During the planning phase to begin the war in Iraq, the planners (eggheads) at Central Command (Centcom) developed several courses of action that the Coalition Forces could encounter.  I don’t remember all of them in detail, but most of them covered different nuances of how the Iraqi Army would fight us.

Fairly late in the planning process, a new course of action appeared.  We were initially told that there was a remote chance that the entire Iraqi regime could collapse as soon as the invasion was underway.  This “remote” course of action was called Early Regime Collapse (ERC).  At first, we just reviewed our plans to ensure that we could account for massive amounts of prisoners if the Iraqi Army surrendered en masse.

Then the Army began issuing cards and handouts describing the procedures for organizing Iraqi infantry or tank battalion after they surrendered.  We began developing our own courses of action that were predicated upon the Iraqi Army giving up.  Before long, ERC became the de facto plan for the invasion of Iraq.  I’m sure that there were exceptions, and most of the squads and platoons were ready to fight.  At the higher level of brigades and division though, the Iraqi Army had all but surrendered before we even crossed the berm.  I actually felt a little disappointed that the war was over…and I was still in Kuwait.  War was a total bummer.

Once the invasion was underway, we didn’t get into any huge firefights right away.  But we didn’t take any prisoners either.  We saw lots of military aged males who were in civilian clothes, but no uniforms.  What we would soon realize is that the Iraqi Regime wouldn’t collapse like the Centcom planners thought.  And they didn’t fight us the way we thought they would.  The fights in Nasiriyah and Hillah were indicators of things to come.

Why is any of this important?  The simple mistake made during pre-invasion planning was developing a plan (a course of action) that centered on how the enemy would react.  Leaders within the law enforcement community, specifically trainers, should heed the lesson here.  In a violent struggle between men, there isn’t a reliable way to predict the behavior of your assailant.

Think of how you currently train to deal with violent assault.  Not how you think, or plan.  How do you train?  Do you train to read, assess, and act?  To observe, orient, decide, then act?  Or do you talk about the OODA loop, then train to fire a certain number of rounds at a paper target from a pre-determined distance from a static position during daylight hours?  If you think a gunfight unfolds like a choreographed Kabuki theater, you’re setting yourself up for an expectation shortfall.  You will be surprised and possibly killed because your attacker did not stand still and act like a paper target.

Do you train to confront active shooters?  How did you develop your tactics?  Do you believe that the “profile” of an active shooter or terrorist will determine how they react to law enforcement?  Do you train your officers to solve tactical problems, or do you teach them techniques that they will use.

For years, teaching tactics ad nauseum from the latest “expert” was the norm.  It’s time to break from choreography and begin teaching principles-based realistic training.  Law enforcement officers don’t need to be taught what to think about a situation, they need to be taught how to think tactically and solve problems.

Don’t be guilty of planning for Early Regime Collapse.  There aren’t any guarantees during a violent encounter.  Jedburgh has developed the most innovative training programs available anywhere.  Based on years of personal combat experience by Special Forces, our firearms training is firmly grounded in the realities of modern gunfighting.

We’d like to opportunity to train with you or your agency.  Contact us at info@Jedburgh-USA.com for scheduling.

The attack was carried out by ten terrorists, all male, with ages ranging from 20-28 years old.  The attackers were led by a veteran jihadist named Ishmail Khan, who had previous operational experience in Chechnya, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  Nine of the terrorists were killed during the attack and one, Kasab, was captured and debriefed by Indian authorities.

The attack was a departure from previous explosive-centered terrorist events.  The terrorists worked in teams, and primarily used small arms fire and hand grenades, although several IEDs were employed as well.  The terrorist teams seized high-profile target buildings in order to maximize casualties and psychological impact.

The incident lasted nearly 61 hours and resulted in more than 100 killed and 300 wounded.

You can download the full report here -Mumbai Reconstruction (1301).

The presentation of the 2008 Mumbai Terrorist Attack is complete.  We are proud to offer counter-terrorism training and exercises based on the lessons learned from this violent attack.  Contact us for availability and pricing.

There’s a cost to any business. For professional law enforcement officers, military personnel, or Federal agents the cost is wear on tear their body from the years of cumulative stress. There is a relatively recent hypothesis that asserts that there is physiological risk associated with exposure to psychosocial stressors over time. In lay speak, folks in high stress jobs will suffer physical ailments because of the pressures of the job.

