viewpoint tactical magazine - january 2015

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VIEWPOINTTACTICAL.C

DEATHIN THE CORNBy Michael Yon

AN IMMIGRATION VIEWPOINT

By Steven Krzyanowski

VISION UNDER STRESSBy Aaron Cowan

INTERVIEWAn interview with Dick Kramer

WES TALKS TRAIN



W E L C

O M E

4

OURVIEWPOINT

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C O N T E

N T S

8 DEATH IN THE CORN

By Michael Yon

20 AN IMMIGRATION VIEWPOINT

By Steven Krzyanowski

24 VISION UNDER STRESS

By Aaron Cowan

44 LEDET MEETS LEGEND

By Dave Agata

52 INTERVIEW

An interview with Dick Kramer

62 PERSEVERANCE

By Mark Oravsky

70 REALITIES IN TRAINING

By Wes Doss

ISSUE 2, JAN 2015

VIEWPOINTTACTICAL.COM6



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The soldiers are living like animals at a lile rat’s nest called

FOB Gibraltar. They call it “Gib.” Named aer the lynchpin

of Brish naval dominance in the Mediterranean, this clus-

ter of mud huts in the middle of hosle territory is more like

Fort Apache, Afghanistan. The Brish soldiers from C-Com-

pany 2 Para live in ugly condions, ght just about everyday, and morale is the best I have seen probably anywhere.

The few outside visitors arrive in helicopters that are sometimes spaced days apart, so that if a visitor

stays overnight, he could be stuck for a week or

more. The closest Afghan dwellings are a few

hundred meters away, and each is surrounded

by a mud wall. The Brits and Americans cal

these dwellings “compounds,” because in fact

they are little forts. Most Afghans here are a

primitive lot who live far outside of cities, and

even villages. The Brits say that locals live

as their ancestors dwelled in the fourteenth

century. Iraq is by comparison extremely ad-

vanced and familiar. Local homes are made of

mud, straw, and poor-quality bricks that were

DEATH IN

THE CORNReporter Michael Yon’s Diary

of his time spent in Afghanistan

with British TroopsHelmand Province, Afghanistan

Part I

In September, the corn around Gibraltar is10-11 eet tall. Crops grow close to the perimetero the FOB, giving “erry” aliban plenty o

concealment.

FOB Gibraltar: made rom an abandoned armer’s compound.



dried in the sun, not red in a kiln.

Farmers in this area of Afghanistan

keep their animals within the com-

pounds, and so the families live in

private zoos, and the Brits are in

the middle of clusters of zoos that

I call Jurassic Park. Though most

compounds immediately aroundGib are abandoned, crops grow

nearly up to the concertina, trip-

wires, claymore mines and forti-

cations that form the perimeter

of the base. Earlier this year, the

farmers were growing wheat and

opium poppy. Wheat is becoming

more expensive than opium, so

poppy production decreased this

year for the rst time since the war

began. The brown stack amid the

corn is poppy harvested earlier

this season. The poppy provides

less concealment for the Taliban,

but helps pay for their operations.

Whereas our supply chains origi-

nate from places like the U.S. and

U.K., with convoys at the mercy of

Taliban in Pakistan, the Taliban supply

chain starts right outside the bases. In ad-

dition to terrorist and criminal interdic-

tions of convoys, the Pakistan govern-

ment can, on a whim, shut down most of

our logistics convoys. The vast majority

of US and NATO/ISAF forces and con-

tractors conduct support/logistics func-tions, while a relatively small number

actually ght. Meanwhile, the Taliban

support/logistics functions are organ-

ic. The corn grows 20 yards from the

place they eat it. The farmers can dou-

ble as informants, hoteliers, and ghters

Jurassic ParkHelmand Province is the largest pro-

ducer of opium in the world. During

the poppy season, Gib is surrounded by

beautiful owers. From the guard tow-

ers, or out on patrols, the soldiers can see

the full cycle. Farmers plant the poppy

it grows and blooms producing beautifu

owers like in the Wizard of Oz; the bulbs

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Helmand Province is the largest pro-

ducer of opium in the world. During

the poppy season, Gib is surrounded

by beautiful flowers. From the guard

towers, or out on patrols, the soldiers

can see the full cycle. Farmers plant

the poppy; it grows and blooms pro-

ducing beautiful flowers like in the

Wizard of Oz; the bulbs are lanced andthe opium harvested.



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are lanced and the opium harvested. The nal part of the opium

cycle lasts all year, and can be seen almost every day, when the

British soldiers at Gib take small-arms re and RPG rounds

paid for by the crop they watched growing just outside the wire

The soldiers at Gib have no internet, but can call home,

and they receive mail and care packages by the sackful. (Note

to folks at home in the UK: Packages to British soldiers areextremely welcome and

true morale boosters. The

cubbards are overowing

with dry foods that require

hot water, but most oth-

er items get snapped up

quickly.) The soldiers at

Gib have only a handful of

major activities: exercise

clean weapons, eat, sleepand ght. That’s about it

Except for the regular re-

ghts, the place is boring

There are three FOBs

around the Sangin district

of Helmand Province

Inkerman, Robinson, and

Gibraltar. These FOBs

have two missions: Trainand support Afghan sol-

diers and take Taliban

pressure off the Sangin

area, so that the soldiers

and the Provincial Re-

construction Team (PRT)

can try to secure the pop-

ulation while improving

their quality of life. Civ-

il Affairs is for the PRT

at Sangin. The troops at

Gib are not there to win

hearts and minds, but to

kill Taliban. Gibraltar

Inkerman and Robinson

form a sort of Devil’s

Triangle in the area of

Sangin, a region that is

to opium what Florida is

We lef at sunset; the conditions were a littledarker than depicted but the sensitive camerabrightened up the image. Te two soldiers onthe bridge are hauling Javelin missiles.

CPL Matt Desmond briefing other 2 Para soldiers



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their job is simple: “Smash” as many

Taliban as possible (Brits use the

word “smash” a lot), while alienat-

ing as few locals as possible. Sim-

ple. This is the sort of warfare that

a lot of young soldiers signed up for.

The week before I arrived atGib, the camp was sharply attacked

three days in a row. Terry was get-

ting as close as he could. The high-

er the corn grows, the closer Terry

can sneak in. During poppy sea-

son, the enemy has less cover, yet

the corn is great camouage. RPGs

that used to sail harmlessly over

Gib are starting to nd their mark.

The enemy is trying hard to

shoot down a helicopter; not many

helicopters come to Gib. During an

attack in late August, RPGs wound-

ed ve British soldiers. Another

RPG attack caused a casualty when

a soldier running for cover smashed

his head on a pull-up bar. It knocked

him out cold. Another soldier

thought he was fragged and ran for

a medic. When they returned, the

soldier had disappeared. (One nev-

er knows what’s next on the battle-

elds: SGT Hodkins, the excellent

media ops soldier who shuttled me

around, told me on 10 September

that a soldier was trying to clear a mine

The soldier was concentrating on the ex-

plosive when all of a sudden some pup-

pies jumped on him, wanting to play.)

I arrived at FOB Gibraltar via heli-

copter on 30 August 2008. The soldiers

had been ghting for ve months, andit showed. When they left the base

among the many other weapons, they

carried four types of rockets, including

66mms, AT-4s, and Javelins. One soldier

on Gib is trained as a sniper and Javelin

shooter, and he also works supply, so the

joke is that he will serve the Taliban ba-

con, and a Javelin in the chest. The pa-

trols were all on foot. Terry has stitched

the area with bombs, and the patrols just mark the bombs and leave them

My rst mission with 2 Para was an

ambush. We trudged over to a nearby

ANA (Afghan National Army) com-

pound where a small contingent of Brits

from 2 Para are living and running mis-

sions with the Afghans. The journey

was less than a half-mile, yet the pros-

pect of being ambushed by direct re or

bombs was very real. Some Brits from

the ANA camp, along with Afghan sol-

diers, helped secure our way. We walked

through deserted compounds and a large

cemetery, all of which have been the

scenes of recent ghting. A British sol-

dier named CPL Matt Desmond saw me

My first mission with 2 Para wasan ambush. The journey was less

than a half-mile, yet the prospect

of being ambushed by direct fire or

bombs was very real.



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and realized there was a civilian in

the bunch. He looked me in the eye

and said, “If you see the grenade in

the cemetery, don’t kick it!” and he

chuckled, though I could see by the

condition of his gear and the look

in his eye that Desmond was a se-

rious soldier. A radio call came inthat Gib, which we just left maybe

15 minutes prior, was about to get

attacked. Good timing, I thought.

If the Taliban attacked infantry

style, since we were already out-

side the wire, they might lose track

of us, and maybe the platoon I was

with could maneuver on one of their

anks and kill them. But the Tal-

iban must have seen us leave Gib,I thought. Because if they were

preparing to attack, it would have

been smart to watch the base for

as long as possible before launch-

ing. But who knows? The enemy

makes mistakes just like we do.

Some minutes later, we arrived

at ANA compound, which was sur-

rounded by Claymores. Claymoresare powerful defensive mines that

are like super-powerful shotguns.

They’ll rip bodies to shreds, and

so I never like walking in front of

them, but that’s what you’ve got

to do to enter these bases. Some

Taliban are willing to pay the

reaper to “disarm” those mines

with their bodies, so that their

buddies can follow behind them.

Inside the compound, CPL Des-

mond shed his weapon and body ar-

mor gave a safety brieng, caution-

ing that the ANA soldiers tend to re

wildly when attacked. It was strange

to leave Gib and need a safety brief-

ing because the next place was even

more dangerous. CPL Desmond told us the

code word in the event that the camp was

being overrun. Without going into details

we would have to initiate a violent, explo-

sive, and risky withdrawal. This was more

than “keep your arms and legs inside the

vehicle” kind of brieng. It was more like

“Do ‘A’ and you might survive. Do ‘B’ andyou will die.” Further, CPL Desmond said

Ramadan would start at sunset, and nobody

knew what might happen then. For the next

ve hours, I listened to soldier stories from

the Brits and Afghans. CPL Desmond talk-

ed about a well-laid ambush the enemy had

sprung on them, killing two British. During

a Taliban ambush that C-co fought through

Desmond was clearing through the en-

emy positions they had fought throughwhen a Taliban commander went for a

weapon. Desmond shot him in the teeth

Recently, there had

been a firefight nearby,

and British soldiers fired

back at Taliban. Unfortu-

nately, far downrange a

bullet struck an 8-year-

old girl, killing her. The

same bullet wounded

her mother. The locals

staged a protest, coming

up to the ANA compound.There were Taliban in the

crowd, who shouted to

the ANA to hand over the

British soldiers. Need-

less to say, the British



put up a good fight, but the ANA re-

fused to help. At least they did not

attack the Brits from within or sure-

ly the base would have been overrun.

On Thursday nights, the ANA have what the Brits call “man-love” night, or “man-love Thursdays.” Interestingly, Iraqis

would sometimes say that a man is not a homosexual unless he

has sex with other men when he is over thirty. At that age, they

say, a man should stop, or else he’s a homosexual, which is a

perversion of faith. I recall reading Ahmed Rashid’s fantastic

and prescient book Taliban, which was published before the war.

Mr. Rashid described a tank battle waged between warlords

over the services of a young boy. Boys are for pleasure, wom-

en are for babies, they say. Such is this land, Jurassic Park. I

called Mr. Rashid at his home in Pakistan a couple years ago,

and he sounded increasingly pessimistic about the region. He

has written another book titled Jihad!, which I brought with

me but traded with Major Adam Dawson, the British ofcer in

charge of Gib, who had another ne book called Afghanistan:

A Short History of Its People and Politics, by Martin Ewans.

Luckily, the night 31 August was not man-love Thursday,

just the beginning of Ramadan. CPL Desmond took me to

see the ANA lieutenant, a 28-year-old

man who said he had been recruited

and trained by none other than Afghan

superhero, Ahmad Massoud. Massoud

had been, assassinated by al Qaeda just

before the 9/11 attacks. The lieutenan

was gracious and hospitable, and in the

beginning was mostly complimentaryof NATO/ISAF, and certainly the Brits

But as the hours ticked by, he talked of

discontent spreading among many Af-

ghans, as they try to decide whether to

cooperate with the foreigners in NATO/

ISAF and the weak and fractious gov-

ernment in distant Kabul, or the Taliban

who surround them. The Afghan lieu-

tenant said that air strikes killing civil-

ians were turning the people against the

alliance, and that promises to deliver

electricity—among other things—had

turned into empty words. He claimed

to be hopeful, though I was unsure

Later, a British ofcer told me that

the Afghan lieutenant was a puff bag of

sorts. His soldiers go into combat with

The Afghan lieutenant said that air

strikes killing civilians were turning thepeople against the alliance, and that prom-

ises to deliver electricity—among other

things—had turned into empty words. He

claimed to be hopeful, though I was unsure.



