Mil-Swat Tactical

SWAT – What Training Is Most Important?

We are constantly asked by teams & Individuals that we train, what training is most important? Is it tactical movement, breaching, building clearing, or shooting? As instructors it is our responsibility to be truthful and forth coming. Each one of the subjects above in and of themselves are certainly important, but when rated together from one to four with one being the most important I would have to rate them all a one. Some will say that I am evading the question but the truth of the matter is very simple through the following deduction process.

Tactical Movement:

Tactical movement is critically important to get your team to the breach point with out being compromised and losing the surprise gained at the breach. If you cannot move from the LCC to the breach point without being fired on with possible resulting casualties or being pinned down in the back yard, how well you breach, clear buildings and shoot becomes a moot point. Your team has failed, possibly received casualties, lost hostage lives, and may be in a worse situation than prior to leaving the LCC. In this light I rate Tactical Movement number one in importance.

Breaching:

A surprise, instantaneous breach is certainly mandatory for hostage rescue and is required for initial entry and dominance of the structure. Failure to breach successfully or having to redeploy to the alternate breach point may cause the team to be shot at and hit through the door or wall, or tracked through windows and engaged while moving to the alternate breach point. This could result in team casualties, failed mission, or lost hostage lives. Without the ability to breach in various tactical or architectural situations using explosives, ballistics, thermal, hydraulic, or manual breaching techniques makes for an unsuccessful team in certain critical situations. If you cannot breach, how well you move tactically, clear buildings or shoot becomes another moot point. In this light I rate Breaching number one in importance.

Building Clearing:

Teams must be trained to perfection in building clearing techniques. From planning & rehearsal prior to entry to being able to dominate the part of the structure you are currently in, is critical. Teams and team members must know when to go dynamic, slow and deliberate, or hold and evaluate. Team members must know when and where to use distraction devices, specialty support munitions and why. Teams must be able to support their building clearing move with tactics and fore thought. They must maintain a rear guard where needed and properly anchor critical points in large structures. They must know how to conduct as safe an operation in an extremely unsafe environment, or risk team casualties, mission failure, and lost hostage lives. If you cannot clear buildings properly how well you tactically move, breach, and shoot is another moot point. In this light I rate Building Clearing number one in importance.

Shooting:

During tactical operations it is a given that sooner or later an entry man is going to have to acquire a target and successfully engage it to save his, team members, or third party lives. It is also a given that in most cases at room distances the person who shoots first will generally hit his/her target first. Range training, Shoot houses, and special marksmanship/ shooting skills training is mandatory for all SWAT team members, Team members must strive to attain 100% perfection in their shooting. Many gunfights are won with the first round fired. If team members cannot shoot quickly and accurately on call and under stress they risk mission failure, team casualties, and hostage lives. If you cannot shoot to instantly resolve the situation, how you tactically move, breach, and clear buildings makes those skills my final moot point. In this light I rate Shooting number one in importance.

In reality Tactical movement, breaching, building clearing & shooting are all building blocks of equal importance that insure a well trained, tactically proficient, successful team. All four subjects have always been of equal importance towards successful mission accomplishment and team capability that ensures the team is fully able to handle any given threat it is asked to handle. I am not saying a well trained team will not find itself in a tough situation with casualties. I am saying if the four primary building blocks have been trained on to perfection, the percentage of failure at team level is greatly reduced, and the chance of success greatly improved.
There is no time on a SWAT training day for the wasting of time, or sitting around talking. The average team is expected to handle the most critical of incidents that are rife with first time situation circumstances, out of ordinary architecture, and armed violent subjects. The four building blocks must be trained on rigorously, redundantly, and with total team and individual focus.

Steve Mattoon
Tactical Consultant/Trainer
Mil-SWAT-Tactical

Work Place Terrorist Incident Preparation

There are numerous articles, training facilities and experts who give advice and training on workplace violence. These subjects include domestic violence, stalkers, disgruntled employees, active shooters and a myriad of crisis situations which may befall the work place. There is almost nothing that covers a true terrorist incident, the difference being the extreme tactics that terrorists will use and the fact there may be a very large number of them.

