Action Fighting Arts January 2007 Newsletter

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January, 2007 Edition

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THE FIGHTING FIREBIRD The authorized newsletter of Action Fighting Arts, A Total Threat
Management Training System
- By - Harry Wigder, President, Action Fighting Arts

THE FIGHTING FIREBIRD

Harry A. Wigder, Director, AFA, PPCT IT

SPECIAL TRAIN THE TRAINER ISSUE: PART I

CONCEPTS, PRINCIPLES AND TIPS TO TAKE
YOUR TRAININGS TO THE NEXT LEVEL IN ‘07.

By Harry Wigder, PPCT IT, Kid Escape IT,
Director, Action Fighting Arts (www.ActionFightingArts.com)

SINCE THE purpose of this newsletter is to celebrate excellence in training, I begin 2007 with some thoughts on the science of use of force training. More specifically, my observations on effectively teaching key principles and techniques of subject control and self defense to today’s law enforcement student. An officer with more education, more diversity in life experience, and higher expectations of his or her instructor. The contemporary law enforcement student is much more demanding in the courses he takes and the instructor who leads them. Today’s students have evolved into criminal justice professionals; and so much is expected of them from their communities, their administrators and the courts. It is only natural that more should be expected of us - The instructors.

Before I share my thoughts on training I need to admit that I have made truckloads of embarrassing mistakes as an instructor. Some because of arrogance, maybe some because of a misguided sense of entitlement, others just things that happen to all trainers at one time or another. Too many mistakes to go into in this limited venue; but the point is, to my credit, I learned something valuable from almost all of them (my gaffes) and even moved on to be a pretty credible instructor. The fact is, I think I improved because of them(the errors), not despite them. Thanks to working with great instructors like Jack Leonard (an Associate Staff Instructor with PPCT out of the Pittsburgh area), and Daniel Solla, a remarkable PPCT IT from the Philadelphia area, I have been able to overcome many of my shortcomings as a trainer, mostly by their example and to some extent sharing thoughts and theories about how to most effectively teach others.

What follows is some of what I have learned from Leonard and Solla and others with whom I have shared the training platform. Some of these are truly my own, but I have borrowed, stolen and swiped so many training tips, guidelines, hints, exercises, drills and ideas from others that it is no longer possible to know where their ideas and mine begin and end. Actually, it really doesn’t matter in the long run, does it? The important thing is that maybe you will be able to avoid some of my mistakes and select from the list of training tips and suggestions that can take your training program or style to the highest level, if that is what you choose to do.

TRAINING THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS TO CONSIDER

WANT IT: There are fundamentally two types of Use Of Force instructor:The Mechanic and The Master. There is nothing wrong with either, by the way. But The Mechanic conducts the training by the book (manual), adequately demonstrating where demonstration is called for, correcting when a student makes a blatant mistake, especially one that would hamper him/her passing the Practical Test and the training goes through each planned stage systematically and usually there is little change from training to training unless the manual changes. The Master, on the other hand, evolves into, or becomes a Master because he wants to evolve, to find – for lack of a better term – self-actualization as an instructor. To be the best he or she can be. There is a Magic Cycle in Wanting It (Excellence), and in my case it was something like:

Self-Evaluation and rating myself as an Okay or mediocre trainer.
Not being Satisfied with mediocrity.
Observing other trainers and adopting that which was great. Asking questions. Reading. Studying what other trainers and programs taught.
Accepting that what I knew and/or believed (or, for that matter, what the book said was not the only way. In other words, being open to other ideas, techniques and suggestions.
Taking some risks as a trainer.
Long hours of preparation and self-evaluation after each training day. Making adjustments.
Increased effectiveness as an instructor, which lead to increased confidence, which led to
Higher sense of enjoyment as an instructor.
Increased Sense of Energy, Confidence & Enjoyment is contagious. In turn, the class feels comfortable interacting and reflects so in evaluations, etc.