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the Brits, while he stays

on base doing admin. The

British ofcer said that the

ANA soldiers were losing

respect for the lieutenant,

because the Brits of high-

er rank would go into

combat, while he stayedin the rear with the gear.

I witnessed the same in

Iraq during 2005, until the

Iraqi soldiers began losing

respect for their seniors,

because ranking American

ofcers (even full colonels

and command sergeant

majors) would roll into

combat with Iraqi soldiers,

while many Iraqi captains

stayed on base. But the

mentoring began to work,

and Iraqi ofcers were of -

ten seen leading the way in

combat, and taking casual-

ties right along with their

soldiers, which served to

build respect for the of-

cer corps, and today we

are seeing the fruits ofthose efforts in Iraq. Af-

ter nearly seven years at

war in Afghanistan, this

Afghan lieutenant made

it sound like we are at

square one, though the

Brits said the normal

ANA soldiers will ght.

In Iraq, “Green Zone”is synonymous with “safe-

ty,” despite the fact that

Baghdad’s Green Zone (re-

named to the International

Zone) was never safe. But

here in Helmand Prov-

ince, Afghanistan, “Green

Zone” means danger. The

Green Zone is the place

around the rivers and irrigated areas where crops and

Taliban grow. FOB Gibraltar is surrounded by Green

Zone, while the ANA compound was on the edge of a

desert that swallows armies who are never seen again

The Afghan soldiers were supposed to get up

around 0400 on 1 September 2008 to prepare for

morning worship and Ramadan, but in fact they were

rummaging around all night, while I tried to sleep on

the ground in the dust, using a rock-hard sandbag as a

pillow. All night the ANA guys were coming and go-

ing, talking in Dari and Pashto and other languages

I could not tell the languages apart, and was told that

many of the Afghan soldiers could not communicate

with one other, but that they worked well together.

And so I lay in the dust, gazing up at thousands

of stars. The Milky Way glowing so bright that i

looked like a hand could reach up and scoop heav-

ens from the sky. Occasionally there were the sounds

of unseen jets and airplanes. A single aircraft with

its lights ashing was likely an unmanned Preda-

tor or Reaper. The Taliban were out there, proba-

bly singing lonely songs, as they were known to do

This war is just beginning. Great war is in the

air. The feeling is as conspicuous and distinct as the

smell of rain, or that morning every year when the

rst chill of winter tickles the senses. The corn wilsoon be harvested. The elds will become brown

and fallow. The snows will come and blow across

barren lands, and next Spring the war will be worse

than ever before. It will grow higher than the corn

Still under the Milky Way, at the tiny and re-

mote ANA compound, some of the British sol-

diers seemed to be sleeping. Everyone wore boots

in case of attack. Occasionally a 2 Para soldier

would emerge from the darkness for a guard shift.The ambush they had prepared for the Taliban lay

quiet. The dogs had stopped barking hours ago

Slowly the stars crept through the sky

Hours melted by and constellations seemed to

drift through space as the Earth turned below

Afghanistan is a time machine. Primitive men

ght with modern weapons, radios and telephones



The Taliban’s eagerness to embrace ignorance will

doom them eventually, but how many of us will they

kill rst? They are a relic of the beasts in our nature.

Some of the stars above must already be dead, but

their light has not nished arriving to this place. The

stars were far and visible, while the enemy was close

and hidden. Our soldiers kill them constantly, but they

keep coming. The Taliban I have seen so far are stupid

compared to the enemies we faced in Iraq. The Tali-

ban in this area are easy to kill, but there are so many

of them. For safety they can always cross an imag-

inary line into a disintegrating land called Pakistan.

Only the heavens had taken me through Iraq

alive and as witness. Afghanistan likely will be far

worse. It’s in the air. It’s coming. How will this

war end? I kept thinking, How will this war end?

Some countries such as France are clamoring to

leave already. The Brits have the wherewithal. The

Americans are well-bered. But tonight these Brit-

ish soldiers sleep in the dirt under the stars with their

boots on. When they go home, I’ll still be here as

witness. And when their replacements go home

I’ll still be here. When the replacements of the re-

placements go home, if the heavens consent, I’l

still be here as witness. And so will the Taliban

The path will be long, painful and lone-

ly. There will be no signs or markers to guide the

weary. There will be no villagers to ask the way

for they will not know the way. There will be no

eet messengers bearing scrolls or maps or epis-

tles to warn of dangers ahead. This distance is un-

charted and untraveled. The sails in these deser

seas billow only with mystery, and the only charts

derive from the senses of experienced sailors

The coming storm will need a witness.

No less than ve shooting stars cut silently

through the night sky. On each shooting star, I

made a wish that I know would not come true.



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20



Many years ago I wondered if the new agency I had joined, the

INS, would connue to be the pariah of the Federal Govern-

ment that it had been for so many years. I joined the Agency inthe winter of 1988 and I can remember the inial excitement

had aer being oered the job. I was inially oered a posion

at the boom of the enforcement ranks, as an Immigraon De-

tenon Enforcement Ocer.

This posion for the most part entailed transporng foreign naonal to and

from dierent Detenon facilies located throughout the U.S., and of course to

foreign locaons on ocial Deportaon Missions. Lile did I know but those early

years with the Agency were to become the “best” years in my personal experi-

FROM THE “INSIDE”.By Steven Krzyzanowski , Rered I.C.E. Agent

A N I M M I G R A T I O N V

I E W P O

I N T ,

ence. Why, because we could sll

do our job for the most part!

Since that me and several

promoons later, I found myself

at the end of last year, October

to be exact, needing to leave my

rather comfortable posion and

rering with 25 years of dedicat-

ed service.I found myself leaving with a

rather heavy heart and extreme-

ly frustrated by what I had wit-

nessed over the past 25 years,

not just with the agency, but with

our naon as a whole. I always

tried to make change from the in-

side, but for the most part was unsuccessful. As

most of you already know, where the leadership

there goes, there goes the country. My goal in

wring this series of arcles is to hopefully en-

lighten you on what’s really going on from the

inside of this giganc system called DHS?

I know that most of those reading this are

of the Security mindset to begin with and are

interested in our naon’s security and how wegot to where we are today?

Let me rst start by giving you some of the

stascs that I have gleaned over the past cou-

ple of weeks from those currently working the

job as I write. Most people don’t realize that

the number of illegal aliens from all interna

source’s indicates that the number is some-



22

where between 20 to 25million illegals not just liv-

ing but thriving in the U.S.

The number that you

hear in the media of 10 to

11 million has been used

since I was hired in 1988!

This alone shows that the

media machine is clue-

less of the real numbers

we face. Most Americansare in the dark when it

comes to the amount of

removals from the U.S.

The White House

has claimed that they

have been more aggres-

sive that previous ad-

ministraons and have

deported more than any

other administraon?Really, the facts simply

don’t show this at all.

While being assigned to

the Fugive Squad here

in the Northwest Region

I witnessed the xing of

numbers to indicate a

Deportaon, when in

fact there was no evi-

dence to prove the per-

son had actually le the

country! Another fact

that most of our cizens

are unaware of is that in

2009 the Government

Accounng Oce or

GAO, reported that over

49 percent of the illegal populaon arrived legally tothe U.S. through a port of entry!

The concern at the Southern Border is certainly war-

ranted and I can speak to this later, but as we can see

then the overall border needs to be viewed through a

dierent perspecve. Almost half of the illegals are con-

sidered overstays and I know for a fact that we, that is

“ICE”, are doing nothing at present to apprehend this

populaon. Just last week we found ourselves releasing

an Aggravated Felon to the streets that was a local Gang

Banger from Honduras. Most people with commonsense would ask, how can the “G” release a “Foreign

Naonal” that is a convicted “Aggravated Felon” from

a U.S. instuon to the streets of America? Great ques-

on and I have a simple answer, Were PC!

That’s right PC; we are so PC in fact that in our cul-

ture today since SCOTUS ruled several years ago that

keeping someone who is a Foreign Naonal locked up

for more than 120 days if they can’t be removed, is cru-

el and inhumane? Not only that, but in this most re-

cent case, the “G” thought that this individual wouldface danger and harm once he returned to his nave

Honduras! Think of the conundrum that we have put

ourselves in?

If we have someone who is a danger to our commu-

nity and is in federal custody, under this current regime

we are precluded from removing them to their home

country because of the FEAR that they will be harmed

once returned? Can you believe it, we are afraid that

the Aggravated Felon: Murderers, Rapists, Pedophiles

Drug dealers and the like, will be harmed by their ownpeople if they are sent packing! This has now become

the main concern of our policians??

So with that in mind, I will explore some of the

other holes in the system that you will nd disturb-

ing, but will enlighten you as to how we got

to where we are today.

More next me from the “Inside”.

I M M I G R A T I O N

B y S t e v e n K r

z y z a n o w s k i



V I S I O N U N D E R S T R E S S

B y

A a r o n C o w a n

24



VISION UNDER

STRESS:SHAPING FUNDAMENTALS

TO ACCEPT REALITYAARON COWAN

“I remember that it took forever to clear my shirt o my gun,

I yanked up on it so hard with my o hand, just like I had

been trained, that the boom buons were torn right o

the shirt. I found my gun and drew, my rst round was from

the hip. The shot was low; hit him just above the waist.

think I expected him to go down, stupid thinking that now,

but I didn’t know much about what bullets did and didn’t do

when they hit the body. He shot before or just aer I drew, I didn’t feel it hit

me, didn’t think it did. I just pressed out and red. They told me later I red 12

rounds. I was moving and pulling, trying to get to some sort of cover. I thought

there was something wrong, like I was shoong squibs or something, I didn’t

hear anything. All I could see was his weapon, then nothing. He was down, sort

of slumped against the wall, leaning on the edge of a shelf. I reloaded on pro-

gramming. It wasn’t anything like I had expected it would be. I never once saw

my sights, can’t remember my grip, my stance, anything. All the range training

had up to that point may have helped me, but I couldn’t tell you how.”

-K.P, UC Ocer, when asked about his rst shoong.




B y

A a r o n C o w a n

26

I met K.P. in a hand-gun instructor’s course.

Five days on the range

learning methodology

of instrucng, it was

more mechanics than

mindset. He was just

one more LEO on the

line in a course where

being able to shoot

above average was notonly expected, it was

required. What got

my aenon wasn’t

his shoong; it was his

atude towards some

of the covered materi-

al. K.P. didn’t put much

stock in sight align-

ment or sight picture.

He went through themoons and was de-

nitely one of the beer

shooters in the class

but he had rst-hand

experience in some-

thing that is both sci-

enc fact and known

circumstance to an

overwhelming majority

of people involved inspontaneous shoongs;

the chance of you actu-

ally seeing your sights

when using your hand-

gun under the stress of

a violent encounter is

slim, very slim.

