THE PODCAST
Elevating the conversation about all things tactical.
Gunmen Take 41 Hostages in an Electronics Store: The 1991 Good Guys Rescue
Four refugees entered a “Good Guy” electronics store and took over 40 employees hostage. After hours of deteriorating crisis negotiations, a SWAT team conducted a dynamic hostage rescue. We cover the “doomed captives” concept, tactical considerations, and what went right and wrong.
Short Talk: Big Picture Lessons from Ukraine
Jim gives us a quick review of the key tactical and strategic lessons coming out of Ukraine, including things like the role of tanks in modern conflict, drones and airpower, and information warfare. Russia has been learning lots of lessons like: stay out of Ukraine!
Doing More with Less: Scaling Resources in Major Incidents, Training, and Leadership Development
Whether you are trying to deliver consistent training to thousands of people or manage a major critical incident one thing is for certain: More is not always better. But a lot of tasks at major events are manpower intensive and we need to make the most of the available resources. This is a thought exercise especially for people who work in either really big or really small organizations who want to be able to scale up or down according to their needs, and who need to develop expertise in their front line troops and supervisors.
Mike Willever of Active Self Protection, Host of the ASP Podcast
Mike is a retired Special Agent from Homeland Security Investigations who also worked as a local cop back in the day. Now Mike hosts the ASP Podcast where he deep-dives critical self-defense encounters from both the civilian and public safety worlds. We compare and contrast federal and local law enforcement, and then we talk about some of the aggregate trends and lessons from the interviews he’s done since he started the podcast for Active Self Protection.
Leadership Vol. 2: Your (Shitty) Attitude is Contagious
You own the culture of your team.
There is more to leadership than rank or titles—and before you know it, you’re the guy or gal with just a few years on when you realize you’re not the rookie any more. We talk about capitalizing on good mentoring and working within your sphere of influence to build a foundation of resourcefulness that will keep you happy, your bosses happy, and set you up for success down the road and avoid toxic or cancerous working environments.
Short Talk: Killing People-Don’t Beat Around the Bush
A pet peeve of ours is when people talk about deadly force and say, “Do what you gotta do.” As instructors, using explicit language when teaching about lethal force is vital when there is a threshold that cannot be crossed. We have to help our students mentally prepare and morally reconcile lethal force so that they can be decisive when lives are at stake.
You can’t save them all: Dealing with mass casualty incidents
The medical treatment for trauma patients doesn’t change just because there are a lot of them. Managing large scenes is fundamentally a logistics problem and requires leadership, teamwork, and communication. We discuss ways you can learn to deal with triage, incident command, and scene management that doesn’t involve fancy medicine or bigger kits.
Short Talk: Less Lethal Training and Tools
In between a harsh word and hollow points we need a stepping stone of some kind, training or a tool for situations which lethal force isn’t called for. Mike and Jim talk advantages and disadvantages of OC Spray, Taser, and other less lethal tools.
“Don’t Shoot The Hostage:” How to deal with a person in crisis
Mike and Jim condense a 40 hour week of crisis intervention training into an hour discussion about tactics, dos, and don’ts related to talking to and otherwise dealing with someone who is suicidal or in crisis.
Short Talk: Innovation in the Gun Industry—Shiny Objects and the Fundamentals
Fundamentals are final and the mission always drives the gear train, but the role of creativity still plays a huge role in the future of our industry and tactics. Imagine how much the game changed when night vision came out, or police officers got computers in their cars. It’s easy to get distracted by the solutions out there that lack a problem to fix, but it’s important to approach new ideas with an open mind because they might be one step closer to game changing technology.
Short Talk: Bullet Accountability in Officer Involved Shootings
Mike talks about the role of proficiency and stress management in prevent bad outcomes if we miss when we get in a shooting. We briefly touch on using deliberate practice and discipline to make sure we get it right, because you never know when that day will come.
Should cops transport wounded Officers to the hospital in a police car, or wait for an ambulance?
“It depends.” We explore the risks and benefits of a hasty transport instead of waiting for the medical professionals trained for this sort of thing. There are risks and benefits to this practice but it can be a life saving decision. Learn key considerations and other ways you can compress the timeline to definitive trauma care.
Can’t is Not in Her Vocabulary: American Paralympic Shooter McKenna Geer
McKenna Geer is a US Paralympic competitive shooter who brought home a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio games and also competed in Tokyo in 2020. McKenna talks about her upbringing and how her parents helped her become a national level competitor in spite of the disability she was born with, and talks us through coaching, training, and mindset.
Gunfighting 101 for law enforcement: Summary of the 2019 Florida UPS Truck Shooting
In 2019 there was a big shootout between cops and some armed robbery suspects who carjacked and kidnapped a UPS driver in Florida. Both suspects were killed, as well as the UPS driver and another motorist. Mike and Jim talk about gunfighting principles for cops, and how important it is to have discipline, team cohesion, and a plan when bullets start flying.
Most Gear is a Rip Off: A systematic approach to buying and testing equipment
Most Gear is a Rip Off: A systematic approach to buying and testing equipment. Mike and Jim work through some fundamentals on buying gear in a thoughtful way from a new pocket knife to a new stealth fighter. How to build a requirement, get funding, find a vendor, test a prototype, and manage the widget through its lifecycle.
Fighting at Night
With some reasonable preparation, proportional to your personal risk of having to fight at night — you can use the darkness to gain and maintain gross overmatch. Start by sorting out your own personal risk, which should drive your investment in training and equipment. Consider both technical and non-technical ways you can improve your ability to see and screw with your adversary’s ability to see.
How to Handle a Traffic Stop
Traffic stops are dangerous and unpleasant. A lot of forces converge to make traffic stops dangerous: cops get killed on traffic stops, so they are anxious about them, some communities feel unfairly targeted and perceive a risk from the police, and everyone is at risk to distracted and drunk motorists passing by the stop. No one likes being pulled over, especially if they don’t trust the police. There has to be something we can do to make this whole thing safer and easier for everyone
These aren’t my pants…
The subtle, contextual cues that guide our instincts are often tough to put our finger on, but they are also the reason we might approach one person or situation differently than another. The last thing we want to do is leave those decisions up to someone else’s interpretation. It is difficult to teach what stress, deception, and threatening body language look like in training.
Spheres of Influence
SPHERES OF INFLUENCEI was at an instructor conference last week and it occurred to me that police...
Backup Guns, Yay or Nay?
BACKUP GUNS: YAY OR NAY?Back in the day, I carried a secondary gun at work because, well, I guess...
Mantis: Data-Driven Shooting
MANTIS: IMPROVING YOUR SHOOTING WITH DATAWe are excited to announce our new sponsor, Mantis. The...
The Glance is the Beep
"THE GLANCE IS THE BEEP"I want to convey a great teaching point that I learned from John Correia...
Use of Force in Self Defense
USE OF FORCE IN SELF DEFENSETrying out a new format for the bulletin, we need your feedback! Leave...