The Information Source For Law Enforcement And Homeland Security

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 PUBLISHED BY DAYS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. VOL. 23 ISSUE 6

Participants must also be able to communicate effectively – using verbalization directed at the threat and communication be- tween themselves and the other members of their team or unit. They must know how to safely cover a suspect in a confined area and be knowledgeable in emergency procedures – officer down situations, for example, and the rendering of first aid. Only after students can confidently perform all of these proce- dures on the range is it time to put everything together in live fire shoot house exercises. Ship’s Captain This is why a competent, well trained Shoot House Instructor (SI) is imperative. The SI is responsible for the overall safety and control of the training and the environment. No matter what level of competency our students may have attained, our goal as instruc- tors is to improve attitude, skill and knowledge of all of our stu- dents. The SI must understand every aspect of the tactics which will be deployed during training. His (or her) scenarios must be By John T. Meyer, Jr. practical and realistic. Team One Network The SI must also know all of his (or her) department’s tactics. They must have a clear understanding of departmental policies, A shoot house is not just procedures, and doctrines. This is critical. An SI who is not aware of departmental procedures for a special unit, for example, could another kind of range. create a dangerous situation by not being prepared for the student’s reaction in a scenario. An example of a dangerous situation is a student moving di- A shoot house is a laboratory where patrol officers who have rectly at a threat while engaging, then “getting off the tracks” and mastered the basics of combat firearms can hone their skills in a shooting at an angle to the left or right. If the instructor is not venue which approaches real-world conditions. It is a venue in aware of this tactic, it could create a hazardous situation if the which tactical teams, using live ammunition, can develop the cho- targets are placed in a position which would create a cross fire. reography which allows them to overwhelm a target using speed, The Way It Was surprise and violence of action; or silence, stealth and covert move- Shoot houses didn’t always look like the ones we use today. ment. Because a shoot house is not just another kind of range, Many of us started by building a door frame on the range and, before you think about conducting any live fire shoot house train- then, we practiced opening the door and shooting at targets on the ing, you must ensure that the prospective trainees have mastered other side. The next step was urban terrain facades so we could every one of the shooting basics which are taught on the range. practice Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) ops – an Before You Come to My House unsophisticated version of the FBI’s “Hogan’s Alley” training fa- Let me be specific. Before you take anyone into a shoot house cility. From there, it was a simple step to create bare-bones “rooms” for live fire training, you should make sure that your students are which we did often by using plywood, black plastic, or curtains. able to clear stoppages, perform double taps, and deal with mul- As you can imagine, curtains and plywood do not stop bullets tiple threats. Students must be capable of successfully dealing with so we developed new and safer techniques. We built hollow ply- shoot/no shoot situations and transitioning from their long gun to a wood walls and filled the empty space with pea gravel. That ex- secondary weapon. They must understand –and be competent in – periment turned out to be a nightmare because the seams between proper movement with a firearm and the use of cover. They must the plywood sheets would separate and the gravel would leak out grasp the concept of “scan and breathe.” of the bullet holes. The shoot house instructor is responsible for Only authorized targets everyone’s safety, as well as being in control should be used. of training and the environment.