This wasn’t explained in the class. In fact thisinstructor’s level course didn’t address the science

of shoongs at all. Not so much as an anecdota

menon of the Sympathec Nervous System, Audi-

tory Exclusion, performance heart rates, cognive

interpolaon, kinesthec shoong, nothing; just

mechanics and instructor methodology. The leve

of instrucon was excellent; the course was sim-

ply not geared for shoong science. I knew exactly

what K.P. was talking about, so did a few others in

the class. Unfortunately the experiences of lethaforce encounters cannot be accurately replicated

in training; we can come close, but only close. In

all of my formal training I have never actually had

it explained to me why I didn’t see my sights under

real life stress. Even when aending the Simuni-

tons Instructors course, a class that taught meth-

odology for a system designed to replicate real lifeas closely as possible, this phenomenon was not

covered. I learned about it on my own, from a

book called

Handbuch der Physiologischen Opk (Hand-

book of Physiological Opcs)(1) wrien by Her-

mann von Helmholtz. Helmholtz laid out an under-

standing of how the eye behaves when processing

sight options



smulus and more importantly, how it processesvision under stress. This Handbuch was cung

edge research…for 1851. Of course the research

into how vision works under stress didn’t end with

Helmholtz, if anything that’s where its modern

exploraon began. Dr. Walter Cannon expanded

(independently, from what I found) on Helmholtz

work with his research that came to be known as

the Fight or Flight Response (2), Cannon’s work

idened many of the physiological eects of

stress, especially those involuntary responses to

perceived danger, fear and injury. At some point

the science of stress was adopted by those who ex-

perienced the most mortal form of it; William Fair-

bairn authored Shoong to Live with Eric Sykes (3)

a short, to-the-point work that was monumentalin its funconal understanding of concepts yet to

be explained by science but already understood by

men who had been involved in shoongs. Shoot-

ing to Live taught praccal techniques with the

handgun, centered around point shoong against

live threats. The shoong posion known today

as Forward Isosceles was quaned in the pagesof Shoong to Live, though it had been known

for millennia that a squared-to-threat body posi-

on was natural and involuntary in most cases (4)

What Fairbairn also gave us was a common sense

applicaon of skills for combat, not sport. Not al

of Shoong to Live has been handed down directly

but many of its concepts and principles connue

to be taught today.

Bruce Siddle gave the shoong community a

wealth of knowledge in the 1980s with the PPCT

system (5); while it was and remains a system of

non-ballisc use-of-force, the research into the

Sympathec Nervous System and a person’s per-

formance under stress gave those who learned it

in context a unique insight into what they couldpossibly expect to experience, or the ability to put

a name on what they had already experienced

It was not a complete picture. Siddle connued

contribuons to stress research with Sharpening

the Warrior’s Edge (1995) but aenon to vision

was secondary or terary to the other involun-

Unfortunately the experiences of lethal force

encounters cannot be accurately replicated in

training; we can come close, but only close. In all

of my formal training I have never actually had it

explained to me why I didn’t see my sights under

real life stress.




B y

A a r o n C o w a n

28

tary and voluntary ef -fects of life or death

stress. Much of the

study of vision under

stress has been, and

connues to be con-

ducted outside of the

shoong community.

While the data is relat-

able, it’s not intenon-

ally developed for theuse of violence against

people. Why? I don’t

have a denive an-

swer for that, instead

I can only oer my

professional opinion

and that is that while

trainers may learn the

reality of physiologi-

cal responses to stressand how they aect

shoong performance,

they may be at a loss

as to how to incorpo-

rate these facts into

their training meth-

ods. Some instructors

are fundamentals fo-

cused and some are

defensive focused, I’ve

learned from both and

have had lile aen-

on paid to vision in

shoong by either in

regards to SNS stress.

Understanding the

symptoms and the

causes of survival stress does not mean someonecan eecvely teach coping techniques or meth-

ods for accuracy in real life. Instructors who felt

stress shoong instrucon is vital come and go but

the norm remains instrucon of fundamentals one

or two steps removed from reality with predictable

drills or drills without context, closed motor skill(6)

training and funconal mechanical shoong that

addresses marksmanship in the stac. This train-

ing is important, especially when someone is at the

very beginning of learning to shoot. It becomesless important as your skill level improves and your

focus moves towards more realisc training. Even-

tually this sort of training is detrimental to student

improvement. It’s an arcial plateau, a perfor-

mance wall erected by a sort of status quo.

This was K.Ps opinion while we were going

through and instructor level course intended to

teach us how to teach police ocers how to shoot

It was my opinion as well; we both knew what rea

life stress behind the gun was like; both of our in-

structors in this course were rered LEOs with sim-

ilar experiences yet the SNS was hardly addressed

and vision under stress was paid no menon at all

Despite the otherwise quality level of instrucon,




B y

A a r o n C o w a n

30

every single one of usin that course were

done a disservice by

not being taught the

plain fact that no mat-

ter how much me

you put into prop-

er sight picture and

proper sight alignment

with the handgun, the

chances of you acquir-ing a textbook or even

passible sight picture

under objecve/per-

ceived threat of injury

in the compression of

me (spontaneous or

near-spontaneous de-

fense) is so small as to

be an excepon, not a

rule (if it does occur).Since vision is the single

most important sense

we have when ghng

and shoong in gener-

al, this seems to me to

be vital informaon.

I nd it hard to

believe that men who

had experienced the

physiological eectsof a lethal encoun-

ter would not impart

those experiences to

others, but word-of-

mouth relaon to stu-

dents of personal ex-

periences only goes so

far. Many of the students we have in front of uswill have not been involved in a shoong or mul-

ple shoongs. We can explain the stress eects on

vision (among other things) but having not expe-

rienced them personally, those students are only

geng an academic understanding. Since every-

one has eyes and can see, they may not grasp that

their vision can be changed in a signicant way un-

der stress because internally they have been see-

ing since birth and have far more experience with

their vision than we as instructors do telling themhow they see. On a live re range it is dicult to

replicate real life. Arcial range stress helps, but

the nature of rearms righully demands certain

safety measures and the nature of many ranges

(shoong in one direcon, limited movement, no

high or low angle shoong, etc) prevents the most

realisc training possible. Some of these training

arcialies can be worked around with more for-

ward thinking in range design and drill construc-

on, others are unchangeable fact. The certaintyremains, stress in a violent encounter will aect

your eyes.

THE EYEUNDER STRESS

So why didn’t K.P. see his sights? The human

eye is a very complex piece of evoluonary engi-

neering; it has the ability to alter point of focus

from near to exceedingly far distances through

Accommodaon (7) at speeds between 350 milli-

seconds and 1 second (8) depending on age and

general eye health (as well as environmental con-

dions). But this ability is highly dependent on the

levels of stress in the body. In regards to stress



more specically the stress we experience from

the Sympathec Nervous System (the body’s nat-

ural defense mechanism when threatened) when

a threat is perceived, informaon is transmied to

either the amygdala and then the appropriate cor-

tex or directly to the cortex depending on the sm-

ulus (a spontaneous aack will cause a reexive

response, or a Somac Reex (9) in which our nat-

ural programming generates a response before the

“thinking brain,” the appropriate cortex can gen-

erate a conscious response whereas a perceived

threat that does not iniate a Somac Reex willprocess to the appropriate cortex and allow OODA

(10) to take place). In layman’s terms, the body will

produce adrenaline under stress, adrenaline is se-

creted into the blood stream near-instantaneous-

ly and pushed throughout the body by increased

heart rate. Adrenaline has a number of eects on

the body to prepare it for “ght or ight,” as far as

the eye is concerned it eects the Ciliary muscles.

The Ciliary muscles are a ring of muscles that

surround the lens of the eye. They contract or relaxto change the shape (thickness) of the lens to alter

desired focal distances, this is Accommodaon.

Under stress, the Ciliary muscles are directly

aected by adrenaline (11), they contract, which

thickens the lens for distant focus, literally elimi-

nang the possibility for near focus. When the

In layman’s terms, the body wil

produce adrenaline under stressadrenaline is secreted into the blood

stream near-instantaneously and

pushed throughout the body by in-

creased heart rate. Adrenaline has

a number of effects on the body to

prepare it for “fight or flight,” as far

as the eye is concerned it effectsthe Ciliary muscles

Under stress, the Ciliary mus-

cles are directly affected by

adrenaline (11), they contract

which thickens the lens for dis-

tant focus, literally eliminating the

possibility for near focus




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A a r o n C o w a n

32

body’s Sympathec

Nervous System is ac-

vated, a number of

involuntary reacons

occur and they aect

normally voluntary

systems, in this case,

focal point (12).

The involuntary

loss of control over the

Ciliary muscles whenwe react to a threat

is programmed into

our “ght or ight”

response. Our eld of

vision is increased to

its maximum, the pu-pil dilates to allow in

the maximum amount

of light and allow us

to best see our threat.

Speaking in evoluon-

ary terms, we have

been ghng with our

hands and hand weapons much longer than re-

arms. With implicit hand-eye coordinaon devel-

oped since birth, our threat response is hard wired to

focus on the threat. Motor control for hand move-ments is not dependent on connual visual input

Unfortunately visual input, close focus, is necessary

for sighted re with a rearm. Sighted re is done by

centering the front sight in the rear notch, placing the

front sight in focus and driving it to a spot over our

threat. When the SNS acvates, this ability is large-

ly lost. The “front sight focus” that has been beaten

eye contracted tunnel vision example

When the SNS activates,this ability is largely lost. The

“front sight focus” that has

been beaten into every shoot-

er’s brain from day one is gone;

we cannot focus on the front

sight because our nervous sys-tem doesn’t allow it.



into every shooter’s brain from day one is gone; we

cannot focus on the front sight because our nervous

system doesn’t allow it. Loss of near focus is tempo-

rary, though appears to last as long as the SNS is ac-

ve or a conscious decision is made to alter the point

of focus. It gets worse.

Tunnel vision (visual perceptual narrowing) is an-

other reacon to an SNS acvaon when a threat is

perceived and is also common in high stress situa-

ons that do not involve threat of injury (13). When

the SNS acvates, in addion to adrenaline being re-leased into the body, Corsol is also released. Cor-

sol eects perceptual error detecon (14) literally

blocking visual input from being processed by the

visual cortex (15) . It’s not that the informaon isn’t

seen, it’s that the informaon is not regarded as im-

portant and therefore not given the same aenonas that in the direct eld of vision.

The loss of peripheral vision varies and is depen-

dent on training, skill level and previous experience

with vision under SNS acvaon but one can expect

20% to 30% loss of peripheral vision (16) which is to

say that the average 190 degree eld of total hori-

zontal vision (average 155 degrees per eye) can be

reduced to as much as 57 degrees total.

Our vercal eld of vision is 60 degrees above

midline (natural visual horizon) and 70 degrees be-

low. Under the eects of tunnel vision, upper eld

of vision can be reduced to as lile as 18 degrees,

lower eld of vision can be reduced to as lile as 21

degrees.

Going back to our evoluonary programming,

tunnel vision aids us in zeroing in on the threat, tuningout irrelevant visual smuli and sharpening our view

of what is threatening us. While this is benecial to

focus on the bad guy, it doesn’t allow us to see what

else could be important informaon in our eld of vi-

sion such as innocent bystanders, addional threats

or environmental concerns. The more stressful thesituaon, demanding the task or close the threat, the

more extreme tunnel vision is likely to be (17). With

the Ciliary muscles already aected by adrenaline and

the narrowing of aenon on a threat causing visua

tunneling, missing potenally vital peripheral infor-

field o vision vertical field o vision




B y

A a r o n C o w a n

34

maon complicates ourinability to focus on our

weapon sights. Unfor-

tunately this isn’t the

last detrimental eect of

SNS on the eyes.

Depth Percepon,

the ability to perceive

the world in three di-

mensions, is largely due

to our eyes being in thefront of our skull, al-

lowing for stereoscopic

vision. When the Sym-

pathec Nervous Sys-

tem is acvated, stress

aects accommoda-

on-the Ciliary mus-

cles, which results in a

small misalignment of

the visual axis (stereoalignment and commu-

nicaon between the

eyes), causing contrast

problems between ei-

ther eye (18). This may

cause a threat to appear

closer than they actual-

ly are, or make objects

appear closer than they

are. While the loss ofaccurate depth percep-

on can be a negave,

it does serve to aid in

threat processing and

recognion.

SHOOTINGUNDER STRESS,

A THREE YEAR STUDY.

Over the past three years I have been teaching

both cizens and Law Enforcement with the Simuni-

ons Force on Force training system. Since the 1980s

Simunions and systems like it have allowed trainers

to place students in as close to real life as possible vi-olent encounters. While the system does not accu-

rately reect real life, if the scenarios are organized

eecvely, it is as close as you can get. From my own

personal experience and the experiences of others

have worked with and spoken with, Simunions very

closely reects much of what occurs physiologically in

an actual use of force. When I rst started teaching

LE with Simunions, I came up with a few very simple

quesons I would ask at the end of their training sce-

nario. These quesons were asked of each studentin a handgun scenario immediately following a logica

conclusion of their training. As the scenarios spanned

three years and covered a number of varied training

specics such as close quarters shoong, low light, ac-

ve shooter response, vehicle defensive skills, felony



stop procedures, etc. The informaon is anecdotal,though telling as the type of training is varied yet the

commonalies between students is obvious. All sce-

narios polled placed the threat(s) within 15 feet of the

student. 110 Students over three years were polled.

