As I write this it’s November 23rd . . . the day
before Thanksgiving. Our contribution to
the Thanksgiving Dinner is complete, arrival times confirmed as well as letting
our hostess know that we are indeed coming.
It’s a time of gathering families together and giving thanks to God for
all our blessings . . .
Unless you are the family of one of the 131 law enforcement
officers that have lost their lives so far this year in the line of duty . . .
11 this month with the latest death this very morning. Officer Collin Rose of the Wayne State
University PD. Their tables will have an
empty place setting that will never again be filled.
Our officers are at war . . . actively being hunted . . .
and yet they show up for work, tac up and do their patrols. They respond to calls for help and hold the “Thin
Blue Line” against pure anarchy in our streets.
Thank you seems so trite . . . so little . . . but, thank you for all
you do.
An officer’s begins his shift with a number of weapons at
his disposal . . . Taser, ASP, Knife, duty weapon, backup sidearm, shotgun and
patrol rifle. Each officer must be
trained on each weapon – from “less than lethal” to lethal, and they must
qualify annually with each weapon.
We had quite a range of experience in our course from one
officer just a year out of the academy to officers with decades of
experience. Our community is just introducing the patrol
rifle to their officers giving them one more means to respond to a potentially
lethal threat. The course is foundational
in nature along with significant range time allowing officers to shoot
qualification courses of fire for Marksmanship, CQB, low light as well as low
light handgun. Total round count was
800-ish over two days. Weather was in
the upper 30s with rain for virtually our entire second days’ range work –
including all the low light shooting. It
was certainly challenging as well as rewarding.
My whole purpose of going through the course was to see what was taught,
how it was taught and then to shoot the drills and the qualifying courses of
fire. A qualifying score is 80% for
officers and 90% for instructors. On the
Marksmanship Course of fire I shot a 27/30 – 90%. On the QCB I shot 48/50 – 96%. This will allow me to lend a hand going
forward in helping to teach their Patrol Rifle coursework. Honestly our local department is simply
stretched thin, as are most departments across the country. If I can lend a hand, free up some hours . .
. my time here at the course will be well spent.
The course is “busy” to say the least . . . let’s look at
some of the objectives.)
·
Know the nomenclature of the patrol rifle
·
Know how to safely operate it
·
Know how to load it in both tactical and administrative
situations
·
Understanding the fundamentals of marksmanship
·
Understand the rifle bullet’s ballistics
·
Be able to perform immediate action drills
·
Be able to perform basic rifle retention
techniques
·
Understand Iowa law and use of force while
deploying patrol rifles
·
Be able to disassemble and reassemble the
patrol rifle
·
Be able to hit targets while shooting on the
move
·
Be able to accurately shoot a patrol rifle in
low light
·
Be able to successfully engage multiple targets
·
Be able to use the four basic shooting
positions
·
Be able to use cover and concealment
·
Be able to transition from patrol rifle to duty
pistol
As I said . . . a busy 2 days. To complete the course the officer needed to
attend the entire course, pass a written test with a minimum score of 80%, pass
the ILEA required courses of fire with a minimum score of 80% (100 yards, 30 rounds and 50 yards with a
half sized Q-Target, 50 rounds), the ILEA CQB 50 round course of fire and the VPD low-light QCB qualification course
with 50 rounds.
The first half of the first day was going through all the
foundational material – how do projectiles perform, how do they wound, FBI
ballistic information, methods of testing different projectiles and their
typical penetration performance.
Case studies were evaluated – the 1986 Miami FBI shootout,
Columbine, 1997 North Hollywood shootout and the Keokuk County 2011
shootout.
We then moved on to rifle nomenclature and the various
components of a standard AR platform patrol rifle.
This was followed by working towards our range work. Range safety was discussed, methods of
clearing the AR platform as well as second-person clearing checks.
Shooting fundamentals were covered – mounting the rifle,
hand position on the grip and foregrip, placement of the trigger finger, position
of the adjustable stock, position sul, the low ready position.
The basic shooting positions were reviewed – Prone, Kneeling,
Sitting and Standing. Methods of sling
carry and types of slings were discussed.
Loading and unloading the AR and finally zeroing. We used the 10 yard, 50-200 yard zero method
and insured that everyone was zeroed before we moved to shooting our various
drills leading up to the qualification shoots.
Range work on day one began with the zeroing process and
then steadily moved each shooter back starting at 25 yards (I think) and then
moving back to a maximum of 75 yards.
Our shooting range is a tad short of 100 yards. Add in the cover over the rear area of the
range and a vertical baffle, it becomes simply impossible to shoot a full sized
Q-Target. The solution, use a half-sized
Q-Target and then push the distance out to 75 yards during the practice rounds. Once we had worked through all the positions
multiple times we shot the actual qualification course of fire.
