“Violence does not discriminate based on one’s age, race, gender, faith, income level and own perception of preparedness level to deal with it…Without a moment’s notice, one can find himself in the middle of the most chaotic, brutal, mind-numbing experience of one’s life…Criminals, Gang-Bangers, Predators, Terrorist and Sociopaths by definition, prey on the weak and some make a dedicated effort to be Stronger, Faster, Better Trained and more Cunning than their intended target…Someone, Somewhere, right now is getting ready for Deliberate Violence…Are You?”
– Sonny Puzikas, Former Spetsnaz Commando and Weapons/Tactics Trainer.
I have had a ton of email’s lately asking things such as; “How could those people just sit there and let that madman shoot them!!?” “How could a parent let somebody shoot their child at point black range and not do ANYTHING!!??”
It is not my intent to denigrate ANY of the victims or survivors in this tragedy; and seeing I cannot go back in time and read these individuals minds or know what every specific situation was of each survivor or victim, I would be talking out of my ass in trying to answer those questions. All I can do is take from my personal experiences and try to help people prepare for the worst case scenario; I will leave the understanding of WHY the victims and survivors responded as they did to the “mental health professionals”,whoever that is and whatever that means.
The Tactics
Although I never try to give homicidal maniacs or terrorist any due or credit whatsoever in their actions, I want the readers to understand what Holmes did that night was a Terrorist Act, and the tactics he used though basic and elementary, had the desired terror effect: wholesale slaughter.
Tactics wise, Holmes employed a very basic Ambush. An Ambush by definition is a Surprise attack on an unsuspecting enemy. The more chaos and pandemonium you can create in an ambush, the better; which is exactly what Holmes did, using smoke “type” devices. The psychological aim of an ambush is to SURPRISE and SHOCK & AWE of the enemy, which from all eye-witness accounts, this is exactly what happened. You have to remember, one minute the Aurora patrons were watching a movie, the next minute bullets are flying and people are being shot.
Through the process of shock and awe, The OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act) of the people in that theater got turned upside down and sideways by Holmes.. he introduced chaos and disorder into an atmosphere of calm. We have to understand that the average civilian is not conditioned to make that transition from a State of Relaxation; where you are chilling watching a movie to a State of Quick Response; where you go from zero to 100 mph, taking physical action against an armed aggressor. The most well-trained personnel in the American Military Arsenal rehearse day in and day out to accomplish this task fluidly and efficiently. That is not to say that the average civilian cannot train themselves to react in the same manner, however.
Another ambush pre-requisite that Holmes initiated was to try and catch the patrons when their Situational Awareness was Low or Non-Existent. Holmes was successful in this regard partly because most of the survivors stated they thought the whole incident was a “prank” or part of the premiere show, only after the bullets started flying, did they realize what was happening.
The Response
In designing my CO 101 Active Shooter lesson plan, I put a big emphasis on REACTING TO GUNFIRE. In studying the most recent incidents, I found that the majority of lives could have been saved, if the reaction times had been increased by a margin of 25-50%. When things go sideways, seconds count, so getting somebody to react (and not freeze) in a timely, efficient manner is crucial to survival.
In training to respond to gunfire, one needs to participate in live fire exercises (IAD: Immediate Action Drills) frequently. The purpose of these drills is for you to train yourself to react a certain way (with all your senses) and initiate certain steps when gunfire erupts. Besides the movement (or bounding) block which we will cover later, which will include ex-filtration or GETTING THE HELL OUT OF THERE! Using all your senses, you can obtain all the information you need to react accordingly.
Hearing and Sight Reaction
With your hearing you obviously HEAR the gunfire. Guns are LOUD and when fired indoors, they are even LOUDER. When this happens, with some practice, you can identify direction, type of weapon (auto or semi-auto, pistol, rifle or shotty) and with a little practice, caliber. Consequently, if the shooter is 10 yards away when things go sideways, you can DEDUCT all this info by Sight first, but for the purposes of this lesson we will assume the enemy is some distance away when the shooting begins and/or behind cover. In order to be able to react to REAL Gunfire, you need to know what real guns sound like without hearing protection. I am a big proponent of training without hearing protection for certain blocks of instruction to heighten this response. I have heard some people ask me “What if they are using a Suppressor?”. I typically answer these types of questions with “What are the odds?!” but to give you an honest answer, I would say if you feel that strongly about it, and if your budget allows, locate or purchase some suppressors and drill with them.
