Tactical Tangents

LANGUAGE WARNING! NOT safe for work! Uncle Dan likes Jack Daniels and he’s had a little bit to drink so we’re gonna drag some war stories out of him and have a good time. Dan was one of Mike’s team leaders on SWAT when he first joined the team. He’s also a football coach for his son, and it turns out there’s quite a bit of crossover between the two in terms of leadership and tactics. You’ll hear about how Dan has shaped the training culture in his agency and what he’s learned along the way.

John Correia runs Active Self Protection (ASP), a massive YouTube channel analyzing self defense encounters from all over the world. He’s taken notes on 17,000 gunfights caught on camera, and he’s going to share some of those lessons with us in tonight's episode. Link to John's video discussed in the show here.

USAF PARARESCUEMAN, College football player, Human Performance researcher. Jason's bringing us up to speed on some current research, athletic performance, mental toughness, motivation, and his current project preparing future special operators for selection, training, and performance in their chosen career fields. An insightful conversation that covers things like the difference in physical and mental demands between USAF Special Operations and NCAA Division I College football.

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The Ferguson Effect. The militarization of law enforcement. The history and evolution of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team. These are just a few of the topics we cover with Mr. Gagliano who is a retired career FBI Supervisory Agent, West Point graduate, Army Ranger, and now CNNs Law Enforcement Analyst.  Like the show? Give us a buck to help support the project! You can contribute as little as $1 per episode on Patreon, or make a one-time donation on Go Fund Me. We appreciate your support.

Jim does a deep-dive on active shooters and mass violence, complete with case studies, some steps you can take to get help, fight if necessary, and some scenarios to help you recognize some warning signs.  Also be sure to check out our episode with Andy Brown who wrote Warnings Unheeded Columbine, by Dave Cullen

Brady Speth of Riton Optics is going to teach us some nomenclature and terminology about scopes and optics. We're also going to hear he started Riton and learn about his background and the company's design process. Even if you already own a scope, check out our interview with Brady to learn something new about optics. There are a lot of good products on the market, but in true TacTangents style we hope that People and Ideas drive your Hardware choices, which is why you need to hear what Brady has to say.

What about "reality" are you trying to simulate when you run scenario based training? How do you explain to your role players what you want them to do? These are some of the questions we are going to address in this episode about training with role players and opposition forces. Using reality based training is an invaluable tool and one of the areas often neglected beyond initial training in the military and public safety. Good training relies heavily on dedicated instructors and quality role players. 

Earlier this year we had Craig Douglas on the show to talk a little about his expertise in the self-defense world. Craig runs a company called Shivworks, and their flagship course is called Extreme Close Quarters Concepts (ECQC). ECQC specializes in clinched/entangled or "0-5 feet" fights that often involve knives and guns. Jim went to ECQC and tonight we're talking about his after-action report and lessons learned. Check out why ECQC is one of the best self-defense courses available. 

A lot of people think that being a "Type-A" has something to do with a hierarchy or "alpha dog," but it turns out, that's not it. We break down what Type A really means, and what traits we see in the Tactical type of person. These traits are important to understand, because a little might be good, but a lot can be really bad. They are also good to know from a leadership perspective, because if you work in a community full of "Type-As," you know that can be, uh, difficult... 

Kevin Briggs is a retired California Highway Patrol Sergeant who has been called the Guardian of the Golden Gate for his reputation interacting with hundreds of people who wanted to commit suicide by jumping from the bridge. We discuss communication strategies, some considerations to make regarding tactical interventions in a crisis, red flags that someone might kill themselves, things to say to someone in crisis, and 4 things to NOT say to someone who is thinking about killing themselves. 

Extortion 17 was a US Chinook helicopter that was shot down by a lucky hit by a Taliban fighter with an RPG. 38 US and Afghan personnel and a military working dog were killed in what became the largest single loss of Special Operations personnel in Afghanistan. Ed Darack wrote an article and then a book to get the story right and honor the memories of the personnel and crew who were killed that night.

This might sound a little boring, but let's face it: Trying to get stuff done when you're dealing with your bosses is a skill of its own. Some people are better at it than others. We discuss some strategies for dealing with "obstructions" in the workplace. It's not that you should backdoor everything and circumvent rules or procedure, its just that there are some ways to go about the system that might help you achieve your mission. 

What is a tactic? How do we come up with them? The word tactical is one of those buzzwords we throw around, but what does it all mean? We are going to talk about how people apply creativity and problem solving in our professions. That involves several layers: We have to come up with ideas, we have to test them, we have to make sure they are grounded in reality, and ultimately it takes a team of people to make this process work. How do we go from "bar-napkin idea," to "the way we do business?"

Mike and Jim discuss the differences between a boss, manager, and leader, styles of leadership and how they affect a team or organization. We'll cover things like establishing social norms and how close or distant leaders should develop their personal relationship with subordinates.