Three simple questions.1. Were you were able to acquire a gross or ne

sight picture under a spontaneous threat?

• No: 90%

• I don’t remember: 9%• Yes: 1%

2. Were you able to consciously focus and nd your

sights?

• I didn’t have me: 33%

• No: 31%

• Yes: 23%

• I don’t remember: 13%

3. Did you unconsciously acquire a sight picture

at some point during the scenario?

• No: 65%• Yes: 20%

• I don’t remember: 15%

Handguns used during the study:

• Berea 92

• Glock 17

Sights used:

• OEM Berea, OEM Glock, Glock Night Sights,

Truglo TFO, XS Big dot, Trijicon, Trijicon HD,

Sawson Precision (ber opc front).

Student shoong experience:• 0-5 years 20

• 6-10 years 45

• 11-20 years 28

• 21+ years 17

The length of a scenario, and how fast a studentwas forced to react was largely responsible for the

ability or inability to eventually acquire a conscious

sight picture. Students that were placed in a sudden

shoot situaon when the reacon me to rounds

red me frame was mere seconds almost exclusive-

ly answered in the negave. Scenarios that gave the

student a greater distance from the threat or allowed

them to move to cover, or ght from cover allowed

some students to acquire a sight picture aer those

rst few seconds had passed, their threat moved andthey perused, or the situaon called for more precise

re (such as the threat using cover). This informaon

is by no means complete, nor was it gathered under

a specic set of like scenarios to ensure commonality

of data. It was collected from varied scenarios from

students with varied back grounds on purpose. In-

stead of establishing the facts within a narrow scope

I wanted data from the widest possible number of

circumstances because reality connues to show

us me and me again that each gunght is uniquein a number of ways and the only commonality is

oen in our involuntary reacons to stress.Why was 15 feet important? My professional and

personal opinion is that an overwhelming number of

shoongs happen in conversaon range. For the ci-

zen, an individual intent on robbing them or perform-

ing a similar crime of prot will do so from a close dis-

tance. Someone armed with a knife; bat, club etc. must

be within the eecve reach of that weapon to use it

Even in law enforcement, many shoongs (most) hap-pen at close distances because oen some form of in-

teracon between cop and bad guy takes place prior to

the shoong. The closer the threat, the less me avail-

able to react. With distance we may have the (relave)

luxury of me, which means more opons than sim-

ply reacng; conscious decisions can be made and an




B y

A a r o n C o w a n

36

obvious decision would be

to use a fundamental sight

picture; though at what

distance from a threat

does this become possi-

ble? I don’t have an an-

swer for that, I’m not sure

anyone does. What I do

know is that the soluon to

our loss of close focus and

reducon of our eld of vi-

sion under stress lies in thefundamentals of shoong

in a special context.

KINESTHETIC SHOOTING,

THE UNINTENTIONAL

ANSWER.

Kinesiology is, in the simplest terms, biomechan-ics; the study and explanaon of motor movements at

the physical and physiological level. When we begin

shoong, proper instrucon and pracce teaches us

motor funcons to perform the tasks needed to oper-

ate the weapon. When we learn a new motor func-

on, such as the draw, presentaon of the weapon

proper two hand grip, trigger control, reloading, etc.

we are learning the skill consciously. Repeon builds

skill condence, eciency and most importantly, it

builds unconscious condence. The ability to perform

without conscious thought no maer how complex the

skill is done by pracce; each repeon draws on the

experiences of the last and if that skill is pracced with

aenon towards eciency of movement or prop-

er mechanics, our ability to perform that skill quickly

is greatly increased. This sort of learning is oen re-

ferred to as Kinesthec, or Hebbian theory (19) aer

Dr. Hebb. Hebbian theory describes a basic mechanism

spontaneous threat

The ability to

perform without

conscious thought

no matter how

complex the skill isdone by practice;

each repetition

draws on the

experiences of the

last and if that skill

is practiced with

attention towards

efficiency of

movement or proper

mechanics, our

ability to perform

that skill quickly is

greatly increased.




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A a r o n C o w a n

38

of Synapc Plascity inwhich the cells in synaps

es responsible for ring

and communicang to

create a movement gain

eciency by repeatedly

working together to form

the motor control pro-

gram. When I was rst

introduced to this con-

cept it was called (and

connues to be calledMuscle Memory; while

the proper term isn’t im-

portant to using it to learn, an understanding of it is

Muscles don’t have “memories” but we do. We program

our brain to perform tasks and when it comes to rearms,

we hope that those tasks are performed as unconsciously

as possible so we don’t have to think our way through them

(which slows reacon me). When we run through drills

on the range and all the fundamentals of rearms work

together, Synapc Plascity insures that our level of perfor-

mance is reected in our eciency and dedicaon to prac-

ce. By varying drills or introducing unexpected problems

(such as dummy rounds to induce weapon malfuncons or

being forced to draw with your support hand to pracce

wounded arm drills) we can further increase our ecien-

cy through Contextual Interference (20) which helps us

nd the opmal motor soluons to perform the task even

with situaonal interference. With the addion of menta

process and judgment situaons (shoot/don’t shoot drills

or three dimensional problems (changing the angle of a

shot to avoid hing innocents) we begin to e our visu-al process to our motor process, which already learned to

work together when we visually walked ourselves through

learning certain skills. If as much training as possible is

done with an eye towards overall context (training to shoot

people, not paper, shapes, bullseyes or dots) our skill lev-

el is dramacally increased versus training out of overal

context (21). If training is performed out of its intended

context, without the introducon of stress or literal under-

point fire

With the addition

of mental process and

judgment situations

(shoot/don’t shoot drills)

or three dimensional

problems (changing the

angle of a shot to avoidhitting innocents) we begin

to tie our visual process

to our motor process,

which already learned to

work together when we

visually walked ourselves

through learning certain

skills. If as much training

as possible is done withan eye towards overall

context (training to shoot

people, not paper, shapes,

bullseyes or dots) our

skill level is dramatically

increased versus training

out of overall context (21).



standing of why the skill is important, the learning of themotor funcon and its relaon to other motor funcons

is negavely aected (22). In basic terms this means that

maximum performance is only obtainable when skills are

trained and pracced under increasing levels of stress. This

is pracced in varying degrees by instructors in teaching;

some are more fundamentals than self-defense focused

and of those who are self-defense focused, some disregard

much of the science on stress because they don’t know it

or because they don’t believe in it.

Because the eyes are going to work against us, we rely

on other present motor skills to ght with the weapon.The proper funconality of the draw, the presentaon of

the weapon and what visual data is available (seeing the

threat even if we can’t see the sights) and shoong is done

based on an emoonal response to perceived facts. This

basic hand/eye coordinaon is the basis for being able to

catch thrown objects, toss trash into the trash can, reach

out and grab objects, play games etc. Our hand/eye coordi-

naon is one of our most implicit skills; it begins developing

at birth and is oen advanced in eciency before any of

us pick up a gun to learn how to shoot. We are taught thesights from day one, but perhaps not taught the context

of how stress with aect the seeing of the sights. When

the SNS kicks in and steals our close vision, we are le with

point shoong; the reliance of our vision on the threat to

guide our gun and put the bullets where we want them to

go, or, Kinesthec Shoong.

PUTTING IT IN CONTEXT

Propriocepon is a term that is somewhat inter-changeable with Kinesthec. Both words serve the

same purpose, though the study of Propriocepon is

more focused on body posioning. What is it? Basical-

ly we are talking about your body’s built-in awareness

system for where your appendages are at any me. As

we grow up and develop our hand-eye coordinaon,

through Propriocepon we learn our joint posion

sense, a method by which (through acve observaon,

feeling and unconscious awareness) we angle our joints

to a pre-determined posion to perform a task. This can

be an instructed task (such as proper weapon presenta-on) or a random posion task (catching a tossed set of

car keys). The most interesng aspect of Joint Posion

Sense is that is not heavily (and somemes not at all)

vision dependent (23). What this means is that we can

direct our weapon with a high degree of accuracy with

limited visual input, and the more visual acuity we have

of a threat (tunnel vision and observaon me), the

higher degree of joint posion accuracy (24). Because

we already know that repeon of a new motor func-

on builds its eciency, the very act of praccing yourdraw and presenng the weapon is programming it into

your mind in much the same way that you once learned

to catch a ball or swing a bat. The intent may be dif -

ferent, but the methods for learning remain the same

What increases your performance ability in a violent en-

counter, when “point shoong” may very well be crica

is your me spent working your skills under stress. Is

this simple reliance on hand/eye coordinaon? Yes and

no. Many self-defense minded shooters pracce ring

from the hip, or close tuck posion where the gun isn’t

even in their eld of view, yet they get hits (this arclestarted with an account of a hip shot and hit). Being

able to see the weapon, even if it isn’t in focus, aids in

the delivery of accurate gun re. You can be very accu-

rate, even without your sights; alignment via visual data

to joint posion accuracy can be very high, even under

stress (25).

point fire 3 yards




B y

A a r o n C o w a n

40

TRAININGFOR EVENTUALITY

The more you train to perform under stress, the

more realisc the stress, the beer your performance

will be. Most importantly, the more acclimated you

will be to the stress you will encounter. This had been

studied by Bruce Siddle, David Grossman, Dr. Bill Le-

wenski, Dr. Joseph Ledoux and even (if in a roundabout

way) Howard Bloom (among others). Somemes re-

ferred to as “Smulus/response training,” the meth-odology is simply to instruct a method for response

provide a smulus under as much stress as possible

(graduang to more and more realism as skill leve

increases) and allow the student to exercise the skil

in condions as close to real life as possible. With a

Sympathec Nervous System acvaon, this is the

only method to potenally overcome deep structure

evoluonary programming (26). Does this mean that

we can train under a spontaneous threat to see our

sights? To overcome adrenalines eects on the Ciliary

muscles? I have been looking for that answer for as

long as I knew the queson. What I do know is that

tunnel vision and errors in depth percepon can be, if

not overcome, then ne-tuned to minimize their aects

through stress inoculaon training and Tachistoscope or

ash visual training (27). The more realisc a target, the

more it mimics an actual human threat and the more

stress you are under during the training session (so long

as the stress is realisc and not out of context to the

training objecve) the beer you are prepared; the bet-

ter your vision can be trained for stress.Scanning is a technique used to break tunnel vi-

sion; once a threat is down and does not appear to

be an immediate threat, we scan. Turning the head

le and right to get a full view of the world around us

helps break tunnel vision and gives us visual data of

the world around us in the event that other threats are

present. By introducing addional targets outside of

our primary focus, or beginning with no visual of the

Close actionshooting; acclimation

to the compression

of time against

life-like targets

is perhaps one of

the best methods

to understand

and learn themechanics needed

for spontaneous

defense. Training

with targets at

arms distance (or

closer) to 10-15 feet;

time constraints

(1-4 seconds),environmental /

situational stressors

(low light, elevated

heart rate, one

arm or “wounded”

drills, weapon

malfunctions,

etc.), judgmentshooting and many

other options can

increase close range

effectiveness and

reduce reaction time.



target (facing away) we begin to tune or habit of scan-

ning and ash sight awareness.

Close acon shoong; acclimaon to the compres-

sion of me against life-like targets is perhaps one of

the best methods to understand and learn the me-chanics needed for spontaneous defense. Training

with targets at arms distance (or closer) to 10-15 feet;

me constraints (1-4 seconds), environmental /situa-

onal stressors (low light, elevated heart rate, one arm

or “wounded” drills, weapon malfuncons, etc.), judg-

ment shoong and many other opons can increase

close range eecveness and reduce reacon me.

Shoong from the hip or close-tuck to specically tar-

get parts of the body (head/thoracic cavity/pelvis) can

further increase eecveness.

Stress inoculaon training, specically Simunitonsor a similar Non-Lethal Training system will go far to-

wards helping you understand your personal reac-

ons under stress; validate exisng skills, pracce new

techniques under stress, work on threat recognion,

shorten problem-solving thought processes and most

importantly, idenfy techniques that do not work un-

der stress. The more complex (and realisc) a training

scenario to a situaon you could encounter in real life,

the beer prepared you will be to cope with the actual

stressors of a real life violent encounter.

