NTI 11, Harrisburg, PA, 29 May-2 June 01

Those of us who participated in NTI 11 are now back home. It was a good one, albeit the smallest one yet. This year's participants were all competent gunmen who are willing to test themselves and expose themselves to risk and pain in the process.

This year's challenges were difficult and complex. A third of it was Simunitions/roll-playing, and two-thirds were live-fire scenarios, including three separate shoot houses. I found it exciting, but neither easy nor comfortable. As Greg Hamilton pointed out, you can't validate a system within the system itself. It should come as no surprise that we're all very good at passing our own tests. Testing yourself in another system requires that you leave your ego on the door on your way in, and be prepared to learn that there are things you need to change.

As valuable as the exercises themselves were the classes and group discussions. Greg Hamilton, John Holschein, and Mike Schurtz were there from Insights, as was Andy Stanford from OPS, Chris Dwiggins from Gunsite, Skip Gochenour, and me. I came away knowing a good deal more about what is being currently taught than I did a week ago.

Skip and his crew surly deserve a great deal of credit for all the work in designing and putting together the exercises and well as running the program and evaluating and coaching the participants.

This year, I used a Glock 32 (357SIG caliber) with Cor-Bon 115gr HP ammunition. It was carried in an Elderton (Ky-Tac) IWB holster (the "Braveheart" model), which I find extremely comfortable and fast. My backup gun was a Kahr P9 (9mm), loaded with Cor-Bon 115gr HP rounds. It was carried in a Ky-Tac pocket liner which I comfortably carried in my strong-side, front pocket.

In addition, I carried a bottle of Fox OC, a Cold Steel Scimitar in my left pocket and a Cold steel Culloden in a pendant scabbard around my neck. I also wore my Second Chance Ultima Body Armor in a T-shirt carrier. It was both comfortable and comforting.

Both Glock and Kahr worked like a champ. Cor-Bon 115gr 357SIG rounds flow through that pistol like a river! It is very smooth. There is almost no muzzle movement during shooting, and I found myself shooting multiple rounds as if I had a machine gun. It is a great fighting pistol. Last year, I drew my backup gun but never fired it. This year, despite the fact that I had two, 14-round LEO magazines for my G32, I ran it dry twice, drew my backup Kahr and nearly ran it dry! Several of the shoot-house stages were exciting, to say the least.

Here is what struck me as important:

At least half of my shooting in the live-fire shoot houses was, of necessity, one handed. My left hand was constantly occupied with opening doors, holding doors open, and manipulating door and window locks. We don't practice one-handed shooting nearly enough.

Any confrontation, potentially lethal or otherwise, is a time-based competition for limited resources. Several people are trying to take possession of the same commodity simultaneously. As with sharks, human predators usually "bump" before they "bite." We need to recognize the "bump" for what it is. Bad guys will probe first to be sure you are safe for them to attack before committing to a strike. The last chance for one's deselection strategy to succeed is during the "bump."

Predators can distinguish a deliberative pause from indecisive dithering. When you make eye contact with them and then go into a deliberate and practiced repertoire, like moving laterally, issuing a verbal address, and simultaneously scanning all around, it always troubles them and forces them to reevaluate. In most cases, such deliberate action will cause you to fail your audition. On the other hand, prey behavior on the part of the potential victim always elicits predator behavior on the part of the predator.

When a predator abruptly goes from outwardly aggressive to quiet, he is about to explode into his attack. He is mentally transitioning from domineering behavior (within his own clan) to hunting behavior (outside his clan). He is deciding that you are not in his clan and that you are therefore fair game. That is the moment when you must get distance and be ready.

We must move when we are evaluating, not just when we're contemplating the use of deadly force. As soon an any species of danger is perceived, we need to start moving. Most of us now move laterally during the draw, but we must do the same thing when we see a threat and our gun is already out. Lateral movement upon perceiving a threat legitimately applies in both circumstances.

Verbal addresses and commands must be practiced to the point where they are, in effect, a "tape loop" which can be played on demand. Trying to think of something clever to say on the spur of the moment is usually fruitless.

Often the best way to get distance from a potential attacker is to actually move toward him at an angle and then step (sometimes push) past him. He expects you to back up. He therefore often chooses a place for attack where retreat to the rear is impossible. Pushing past him usually takes him by surprise and befuddles his attack plan.