Based on the Russian school siege at Beslan, The Moscow theater siege, the multiple attacks in Mumbai, India and smaller incidents around the Mid East and the world, we can make a good point for saying the following terrorist tactics will be used:

• The terrorists involved will have the ultimate objective to die as martyrs, and take as many hostages with them as possible.
• The hostages will be wired with explosives that will have redundant initiating capability.
• Male hostages who may be a threat and vociferous or argumentive hostages will be immediately shot.
• The hostages will be placed in locations to act as obstacles to rescue.
• The terrorists will use negotiations (if they communicate at all) as a means to consolidate and strengthen their position.

No school, work place or civilian public area can be properly prepared to deal with this kind of an incident without turning it into a protected fortress. This is not going to take place in America as we know it. There are several things that persons caught in a terrorist incident should be trained in and prepared to execute if the situation demands it. The thing to understand here is that lives are going to be lost, we are trying to save as many as possible.

1. Should an incident occur in a structure you are in, move away from it to the closest exit and leave the building.
2. If an incident happens in the structure next to you, stay away from windows, move to stairways and evacuate on the side of your building away from the incident building.
3. Call 911 and report the incident.
4. If trapped, follow all directions from terrorists immediately and quietly.
5. Do not try to hide (you may be shot if found), get in a corner and sit down with hands in sight.
6. Never make eye to eye contact with either male or female terrorists, hostages have been killed for this.
7. Females should never talk to an Islamic terrorist unless questioned or told to speak.
8. Stay calm as you can.
9. Stay on the periphery of the group and try to stay on the side closest to a clear doorway (one not wired with explosives if possible). And remember; follow verbal directions immediately without making eye to eye contact.
10. If a rescue attempt is initiated make a run or stay decision, if you cannot run, lay on your stomach with your hands in sight (out to your sides or behind your head) and do not move until told to do so.

Workplaces and public areas should have the following actively in place and supervised by the management of those facilities:

• A multi faceted evacuation plan based on facility architecture (there is always more than one way or the safest way out).
• A predetermined building side assembly area with a designated employee in charge to determine headcount, missing, injured, etc.
• A training program on personal security awareness and what not to talk about (contracts, government affiliations, visiting V.I.P.S., international public figures with active threats against them}.
• Work place program to determine if the work place is under surveillance.
• Reporting procedures for employee concerns or observations.
• Trained security personnel to react to incidents and information.
• Control of building entry points.
• Restricted roof access.
• A viable updated security program.

The above bullet points are costly, take people’s time, and cause everyone to give a little extra. The truth is no one has all the answers, we have experience over the last twenty-four years but every new situation has its own special circumstances. Preparation is costly and time consuming but pales to insignificance when an incident actually happens or better yet, is prevented.

Steve Mattoon

Responding To a Multiple Point Tactical Scenario

The world tactical community was able to watch the events unfold in Mumbai, India from 26 November thru 29 November 2008. After the events were over it seemed that everyone had an opinion on how badly India’s security forces handled the situation. It seemed that no one had taken the time to really determine what had happened and what impact it would have had on any security force anywhere in the world. If we take a realistic look at these events we would see potential problems for any response force including our own. Several first time situational circumstances were present that would almost insure response problems, these being multiple incidents are not something anyone is going to be proficient in. We do not train to react to multiple incidents at SWAT team level nor do we train patrol or command elements to respond to multiple incidents.

Let’s look at the situation India’s response forces faced:

1. An attack at the Chhatrapat Shivaji Rail Terminus
2. Another attack at the Oberoi Trident Hotel
3. A third attack at Cama Hospital
4. Yet Another attack at the Taj Mahal Hotel
5. Another attack at the Nariman Chadad House
6. And another at the Leopold Café
7. In addition there was an explosion in a taxi at Vile Parle And an explosion and incident at the Mazagaon Docks

Depending on who you talk to 164-173 people were killed and hundreds injured, several hostage situations took place that individually had to be dealt with by responding teams. I submit had this happened anywhere to include America we would all be reading how badly, or slowly we handled it. The truth of the matter is that most teams are trained and in America, and most modern response units case very capable of dealing with any tactical problem presented to them in any given location. Having a half dozen or better incidents happening almost simultaneously is going to cause a fragmented response, total disruption of communications and the command and control element involved.