Next, we made our walls out of railroad ties. That technique It’s made of foamed, fiber reinforced concrete, formed into tapered, still exists. You stack the ties in columns, staggering the seams and log-like elements. The SACON “logs” reduce ricochets and also hiding the nails. But, there’s a problem: Rounds will often bounce trap the bullets and debris, making removal easy. off the ties at extreme angles even with seams staggered and nails The Rules hidden. Also, since not every round will be absorbed, you can fall Whatever kind of shoot house you decide to build, there are a victim to the dreaded ricochet. number of important factors to consider before your first training Some of the first military shoot houses were made of tires. A session. The number one consideration is safety. Every shoot house few still exist. They were built by stacking new tires which had which Team One Network uses posts the “Four Cardinal Rules of blemishes on top of each other, holding them together by placing a Firearms Safety” where all the trainees can see and read them. 4 x 4 or 6 x 6 in the middle, then filling the tires with sand or Regardless, it is imperative that the SI read these rules before gravel. Tires also allow the bullets to bounce at extreme angles – every training session. Here they are: blowback is common – and also creates maintenance problems Rule One: Treat every firearm as if it is loaded. because of wear and shifting sand and gravel. Rule Two: Point your firearm in a safe direction – one where Present-Day Designs an unintentional discharge will cause NO HUMAN INJURY and, Today’s shoot houses can be constructed in a number of differ- at most, minor property damage. ent ways. All of them are preferable to the old styles. One of the (This rule is also known as “The Laser Rule.”) most common designs is steel with plywood facing. Shoot house Rule Three: Keep your finger off the trigger and outside the walls are built with plywood attached to a 2 x 4 which is mounted trigger guard, indexed along the frame or slide until you are on to the steel walls. This creates a gap of 1 1/2 inches. Bullets pass target and have decided to fire. through the plywood, then break up and are captured behind the Rule Four: Be sure of your target/threat, backstop, and be- plywood which reduces splatter. With this kind of construction, yond. care must be taken to replace plywood regularly and inspect the At Team One, our SIs follow up the reading of the “Cardinal steel to make sure it remains stable. Rules” with a secondary talk about the additional safety precau- Another design employs steel-faced walls with rubber belts or tions which must be followed before engaging in live fire shoot sheets. This is accomplished by hanging the rubber so there is a house scenarios. gap between it and the steel plates. The bullets pass through the These are Team One’s shoot house instructor’s talking points: facing and are captured behind the rubber which, of course, also •Wraparound eye protection, gas mask, or face shield are MAN- reduces splatter. Just like the plywood-faced steel I mentioned DATORY. above, it’s important to replace the rubber facing and inspect the • Ear protection is MANDATORY. steel regularly. • Hats (brimmed headwear) are MANDATORY. Then, there is steel to which rubber blocks are attached. This is • BODY ARMOR is MANDATORY. an interesting concept in which the steel inner wall is faced with • Long sleeved shirts are recommended. rubber blocks which can range from two inches to one foot in depth. • Authorized firearms instructors must be present any time the Here, the bullets are most often captured by the rubber blocks and shoot house is used. don’t penetrate as far as the steel. The blocks should be inspected • Prior to live fire exercises, the shoot house will be inspected regularly and inspection of the steel is also mandatory. The rubber for any safety issues, such as gaps between tires (in a tire house), block technique can also be utilized with reinforced concrete walls exposed steel walls, protruding nails, etc. instead of steel. • Prior to live fire exercises, rooms must be checked to ensure Finally, there’s the latest development for shoot house construc- that no personnel are present. tion. It is called SACON™. SACON is shock absorbing concrete. •Targets will be placed so that all rounds will hit the impact area. Page 2 Everybody wears body armor – Proper target placement is critical no exceptions! to safe training scenarios.