Finally, kinesthec shoong can be pracced in a

number of methods. The best beginning method is to

assume a sight picture, look away, pull the gun into a

high tuck and then press out and re. Two or three

rounds and then assess your round placement against

your desired point of impact. This method can be ad-

vanced to geng a visual, looking away and then com-

pleng your draw and shot group. Another method is

to aim but not use the sights at all. Varying the target

exposure, height or placement will aid in developing

increased Propriocepon methods for shoong unde

stress. Another method is to tape the rear sight notchwith the smallest piece of tape possible and then work

on increasing distances from your target while reduc-

ing your available reacon me (using a par mer or

pracce partner who sets the drill parameters). An-

other method is to remove the sights from the gun

completely for close quarters shoong pracce.

Obviously any of these techniques can be contro-

versial. I’m ne with that because I’m open to alter-

nate methods and because this arcle is based on fact

to argue with the need for such training is to argue

with facts. If your focus as a student or an instructois on Self-Defense shoong, then this is a reality you

cannot ignore. To do so is a great disservice to you

students or to yourself. Obviously proper sight picture

point fire 5 yards point fire 7 yards

taped sites




B y

A a r o n C o w a n

42

shoong is just as important, and shown tobe possible with distance (and me) from

our threat; but reality shows us that we

oen don’t get to choose distances or cir-

cumstances so close quarters shoong with

a mind towards the physiological eects

of stress is crucial to proper self-defense

shoong pracce and training. This has

been a long read, years in the making, and

as much as I tried, I couldn’t make it any

shorter. My goal has been, as it always is,

to help the students understand what theymay face and how best to prepare for it.

(1) Handbuch der Physiologischen Optik (Handbook of

Physiological Optics), Hermann von Helmholtz (1851)

Translated by James P. C. Southall, Optical Society of

America (1924), (2) The Wisdom of the Body (1932),

Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage Dr. Wal-

ter Cannon (1915) (3) Shooting to Live, William Fair-

bairn/Eric Sykes (1942) (4) A Look at Fighting Stance,

Part I/Part II/Part III, www.recoil web.com (2013)

A.Cowan (5) PPCT Management Systems, Inc., (1980-

2006) PPCT Defensive Tactics system. (6) On predic-

tion in Skilled Movements, E.C. Poulton PsychologicalBulletin (1957) (7) Accommodation-dependent model

of the human eye with aspherics, R. Navarro, J. San-

tamaria and J. Bescos (1985), The eye in focus: accom-

modation and presbyopia, Dr. W Neil (1998) (8) Eye

movements and perception: A selective review, Alex-

ander C. Schütz, Doris I. Braun, Karl R. Gegenfurtner,

Journal of Vision (2011) (9) When seeing outweighs

feeling: a role for prefrontal cortex in passive con -

trol of negative affect in blindsight, Silke Anders, Falk

Eippert, Stefan Wiens, Niels Birbaumer, Martin Lotzel,

Dirk Wildgruber Brain, a Journal of Neurology (2009)

(10) Science, Strategy and War, The Strategic Theo-

ry of John Boyd, Frans Osinga (2005) The Emotional

Brain Dr. Joseph LeDoux JE (1996) (11) Formation ofthe aqueous humor, Dr. Janet Fitzakerley, University of

Minnesota Medical School (2014) Adler’s Physiology of

the Eye: Expert Consult 11th edition, Leonard A Levin,

Siv F. E. Nilsson, James Ver Hoeve, Samuel Wu, Paul L.

Kaufman, Albert Alm (2011) (12) Autonomic Nervous

System, Flinders University, Australia Dr. Bill Blessing,

Dr. Ian Gibbins (2011), The Integrative Action of the

Autonomic Nervous System: Neurobiology of Homeo-

stasis, Dr. W.W. Jänig , Cambridge University (2006) (13)

World Health Organization. Work with visual display

terminals: Psychosocial aspects and health

J Occup Med (1989) (14) Effects of a single

dose of cortisol on the neural correlates of

eipisodic memory and error processing in

healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology

,FC Hsu, MJ Garside, AE Massey, RH McAl

ister-Williams (2003) (15) Tunnel Vision, It

Causes, Treatments and Strategies, Edward C

Godnig, O.D. (2003) (16) The effect of menta

workload on the visual field size and shape

EM Rantanen, JH Goldberg (1999) (17) Ef

fects of priority assignment of attentiona

resources, order of testing, and response se

quence on tunnel vision, HS Chan, AJ Court

ney (1994) (18) Understanding the HumanPhysiological and Mental Response to Critica

Incidents, Lt. DM. Clay, Dr. Kline, School of

Law Enforcement Supervision (2001) Bodily

Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage, Dr

Walter Cannon (1915) The Effect of Induced

Visual Stress on Three Dimensional Percep

tion, Dr. Faudziah Abd-Manan (2000) (19

The Organization of Behavior, Dr. Donald

Hebb (1949) (20) The flexibility of human

memory, W F Battig (1979) (21) The Effect

of Context on Training: Is Learning Situated?

Lynne Reder, Roberta L. Klatzky, (1994) (22

What is repeated in a repetition? Effects o

practice conditions on motor skill acquisionTim Lee, Laurie Swanson, Anne Hall (1991

The search for invariance in skilled movement

behavior, R. Schmidt (1985) (23) Reliability o

Joint Posion Sense and Force-Reproducon

Measures During Internal and External Ro

taon of the Shoulder, Dover, G; Powers, ME

(2003) (24) Where was my arm again? Mem

ory-based matching of propriocepve targets

is enhanced by increased target presentaon

me, Daniel J. Goble, Briany C. Noble, Susan

H. Brown (2010) The Role of Propriocepon in

Acon Recognion, C. Farrer (2003) (25) The

Role of Propriocepon in Acon Recognion

C. Farrer (2003) Cognive Issues in Motor Experse, J. Starkes (1993) (26) The Role of the

Amygdala in Fear and Panic, Doug Holt (1998

The Anatomy Of Fear And How It Relates To

Survival Skills Training, Darren Laur (2002) The

Emoonal Brain, Dr. Ledoux (1996) (27) Visua

eld tunneling in aviators induced by memo

ry demands, Dr. L J Williams (1995) The visua

percepon and reproducon of

forms by tachistoscopic methods,

S. Renshaw (1945)



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L E G E N D M E E T S

L E D E T

B y D a v e A g a t a

44 DICK KRAMER



LEGEND MEETS LEDETBy Dave Agata

Recently, legendary taccal arst

Dick Kramer paid a visit to one of

the United States Coast Guard’s

taccal law enforcement units

located in South Florida. At rst,

not too many people think of

the United States Coast Guard

as an arm of the law. However they are some

of the nest marime law enforcement ocersprotecng the United States today.

Getting a perspectiveTo best understand my perspecve, we

need to travel back to 1990 when I started

my municipal law enforcement career in Coral

Springs, Florida. While on patrol I befriendeda young security ocer at the local mall, how-

ever this ocer was very sharp. He was well

spoken and appeared to have a deeper under-

standing of the law and had an excellent ocer

presence, that of a military bearing. This se-

curity ocer was a reserve pey ocer in the

United States Coast Guard.

During the next few years, I came to have

a beer understanding of the work that the

United States Coast Guard performed from the

friendship built and developed with this Coast

Guardsman. A mutual respect developed and

a long me family friendship was built. My

friend recently rered aer he served the peo-ple of this country as a Coast Guardman for

27 years and is sll a full-me police ocer in

South Florida.

Going TacticalAs my law enforcement career developed,

this Guardian BM2 Marn Castellanos (ret) andI shared professional knowledge and friend-

ship. And in the mid 90’s when I joined my de-

partments SWAT team and the wider tacca

community, we extended an invitaon to his

unit, Taccal Law Enforcement Team South (TA-

Dick communicated that it is normal or him to use severa photos to establish his final work, this photo is suspected t

be utilized or the final piece, “beware o the dog.”




L E D E T


46

CLET South) to come and trainwith my team. This sharing of

facilies and knowledge spread

throughout the taccal com-

munity in Florida. Many other

inter-agency relaonships were

built and sll stand strong today.

Over 220 yearsof history.

The history of the United

States Coast Guard is a diverse

topic, but, “doing more with less

and to the highest of profession-

alism,” would say it all. The Unit-

ed States Coast Guard is aboutthe size of a major police depart-

ment but bears both domesc and in-ternaonal responsibilies. The Unit-

ed States Coast Guard or “Guardians,”

are considered a branch of the military

service yet among the many missions

or several hats they wear, one is that

of Marime Law Enforcement Ocer

Their authority and responsibility is

unique to any other branch of service

or Law enforcement agency for thatmaer in the United States. Charged

with the responsibility of protecng

our shores, boarders, waterways and

ports, enre books have been wrien

on these ne men and women of the

United States Coast Guard. This arcle

will only address one unit of many.

The LEDETsare born.

Throughout the history of the

United States, the Coast Guard has

been involved in many military ac-

ons. Original known as the Reve-

nue Marine or the Revenue Cuer

Service, their original dues in 1790

were a charge by Congress “to en-

force tari and trade laws and to

prevent smuggling.” Since then the

agency was renamed and has taken

up several other missions and stood

the watch with valor.

At the conclusion o the photo shoot Mike Ferguson,Dick Kramer and the author David Agata pose or

a photo opportunity and capture the moment.



In 1982 the USCG established LawEnforcement Detachments (LEDETs)

and began deploying them aboard US

Navy ships. Then in 1989, the Naonal

Defense Authorizaon Act designated

the Department of Defense as the lead

in detecon and monitoring illegal

drug tracking. As a result, the Coast

Guard became the lead agency in mar-

ime drug interdicon. TACLETs weredeveloped and support the LEDETS

with command and training.

The history of the TACLET pro-

gram is rich with bravery, dedicaon

and diversity. However my personal

experience has been with that of TA-

CLET South, in Miami, Florida.

Taking the Fightto the Enemy

In April of 2004 one of the

member’s of TACLET South

was killed in combat by a sui-

cide bomber in Iraq. DC3

Nathan Bruckenthal andtwo Navy pey ocers

were killed during this in-

cident. Bruckenthal had

volunteered for a sec-

ond tour because he

believed in his unit’s

contribuon to the

BEWARE OF HE DOG© DICK KRAMER




L E D E T


48

In April of 2004 oneof the member’s ofTACLET South waskilled in combat by

a suicide bomber inIraq. DC3 Nathan

Bruckenthal andtwo Navy petty

officers were killedduring this incident.

Bruckenthal had

volunteered fora second tourbecause he believed

in his unit’scontribution to themission overseas.

He was the firstUnited States CoastGuardsmen killed in

combat since theVietnam War.

mission overseas. He was the rst UnitedStates Coast Guardsmen killed in combat

since the Vietnam War. This incident, while

tragic, helped give resolve to Coast Guard

leadership. Along with the September 11t

aacks, the loss of Nate Bruckenthal con-

tributed to the development of the Coast

Guard’s Deployable Operaons Group, af -

feconately known as the “DOG”, which

re-organized specialized taccal units and

the same command.

Quiet

professionals The quiet professionals of TACLET South

were recognized in September of 2008 for

their part in the war on drugs. Oce of Na-

onal Drug Control Policy Director Gil Ker-

likowske presented the crew with the 2008USIC Award for Best Marime Interdicon

Unit aer TACLET South’s LEDETs interdict-

ed over 42 thousand kilograms of cocaine

with an esmated value of $1.2 billion and

detained 72 suspected narco-terrorists.

Reaching out

to a legend In 2004, I contacted world famous

arst and legendary taccal illustrator Dick

Kramer. This statement makes him blush

and he would simply say, “I just love what

do.” During many years in the taccal com-

munity and traveling around the country,




L E D E T


50

I have goen to know Mr. Kramer.His modesty is immediately evi-

dent as he prefers to be called by

his rst name and would scold me

for calling him “sir” or “mister.” But

Mr. Kramer cannot argue that his

work is famous in the taccal and

military communies. He has been

commissioned to create artwork

for all manner of special operaon

units and those in our profession,

prize his artwork. He is very popu-

lar when he appears at trade shows

and training conferences. As things

oen go, schedules could not be

worked out at that me. But in July

of 2009, I was aorded the privilege

to serve at TACLET South as a civil-

ian trainer, and I reached out to him

one more me.