The ILEA Rifle Marksmanship course of fire is as follows:
30 rounds – minimum score of 24 to pass
100 yards – or 50 yards with half sized Q-Targets
100 yards Supported Prone 5 rounds slow
fire 5 min
Un-Supported
Prone 5 rounds slow fire
100 yards Standing 5 rounds 1:30
(for all 15 rounds)
(Starting
with safety on – 1 magazine change)
Kneeling 5 rounds
Sitting 5 rounds
100 Yards Standing 2 rounds :30
Kneeling 3 rounds
All shooting was done with either iron sights or a “red dot
/ green dot” non-magnified sights. While
not a particularly difficult course of fire – shooting in front of peers always
ups the ante just a bit as well as the requirement that the officer must shoot
a qualifying score if he/she wants to be able to carry a patrol rifle while on
duty. Everyone passed and, as I stated
earlier, I was pretty darn happy to shoot a 90%.
Next up – the ILEA Rifle CQB course of fire – 50 rounds – 2
magazines, 25 rounds each on a full-sized Q-Target.
Stage 1 – 50-yard line – 15 rounds – 50 seconds
On command the shooter takes an unsupported prone position
and fires 5 rounds, moves to the standing position and fires 5 rounds and then
moves to the kneeling position and fires 5 rounds.
Stage 2 – 25-yard line – 15 rounds – 50 seconds
On command the shooter takes a strong side kneeling
position and fires 5 rounds, moves to strong side standing and fires 5 rounds,
performs a combat reload while dropping to a support side kneeling position
firing the last 5 rounds.
Stage 3 – 15-yard line – 10 rounds – 15 seconds
On command the shooter fires 5 rounds then drops to a
strong side kneeling position and fires the final 5 rounds.
Stage 4 – 7-yard line – 10 rounds – 10 seconds
On the command “MOVE” the shooter raises his rifle and
begins to move towards the threat. ON
the “FIRE” command he fires 2 rounds – scans and then returns to the 7-yard
line. This process is repeated 4
additional times.
This is the exact same course of fire for the low-light
course with the only difference being that there is a police cruiser just rear
of the 50-yard line with headlights and flashers on. Once the 15-yard line is reached the shooter could
use their weapon mounted light as well.
I ended up shooting a 96% for the daylight course and a 94%
for the low-light course.
The officers were also run through the low-light pistol
course as well. Here murphy reminded me
to pay attention. We began the course of
fire with three magazines loaded with 15 rounds each and an additional 5 rounds
in our pocket. I ran the course of fire –
hear the training officer say something about managing our magazines and
ammunition – I think what the hell, I know where they all are – no worries. The final drill is to fire 6 rounds as fast
as we can from the 5-yard line. And . .
. after a single round . . . I’m out . . . cause the other 5 rounds are still
in my frickin’ pocket!!!!! Heavy sigh! Anyway, I only dropped 2 so even with the 5
unfired rounds I shot a 43/50 or an 86%.
No problem qualifying . . . but if my head would have been outta my ass
it would have been a 98%. Crap!!!!
The low light shoots were all done on the second day along
with several shooting drills including a rifle version of “el Presidente” and a
moving and shooting drill that forced transitions to the shooter’s duty weapon
being conducted while we were waiting for “low light” to arrive. The entire second day was also blessed with a
constant rain. Not a down-pour but a
steady light rain that added a bit of discomfort to the mix as well. Temps were in the mid to upper 30s.
Classroom time on the second day was spent on weapon
retention, malfunction drills, taking the final written exam and then an After
Action sit-down discussion.
Some take-aways for me.
We are all fortunate that we have folks in our communities
willing to do the “heavy lifting” to keep us safe. Collin Rose was attacked during on 2nd
day of class. Each of these officers are
well aware of the number of officers attacked and killed while on duty this
year . . . and in years gone by. They
all know the risks . . . and the do their jobs every day. As I said earlier . . . a “thank
you” doesn’t begin to truly say how grateful we all are that they are willing
to climb into their cruisers day after day.
Coursework with law enforcement officers has a different “timber”,
a different feel, a different urgency to it.
When we were working reloading drills on the range, in the dark, in the
cold, in the rain . . . and the reloading process went sideways . . . it was
always with the knowledge that in real life it could mean the risks to the
officer would climb dramatically . . . to the point where the trip home might
well be in a Ziploc. It brought home
individual training, individual range work, individual work with the patrol
rifles to ensure that everyone could run them smoothly and consistently.
I allowed me to realize just how safe and easy my life is
in comparison. These officers are at
risk every day in ways I have not been in well over 40 years. Sure, I could happen upon an active shooter,
be attacked in a parking lot, walk into a robbery or face a home invasion. All of us who teach and practice defensive
shooting skills accept this. A law enforcement
officer is charged with going after the “bad guys/gals” . . . every day . . .
it’s their job. It’s humbling to
recognize this difference . . . and it makes me appreciate them even more.
Finally, I am probably my own harshest critic. I expect to do better that every other
shooter on the line. I expect to exceed
minimum expectations. I expect to do my
best on each and every drill. I’m confident
that every officer out there had exactly the same expectations of themselves as
I did. I am happy to have been shooting
with “peers” . . . very well qualified, experienced and dedicated
shooters. We all held our own.
It was a good course, a good set of drills and a great time
on the range.
Nice job Eric, it’s a very solid piece of coursework. I’m looking forward to lending a hand any
time I can.