On “Risk Taking:” “Risk-Taking” is a subjective concept. It means different things to different trainers. First of all, stepping on to the publicly vulnerable training platform is a risk only a few are willing to take, and, of those “few,” only a minority are skilled at, and even fewer are successful (there is a difference between being “skilled” and being successful.”) at. A new instructor will find today’s audience, especially those comprised of peers with whom they work, unforgiving of errors and mis-statements, so many are habitualized by rote experience to stick to what worked in the past and to go by the book. When I speak of risk-taking I am thinking of following gut instincts about what is needed to light a fire under a class or individual. In my case, risk-taking was being the first (along with pioneers like Leonard, Solla, David “Goog” Gulglielmi and a few others to institute realistic scenario-based training, relevant videos, Advanced Arrest Training and actual Stimulus-Response Training Principles into our training system several years before PPCT Management Systems and Police Safety Systems incorporated the SRTP into their systems.

Increased Self Confidence leads to a higher state of awareness and advances the desire to improve.
Trainings skills and training programs evolve to excellence.

WORK AT IT: I think it was after the third day of a DT Seminar I was doing with Solla at the New Jersey Department of Corrections Training Academy. Dan and I had found a cozy Bar and Grille in one of those pleasant seashore towns a few miles from Sea Girt. It took us a half hour or so, maybe two beers and a burger to ratchet our adrenaline a few clicks south after a tough day of teaching thirty or so correction officers in a huge gym with acoustics that were wonderful, if you were a geeked-up marching band, that is. “Err, Harry,” Dan commented with a self-amused smile, “a couple officers asked me this morning if this was the first training you had ever done.”
I didn’t respond, just kept watching ESPN. I had been through this before.
Dan said, “I told them, hell no. Matter of fact, you’ve done twice as many trainings as I have.”
“Let me guess. It’s the note taking thing,” I said.
“Yep. The note-taking thing.”

Which brings me to Principle Number 2: The first one – WANT IT – is worthless until you actually WORK AT IT. My “Note-Taking Thing” that drove the student officers to ask Dan that question was their disbelief that an IT would have to take notes. While Dan was lecturing I was at a desk jotting down thoughts that came to me as he spoke. Months later I used some of those thoughts and ideas at another training and I am currently writing my own Train-The-Trainer E-Book, some of it based on those notes.

Okay. Maybe I go too far. And I don’t ask you to do what I do. But I study those notes, which, by the way, lead to other thoughts and ideas, which go a long way toward improving what I do.
EVALUATE: There is so much I could say about this, but in this limited newsletter all I want to say here is that The Mechanic goes about his or her business and at the end of the day exits the training room without much thought about what he or she did or did not do. The Master always assesses what he or she did, if he or she met his or her goal(s) and objectives and/or that of the class (The Master often asks the class or gets their feedback). Of course, in order to evaluate, The Master must begin with a definitive idea what it is must be trained, how it should be trained and should have an objective picture of what the students should be able to do to demonstrate a positive outcome.
CHARACTERISTICS AND TECHNIQUES OF A TRAINING MASTER:

A MASTER ALWAYS SHOWS AS WELL AS TELLS:

A good writer never tells his readers what makes a certain character tick. He shows the reader the character’s makeup by depicting him or her in a scenario doing dramatic things that reveal his or her flaws or heroic nature. Same thing for a Master Trainer. A Master Trainer always tells –a verbal explanation and amplification is almost always necessary to give the student a logical explanation for what the technique or skill is, the context for its use (under what circumstances, and why that particular technique is the best one to be used at that time and place);when that skill or technique should best be applied and exactly how it should be performed – but to perfectly Soft Wire the skill for his students – the Master Trainer must artfully show that technique so the students can Feel It, make it theirs.