Timingis everything.

In the fall of 2009, communicaons con-

nued with Dick to see if he could visit the

unit and have the crewmembers model for

the artwork he was planning for the Coast

Guard. In March of 2010, aer geng ap-

proval from the DOG and Mrs. Kramer, thedates were set. The night before the photo

shoot, TACLET South Commander Timothy

J. Espinoza invited his command sta and

their wives to dinner with Dick. Before long

this crowd was enjoying the meal and shar-

ing stories like a reunited family. Given al

the stories and laughter, it was a good thing

that this was a family style Italian restaurant

because any other type of restaurant would

have asked us to quiet down or leave.

Making HistoryThe next day Dick was given the grand

tour of TACLET South. Much to his credit

Dick listened and asked quesons. Then

it was me to get to work. He took pho-

tographic studies of the crew in order to

make his world famous illustraons. Sev-

eral hours were dedicated to having TA-CLET South’s operators demonstrate their

training for Dick, from their Aerial Use of

Force gunners (AUF) to the LEDET team

members. My co-worker Mike Ferguson, a

rered United States Navy senior chief and

a former SEAL operator himself, worked

with Dick to set up the photos. All I could

Dick signing a print!



do was stand back and watch the magic, realizing that

any one of these photos could capture the history of

TACLET South and the United States Coast Guard. The

shoot went great and in his down to earth style, Dicksigned posters for the guys and posed for photos.

The Final ResultWebster’s denes a legend as, “a story respecng

saints; especially one of a marvelous nature.” The Art-

work of Dick Kramer, tells the many, “marvelous sto-

ries,” of those, “Saints,” of the taccal community who

have defended our great country from enemies bothdomesc and foreign. This would include the LEDETS

of the United States Coast Guard’s, Deployable Oper-

aons Group (DOG). I call myself privileged to have

witness the capturing of the Finest Marime

Law Enforcement Ocers by the legendary

Artwork of Dick Kramer.

MARKSMEN © DICK KRAMER



D

I C K K R A M E R I N T E R V I E W

T h e L e g e n d a r y T a c c a l A r s t S p e a k s !

52



VIEWPOINT: Many of our readers will

already know who you are but please

tell the VIEWPOINT readers a lile

about yourself.

DICK: I was born in Newark New Jer-

sey, grew up in Nutley New Jersey. My

Mom was a single parent, my father

died an alcoholic when I was 12. I had

one older brother, Pete. He passed

away about two years ago and I miss

him very much.

School was always a problem, due

mostly to my wanng to draw and the

rest of the world wanng to stop me. I

was a real problem and caused a lot of

pain to my Mom. The teachers ended

up scking me in the back of the class

and giving me D’s, that was passing.

Just get rid of me. I sll don’t know how

to divide. I can add and subtract. That’s

all you need for a check book. I ‘m a

AN INTERVIEW WITH DICK KRAMER The Legendary Taccal Arst Speaks!

I drew on everything. The cardboard liners from my

grandfathers starched white shirts, my math workbooks were covered, especially those wonderful

blank pages where you were supposed to work out

problems. Pure white, blank paper!!! A natural high.

HOMELAND HEROES © DICK KRAMER



D



54

voracious reader. I average about twobooks a week. I love books. No Kin-

dles, I love the feel and smell of books.

VIEWPOINT: When I was very

young I spent many hours drawing

sailing ships. What did you enjoy

drawing when u were youngster?

DICK: I drew on everything. The

cardboard liners from my grandfa-

thers starched white shirts, my mathwork books were covered, espe-

cially those wonderful blank pages

where you were supposed to work

out problems. Pure white, blank pa-

per!!! A natural high.

Every Christmas my Mom would buy

me a sketch book. I would use the

last page one or two days before the

next Christmas. It was a treasure.

VIEWPOINT: We both spent years

in the Navy… and I know that I spent

allot of me drawing various proj-

ects for everybody while I was in….

You joined the Navy at 17….you state

on your website bio that it was one

of the best things you have ever do-

ne…I feel the same way about when I

joined the Navy…but tell us what the

Navy did for you and how much ART

was a part of that experience?

DICK: We lived with my Mom’s

twin sister. She was “dicult”. My

Mom showed up at the door with

me, about one month old, Pete, he

was about three or four and Mom

in very bad shape. My Aunt told her

if she ever went back to my father

she could never come back to her houseTwo lile kids…she didn’t have much of a

choice. She didn’t have much to say either

In those days you could join the Navy at

17 with no High School Diploma. So, on

my 17th birthday I was on the way to Bain-

bridge Maryland. That night I knew I would

never get this chance again. I was in a lot of

trouble back home, but nobody knew me

here. I know the moment I grew up. I owe

the Navy my life. I nished High School. went to Aviaon Ordnance School in Nor-

man Oklahoma and then on to VF-211 a

ghter squadron at Moe Field Califor-nia. I spent my enre enlistment with tha

squadron and loved it. I made two deploy-

ments to the Pacic, one on the Bon Hom-

me Richard and one on the Midway. Going

to sea was a great part of my life. I have a

lot of good memories of my life on the ight

deck. Hairy as hell at mes but I absolutely

loved it. Ron McCarthy and I saw each oth-er and never knew it unl just a few years

ago. He was on a Destroyer and we would

refuel them. I liked to sit on the edge of the

ight deck and watch. Ron remembers be-

ing alongside Midway and looking up at the

“Airdales”. Ginny and I visited the Midway

a year ago. It’s a museum now. I really en-

joyed showing her where I worked on the

ight deck. A lot had changed, but she was

a good ship.

One incident stands out in my mind. We

were in Hong Kong, anchored out. So we

had to use launches for liberty ashore.

was 2nd class Pey Ocer at the me stand-

ing watch at the Ocers Gangway with the

Duty Ocer, a Lieutenant j.g. We saw the

Admirals Gig pull alongside. The Admira

was using Midway as his Flag ship. He was



D



56

blasted. The Lieutenant told me toget lost, but it was too late, I had

seen him. Next day I drew a cartoon

of him rowing a gondola with a Lord

Nelson hat, sword with a roller skate

on the end, singing at the top of his

lungs. Everyone in the Ordnance

shack had a laugh, then I crumbled

it up and threw it into the trash.

Big mistake. The guys dug it out,

took it to the print shop and by the

me we were at ight quarters re-covering aircra the next day there

were hundreds of copies all over the

ship. I didn’t know it unl a Marine

all prey with his braid and blood

stripe, holding his white Marine hat

came onto the ight deck trying to

yell above the incredible noise of

jets “Who’s Kramer?”. I was ordered

to follow him and when we ended

up in front of the Admirals Quar-

ters I knew all was not well. He hadhis back to me and said “So you’re

Kramer.” I said “yes sir”. He held up

the cartoon, sll had his back to me

and said ‘Go pack your bags”. “Aye

aye sir”. He said “Don’t you want to

know where you’re going?”. I said

“Norfolk Naval Prison if I’m lucky”.

He turned around and laughed. He

told me he wanted me to y o the

ship on the Mail plane to Yokosuka

and then on to Tokyo to help withour Cruise Book. Every ship publish-

es a book documenng everything

about its deployment. I was on my

way to living in a Japanese neighbor-hood for six weeks with three other

guys. A Lieut. George May, super

guy. An Ensign, forget his name,

made no impression and a Seaman,

forget his name too. I always forget namesof people I don’t like or don’t impress me

at all. I was a 2nd Class at the me. Great

rank. Too high for crap details, too low fo

really big responsibility. I was having the

best me of my life. I could write a book

about our me in Tokyo. It was fantasc.

VIEWPOINT: I started doing portraits for

hire when i was in high school when did

you begin working for hire?

DICK: I started doing pen and ink work

for a chain of stores called Two Guys from

Harrison. It was really hack work illustrat-

ing everything from garbage cans to tele-

visions to storage sheds. Pay was lousy

but I learned how to draw in pen and ink

Art school is like every other school in the

world, learn the basics, about 20%, then go

to work and learn the rest. I came home

one day and announced to Ginny that I was

now ocially freelancing! We had about$65.00 in the bank, four kids and I was

jumping o of a cli. Ginny always behind

me, never said a word, just sucked it up and

fed the six of us on $100.00 a week. I sl

don’t know how she did it. We were neve

hungry, but when a check came in, we al

celebrated. Going to McDonalds was a big

deal.

VIEWPOINT: Let’s talk about the biggest

part of your life..Family. I have of coursemet Ginny and your son Steve.. tell us how

Family has inspired you….

DICK: Without a doubt Ginny has been

the rock of my life. We have been married

for 54 years and I’m sll head over heels in

love with her. I met her coming home from

stealing bicycles from a local public swim-



D



58

ming pool. There was a tennis clubon the way home and it had a wa-

ter fountain. I would stop and get a

drink. I looked up and saw a vision.

She was wearing white shorts,

brown T shirt and hing a tennis

ball against a backboard. I was to-

tally twierpated. Aer four years

in the Navy and many, many leers

we were married. Her Dad, unl his

dying day would say “When are you

going to stop this art stu and geta real job?”. I guess if I were him I

would have said the same thing.

Thirteen years aer we thought we

were nished, the rabbit died and

our youngest son, Stephen was

born. All of the older kids spoiled

him. It was a very special me for

all of us. Having four teenagers

and one bathroom made for very

interesng mornings. The law was“There are two things you do in the

bathroom and curling your hair aint

one of them!”. Looking back we

laugh now, but it was tough too.

Funny…we have four bathrooms

now and no kids. Go gure.

VIEWPOINT: You have met quite

a few people since you have em-

barked down this road. Tell the

readers the story you told me yearsago about meeng Ronald Reagan.

DICK: One of my clients was ITT

Avionics. They built radar jamming

devices for the military. Bill Cook

was the Art Director and a good

friend. Unfortunately, Bill passed

away unexpectedly. Jimmy Carter

was President doing his absolute best to kilme nancially. I felt like a vulture, but damn

I needed a job real bad. I applied and was

hired. It was a nothing job, pung view-

graphs together, making charts and graphs

etc. etc. Somehow, I caught up. I went to

my boss and asked him if I could do a paint-

ing in my open me of the EA6-B Prowl-

er. ITT had a jammer on it and I thought it

was a prey neat looking plane. I worked

on the painng in between the charts and

graphs and when nished, called my bossHe came in, took a look and walked out

“Guess he doesn’t like Prowlers” I thought

Shortly he was back with the President of

the company. They mumbled for a while

and then said, “You send everything out to

outside jobbers. From now on you paint”

Begin Rocket Ride!! I somehow convinced

them I couldn’t paint the planes unless

ew in them. Before it was all over I had

own in just about everything the Air Force

had that had two seats. Starng with the27th Taccal in Langley AFB and the F-15 to

the B-52 to tankers to ying from Langley

AFB to Nellis for Red Flag to ying 500 feet

above the Rhine in an F-15 out of Biburg

Wonderful days. Great adventures. Ginny

and I went all over the country and even-

tually to England and Germany to research

what started as a great joke. The greatest

moment in my life. The Berlin Airli Mura

I was in Ramstein Germany doing some

Air Force art for ITT. A good friend, a pi-lot from the 27th at Langley was driving me

back from a local bar. It was prey late

and we were feeling no pain. We passed

a house and my friend said that’s Frank’s

house. STOP THE CAR!!! I got out and was

pounding on his door shoung “You mess



my wife I kill you Yankee dog! Come out Isay!”. He opens the dorr and yells up the

stairs “It’s only Dickie”. We started party-

ing big me. His boss, a three star was a

big historian, especially about the Berlin

Airli. Frank’s big idea was to tell ITT that

I should paint a mural depicng the Airli.

I knew nothing about it and knew it would

never work. Back in the U.S. I typed up a

proposal, knowing nothing about murals or

the Airli. “How big? 8’x16’ sounds good”

“What should it show?”. Hell, I don’t know!So I read a lile arcle about the commies

blocking o Berlin and the Americans ying

coal in. I sent the proposal up to the main

building and forgot about it. About two

weeks later it came back. “Great idea! Let’s

do it!” Oh my God! Now what! Then they

found out that President Reagan was mak-

ing huge speech about the wall during the

celebraon of the 750th birthday of the city.

