Tactical Tangents

Latest Episodes:

11: Get off the X! Ambush and Counter Ambush Tactics Feb 15, 2018

Show notes

Ambush is a term that we tend to overuse to mean any attack that catches us off guard. We are going to define the term ambush and, more importantly, define the counter-tactics to apply if you are ambushed. The important thing to realize is that the sooner you identify an imminent or in-progress ambush, the sooner you are able to effectively respond to it. So we have to make sure we aren't getting too wrapped in the semantics here, it only matters if your counter-tactics apply. We're going to look at a handful of civilian case studies and discuss what those ambush tactics and counter-tactics look like so you might be able to pick up on them if they are ever happening to you.

Opening Story

Links to Active Self Protection, thanks John!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zpA2IZNTRY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYIGWVdCZGM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRhzk8SYm-M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLmoERgcTx8

Clear and Present Danger

Gift of Fear

Remember that we publish new episodes on the 1st and the 15th of every month! Find us on Facebook @TacTangents or email us at info@tacticaltangents.com

www.tacticaltangents.com

Intro music credit: Bensound.com

10: Slow is smooth, smooth is weird, fast is tactical. Right? Feb 01, 2018

Show notes

Like many good ideas in the tactical community, "Slow is smooth, Smooth is Fast," is one of those that started out with strong roots and grew into something barely recognizable. We lose IQ points when the adrenaline hits--the emotional response that we experience under stress bypasses our ability to make rational decisions. We think that this phrase is best applied to our cognitive awareness and ability to take control of feeling overwhelmed, get a true sense of the problem at hand, reason with competing priorities, and bring calm to the chaos. It's a useful training tool, but it really doesn't have anything to do with "acting slow," it's about slowing our mind down enough to make sense of what's happening around us.

Black Hawk Down

Remember that we publish new episodes on the 1st and the 15th of every month! Find us on Facebook @TacTangents or email us at info@tacticaltangents.com

www.tacticaltangents.com

Intro music credit: Bensound.com

9: What do aviation and self-defense have in common? Jan 15, 2018

Show notes

In the mid-nineties a Fedex employee facing termination attempted to hijack Fedex Flight 705 from Memphis to San Jose. His plan was to take over the plane and crash it into the Fedex headquarters, and he wanted to make it look like an accident. Armed with a hammer and a spear gun, he launched a surprise attack against the crew of three shortly after takeoff. This is one of many chilling examples of how workplace violence can turn really bad really fast. We discuss some of the warning signs and pre-assault indicators, strategies for intervening in a close-quarters attack, and some of the reasons checklists are such a big deal for pilots.

Links from the show:

Voice Recorder transcript

Court Case

Checklist Simulator example

Example of all the stuff going on in the cockpit during normal takeoff/flight/landing

2015 intentional crash

New shows on the 1st and the 15th!

www.tacticaltangents.com

facebook.com/tactangents

8: Good Shoots, Bad Shoots, and Snowmobiles Jan 01, 2018

Show notes

Boyd used to walk people through a thought experiment in which he wanted people to use their imagination to "create a new reality," to illustate the creative nature of our minds. In a tactical sense, we can take lessons learned from several different places and apply those principles to whatever realm is important to us.

At Tactical Tangents, we are always trying to find a balance among law enforcement, military, and concealed-carry topics—but it's important to consider that we can all find value in the lessons learned in each of those fields. In this episode, we discuss two controversial police shootings (Philando Castile and Daniel Shaver) and the binary terms that people tend to use to describe these sorts of incidents: Justified, or not. Murder, or self-defense. Good shoot, or Bad Shoot. Sometimes, it's somewhere in between.

Think of it like a critical thinking exercise—understand the complexities of human behavior and decision making. No two tactical encounters look exactly the same—but sometimes they rhyme. Find the similarities and differences, build a snowmobile.