Predators who select you for victimization believe you have neither the ability nor the will to shoot them. If they did, they would pass you by. Therefore, often the best strategy is to let them see what they think they want to see. Lock them into that way of thinking and then surprise them by explosively counterattacking.

ANY tactic will be successful against someone who doesn't want to fight. Warrant service tactics should not be used against active and committed gunman. A number of police officers, who have been on many successful "raids" (read that: "unresisted warrant service"), discovered their unresisted arrest tactics unsuccessful in the shoot-houses. Good results often reinforce bad tactics. Just because you achieved a good result doesn't necessarily mean that everything you did was appropriate. In most cases, it just means you were lucky!

Disarms are sometimes the best option, and often the only viable option, when people threaten you with guns at close range. In the force-on-force exercises, I was able to disarm two armed robbery suspects who rushed up to me and shoved guns in my face. Through pseudo-submissive behavior, I was able to lure them close enough to disarm. I then move rapidly to take their pistols away from them. In both instances, they were completely astonished and unable to react before I had their guns.

Most common mistakes:

Fail to disengage and exit when you have the chance.

Everyone needs a disengagement and exit strategy, the crux of which is the ability to abruptly break away and create distance when the situation starts going in the toilet. Out of politeness, we often stay involved in personal or phone conversations when danger is present. The effect is to keep us in close proximity to danger.

Fail to "stack" threats.

We need to train ourselves to always move to a position where we are only confronting one potentially dangerous person at a time. Allowing them to array themselves against us makes it difficult for us to observe all of them simultaneously. It also make it easy for them to "gang up" on us.

Fail to scan all around, constantly.

Predators will allow you to scan in their direction when they are hidden. Then, they will then approach you quickly from that same direction. Scanning must be frequent and continuous, even when some particular thing has your attention.

Forgetting about OC

Many participants forgot that they had OC spray on their person. OC is great for abrupt disengaging, but you have to have it out and use it at the right moment.

Fail to unburden hands.

You need your hands to fight! This year, participants in the force-on-force exercises had things in their hands, like groceries, dry cleaning, etc. Many tried to disengage, exit, and fight as their weak-side hand (in some cases, both hands) were occupied with bulky objects which had little value. We need to free our hands immediately when danger threatens.

Telegraphing intent with clenching of fists, trembling, starting a movement then hesitating.

The more unexpected a move, the more likely it is to be successful.

Firing more than a few shots from one place.

Bad guys quickly figured out where a shooter was and where to hold their sights. Those who moved around an object of cover and moved from cover to cover rapidly presented the most difficult challenge to bad guys.

Shooting and moving simultaneously.

Trying to shoot and move at the same time seldom produces desirable outcomes. What it does do is (1) put bullet holes in everything EXCEPT the bad guys and (2) quickly run one's pistol dry.

Fail to look through screens, windows and doors, taking them as barriers.

I failed to see several targets simply because they were beyond a door or window, because my mind had already written off that area. When there is a conflict between your map and reality, it is your map that is at fault. Reality is always right.

Fail to pie corners completely.

Many of us pied corners only half way, only to discover (too late!) that a bad guy was scrunched in a corner.

Gun extended too much and too far forward in close environment.

It is so tempting to extend one's pistol into a normal stance while in a building, but we have to train ourselves to practice the "compressed ready" position any time there is significant danger of a disarm attempt.

Fail to shoot at "alternate center of mass" or "center of exposed mass"

Several bad guys were exposed only partially, as they leaned out of windows and doorways. It's always tempting to wait until you can get a round into the center of his chest, but you may never get the chance. We must, without delay, take whatever our best shot is, the instant it becomes available.

Fail to "reverse pie"

When someone with a gun is pursuing you through a built-up area, you can "reverse pie" as he tries to pie a corner, looking for you. This tactic often lures him out into the open.

Misjudging threats and potential threats

Only twenty-seven percent of murders take place during armed robberies. The rest take place during confrontations with disgruntled employees and former employees, mentally ill persons, burglary suspects, and current and former wives, suitors, and husbands. Sometimes, we think that inadvertently walking into an armed robbery is the most likely time we will be confronted with deadly force, but that is not true. Many other circumstances are just as dangerous and we must think of them as such.

/John