat, but the knife falls
anyway. Do something to survive. Don't let your mind stay with a "this
can't be happening to me," attitude." Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Positive thinking and a positive attitude come with confidence. Confidence
comes with the right kind of training. Only perfect practice makes perfect.
Make sure your training has credibility, that it's the right training to
develop the skills you need the most. Linda K. Miller and Keith

Cunningham, Secrets of Mental Marksmanship

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You have to look into yourself to decide what you must do to bring out that
politically incorrect term killer instinct. When defending your life, you
cannot fight with limitations, you cannot hold back for reasons of
etiquette, a sense of humanity, personal religious reasons, fear of
Internal Affairs, or of being sued. If you are absolutely convinced that
you are fighting for your life, you owe it yourself, [your partner, the
citizens you are sworn to protect] and your family to use whatever personal
psychological ploy to help get the job done. If that means you have to view
the suspect as a rabid, junkyard dog, so be it. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On
Combat
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There is cause to believe that we can train warriors to break out of tunnel
vision by having them scan and breathe after taking a shot. Physically
turning the head and scanning the battlefield after an engagement seems to
cause tunnel vision to diminish. Even if the warrior stayed in tunnel
vision, turning his head permits him to see additional threats, like
scanning with a flashlight beam. ... By having individuals scan and breathe
on the range every time after every engagement, the procedure soon becomes
a valuable and automatic conditioned response. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On
Combat
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The purpose of the conscious mind during the firing of a shot is to be
picturing the right thoughts so that the subconscious can fire the perfect
shot. Linda K. Miller and Keith Cunningham, Secrets of Mental
Marksmanship
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Most Vietnam veterans did not necessarily execute a personal kill in
Vietnam. But they had participated in dehumanizing the enemy in training,
and the vast majority of them did fire, or knew in their hearts that they
were prepared to fire, and the very fact that they were prepared and able
to fire ("Mentally I had killed him") denied them an important form of
escape from the burden of responsibility that they brought back from that
war. Although they had not killed, they had been taught to think the
unthinkable and had thereby been introduced to a part of themselves that
under ordinary circumstances only the killer knows. The point is that this
program of desensitization, conditioning, and denial defense mechanisms,
combined with subsequent participation in a war, may make it possible to
share the guilt of killing without ever having killed. Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman, On Killing
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The establishment of the enemy's guilt and the need to punish or avenge is
a fundamental and widely accepted justification for violence. Most nations
reserve the right to "administer" capital punishment, and if a state
directs a soldier to kill a criminal who is guilty of a sufficiently
heinous crime, then the killing can be readily rationalized as nothing more
than the administration of justice. American wars have usually been
characterized by a distinctive tendency toward moral rather than cultural
distance. Cultural distance has been a little harder to develop in
America's comparatively egalitarian culture with its ethnically and
racially diverse population. In the American Revolution the Boston Massacre
provided a degree of punishment justification, and the Declaration of
Independence ("We hold these truths to be self evident") represented the
legal affirmation that set the tone for American wars for the next two
centuries. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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Many times as a police car nears the jail, and the officers have relaxed
their guard after the arrest, the sight of the structure can spark a
violent reaction in the officers' prisoner. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On
Combat
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You are placing your life on the line. Your actions when it comes to being
prepared show just how much you value your life. How would you explain to
your family if you ended up injured because you were too complacent to
check out your equipment? If you are an officer, how would you explain to
your people's kids that their parent died because you did not insist that
everyone make sure that their portable radio and flashlight were fully
functional? Christopher Brennan, The Combat Position: Achieving
Firefighter Readiness
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Russ Clagett, After the Echo: " At the very instant I picked my aiming
point on her head that night, a light turned on inside my scope. I'm not
even sure how to properly explain this, but here goes. It was like a light
actually came on, not an illuminate reticule, more like an actual light. It
simply got brighter in the scope, just like somebody flipped on a switch. I
have never seen the reticule more clearly and beautifully focused...it's my
subconscious mind taking over control of my senses in order to put the
emphasis exactly where it needs to be for this shot." Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman, On Combat
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You remember the old adage that under stress you revert back to your
training? Well, studies have shown that that will only work provided your
training was stressful in the first place. Linda K. Miller and Keith

Cunningham, Secrets of Mental Marksmanship

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The tactical entry teams, which are pumped and motivated by being part of a
team about to engage in a sudden life and death situation, will kill in a
reactionary manner. The sniper is often out of immediate harm's way and
when required must kill deliberately and most intentionally. He is often
the last resource called upon and is expected not only to incapacitate but
also to most certainly destroy his target. Linda K. Miller and Keith

Cunningham, Secrets of Mental Marksmanship

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Always keep in mind that we are all different. Do not decide which incident
should or should not be traumatic and who should or should not be
traumatized. Do not think that every person is going to have problems after
an incident, and do not conclude that a person should not have a problem
because the incident is not one that you consider traumatic. Always
remember that what might seem to you to be a "no big deal," just might be
an event that has a powerful, psychological impact on another, and one that
seems to be a big deal to you, might not be to someone else. Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman, On Combat
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A simple set of skills, combined with an emphasis on actions requiring
complex and gross motor muscle operations (as opposed to fine-motor
control), all extensively rehearsed, allows for extraordinary performance
levels under stress. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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You have probably experienced sensory exclusion when you received scrapes,
scratches and bruises in a wrestling match, fight or a football game, and
later you wondered how you got them. You were not aware of these injuries
because during your stressful event your sense of pain shut down. Other
senses probably shut down, too, but you were not aware of them since you
did not bring home "souvenirs," such as your bruises and scrapes. Lt. Col.
Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Fear not the night. // Fear that which walks the night. //And I am that
which walks the night. // But only evil need fear me ... // and gentle
souls sleep safe in their beds... // because I walk the night. Lt. Col.

Dave Grossman, The Bullet Proof Mind seminar (paraphrased)

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One of your primary goals as a warrior is to train and mentally condition
yourself to keep going when you have been shot. You must understand and
accept that you might get wounded, and understand deeply and intensely that
you will keep fighting until the threat is no longer present. You can do it
and you must do it. You must control and direct the power of your
adrenaline. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Archilochus, Greek soldier and poet (ca. 650 BCE): We do not rise to the
level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training.

Christopher Brennan, The Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter Readiness

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Soldiers who spend time in combat situations will notice that all of their
senses become heightened. They can smell better, they can hear better, they
can see better. Keith says that he can recall in great detail when he
noticed this in Vietnam. "The Viet Cong had a smell about them that was
unique. This, of course, had to do with their diet, hygiene, and living
areas. But when we came onto sites where there were signs of recent
activity, I could tell how long since they had been there by the smell."

Linda K. Miller and Keith Cunningham, Secrets of Mental Marksmanship

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If there is no intense fear, helplessness, or horror then there will be no
PTSD. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, The Bullet Proof Mind seminar (paraphrased)
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Many police officers involved with our training have said to us that
they're never given enough training time to practice the basic skills. They
arrive for training and are immediately thrown into the high-intensity
practices. This is partly due to the chronic shortage of training time, but
it is also a result of senior trainers with the attitude that "this is how
they will have to do it on a call." This is certainly true, but before we
launch into the high-intensity work, we need to have mastered the
underlying skills through low-intensity training. To do it any other way is
to send officers into harm's way without being properly trained. (Recall
how the military teaches drill.) Linda K. Miller and Keith Cunningham,
Secrets of Mental Marksmanship
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