Links:

Jim's advice for traffic stops: http://www.tacticaltangents.com/articles/how-to-handle-a-traffic-stop/

Albuquerque LT shoots his own guy: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/albuquerque-police-release-video-showing-officer-shooting-undercover-cop-n549461

C-5 animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeEMiW1vMvU

Another example of wrong engine shut-down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSS1hel2z4

Graham vs. Connor full text: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/490/386/

Daniel Shaver (Mesa shooting, with video): https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/daniel-shaver-shooting-ex-arizona-police-officer-not-guilty-murder-n827641

Philando Castile (overview with video): http://www.tacticaltangents.com/articles/philando-castile/

Brian Willis TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwC-RHsC6gw

Subscribe to the podcast for new episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month! Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tactangents or check out our website at www.tacticaltangents.com. We'd love to hear your thoughts or feedback, please email us at info@tacticaltangents.com!

Intro music credit bensound.com

7: Boyd, OODA, and Our Mission Dec 15, 2017

Show notes

John Boyd was the guy behind the OODA loop, the F-15, the F-16. He and his group of reformers were also largely responsible for the A-10, the Warfighting manual for the USMC, and some of the planning of Desert Storm. Boyd said, "War is ever changing, and men are ever fallible-Teach men to think!" He was also, in a lot of ways, the inspiration for the Tactical Tangents project. Hear about the guerilla reform movement he led against the bureaucracy that is the US Department of Defense and how his work affected tactics, leadership, decision making, and the Art of War.

57:09

New episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month! Please leave us feedback, reviews, like/share/subscribe! Follow us on Facebook or Twitter @TacTangents

Links: The Book

The Pentagon Wars by James Burton (Book) (Video)

Intro Music credit--Bensound.com

6: Road Rage, situational leadership, and interpersonal barriers Dec 01, 2017

Show notes

In episode 6 we discuss a couple of road rage incidents that escalated to the point someone got hurt or killed, and one that was handled pretty well by a guy in Indiana. These stories are important because most of us tend to feel pretty tough behind the wheel of our car. The distance and physical barrier that our cars put between us and other drivers make us feel like we aren't in much danger, but that can be a false sense of security. We also touch a little bit on what de-escalation techniques *should* look like, a concept called situational leadership, and how MRAPs (big armored trucks) hurt our counter-insurgency efforts overseas (much like in the case of road rage-think about the ways physical barriers and distance dehumanize our troops).

As always, thanks for listening! Please like our page on Facebook, subscribe to the podcast, and share with your friends! If you've left us a review or feedback, we appreciate it!

Look forward to new episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month.

www.tacticaltangents.com/podcast

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Twitter @TacTangents

Links from today's episode:

http://www.tacticaltangents.com/articles/restraint/

The Indiana Guy, our favorite (ALSO: should be available with this episode as bonus content) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYhVE0lt0bI)

Colorado incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHVJygPStlI

Colorado news article: http://www.koaa.com/story/35677176/suspect-arrested-for-assault-after-road-rage-incident-caught-on-camera

Colorado road rage tips: http://www.krdo.com/news/woman-speaks-out-police-issue-tips-following-violent-road-rage-incident-caught-on-camera/540260450

Mr. Walker and Mr. Wheeler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk-c5jlk48s

Intro music credit Bensound.com

5: So you wanna be a cop? Nov 15, 2017

Show notes

Strong Language Warning--probably don't play this out loud at work or around your kids!

Full disclosure, we actually recorded this episode a little while back when our buddy Isaac was getting ready for the police academy. We wanted to take advantage of the Q and A opportunity before he kicked off his career. We have some follow-up recordings in the works with Isaac so you can check in and see how he's doing if you're interested. We talk about Isaac's stupid mustache, how defensive tactics apply to different martial arts (and vice versa), the academic nature of the police academy, and what not to do at parties.