We are a visual society. We absorb information through our eyes. As a matter of fact, we store crucial, life-preserving information in our Short Term Memory (STM) through our visual/perceptual senses and it is from the STM where we retrieve survival skills, which we picked up in our use of force trainings and our field experiences. It makes sense, then, that we show the implications of as many concepts, principles and techniques as possible rather than simply telling. Research shows, by the way, that different adult students learn in different ways. Many learn through their auditory (hearing) senses and the majority learn best by seeing a principle, concept or technique demonstrated and still others learn in a training environment where they are able to come to their own conclusions regarding a technique or principle (Dynamic Simulations Training). My experience – and most likely yours – proves that the optimal sensory training experience (relative to learning and bringing a principle to life for a use of force student) combines telling (auditory perceptual senses) and showing (visual perceptual senses) with the trainee experiencing and/or feeling the implications of the concept, principle or technique.

Some Great Examples of Bringing Your Training Programs To Life Through “Showing” and “Experiencing” Rather Than Just Telling:

Principle: Hick’s Law – “Increasing from one technique option to two increases Reaction Time 150 Milliseconds or 58%---“

Principle: The Reactionary Gap – “The Reactionary Gap is the distance required for an officer to either safely penetrate or disengage when confronted with an (unarmed) person. The standard RG for an unarmed confrontation is 6 feet.

› Show the implication of close quarters with the Tag (or Reactionary Gap) Drill. Divide your class into two columns each facing the other column. Ask the inboard line to be the “Bad Guys” and move to within bent arms distance of the other (about 2’). Have the outboard-facing line act as the Good Guys and assume a good interview stance (Father Murphy or Jack Benny). On your signal the Bad Guys reach out quickly and tags the Good Guy on his/her shoulder while the Good Guy attempts to either evade or block the jab. Repeat this three or four times and then switch GG and BG roles

› Do a second run-through and state that there will be no one on the street to warn you (the officer) that a strike is coming. So, this time direct the Bad Guys to strike at their whim as fast as they wish and in any way they wish, without warning. After three or four repetitions, switch Good Guy and Bad Guy roles and repeat the drill.

› On the final run-through have the original Bad Guys (inboard) step back until there is 6-feet between them and the outboard facing line (Good Guys). Remind the class that they are now at Reactionary Gap distance (two-arms’ length apart). Now, either on your signal or on their own, have the Bad Guys try to jab or strike the Good Guy’s shoulder. It becomes quickly obvious that at RG distance (6 Feet), the attacker must take at least one full step forward and telegraph his or her move before reaching the officer’s shoulder. The officer has time now to step and evade the attack (and/or easily block the jab).

› Process the drill: Among the feedback you will get is the obvious – that if a Bad Guy is within the Reactionary Gap, if he wants to nail you, he will. Distance is a common sense safety tool. Interestingly, though, there are other lessons to be learned, such as:

In the exercise, just as in real life, the Bad Guy will try to distract the officer before striking (looking one way, head-faking, looking down, switching hands, et al.

The “officer” will fake himself out by attempting to out-guess the Bad Guy as to where and how he will attempt to strike next. Make sure you reinforce the importance of not anticipating but trying to cultivate a relaxed overall awareness, to cycle breathe and to Spinal Tune his or her ANS to quickly respond only to the hands as they fly toward his or her body.

Instead of trying to anticipate, students say the exercise makes them more aware of body language and awareness of the hands. It is the hands, and only the hands, that can hurt the officer (at least in this particular drill).

The Tag (or, Reactionary Gap) Drill can also be used to teach and/or reinforce other helpful survival skills, including:

› Tactical Escape and Evasion Techniques.
› Tactical Interview Stances (Father Murphy and Jack Benny and the Steven Segal)
› Threat Recognition Skills (when to transition from the Tactical Interview Stance to the Combat Ready Stance).
› The High Guard Combat Stance.
› The High Guard Combat Stance.
› Blocking Techniques.
› Principles of Relative Positioning.