• Only authorized targets will be used. you’re doing is checking the targets for accuracy, then you’re miss- • Only authorized ammunition will be used (check the approved ing the concept of shoot house training.Our objective is to develop list). officers who can handle situations – not just weapons. • Instructors will review all targets and angles of deflection To teach students how to handle situations, Team One uses sce- before beginning live fire exercises. narios which have been created from real-world situations. The • All damage will be reported without retribution. object of a scenario is not to mess with a student’s head; it is to • The SI should identify the location of the first aid kit and fire teach practical lessons which will keep the officer alive. So, the extinguishers. scenario itself is just one of the teaching elements. • The shoot house will be cleaned before the end of the train- Break It Down ing exercises. As an SI, you’ll need to break down each practical shoot house • The SI should also cover any additional host agency safety exercise into five components for evaluation purposes. They are rules. the preoperation briefing; the prior to entry check; the eyes on evalu- Target Placement ation during the scenario; the postscenario check; and the final One of the most critical elements shoot house instructors must debrief. face is target placement because where you position your targets is We use the preoperation briefing to explain the scenario, out- crucial to conducting a safe training scenario. It’s a matter of simple lining the mission and giving the students whatever intelligence physics: Where the target is placed affects where the bullet strikes. we think they should have – the number of threats, for example. Of course, the most important element is the shooter’s position(s). You can sketch a diagram of the target area on a whiteboard so For instance, will the position of the target be okay if the shooter is they’ll have an idea about rooms, doors, and hallways. We let them standing or kneeling? Once you’ve determined that, you can deal know whether the targets are reactive or nonreactive. We let the with the other factors, such as the distance from the wall; the target students know how we expect them to verbalize among themselves height; the possibility of deflection caused by the environment (fur- and to the threats. We talk about safety concerns. We tell them niture, appliances, etc.); and the possibility of cross fire. If you are where the instructors will be. We also make sure that everyone going to use a moving target, make sure that the shooter’s angles knows what to say if the scenario has to be shut down because of of fire remain safe. And, we’ve found that putting targets in the emergency or injury. corner of a room can lead to excess wear of the walls. The place- The SI’s prior to entry checklist should include the following: ment of furniture or other objects can also help dictate student •Weapons loaded; movement in order to control early movement. • Finger off the trigger and indexed; Keeping a Close Watch • Is the safety ON or OFF? (what does your SOP say?); and Equally important is for an SI is to monitor student reaction. • All necessary equipment stowed or carried. How do your students react to shooting from different heights? When the students are ready, the SIs should check their firearm How comfortable are they when faced by multiple targets? Will positions; they should make sure they’re applying the “Laser Rule”; they move around the targets? Could they create a cross fire situa- that the team is making eye contact or have their hands ready for a tion? “Touch Up” so they all go at the same time; and that they’re mov- The SI must also always remember that the shoot house is a ing on command. teaching facility. As an SI, it’s your job to watch each trainee to What to Watch For make sure (s)he is scanning and breathing as they move through During the exercise, don’t concern yourself with how many the shoot house, because, if they don’t scan and breathe, they’ll hits the students get in the X-ring, or how many head shot double get tunnel vision which could prove fatal in a real-life situation. taps they can do. You can do that later. What’s more important for And, pay particular attention to the shoot/no shoot locations. If all you as an SI is to evaluate their weapons positioning – the “Laser Page 3 Rule” again – how they move; how they act when they come upon accurate? What about their tactics? How would they evaluate their a threat; what kind of fire discipline they are observing; how communications skills during the operation? These are all defin- competently they transition from subgun or M4 to secondary ing questions. And, as SIs, it is your job to elicit honest and pas- weapon; how they deal with immediate threats; and how they ver- sionate responses. balize to those threats – and to their partners and team members. If Final Thought you have programmed active countermeasures into the scenario, It is critical that the SI always remembers in detail every single you’ll need to see how they transition, employ the countermea- facet of what takes place before, during, and after the live fire sce- sures, then cover the threat in such a way so they’re not going to nario. Because the real teaching – the stuff which sinks in and will shoot one another. keep your students alive in the real world – only comes after the After the Smoke Clears exercises are over. So, once the area has been secured and the student team leader Why? Because the shoot house is not just another range. What declares, “All clear,” it’s time for the SI’s after action evaluation. the shoot house is really about is the opportunity to gain realistic Did the team report by radio once the location was secure? Did experience, in real time, with real equipment in a somewhat realis- anyone need medical attention, and was it called for? The SI should tic environment. At the end of your training exercise, always ask ask each member of the insertion team what threats (s)he saw and what were the lessons learned. how they dealt with those threats. What about sight picture? How About the Author: John T. Meyer, Jr. is President of Team One many rounds did each team member fire? In real life, all of those Network, LLC, a company established to test, evaluate, train and things will be hugely important. market various manufacturers’ products to the law enforcement Finally, there’s the debrief. As an SI, you take the team back community as related to officer survival. John spent 15 years with over the mission point by point. How do they feel they did? Were Heckler & Koch, Inc., ultimately rising to the position of Vice Presi- they good – or were they just lucky? What were the positive issues dent of Sales and International Training. John led a team of in- – what went right? And, just as important, what were the negatives structors who pioneered the integration of formalized training doc- or what can they improve upon? Did Mr. Murphy of Murphy’s trine with practical field experience. These cutting edge, realistic Law fame rear his ugly head? And, if he did, how did they adapt tactical training courses have become an industry standard. and overcome the situation? Do they feel their shooting was

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