We also touch briefly on donuts, and I gotta be honest (this is Mike typing), I went back to the place we criticized (unnamed of course) and they redeemed themselves--they're actually pretty good. Now that's two donut eating sessions I gotta work off, so I'm gonna go swing a kettlebell for an hour...

New episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month! Be sure to subscribe/like/share if you like what we're doing. If you have questions about the academy please find us on Facebook and interact with us, we'd love to hear your thoughts!

www.tacticaltangents.com

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Twitter @TacTangents

Intro music credit--Bensound.com

4: North Hollywood Shootout Nov 01, 2017

Show notes

Break down of the 1997 North Hollywood Shootout. 20 years ago this year, two dudes brought the LAPD and a few assisting agencies to their knees during a bank robbery that turned into an epic gunfight. Amazingly, the only two fatalities that day were the bad guys, but there were about 20 others wounded (civilian and police). Some of the big take aways have to do with the proliferation of long guns and armored vehicles in law enforcement, shooting "two the body, one to the head," and how we apply the concept of shooting at the center of whatever mass is available. We also talk briefly about how this event might have been charactized as an active shooter in the early stages and how we might have handled this differently today.

If you know about or were involved with an incident that you think had worthwhile lessons learned, let us know!

Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite app to get new episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month! Thank you for your feedback, likes/shares/reviews. Find us on Facebook @TacTangents or www.tacticaltangents.com

Show Links:

News helicopter raw video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZg4mcYkIwU

Police audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5mkd6r9Kww

Fox News report https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E4_wDQFky0

Self inflicts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzjsQ-cxHBU

Nat geo documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q44yGYlUoQQ

44 min film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wty8VSi4Fs0

LA police commission use of force report: http://documents.latimes.com/north-hollywood-shootout-use-force-report/

Intro music credit Bensound.com

3: Shooting, Beginner to Good/Great Oct 15, 2017

Show notes

Mike and Jim talk about ways they learned and apply the fundamentals to shooting practice, specifically trying to bridge the gap from "beginner," to "decent," to "good." We talk about ways to balance speed and accuracy, and some things to think about when you are trying to diagnose a problem or isolate certain variables to improve your ability to shoot. We talk about adding stress/pressure to our drills, how important it is to have a good coach or at least use slow motion video to carefully watch for mistakes, the benefits of dry fire, etc. Some firearms fundamentals flip on like a switch of a lightbulb, but sometimes you have to make incremental improvements until those individual elements compound on to each other and you really start to notice a difference. Finally, we want you to realize that anyone can become a "good" shooter, so you have to get it out of your head that some people have an innate gift or talent and you don't.

We talk about a few books in the episode, here are the links:

Talent Code

Talent is Overrated

The Art of Learning

Find us on social media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/YouTube) @TacTangents You can join the conversation in our Facebook Discussion Group. Find all of our episodes, articles, some reading list ideas, and more on our website www.tacticaltangents.com

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Intro music credit Bensound.com

2: Using Rules to Manage Risk Oct 01, 2017

Show notes

One of the themes we discussed in our last episode was that just because something is technically legal, or not against the rules, that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. We build on that theme today and discuss how we use rules and guidelines to manage risk and shape our decisions. We talk about the risks associated with car chases, the 21-foot rule, and how some parents worry more about having a gun in the house than a pool in their backyard. We also share one of our guiding principles from Col. John Boyd about training and risk management: People, Ideas, and THEN Hardware, in that order!

Links:

Boyd, The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War - http://amzn.to/2xJPW4y

The Signal and the Noise - http://amzn.to/2xN7fUi

The Unthinkable - http://amzn.to/2xN7PB8

Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision - http://amzn.to/2yNEdCt

Jim's article on Lessons Learned from Tactical Aviation - http://www.tacticaltangents.com/articles/aviationlessons/ (also available on Facebook here)

Like what we're doing? Head over to Patreon and give us a buck for each new episode. You can also make a one-time contribution at GoFundMe.

Intro music credit Bensound.com