“Let’s have it ready by June 12th, 1987!’. I

had just stepped on my peeney weeney.

The rst thing was to gather photos, so Gin-

ny and I were o to London and the Brish

Archives. They were great and lled me in

on the huge part England played in the air-

li. Then on to Berlin where there was a

huge source of informaon and photos. We

returned to the States with over 500 photos.

The surface for the mural was four 4’x8’

sheets of tempered Masonite reinforcedwith a wood frame that could be broken

down into four secons and then easily re-

assembled once we were in Berlin. The Air

Force would y it over in a C-5. Now, all I

had to do was paint it.

ITT had a very large barn on the property

that the carpenters who maintained many

After eight years inthe corporate world I

knew it wasn’t going

to work out. I quit. I

went back to freelanc-ing. Who needs a great

paycheck, 5 weeks va-

cation, hospitalization,

pension fund, etc. etc? Iwas probably stupid. I’m

sure I could have made

a lot more money, but I

know I would never have

had the fun I’ve had overthe past twenty years.

No regrets.



D



60

buildings on the property werehoused in. It was perfect. I told

them I needed a refrigerator to

store my paints…I got it. Immedi-

ately lled it with beer and steaks

I told them I needed an exhaust

fan for the smell of the oil paints…

got it. We immediately put a gril

under it to cook the steaks. Things

were looking up. We installed a

scaold and all was ready.

I laid out 500 8”x10” photos on the

barn oor with just enough room

between the rows to walk. Every

day I would make coee and start

walking between the photos, pick-

ing out one by one the ones I didn’t

want. It took a long, long me. Fi-

nally I had the ones I wanted and

started painng. Every face in the

mural is historically correct except

for two. In a grouping of Germandrivers of the coal trucks are two

faces. Bill and Jimmy, the two car-

penters who helped me in the barn

Somehow, we made it to Germa-

ny well before June 12th. My son

Steve and I spent a week at Temple-

ho tweaking the mural and mak-

ing nal touch ups. Ginny met us

in Berlin a week later. The big day

arrived and President and Mrs. Rea-gan arrived. I presented the mura

to the President and he was going

to then present it to the people of

Berlin. Mrs. Reagan asked me “How

do you paint something that big?”

I answered “ Mam, I started in the

upper le and when I reached the

lower right, I signed my name”. She

My favorite piece?Actually there are

two. The first is “The

Grunt” a pen and ink

drawing of my son,

Steve while he was inthe Marine Corp.

That drawing

is probablythe most

famous

drawing in theMarine Corp.



and the President had a good laugh.They were a class act and very, very

nice people.

Aer eight years in the corporate

world I knew it wasn’t going to

work out. I quit. I went back to

freelancing. Who needs a great

paycheck, 5 weeks vacaon, hospi-

talizaon, pension fund, etc. etc?

I was probably stupid. I’m sure I

could have made a lot more mon-ey, but I know I would never have

had the fun I’ve had over the past

twenty years. No regrets.

VIEWPOINT: Who Most aected

your business life?

DICK: I met a guy named John

Meyer while trying to sell animal

art to clients at SHOT Show. He

asked me what it would cost to dove or six vignees for the H&K

training facility in Sterling Va. I

nished the art, (John screwed me

on the price!) we sll laugh about

that, the check cleared, and I for-

got all about it. Meanwhile they

sent the poster all over the world.

The phone lines lit up at H&K, not

for the school, the folks calling

wanted to know who was doing

this art! How could they get copiesof the art. The rocket ride was o

and running. We literally started

at the kitchen table. A small sin-

gle fold catalog with four drawings.

Ginny picked 100 medium size cit-

ies and we were in business. No

more painng fat ladies in peacockchairs. Twenty years later and it’s

sll fun. The guys are sll our he-

roes and Ginny and I love every

one of them, SWAT, Military, we

love all of you and we thank you.

VIEWPOINT: I have one painng

that I did some years ago that is my

favorite…I would assume that all art-

ists have that one piece that they

hold above all others for whateverreason personnel, professional etc..

What is yours and why?

DICK: My favorite piece? Actual-

ly there are two. The rst is “The

Grunt” a pen and ink drawing

of my son, Steve while he was in

the Marine Corp. That drawing is

probably the most famous drawing

in the Marine Corp. The other is

“Homeland Heroes”. It’s the Fred-eric Maryland SWAT Team. It was

just one of those magic moments

when the light and the pose was

absolutely perfect. But I sll feel

the best one is sll out there. A

great teacher of mine in art school

once said “When you’re sased,

quit. You’re nished”. He also said,

“The more you draw, the beer

you will become. So draw, draw,

draw”. He was right. My art hasevolved over the last twenty years

so much it’s unbelievable. But, I’m

sll far from sased.

VIEWPOINT: Is there anything

you would like to share to inspiring

arsts who may wish to make a liv-ing at what they LIVE to do?

DICK: Twenty years ago I was the

rst to draw SWAT. There were some

really good military arsts, but no

one was drawing SWAT. Now, there

are a few more out there. Wel-

come to the best occupaon in the

world. Have fun. Don’t ever, ever

take the people you draw granted

I have had so much fun and I’mnowhere near nished. I sll have

many, many pieces of art to do and

places to go.

VIEWPOINT: Is there anything

you would like to SHARE?

DICK: To all of the folks who have

purchased our art over the years

Ginny and I say thank you from

the boom of our hearts. To thehundreds of guys and young ladies

who have posed for the art, thank

you. We could never have done

any of this without you. You’ve

been so good to us. We can neve

repay you, the debt is just too big

God bless all of you and your fam-

ilies. You can never say “Nobody

loves us”. Dick and Ginny Kramer

VIEWPOINT: Dick you are an in-spiraon to me for sure and I have

always enjoyed speaking to you

Thank you very much for taking

your me to be a part of

my VPTAC! GOD BLESS

YOU AND YOURS!



P E R S E V E R A N C E

B y M a r

k O r a v s k y

62 Photo by Mark Oravsky



MY MISSIONCONTINUES By Mark Oravsky

I le a 14 year Army ca-

reer aer our last de-

ployment to Afghanistan

(July 2009-2010). It wasan especially dicult

year and deployment on

many levels. We lost a

lot of great people in the rst

two months and the deploy-

ment connued to drag on

for the remaining 10. It was

this deployment and the me

away from family which led tomy desire to transion from

service to civilian.

I never knew

just how

difficult thattransition

would be.

Prior to hit-

ng the streets,

I nished the

EMT-B course( E m e r g e n c y

Medical Tech-

nician) and en-

rolled in my

rst semester

of college. I

thought it was

me to put the

GI Bill to workand pursue an

educaon. One

down, solid

GPA and on to

the next, weeks

into the second semester I felt

disconnected, unsupported

and without real purpose. In

essence, I felt lost at sea with-out a life preserver.

I quickly withdrew from

school and took up residence

on my couch, at home, alone.

Before I knew it, months had

gone by. I was surrounded by

empty pizza boxes and piss

boles; depressed, detached,

upside down, and inside outThe highlight of my day was

lying balled up in the bathtub

crying my eyes out. Day aer

day I would stare at the loaded

pistol on the coee table and

Photo by Mark Oravsky




B y M a r

k O r a v s k y

64

wonder what the metal would feel

like in my mouth.

Aer about a year of living this

way, I decided that I lacked the intes-

nal fortude to eat a bullet, and with

pressure from friends, I decided nd-

ing a career was what would x me.

I applied for every apprence-

ship in the state of Washington and

landed a job in construcon. Back

to work I went, feeling a temporarysense of relief from the misery of the

couch. I was hopeful I would nd my

sense of purpose and community in

construcon. I got to work on the

Husky Stadium project for a year and

landed an addional posion in what

Photo by Mark Oravsky Photo by Mark Oravsky

It wasn’t longbefore the dark

corners of

isolation and

detachment

crept in. Afterfive years clean

and sober, I

relapsed.



I thought would be my dream job, working with

incarcerated youth through the Juvenile Rehabil-

itaon Administraon.

It wasn’t long before the dark corners of isola-

on and detachment crept in. Aer ve years clean

and sober, I relapsed. The slippery slope of addic-

on was one I rode all the way to the boom. Once

again, I was alone and feeling the gravity of mortal-

ity without purpose, without direcon and without

community. I took a trip to Sacramento to dry out;

I made it back to Washington alive.At two months clean and sober, with eyes

crossed, head pounding and the red numbers on the clock glow-

ing 3:45AM; I found myself searching for meaningful employ-

ment, “ a diamond in the rough” on Craigslist. I typed in “veter-

an” “non-prot” and aer six pages of digging, I ran across The

Mission Connues www.missionconnues.org.

Their mission statement

grabbed me, “The Mission

Continues empowers veter-

ans adjusting to life at home

to find new missions. We re-

deploy veterans so that

their shared legacy wil

be one of action and ser-vice.” Life at home, new

missions, action and ser-

vice. The message around

finding purpose and tran-

sition” around “commu-

nity service” resonated

deep within. I applied for

a fellowship and began

exploring Non-profits inThurston County to host

me as a Fellow.

Aer an exhausve

search to nd a compable

organizaon, one whose






B y M a r

k O r a v s k y

66

mission and vision aligned with mypassions, I almost gave up. My part-

ner Kendra suggested I try GRuB. The

rst sentence of the mission state-

ment caught my eye, “We inspire pos-

ive personal and community change

by bringing people together around

food and agriculture.” It was clear to

me at this point I needed some posi-

ve personal change and, a sense of

community was something I longed

for aer 14 years of service.I called GRuB, asked to

speak with Kae and was

pleasantly surprised when

she said “speaking”. We spent

some me discussing my situ-

aon, The Mission Connues

and the opportunity to host

me as a Fellow. The conver-

saon seemed to last a long

me and it had been a long

me since I felt heard. She was

listening and genuinely inter-

ested in this new opportunity

In reecon, I can say it was

the rst me in three years

of stormy transion I felt con-

necon, valued, and as though

this may be the beginning of a

new chapter in my life.

I was awarded a Fellowship

through The Mission Conn-

ues and our journey began 19

May 2014.. Looking back, I re-

member the rst event Kae

invited me to; a gathering of

local Veteran Service Organi-

zaons meeng to discuss the

military draw- down. I was so

nervous and closed o, I did

not want to stand and intro-

duce myself, Kae had to. For

those of you who were unable

to aend Soiree on September

27, 2014, I got up on stage to

...it had been a longtime since I felt

heard. She was lis-tening and genuine-

ly interested in thisnew opportunity. In

reflection, I can sayit was the first time

in three years ofstormy transition I

felt connection, val-ued, and as thoughthis may be the be-

ginning of a newchapter in my life.


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/viewpoint-tactical-magazine-january-2015 67/78Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International Vol. 20, No.4




B y M a r

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68

share this story in front of a large crowd

of GRuB supporters.

Over the past few months, I have

personally witnessed the transformative

power GRuB brings to the lives of those

it serves through growing healthy food,

people, and communities. The multi-cul-

tural motto of “everyone welcome at the

table” are not simple words on paper for

this program of excellence. GRuB not

only seeks to serve low income families

and at risk youth, it empowers each in-

dividual to contribute their distinct skills

and attributes to effect positive change

in the lives of others.

Over the course of this Fellowship,

I have had the opportunity to connect

with other members of our community

who have experienced a great deal of

heartache, depression, anxiety and life

challenges. On a build in Rainier cat-

tle country, we met a woman who is asurvivor of domestic violence, the sin-

gle mother of an educationally disabled

child and who had lost her mother last

year. As we stood admiring her new gar-

dens, we exchanged warm hugs, tears

and she expressed her appreciation for

the start of a new chapter in her life.

Another gardener we built with

shared her story… last year she and her

housemates were homeless and livingin a shelter. Through the Sidewalk pro-

gram, she was able to secure a home

with three other women. The GRuB

gardens we built together serve as the

foundation for her feeling of wellbeing

and stability in her new home.