The term for the chronic exposure to stress and its effect on the body is referred to as the allostatic load. This term was coined by McEwan and Stellar in their 1993 text entitled “Health Psychology” published by McGraw-Hill. Allostasis could be literally defined as “maintaining stability through change.” From an NIA Exploratory Workshop on Allostatic Load in 2007:

“Allostatic load refers to the cumulative biological wear and tear that can result from excessive cycles of response (i.e. too frequent and/or of inappropriate duration or scope) in these systems as they seek to maintain allostasis in the face of environmental challenge [someone assaulting you].  According to the theory, as these systems become taxed and dysregulated, they begin to exhibit imbalances in the primary neural mediators of the stress response…”

Stressful situations can limit brain functions to basic levels, the much discussed “fight or flight” response.  Allostatic load is impacted by repeated cycles of this response.  Over time the allostatic load can cause changes in the physiological response to stressors.  The police officer who once responded within a moral and ethical framework may begin responding with inappropriately high levels of anxiety and aggression.

Obviously, the implications for the theory is that there are long-term health consequences to having a job with an unusually high allostatic load. The stress of the job can kill you. It’s worth understanding the threat and how to mitigate it for the same reasons you practice with firearms. From a 2005 UCLA study:

“The body’s perception of stress leads to a significant load upon physiological regulation including circadian regulation, sleep and psycho neuroendocrine-immune [link between psychological factors and the nervous and immune systems] interaction.”

Besides a physical toll, there is a psychological toll to this phenomenon as well.  It is well documented phenomenon that acute stressors can cause PTSD in soldiers, law enforcement, or other victims of traumatic events.  The frontal executive areas of the brain are responsible for planning, decision making, and judgement.  This area is affected by the experiences that pass through it.  The frontal areas of the brain are constantly “tuned” by experience.  When two cells fire together, they are wired together.

In a recent FBI study entitled Brain Functioning as the Ground for Spiritual Experiences and Ethical Behavior a veteran law enforcement officer commented “Peace officers are exposed to the worst that life has to offer.  They see the denizens of society at their very worst – when they have just been victimized or when they have just victimized someone else.  Peace officers see the perpetrators of evil and the results of their evil deeds.  The constant contact with evil is corrosive, and those effects are cumulative.”

The author (Dr. Fred Travis) further writes that “Experiences change the brain.  This is inevitable.  The violence law enforcement officers see becomes part of the functioning or their brains and bodies.  Neural imaging assessed activation of the areas of the brain that stop wrong behavior, called orbitofrontal cortex, after individuals…” witness or experience violent, traumatic events.

Allostatic load can reduce connections with frontal executive areas of the brain and amplify stimulus-response circuits.  These changes, or structural remodeling, can impact memory and emotions and may increase anxiety and aggression.  Victims of these changes may become distant from spouses, children, or other friends because they are emotionally incapable of interacting or feel a sense of detachment.  Neural imaging of patients who experience high allostatic load reveal lesions on the frontal executive areas.  The brain is intact, but the brain matter is no longer involved in planning and decision making.

The impact on job performance can be devastating.  Extreme errors in judgement, non-ethical or immoral decision making, and dereliction of responsibilities can all result from years of high stress and allostatic overload.

How then, do we combat allostatic load?   There are, of course, many prescription drugs available that can help mitigate the effects of allostatic load.  Somewhat surprising, at least to me, is another non-pharmaceutical option.  The solution may well be spirituality.  Spirituality, loosely defined as a sense of wholeness, has been shown to engage the entire frontal executive area of the brain.

Spirituality can obviously be religious.  The research conducted by Dr. Travis, however, is more general.  Any experiences that are universal in nature, or ones that transcend our own sense of time, space, or individual body can be spiritual.  The effects of spirituality on the brain are widespread activation and higher brainwave coherence.  The measure of this phenomenon is known as Brain Integration Scale (BIS).

People who regularly practice spirituality have a correspondingly higher BIS.  They become more self-reliant, self-sufficient, independent, and take responsibility for their lives and performance.  BIS studies have shown a positive correlation between spirituality and emotional stability and moral reasoning, while showing a negative correlation with anxiety.  BIS is increased with regular spiritual experiences.

For professional soldiers and police, the conclusions are fairly straightforward.  Each of you will react differently to the stress of your jobs.  Over time, the cumulative stress may negatively impact your physical and/or psychological health.  An otherwise good, moral officer will make immoral choices and could become extremely anxious or aggressive.

For me, there is a certain elegance to the allostatic load theory.  Becoming involved in your local church and establishing a healthy relationship with God will help you reach your potential as a husband, a father, and law enforcement professional.  This foundational relationship will help you manage allostatic load and facilitate success both at home and at work.  It provides balance to your life and will allow you to formulate the best decisions, even when under extreme stress.

Jedburgh Corp has developed the most comprehensive firearms training available anywhere.  It was built on the vast personal combat experience of some of the most elite special operators in the country.  Contact us at info@Jedburgh-USA.com to provide feedback on the blog, or discuss your training needs.  Also, feel free to post your comments.