SIGHT reaction to a threat is simply conditioning ourselves to react when we see a a person with a weapon, regardless if that weapon is a knife, stick or gun. How we react depends on the circumstances of course, but the main ideal is that you DO SOMETHING! In most cases, that is going to involve finding cover or running for an exit, but if by chance the bad guy is close quarters, and you have the element of surprise, disarming him/her could be an option. Weapon disarms are tricky and risky business any way you slice it, but strictly speaking it is much easier to disarm a person with a gun versus a knife. A gun becomes nothing more than a club if you can close distance and re-direct the muzzle, a knife however is much more universal, in that the closer you get to it, the more damage it can do. Please guys, seek professional training on this subject! This is not a subject to be taken lightly.
Movement
Undoubtedly, the most important skill in correlation to reacting to the actual gunfire is GETTING OFF THE X..moving to an exit or hard cover quickly. I always tell my students that the moment you recognize a threat, either by sight or sound, and an exit is a reasonable distance away and you feel comfortable you can make it there without getting shot, go for it. I cannot tell you when to do that..you will have to analyze your odds and make that decision at that time. If you are in a position where you cannot get to the exit in a quick sprint, then we need to find HARD COVER quickly. Hopefully, you have been paying attention to my previous articles and have a rough ideal of the layout of the joint where you are at so you can formulate a plan to get to an alternate exit if there is one. In the event the shooter or shooters are blocking the exit or covering the approaches to the exit(s) and if you armed accordingly, you will need to engage those targets and eliminate them.
Confronting the Shooter
Firstly, as I have stated before, you have to understand that your job is to survive, not be a hero. That being said, if you are in a position to take the shooter down and feel that you can do it without being killed, by all means, do it. I really can’t instruct you any further than that, as that is heavily circumstance dependent. Remember, in order for you to survive, statistics dictate you need to ESCAPE. If the shooter is blocking your escape, you will need to engage him or go through him by whatever means. Again, these are the only two situations I would advise confronting the shooter. You will notice this is the shortest section in this article; there is reason for that guys: Be Smart, there are no do-overs in life or reset button. Real bullets come out of those AK’s and Glocks.
Principals
In most of my scenarios, I throw a curve ball in; having a child and wife unit with you as your PRINCIPAL(s). This really changes the dynamic, and it is exactly that dynamic that most of the victims and survivors faced in Aurora. It is easy to dash for an exit with just yourself to worry about…try doing it with a wife and child in tow. Soon the realization hits you that gambling with your own life was acceptable; gambling with the life of the people who mean everything to you is morally deplorable and out of the question. So what are your options? I personally think their was a number of men in that theater that night that had to make this very decision. While absolute chaos boiled around them, people writhing in agony, their very life slowly slipping away, women crying hysterically; the smell of death, blood and cordite permeating the air around them. Those men died using there bodies for shields…precisely what a bodyguard is supposed to for their principal. There is no way I can tell you these men made the right or wrong choices, but I can tell you they protected their principals..people lived because of their actions; and at the end of the day, as a family man, that is your job after all, right??
In Closing
No one said this was going to be easy folks, but this is the way the world is going, and bottom line, we have to SURVIVE..as Russel Crowe’s character, Captain James Aubrey in the movie Master and Commander stated to his crew as they were about to face the French Man-o-War Vessel the Acheron: “We MUST survive this day…”
Make no mistake, this is by no means an easy thing to train for. But as an example, we must look at the State of Israel, whose history with terror needs no introduction. Israel’s enemies have sought to murder their civilians wholesale in the streets, and we must remember that these acts are not once or twice a YEAR, but once or twice a WEEK! In Response, Israel has taken no prisoners when it comes to acts of terror..they meet violence not with pluralistic ideals of peace and passive resistance non-sense, but with MORE SUPERB DELIBERATE VIOLENCE. This can only be achieved by having the right Tactical Mindset and Superior Training to match.
Start preparing NOW for these situations. I urge you to train WITH your family as often as you can with realistic scenarios. Impart the preparedness MINDSET into your kids early and often. More than anything else, have a PLAN of action; talk about what you would do often with your family, Remember: Practice makes Permanent and Repetition in Training is what drives Efficiency in Combat.
Stay Dangerous.