Principle: THE ACCELERATED RESISTANCE DRILL. “In order to maintain control of a grounded suspect, the officer should not raise the subject’s cuffed hand above his or her (the officer’s) knees.” Take it from me, this is one of commonest of common errors I see in my trainings (as well as in the streets), but, worse, the consequences for over-raising the cuffed hand can be catastrophic. Proof of this is the lethal escape technique designed and perfected by a group of felonious inmates in the 90’s based on their observations on how officers were cuffing suspects on the ground. What resulted was the Folsom Roll, an evil, deadly, but admittedly ingenious procedure that could not work unless the officer violated the above survival motor skill principle.

› The Folsom Role succeeded in too many scenarios based on the following practiced and rehearsed (in prison yards) sequence:
› The suspect cooperates with the officer’s command to prone out. The suspect cooperates quickly with every command and allows the officer to handcuff his hand.
› The suspect is alert and is allowed to look around. He or she becomes aware where the cover officer, his or her gun drawn, is.
› This is another critical breakdown of survival principle. The officer must command the Bad Guy to look away from him or her (the Contact Officer) and the Cover Officer should make certain that he or she is outside the suspect’s vision, if possible. If observed, the Cover Officer can change position – just so he does not “laser” the Contact Officer with the muzzle.
› Once the suspect’s cuffed arm is raised above the officer’s knees he or she suddenly explodes into action
› (speed and surprise are the two key elements here) and rolls under the handcuffs, his or her feet plowing into the Contact Officer’s knees, forcing him or her to collapse toward the Bad Guy.
› The Bad Guy, who has practiced this move many times and had mentally prepared himself for this even before he was arrested, snatches the Contact Officer’s gun from the holster (this is easier to do than you might think. Try it.)and quickly shoots the Cover Officer, who, even if he or she wasn’t stunned and slowed by surprise would be hard pressed to shoot the suspect with his or her partner sprawled on top of the Bad Guy. Once the Cover Officer is downed, it is simple for the Bad Guy to assassinate the helpless Contact Officer. The whole event unfolds in less than six seconds.
› The Accelerated Resistance Drill: The Remedy for the Folsom Roll. After either a demonstration of the Folsom Roll and/or taking part in a 3-Person Drill where each student gets to play each of the roles (the suspect, the Cover Officer and the Contact Officer), the student-officers are primed for the Accelerated Resistance Drill, which is the simple cure for the Folsom Roll. Reenact the 3-Person Drill, which worked quite well for the Bad Guy before teaching the ARD, but this time teach the technique designed to prevent the above Escape and Kill Strategy used in the Folsom Roll.
› Demonstrate and Explain The ARD:

The Suspect is grounded, his arms extended to the sides, palm up. Officer commands the suspect to look away from him/her and step slides in from Level I.

The officer stays low and double-pushes the handcuff on the strong side hand. The officer is directed to purposely raise the cuffed hand above his or her knees.

The “Bad Guy” begins to roll under the cuffs with the intent of plowing into the officer’s legs just like he or she did in the 3-Person Drills.

The “officer” barks out “Get Down! Get Down!” and immediately drops the suspect’s cuffed hand below his or her knees while simultaneously driving the thumb “through” the “Bad Guy’s shoulder and pulling back and up on the handcuff.

Almost without fail the suspect will realize the cost of rolling any further will result in a separated shoulder and/or extreme pain. He or she will invariably obey the command and allow the “officer” to complete the cuffing. In the rare instance of the Bad Guy continuing to try to roll, the downward drop of the cuffs will give the officer balance and control & the Folsom Roll will not be successful

Harry’s Notes: There are dozens of other examples of how you can demonstrate, show and experience critical concepts, principles and techniques in your use of force trainings. I invite any instructor who wants to learn more to contact me through my Web Site or E-Mail and I will get back to you with some tips, etc. Some of the other drills and exercises I use are designed to give the student-officers a feel for principles in:

