Re: 6 weeks or 10 years, your choice..

[Anonymous]

Well that title sounds a lot better than saying one of my fellow fire fighters brought over a friend of his family to share a beer with us at our social club after a nights training. The friend works as a private contractor and has been to both fronts in the war on terror (overseas contingency operation my ass), and is a veteran police officer and law enforcement instructor.

He shared some stories and put a positive light on the war you never hear from the media, and talked about the heroics of Iraqi police officers and the kindness of the people. He was also very clear about the ruthlessness of the enemy and compared them to the VC.

Anyway we talked about hand to hand combat and I showed him a few things and he showed me a few things, and he acted like a real professional. There was no sarcasm or denial that nothing could work besides his training, and he didn’t brush me aside because I wasn’t a police officer which happens all to often. He had his techniques he’d used and tested in battle, but was still willing to listen.

In the end though we weren’t to far off in what we were doing. It was still about taking ground and brutally replying an attacker. He agreed that if a suspect went for your weapon your first move was to hit them get them back and than draw your weapon. He knew all to well cops get hurt and even killed while fighting for a holstered firearm. His gun disarm was a little more complicated than I would have liked, but I saw what he was doing with it, but he liked what we teach.

The fact is if your in a situation where a gun is at your head you’re probably dead already, and whatever you do is your last ditch effort. Once you start attacking don’t ever stop, and if you get a chance to pull a weapon take it.

He also understood that firearms training and close combat tied in closely together and recalled the struggles he had getting police officers to listen to those “martial arts guys” over the years. He saw several impressive martial artists who taught practical techniques disrespected until they showed what they could do.

His spent the last three years overseas teaching and fighting and doing his part. The media only reports negative stories about contractors, and never mentions their sacrifices.

Good luck “Gordon” on your latest assignment.