Sheepdog Tip of the Day

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If you are shot, step one is, do not panic. The fact you are alive to know
you are shot is a good sign. Think of it as a very emphatic warning shot.
Say to yourself: "I've been better, but I could be worse." Know that a
mission, a goal, can keep you going. Okay, you have been hit, so now your
immediate goal is to prevent getting hit with another bullet. Let's say
the person who shot you no longer represents a legitimate lawful threat
because he has fled, surrendered, or been shot, or there are plenty of
other people present who can take care of him. Your mission now is to
crawl, walk, wiggle, run, writhe or drive to medical support. Get yourself
back to medical support so that your friends don't have to expose
themselves getting you back to safety. They have better things to do at
this time. As Samuel Butler put it over 300 years ago: For those that fly
may fight again, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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When you prepare for a lifetime, you'll be ready and regardless of what
happens you'll know you've done the best possible. Your conscience would be
clear. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, The Bullet Proof Mind seminar
(paraphrased)
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Think you know this? Why not take a random quiz at
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Every shot you fire is merely information to use on the next shot. Never
give a bad shot the attention it doesn't deserve. Having an emotional
reaction to a shot doesn't further your objectives, and it can impair
them. Linda K. Miller and Keith Cunningham, Secrets of Mental
Marksmanship
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A special type of mental preparation involves picturing yourself already
there, already doing the real thing. For this specific preparation, there
are two techniques: visualization and mental rehearsal. Visualization is a
detailed picture of a specific thing (for example, a perfect sight
picture), and mental rehearsal is you going through the event or a key
portion of the event (for example, setting up your shooting position and
firing a perfect shot). Linda K. Miller and Keith Cunningham, Secrets of
Mental Marksmanship
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Fear is a survival mechanism. It's denial that gets us killed. Lt. Col.

Dave Grossman, The Bullet Proof Mind seminar (paraphrased)

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You cannot go wrong if you assume nothing and treat everyone with respect
and compassion. Here are some tips on how to approach someone who has been
involved in a traumatic incident, which has been adapted from the
recommendations written by Dr. Alexis Artwohl on how cops can best support
their fellow officers after a critical incident Initiate contact in the
form of a phone call or a note to let the person know you are concerned and
available for support or help. Say, "Hey, I'm just glad you are okay..." If
the spouse answers the telephone, respect that person's decision whether to
let the traumatized person talk to you. If the person lives alone, offer to
stay with him the first few days after the traumatic event. If you cannot
stay, help find another friend who can. Let the person decide how much
contact he wants to have with you. He may be overwhelmed with phone calls
and it could take a while for him to return your call. Understand that he
may want some "down time" with minimal interruptions. Do not ask for an
account of the incident, but let him know you are willing to listen to
whatever he wants to talk about. People often get tired of repeating the
story and they find curiosity seekers distasteful. Ask questions that show
support and acceptance, such as "How are you doing?" and "Is there anything
I can do to help you or your family?" Accept the person's reaction to his
event as normal for him and avoid suggesting how he should be feeling.
Remember that people have a wide range of reactions to different traumatic
incidents. Apply nonjudgmental listening. Monitor your facial expressions
and simply nod your head at whatever he tells you. Do feel free to offer a
brief sharing of a similar experience you had to help him feel like he is
not alone and that you understand what he has been through. This is not the
time, however, to work on your own trauma issues. If your friend's event
triggers emotions in you, find someone else to talk to who can offer you
support. Do not encourage the use of alcohol. If you go out, drink
decaffeinated beverages, not coffee and not alcohol. In the aftermath of
trauma, it is best for people to avoid all use of alcohol for a few weeks
so they can process what has happened to them with a clear head and with
true feelings. For some, drinking coffee immediately after the incident may
not be a good idea because it stimulates an already stimulated system. Do
not call him "killer" or "terminator" (even as a joke) or make lighthearted
comments about his actions. Even your best buddy, who you often banter with
and tease, may find such comments offensive. Although you are likely to
find yourself second-guessing your friend's actions, keep your comments to
yourself. Your words have a way of getting back to him and might do
additional harm as he struggles to recover. Besides, your second-guesses
are usually wrong anyway. Do encourage him to take care of himself. Be
supportive of his need to take time off work and encourage him to
participate in debriefing procedures and professional counseling. Support
him by going to the right people to talk with them about what your friend
is experiencing. Do confront him gently with his negative behavioral or
emotional changes, especially if they persist longer than one month.
Encourage him to seek professional help. Do not refer to a person having
psychological problems as "a mental" or other derogatory terms.
Stigmatizing someone might encourage him to deny his psychological injury
and not get the help he needs. Do educate yourself about trauma reactions
by reading written material or consulting with someone who knows the topic.
Get the traumatized person to read On Combat, as well as Deadly Force
Encounters. On Killing has also proven itself to be of value, having been
used by many mental health professionals, and by the United States
Department of Veterans' Affairs counselors to educate themselves and their
veterans in this critical area. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Warriors always inspect their equipment prior to a mission. If you are a
leader, you check your people to ensure they have all the equipment they
need to stay alive, including their helmet. A Kevlar helmet will stop
pistol rounds all day long, but only if you are wearing it. If not, it is
useless. A warrior will not be caught without his equipment, and a warrior
leader makes his people do the right thing. Warriorhood is
infectious--it is communicable. And effective warrior leaders transmit it
to their people. When I look back on my years as a military leader, there
are a couple of instances that make me shudder. We are all human and
complacency tries to seduce us all. Sometimes we fall short of the warrior
standard. Fortunately, I had some magnificent warrior leaders who put a
boot in my rear whenever I slipped off the warrior path. Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman, On Combat
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At low levels of vasoconstriction (from cold or stress), only the little
capillaries shut down, causing some loss of fine-motor control. It happens
to your fingers on those cold mornings and it happens when you are under
stress. As the vasoconstriction becomes more intense, the blood flow to the
complex motor muscles begins to shut down. The blood pools into the body
core and large muscle groups, and your blood pressure skyrockets. The outer
layer of your body becomes almost a layer of armor, and as long as an
artery is not hit, you can take extensive damage without much blood loss.

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat

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Richard Holmes has noted the ineffectiveness of an army trained in
traditional World War II methods as opposed to an army whose soldiers have
been conditioned by modern training methods. Holmes interviewed British
soldiers returning from the Falklands War and asked them if they had
experienced any incidence of nonfiring similar to that observed by Marshall
in World War II. The British, who had been trained by modern methods, had
not seen any such thing in their soldiers, but they had definitely observed
it in the Argentineans, who had received World War II style training and
whose only effective fire had come from machine guns and snipers. Lt.
Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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The subconscious mind will move you toward what the conscious mind is
picturing. As we move toward a life-and-death situation, we need to make
sure the conscious mind is picturing the right thing. It needs to be
on "wide scan" as we make the approach, alert to everything around us. When
we need to fire the shots, we need to go "narrow attention control" just
long enough to fire effective shots and then immediately back on wide scan.
Put the conscious mind on situational awareness and let the subconscious
mind deliver the skills. Linda K. Miller and Keith Cunningham, Secrets of
Mental Marksmanship
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