› The Fluid Shock Wave Principle.
› The Double-Push Principle.
› Control Upon Touch/Tactical Handcuffing.
› Tactical (Cycle) Breathing.
› The Pistol (Handcuffing) Grip.
› Holster and Gun Positioning Relative to the Escort Position.
› Principles of Leverage and Power on the Straight Arm Bar Takedown.
› Footwork on Escort Position Takedowns.
› Principles of Tactical Balance.
› Principles of Leverage, Balance and Power on the (BG Nose to BG Toes) Inside Tactical Takedown..
› The Use of the Digital Tip over the Thumbprint on Pressure Points.
› Seated “Protest Demonstration Lines” and the Pressure Point and Escort Teamwork Drills.
› Recruit Eyes and the Circle Drill.
› Impact Weapon “Stalk and Block” Pad Drills.
› Impact Weapon “Bull in the Middle” Drills.
› One Person Down Bridge and Roll Drills.
› “Ask a Question” and Belt Buckle to the Floor Drills (Ground Fighting re the Shoulder Pin and GAGR Ground Escapes).
› Drawn Weapon Retention “Blind Drills.”
› Holstered Weapon Retention: Unsnapped Holster Drills.
› Inside Strip Disarming: “Tactical Chair Drills.”
› Tactical Handcuffing: “No-Rotation Drills.”
› Control Upon Touch: Snag Drills.

These are many but certainly not all of the drills and exercises you can do to teach crucial concepts and principles. Contact me for amplification of any or all of the above. Also, I would be delighted to add any drills or exercises you use in your trainings to a future edition of this newsletter.

A MASTER TRAINER UNDERSTANDS THAT

“BECAUSE” IS A POWERFUL TRIGGER WORD.

I took part in a little experiment years ago when I was a Staff Development Specialist. We asked a volunteer to try to cut into a long line waiting impatiently at the only working copying machine. The first volunteer simply approached a couple of the office workers and asked if he could cut in front of him or her to use the copying machine. Predictably, the volunteer was turned away by most workers, in one or two cases very rudely. We tried this in different offices and different buildings with the same results. The same volunteer was then asked to repeat the experiment, changing nothing about his approach, tone, etc. The only difference was that he was directed to add to his request (to cut in) the word “because” with his own conclusion to the request. I think what the volunteer came up with was something like: “Hi, I know you have been waiting here a while, but I was wondering if I could go in front of you (the exact same words as in the initial experiment) because my boss will have my head (or, ass, I can’t remember exactly) if Idon’t get this back to him before 3:o’clock.” When you embark on an experiment you have some expectations; and I expected positive results the second time around, but the response was almost unanimously positive, which surprised even me.

The fact is almost everybody needs an explanation why you are asking them (or, in the case of a law enforcement officer and a suspect, why you are telling him)to do or believe something. Setting the Context, or explaining why (“because”) is a key defusing or de-escalation strategy because it is tantamount to showing respect to another person; and it is a key component of convincing a criminal justice student to believe in a concept, principle and/or technique. You can be a highly credentialed and respected instructor, but, if you fail to set the context of a technique by explaining why (create a need for the skill) it is important and maybe the consequences for not correctly using the technique, I believe that, just like the copying machine experiment, the majority of students will not feel compelled to practice the skill outside or even inside of the training room.

In my case, I was trained by some of the best, if not the best. I was told the importance of rotating the hand and the cuffs during tactical handcuffing but it never was something I really understood until the day I carelessly handcuffed a parolee and neglected to rotate the cuffs. As I was casually reaching for the un-cuffed hand, the parolee suddenly spun toward me and I instinctively rotated his hand and the cuff and
step-slid back to take the slack out of his arm. The man yelped and turned back to the cooperative position as if he were electrocuted. After that episode I adopted the No-Rotation Drill to set the context for Double-Pushing the first cuff and rotating his hand and cuff. Up until then I had noticed that a serious common error was for the students to forget to rotate. In some cases this error was repeated four of the five days of the training. I contended that the error was born out of the students’ disbelief relative to the importance of rotation. After the following drill, which allowed all the students to experience the difference between being handcuffed with and without rotation, I noticed a marked improvement in this aspect of Tactical Handcuffing:

