2 June 01

>From another LEO friend and trainer in South Africa on inoculating people against unexpected circumstances:

"I recently trained a local police unit in hostage rescue techniques, door entry, movement, close quarter engagement techniques, etc. These guys were really good and performed way above average for a team of this kind. When I deemed them ready for operational duty, I decided to give them a final readiness exercise.

It was like most of the other simulation exercises. The only difference was that I had taped a woman screaming for help. She screamed over and over in utter panic. Upon the team's initial entry, I played this woman's screams over a communications system, so it was loud.

The result was grotesque. Their performance dwindled, actually becoming amateurish! Their ‘brilliant' shooting became barely average, and two hostage/non-targets were struck, something they had NEVER done before. Their ‘finely tuned approach' sputtered and unraveled!

During the debriefing, their unanimous comment was that the screaming of the woman had been unexpected and upset them all to the point of distraction. None had ever experienced it before.

Needless to say, all rescue teams train now with ‘inoculation sound' as a regular part of the program."

Lesson: The ability to govern your own emotional response to circumstances is as important as any individual fighting skill you may have. Confusion leads to hesitation, and hesitation leads to panic. All information must be run through the logical filter, not the emotional filter.

/John