If a like incident(s) which is a swarm tactic designed to fragment and disrupt response forces happens anywhere I feel currently things will initially go as bad as they did in Mumbai. Tactical commanders and police managers to include patrol division commanders need to start preparing and indeed after Mumbai should already be doing so, response tactics for a like incident. On the terrorist side why would they not try it after the success at Mumbai? We need to start thinking out of the box as some of our current active shooter tactics may work, but others will not. Keep in mind it is tactical fact that everyone figures out to handle an incident “After” it’s over and they can review what happened with perfect twenty-twenty hind sight. There are as I write this a few departments and individuals trying to make the difference and prepare for what may come, but we are stagnated by years of having to react to single location incidents of somewhat of a like nature. If we are subjected to a swarm tactic event we at this time are not much better prepared than were the Indians. We must look at this realistically and based on our past training and operational experience. We here at National Security Associates are training the teams and departments we can to react to a like series of incidents, but there are too few teams and departments in my humble view preparing or even concerned with the possibility of having to react to a series of incidents of this caliber. The training for responding to like incidents must be done at patrol, SWAT, and command level if we are to be successful. This paper will be available to public view and open source venues, because of the need for preparation security no potential tactics or training protocols will be discussed here. The author can be contacted at National Security Associates for either discussion or training. The clocks ticking, the time to prepare is before an incident as it’s proven to be impossible during an incident. Preparation insures success and lessens the potential results of actions taken by terrorists or perpetrators against the public and its response forces.

Steve Mattoon
Tactical Consultant/Trainer
Mil-SWAT-Tactical

Addressing Violence in the Workplace

According to Bureau of Justice statistics, 1.7 million workers are injured each year in workplace violence proving that violence in the workplace is in itself a national tragedy.  For various reasons, running the gamut from liability concerns, financial considerations and unfortunately in some cases denial, corporations are unfortunately also victims in this national tragedy.

We are occasionally asked what can be done to mitigate this potential problem.  There are many answers from many different security companies and individuals and all are credible and go a long way in mitigating this ongoing national problem. Security and worker protection is the responsibility of the employer. Any CEO or major corporate manager concerned must start at the same place – accepting there could be a problem and then determining where to start to address the problem with positive actions. This is the first successful step in recognizing a potential problem.

The second and critically important step is to conduct a security/risk assessment. The first question needs to be, does the company have a workplace violence S.O.P. (standard operating procedure), is it valid, does it address current corporate issues, is management currently reviewing and updating this document, and is the work force knowledgeable and complying with it.  Companies that worry about lawsuits or complaints from workers as a result of workplace violence S.O.P.s or rules should start worker training and information flow early and as part of employment protocols. Any rules or S.O.P.s should be vetted through corporate or company legal counsel. All employees need to understand that violence will not be condoned in the workplace, and that there are venues available to workers where concerns can be stated and actions taken to insure incidents do not happen.  There needs to be an understanding that at certain corporate levels, management principles must be strictly adhered to.  At supervisory levels there is some management principles involved, but the winning principles that make a cohesive workforce are leadership principles; management and leadership are two different protocols with different daily principles. The supervisors that are well managed and the workers that are well led are a workforce that under normal conditions will very seldom resort to violence.

With or without a workplace violence S.O.P., companies should start the process with a security survey/assessment of their company. Details of what constitutes a security survey will not be addressed in this open format.  When it comes to things like bad blood between workers, mental problems, and spontaneous violence without forethought, our fifty years of experience has shown us that or companies will considerably lessen the chance of an incident if they are prepared and trained prior to the event.  I guarantee that good programs that are closely supervised by management, along with an informed workforce who has been made “part of the team”, will drastically reduce the chances of a violent/deadly event in the corporate workplace.  Both managers and workers are important to insure a cohesive, productive, and responsible work force.

Some enhanced safety programs are as simple as key and access control. Others may call for a complete overhaul of how work place violence is approached by the company.  Finances are uppermost in the minds of everyone at corporate level and there are no perfect answers, but some companies that decided not to invest money into the prevention of violence ended up paying with the loss of lives and millions of dollars in assets as a result.  It has been proven that the investment of time, finances, and management has made a huge difference in mitigating the potential for violence, made the workers safer, and insured the continued production without disruption of company products.

The simple one or two day shutdown of company operations due to a workplace law enforcement crime scene  investigation, could cost corporations tens of millions of dollars a day and this is before any forthcoming law suits.  At the end of the day, finances put into mitigation policies will pale to insignificance if a lethal or injurious situation should take place.