› The Bad Guy assumes the position. The Officer approaches from 2 ½ and double-pushes the cuff on the first hand.
› The Officer correctly rotates on the first several reps. However, on signal the Officer is directed not to rotate the first hand and cuff & is simply directed to reach and secure the un-cuffed hand.
› On signal the Bad Guy (as soon as the Officer begins to reach across) turns clockwise and feigns a punch at the Officer, the fist just touching the O’s chin.
› Disengage. The Bad Guy in the “Cooperative Subject” position and the officer is directed to double-push the cuff on. The Bad Guy is directed to rotate clockwise & “punch” the Officer, but just as the BG turns, the Officer rotates the BG’s thumb and cuffs and verbally directs the subject to “Get Back!” Another option is to simply handcuff the Bad Guy and rotate the cuff and thumb and then direct the BG to try to turn and punch, which he or she will be unable to do.
› Process the drill to make sure each student understands the “because, “ or the why of rotating the cuffs.

IN THE NEXT FIREBIRD: ISSUE II OF THE SPECIAL TRAINBING TIPS ISSUE.

› MORE TRAINING TIPS.
› GUIDELINES FOR DYNAMIC SIMULATION (SCENARIO) TRAINING.
› GUIDELINES FOR SAFE AND EFFECTIVE PRISONER TRANSPORTS.
› AND MUCH, MUCH MORE FROM ACTION FIGHTING ARTS

Let me take this opportunity to acknowledge those instructors, IT’s and Staff Instructors from whom I have stolen and swiped brilliant and creative training drills and exercises: I have already mentioned Jack Leonard and Dan Solla, from whom I drew most of my inspiration, but there are others, including, but certainly not limited to:

Jon “JT” Ridge, a committed and energetic PPCT Instructor and Supervisor from the Washington County (Pa.) Probation & Parole Dept.
David “Goog” Guglielmi, a sometimes eccentric but always energetic state parole agent from Philadelphia, who taught me so much about leverage, balance and subject control, and others, including officers who have shared valuable insights and techniques, including Sgt. Chris McKim, Ephrata Borough PD; Sgt. Josh Kilgore, Warwick Twp PD (“The Kilgore Klamp”); Northampton County P.O. Brilliant Bernie “Big Burn” Mikulski (at least 6 GAGE Escape and Evasion Techniques and a few DT training tips); Montgomery County P.O. Josh Mangle (“The Mangle Maneuver”); Bill Haslego, a retired PBPP Supervisor and both a firearms and Non-Lethal PPCT Instructor; Jim Hanna, Cannonsburg PD; Perry Harris (The Perry Harris Disarming Technique/GAGE), a funny, personable and highly skilled IT out of Smithfield, South Carolina and Larry Frye, former PPCT Director of Training.

“A TOTAL THREAT MANAGEMENT TRAINING SYSTEM.”
www.ActionFightingArts.com
484-542-0040
E-Mail: harrywigder@rcn.com

DO YOU HAVE A STORY, AN IDEA, A CONCEPT THAT CAN HELP OTHERS GO HOME EVERY DAY?

Action Fighting Arts and the Fighting Firebird invited you to contribute a story, article, feature or advertise your training in its monthly newsletter. The Firebird personally knows a lot of you out there who have innovative ideas and/or field experience when PPCT and/or other training programs have either worked or failed. Our readers (and I) can learn a great deal from those experiences. Plus, writing about your experiences and ideas can be fun and fulfilling, just as can seeing your thoughts in print can be.

Send those articles and features to harrywigder@rcn.com, or, Shana Lee Albert, my web master, at www.ActionFightingArts.com.

Thanks to Rachel Goldstein, the founder of Artists Helping Children, for her help on art work and other features.

Thank you for your interest in Action Fighting Arts Training Programs
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