In lieu of the therapeutic and healing

experience I was having through

my Fellowship with GRuB, we

decided to host an Active Duty

and Veteran open house. In ad-

dition to the awesome turnout,

we gained enough volunteer

support to build 12 additiona

gardens throughout Thurston

and Mason counties. Over the

course of these builds, I got to

know several of these folks

Many of them have experienced

the same type of challenges in

transition I have. One in particu-

lar was rather shy and reserved

On one particular build, this vet

shared with me his heartfelt

feelings of gratitude and appre-

ciation for providing him the op-

portunity to get off the couch,

the opportunity to get plugged

in and the chance to push themargins of his reality and see

they moved. This build was the

third he had been on and the

third time in over two years he

was able to leave his home with-

out his wife or service animal.

You see folks, each of you

are a part of this amazing orga-

nization and the priceless gifts

it brings to the lives of those itserves. Thank each of you for

being a part of continuing this

incredible legacy of Positive Per-

sonal and Community change…

by bringing people to-

gether around food and

agriculture!



CALLcan make

a difference.

Served 1999-2003

CCononf fidenidenttiiaall cchhaatt aatt VVeeteterrananssCCrrisisisisLLineine..nenett oor tr texext tt too 883823825555

© 10/14 V



R E A L I T I E S I N T R A

I N I N G

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70



REALITIESIN TRAINING

AND THE REAL WORLD.BY WES DOSS

“How many legs does a dog have if you call the

tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make

it a leg.”― Abraham Lincoln

I

n our modern 21st century world, reality has quickly become the opmum buzz word. Reality

has grown from something that we face in our lives to something that entertains us. In fact, it

seems as though we are faced with some sort of “Reality Based” amusement at nearly every turn.

Engaging us with excing programs about backwoods child beauty queens, decrepit rock stars

fumbling through life or capvang us with the suspense of seeing who will be voted o the is -land next. The popular mass media of the 21st century has preyed upon our natural curiosity and

has allowed us to live vicariously through others and focus our lives on the quesonable ethical

issues of various professional sports gures, celebrity indiscreons and the relaonships of some our

naons most prominent elected leaders. The concept of reality has never meant so much to our lives

and been as misunderstood as it is today. In fact, the general understanding of reality as it relates to

the maral applicaon of rearms and taccs has also been subject to a widespread alteraon. In many

instances it has taken an E cket ride right through Tomorrowland, past the spinning teacups and the

hall of Presidents, straight to Fantasyland.

For all intense purposes reality is the sum total of an individuals knowledge of themselves, oth-

ers, the environment and their understanding of the interacon between these elements. The individu-

al percepon of reality is acquired and developed over the course of an individual’s life. In other words:

Our percepon of the world is taught to us. Our knowledge of reality is very liming because it has

been passed to us through things we have experienced and started out inially as a set of beliefs and

norms through our family tree. Mothers are our rst teachers and depending on your take on psychol -

ogy and any lingering Oedipus complex, remain the most dominate inuence on our percepon, but

many mes this gives way to popular and charismac gures who are happy to assist us in altering our



72

sense of reality. This is very common even in

the macho tough guy world of self defense

rearms training.

Volumes have been wrien about

gun ghng, taccs and strategy, oen

mes with limited regard to the eects on

the individual involved and to the reales

these situaons produce. The inclusion of

words like “ght”, “combat” and “taccal”

are oen added to arcles and course de-

scripons to provide an air of reality, but

much like black nylon, Velcro and the latestcamouage paern, they are only loosely

based on reality and real needs.

The developed modern world of

self defense training, in its aempt to ho-

mogenize responses to situaons, has tried

to mimic the real world by establishing a

countless number of hard fast absolutes.

However, it’s crical to understand that

in the real world and in parcular the real

world of conict, there are no absolutes.

The real world has no cut and dry, blackand white condions; rather, it is an envi-

ronment of innite shades of grey, abound

by endless opons and opportunies, a

truly uid environment.

If we nd ourselves in a ght, armed

or otherwise, how long will it last? 10 sec-

onds? 25 seconds? A minute? Honestly….

who cares? A ght will last as long as it will

last and isn’t over unl submission or com-

pliance is achieved. Since the incepon ofstascs about gun ghts we have been

swamped with theories that tell us that

since most gun ghts only last a maer of

seconds, only involve the ring of X num-

ber of rounds, or generally occur at close

distance, that these are the only condions

that we should train under. So if I am advo-

cang greater reality in training why would


I N I N G

B y

W e s D o s s

The factis the

environment

and the

limitations of

many populartraining

programs

reflects little

of what really

exists in thereal world,

thus giving

an altered

impression

of reality and

what to expect

in the event of

a real fight.



I want to contest these training con-

cepts? Because in a ght you just

never know! If we prepare for the

worst then perhaps anything less will

pale in comparison. A beer ques-

on and training concern should be,

will the individual last as long as the

ght? Has our training condioned

us to understand and migate the

eects of emoonal and psycholog-

ical stress? Do we posses the physi-

cal and mental stamina to go the fullduraon of a conict? Are we truly

training to understand the realies of

an armed conict?

The training world, even in

light of countless lawsuits and court

rulings, is sll heavily inundated with

training concepts involving unrealis-

c principles like; square ranges, set

distances, me limits, and the obliga-

tory “down range” area, as well as an

array of arcial drills that are moreaesthecally pleasing and emoon-

ally excing to the student than they

are praccal. The fact is the environ-

ment and the limitaons of many

popular training programs reects

lile of what really exists in the real

world, thus giving an altered impres-

sion of reality and what to expect in

the event of a real ght. While these

concerns may seem trivial to many,especially the more experienced or

highly trained, they do represent a

signicant problem in training and

the potenal applicaon of skills in

a real world situaon. To make this

clear, let’s explore both the real world

and the training world.

The TrainingWorld vs. The

Real World In our post 9/11 world it

would seem that nearly everyone,

of varying backgrounds, skill lev-

els and occupaons, has climbedaboard the commercial training

bandwagon and staked their claim

on a level of experse in the com-

bave arena. Though the halls of

this industry are lined with real,

honest to goodness guys with high

levels of genuine experse, it is

hard to separate the real folks from

the others. Spend me surng the

various “taccal” websites and it’s

impossible to nd one that doesn’t

contend to be staed by experts; or

beer yet, take some me and just

monitor the heated discussions and

all out character assassinaons that

take place on discussion forums by

folks who are “in the know”. With

this disparity in experience and skil

oen comes a lack of understand-

ing of the realies of the world and

how to apply those realies in the

training environment. What I’vecome to realize is that there are

a tremendous number of people

taking part in some poron of the

training world who actually believe

in something quite dierent from

reality, something more like an-

-reality. These oen charismac

exponents of this altered version of

the world would be nothing more

than amusement if it were not for

the fact that some serious studentsof self defense frequently grav-

itate to them, in search of the se-

cret technique that will cause you

to dominate over any foe. Well as

much as I hate to be the bearer of

bad news, there is no short cut! No

secret training system! No one sin-

gular technique that will stop a bad

guy in his tracks. Life, especially in

the hecc realm of conict, wouldbe much simpler if the evil doers

would stand directly in front of us

and demanded sasfacon, instead

of aacking us from our blindsides

but since most who would do us

harm lack any appreciable amount

of tescular fortude, this just is



74


I N I N G

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not the case. A serious fundamental igno-

rance of the actual mechanics, legalies and

logiscs of conict exist among the would-

be experts in this distorted form of reality

and oen becomes the core of their mind-

set and their curriculum.

This ignorance oen leads to the

“creaon” and proliferaon of techniques

and taccs that are founded on queson-

able or obvious false assumpons and the-

ories. Fantasy techniques consist of a host

of strange and oen irraonal maneuvers,psychological ploys, overly complex proce-

dures and oen with tragic results mani-

fesng themselves as a general atude of

false condence leaving the student some-

what less than prepared for the combave

skills they so eagerly seek. Now, don’t get

me wrong, a signicant poron of students

remain incredulous to the obvious problems

with anomalous techniques, but an equally

large group persists in the pursuit of the ul-

mate technique only fueled faster by theclaims of a select few in this industry.

Those who understand the realies

of conict, by either experience or through

training, know that there are a lot of vari-

ables that reduce each and every situaon

to a full blown crap shoot. Why? You may

ask, because unlike the an-reality world a

real world event provides for a vastly dif -

ferent perspecve on reality and will vary

greatly from situaon to situaon and willchange signicantly every second that it’s

allowed to evolve, as true conict is an ev-

er-changing, uid environment with no set

soluons. Knowing this before geng knee

deep in a contest of might is crucial.

In the training environment, you are

generally the only part of the equaon that

has a weapon, at least a real weapon. The

one dimensional “opponent” found

on most ranges won’t pull a knife,

won’t bum rush you and won’t pul

a gun and shoot you. Addionally,

you generally don’t face more than

one target at a me, and your “op-

ponent” won’t have any friends that

will aack while you’re focused on

the single situaon. Further, most

real world situaons don’t start

with the sound of whistle or buzz of

a merl. A real life encounter is like-ly to start with some form of physi-

cal posturing or with some form of

inial dialog, either aggressive or

decepve. This is seldom replicated

in training.

The training environment

represents a controlled environ-

ment, absent of loose gravel, bro-

ken glass and knee gouging con-

crete. You seldom face slippery, wet

or icy surfaces on a training rangeBlizzards, rain, winds and visibility

are all real world realies that are

not typically part of the training

world. Along with natural envi-

ronmental condions, the training

world seldom places the student

in the linear connes of a bus or

subway car or exposes the student

to the hazards of city trac or the

dangers of hot metro line tracks.The average student arrives

at the range like he walked out of

the pages of an equipment catalog

dressed and equipped with all the

right gear and in loose, comfortable

and praccal clothes, thus elimi-

nang clothing as a variable that

would restrict ability. We don’t typ



76


I N I N G

B y

W e s D o s s

ically train in a suit or a skirt and heels. Most

classes won’t require the use of winter glovesor heavy winter coats. Addionally, I have yet

to see a taccal “reality based” course where

the students train like they are carrying their

10 month old child or walking with your wife or

mother. These are real world concerns and real

world events that happen daily in the lives of

all of us, and will signicantly alter our percep-

on of a conict and limit the opons that are

available to us. Our own personal well being is

seldom a training issue. If you’re sick, hung over

or desperately trying to run on limited sleep yousimply cancel training. Unfortunately, it’s not pos-

sible to cancel the real world, once you’ve started

your stuck there unl the fat lady takes a bow.

The training world is always preempve

and predictable, in that I mean that no maer

how realisc a training session, the student al-

ways knows it’s a training session. We are made

aware when and at what me training will start

and nish. Students know that targets are lifeless

one dimensional objects, they are told how many

rounds to load and how many extra rounds to

carry, and they know they are scheduled for train-

ing thus giving them the opportunity to prepare

days, weeks or even months in advance. To top

it all, in the training world when the stress and

pressure get too high, you can just tap out, stop

or call for a me out with no worries of injury or

death. This can foster a serious degree of compla-

cency in the student’s mindset.

The reality, the real reality, of self defense

and maral situaons is that we are not always

in control. Though we should work to gain and

exploit control, we may not always inially nd

ourselves in control. There are peo

ple in this world who will try theirdamnedest to hurt you and for the

most part you won’t know who they

are or when they will launch their at-

tack. It is imperave to understand al

the facets of conict and to be pre

pared with the most realisc pracce

that we can muster. In training realis

cally we will develop knowledge of

our own limitaons and the limitaons

of the tools we have chosen to use o

have on hand, as well as the mechanicsand logiscs of their use. Those who

are ignorant of these things will mock

and write o the value that such train

ing and preparaon provides, thus

remaining much less prepared to do

what needs to be done, when its me

to do it in a real conict. Training fo

conict and praccing for fun or com

peon are disnctly separate issues

and therefore need separate training

methods; this can not be emphasized

enough. The noon that all we haveto do is acquire a basic set

of skills is one that truly

suits those who would do

us harm. Armed with this

type of over condence

the unprepared student of

self defense is potenal si

lage for the perpetrators o

violent aggression and can

easily be manipulated in an environ

ment dominated by these individu

als. How do we x this? The answer

lies in geng o the square range

and taking our training to our imagi

naon. Look at the world around us

listening to the experiences of others

and embracing the concept of real

ity. My message to all, as

always……..Train to Win! Ex-

pect to Win!

“Nothing ever becomes real

‘til it is experienced.”― John Keats



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