Combat Readiness
There are three things that will keep you alive in a combat situation, in order of precedence they are:
1. The guy next to you
2. Your training
3. Your Weapons (includes other equipment)
*Some people would add a religious aspect to this list, which is up to the individual.
In my opinion, these are the three most important aspects of the combat mindset and when expounded upon, cover everything a person needs to stay alive and accomplish the mission.
1. The guy next to you
- In my experience, when things go wrong or even just get hard, the most important thing is the guy next to you. During that life and death situation, the uniform you have on, the patch on your sleeve, the reason you chose this life, your religion, and even your family do not matter; at that moment the only thing that should matter is the guy next to you. They will keep you alive and you will keep them alive. That is what it all comes down to.
- Some might say, ‘what if I am alone?’ That is a valid point, however, if you are one of the good guys, you are never alone. You may be a police officer on patrol alone, but the entire force will be there if needed. Whether it be military, contracting, or even self-defense, the good guys always have back up (even if it is simply calling 911). Your goal is to stay alive long enough for that support to reach you. The old saying is ‘the guy who wins the fight is the one whose friends show up first.’
- You should always cross train and learn the job of teammates, and they should learn yours. It will make your team more effective and enable you to continue to operate without a team member, if need be. Additionally, everyone on the team will need help at times regardless of how good they are.
- The relationship of the team is very important. Teammates should become family and you take care of each other like family. This includes non-work related things, if necessary.
- If you look around at the team and think everyone is messed up, it is probably you that is not right.
- If you are not willing to put your teammates first, you should not be on the team.
2. Your Training
This includes mental preparation, individual training, collective training, and planning.
A. Mental Preparation: Mental preparation is what enables you to stay alive and continue the fight. It enables you to think clearly under stressful situations and develop courses of action quickly that will solve the problem. There are many aspects to mental preparation, however, the one I believe that’s often overlooked or ignored is: not feeling sorry for yourself. That is the key that separates the men from the boys. The guy that can be freezing cold and hungry, but still focuses on the mission is much more likely to succeed than the guy that is sitting there feeling sorry for himself and wondering the next time he will have a hot meal. Many say the most important thing in a survival situation is the will to survive and remaining positive, and I agree, but those things are easy if you never feel sorry for yourself. The situation is what it is, and all you can do is make the best of it.
-The phrase ‘it will never happen to me’ will get you killed. You have to expect it to happen to you and be prepared to handle it when it does.
- All training should be as realistic as possible. This includes the basics. If you are shooting on a flat range working on trigger control and your weapon has a malfunction, fix it as you would in a fight. That is mental readiness - doing the right thing to get yourself back in the fight even when completely surprised. This is how things become second nature and muscle memory is retained.
B. Individual Training: Bottom line is if you are alone, your individual training is what will keep you alive until support arrives. On the other hand, if you are operating as part of a team, the team cannot function properly if the individuals cannot effectively execute basic skills.
-Individual training should focus on all aspects of your job. You may be a sniper for the police force, but you still need to know casualty care skills and how to operate your radios. You cannot just focus on the primary task of your position or just the fun stuff, you need to develop a training schedule that covers everything.
-Focus on the basics, the fancy stuff does not work. It is executing the basics consistently that will make you effective. Save the sexy stuff for laser tag.
C. Collective Training: This type of training is focused to the people who are members of a team or work with a partner continually. You have to take all the individual skills that you and your team members focus on and bring them together. This will enable you to develop standard operating procedures that will make the team far more effective.
-When conducting team training exercises, focus on the basics, but culminate with worst-case scenarios. If the team can effectively operate on the worst-case scenario that has a one in a million chance of happening, then all other situations will seem simple.
-The ‘crawl, walk, run’ method of training is the only one that I have ever found to be effective. If you do not ingrain the basics and fundamentals, you will not be successful when running at full speed.
D. Planning: I know the old saying ‘the plan is thrown out the window once the first bullet is fired’. However, planning is more than just the tactical plan, it’s the level of thought you put into preparation and contingencies for when things go wrong.
-Having a good plan and thinking about what could go wrong will be the difference between success and failure. Something as simple as where to go to link up if all hell breaks loose (go to hell point) can be the difference between life and death. Additionally, putting thought into what could go wrong and having developed courses of action for those events will make reactions quicker and enable far more flexibility at a faster pace.
-Planning includes how you prepare. Is your individual survival kit prepared? Did you check the contents of your Go Bag? Did you ensure all your batteries are good? These are things that are often taken for granted or overlooked and should be done every day.
3. Your Weapon (equipment)
Bottom line is that training and tactics are most important, but at the same time bringing a baseball bat to a gun fight is not setting yourself up for success. Some pointers that may help:
- Find what works for you and stick with it. Consistency is what will make you successful. If you do decide to change something, make it sure you train extensively with the new rig so that it will not negatively affect you.
- Keep it simple. The sexy stuff is usually not needed. Remember the basics.
- Your equipment should help you, not hurt you. For example, if a piece of your gear is getting in the way or preventing you from executing a task, it needs to be adjusted, changed or removed.
- If you have $2,000 to spend on a rifle, you will be better off spending $1,000 on the rifle and the rest on ammo to train with.
- Maintenance is vital for all equipment, not just a weapon. In certain circumstances, your flashlight, strobe or blow out kit will be more important than your weapon. These items need to be maintained as well.
I hope that someone out there will find this helpful. This is by no means a final solution to all life’s problems. It is simply a philosophy that has helped me throughout the years. Like all training, please take away from this a few tools for your toolbox and disregard those that you do not wish use. I hope you find what works for you, stick with it, and are successful in whatever you do.
—CPT