Steve Mattoon

www.Mil-SWAT-Tactical.com

WHEN COPS GO TO WAR

(When Police Work Turns To Combat)

There will be police managers and administrators that will say police do not get into combat situations in the conventional sense that soldiers do. I would submit that had they been in the SLA shootout, FBI shootout in Miami, at WACO, or in the North Hollywood bank robbery shootout they might have a different outlook on this. In my humble opinion police officers may find themselves in combat without warning and with too few exceptions without the proper training.

Its true that IEDs, roadside bombs, rockets and RPGs have not currently been employed against American police (hopefully that will remain the protocol) But when you’re behind your vehicle or whatever cover you have found and subjects are firing at you with automatic weapons to the point you cannot move, raise your head, or return fire without being hit, the use of the above weapons is a moot point, “you are in combat” There are a myriad of training courses for SWAT on what to do against armed terrorists with military training and equipment, but the police unit that will most probably meet and engage them first is patrol division and in my assessment they are woefully under trained and in most cases under equipped for this meeting engagement.

If the fight starts as a result of a traffic stop at two AM in the morning I feel we will lose the officer (s) making the stop. This will most likely in most jurisdictions bring other backup officers that may be able to contain the subject vehicle, or engage in a high speed chase ALA the NORCO bank robbery (See LETN, or NTOA for info) with the superior firepower and weaponry being on the side of the bad guys.

Several things may happen here if its real terrorists or any group of local militant right/left wing types that decide to fight. The worst case for the future of other police officers is that they might get away by virtue of shooting up all pursuing police vehicles initially available. The other worst case situation is pursuing patrol units may disable the vehicle or trap it in a confined place and have to take on a group of military equipped people before SWAT arrives with the firepower and team work to get it done with less loss in personnel and vehicles. A few suggestions here for patrol, these suggestions are easier given than applied in most cases.

• Call for assistance, a lot of it.

• Maintain standoff distance and contain.

• Get scoped rifles or duty long guns into the fight immediately.

• Use natural cover, not your vehicles.

• Fight as a team the best you can or have to.

• No one moves unless covered by someone else with a weapon that can do the job at the ranges required.

• Do not waste ammunition, if they have fire superiority let them have it stay behind cover, wait your chance.

• Time is on your side they know it and may charge you or attempt a breakout from containment be ready, stay vigilant.

• Settle down, combat breath, make every shot count. If you do not have a shot don’t take one, you have very little ammunition for a sustained open air gunfight.

• If you have brought a handgun to a machinegun fight your best weapon is your brain, relax and use it. You being dead will not resolve the situation any quicker.

Patrol officers need to start attending tactical classes in how to survive in an open air or barricade combat situation. SWAT will be there as quickly as possible, but patrol may have to hang on to the situation during the most intense and critical phase of it. If you have not trained for it, you must remember one thing has held true for combat throughout history- “You can always hold back or operate below your best abilities, but if untrained in techniques, you cannot upgrade in technique. Once you are at your maximum ability, you have nowhere to go if more is needed.”  Patrol needs to train in team combat, weapons employment, and tactics in terrain not of their choosing while dealing with superior firepower.

There are schools that can teach these needed techniques, there are within the police community many officers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and may be able to assist in training their departments. The clocks ticking, the time to prepare is before an incident, it’s impossible while they are shooting at you during the incident.

Steven D. Mattoon

Mil / SWAT Tactical, LLC.

There are individuals in this world training to defeat you! Will you be prepared? Mil-Swat Tactical, LLC is a highly specialized team that focuses on providing high values services to our clients. Our services are based on our beliefs and unique aproach to what it takes to “train to live.” Our training programs are extremely realistic.

Our training programs are extremly realistic. This means they are mentally and physically draining, just like real-life situations. You will need to dig deep. You will question your desire and have to decide just how badly you want to excel. We invite you to join us. To test yourself. To push yourself beyond what you thought was possible to become smarter, stronger and faster. To train yourself to live.

Mil / SWAT Tactical draws its instructors from the police and military special operations community. Company personnel have been in the training of special operators since 1987. All instructors have a minimum of ten years on a major city tactical team and a minimum of ten years in military special operations units with combat experience in current operational areas.

Mil-SWAT Tactical has a 40,000 acre remote training site for snipers and rural operations training in Washinton State. If facilities, buildings or shoot houses are needed we will mobile training team to the agency or department and train in their jurisdiction. This is a money saver all around for the department or agency needing the training.