Training Tales, Woes
& Old Dogs

Ever wondered where “Old Sayings” come from? They’ve been around as long as mankind, so there must be something to them. This ties in with today’s topic — training. We all know it’s needed. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience some of the best training available throughout my law enforcement career, and later.

I’ve also been exposed to some of the worst. Funny thing, after a while, you can sometimes learn more from the worst, by simply ignoring it, and doing the opposite. And that’s the key to good training — knowing what works for you!
We’re all different. We come in many shapes, sizes, abilities, skills and smarts. What works for one could be disastrous for another. You need to feel comfortable and have confidence in the training that will work for you.

Young Sponges

When we’re young, and obviously less experienced, we hang onto every last word of the training instructor. Hopefully, they know what they’re doing. We take the training and apply it in real-world experiences. When it works, it gives credence to the instructor and we think, “Hey, he knows what he’s talking about. Worked like a charm.” When it fails, we think, “The idiot doesn’t know anything! That’s why he’s teaching, instead of running calls!” You learn quickly — experience is the best teacher.

However, under stress, we all react to training. Training keeps you from being flat-footed, having the deer in the headlights look. Frozen, you’re vulnerable, an easy target. As General George Patton would say, “A good plan today is better than a great plan tomorrow.” And, I’ll add, no plan at all is deadly!

Old Dogs

Another classic saying involves “teaching old dogs new tricks.” It can be done, but there’s a lot of re-training required. When I was first sworn in, we were issued front-break holsters. The theory was, officers would be disarmed from the rear, not the front, so you rocked your revolver forward while drawing to clear your holster. Pulling straight up, or to the rear, it was impossible to clear the holster.

While analyzing officer-involved shootings, it was discovered assailants were disarming officers from the front, during struggles, and the revolver was easily ripped from the front-break holsters. By this time, I had been carrying, drawing from, and qualifying with, the front-break style holster for eight years.

Sure, we transitioned to .40 S&W GLOCK 22s, but still used break-front holsters. Yeah, you could say “muscle memory” was ingrained in us, to say the least.

Now imagine the horror of being told we were going to transition to level III rear-break holsters. Honestly, I was uncomfortable with this new development because I knew about reacting under stress. We needed to “familiar task transfer” with the new holsters, making them an automatic transition

Shotgun Blues … Avoided

When I qualified and was issued a shotgun, my old instructor told us, put the safety on “off” and leave it there for the next 25 years. We carried four rounds in the tube and racked a round when exiting our cruisers. Three years from retirement, they changed the training guidelines. Now they wanted us to, besides loading four rounds in the magazine, keep the safety on.

I knew this wasn’t going to work for me. I simply carried on, keeping my mouth shut, finishing out my career in one piece … with the safety off.

In Conclusion

Don’t get me wrong, training is vital! The main thing to take away from training is using your head and having a plan, as well as a back-up plan, for when things go crazy. Because they will. Having plans of attack instills confidence, which, if truth be told, stops a lot of encounters in the first place. And that’s what we want. Avoidance of conflict is the best way to keep you and your families’ hide intact. Your head is your most vital weapon.