Most officers are familiar with the static square range we have at most of our LE academy and training centers. They are characterized by firing lines set at multiple ranges, facing a line of targets with some form of berm or bullet trap behind the targets. When officer’s fire on the range, they know well that the gun must be pointed toward the impact area to be considered safe and the shooter’s body is generally pointed in that direction as well.
This range design meets most of our practical needs for firearms training, but it lacks a key element when measured by the real street environment the officers actually work; the 360 degrees of potential threats. Instructors often mention the fact that the real world is a 360 degree environment and we see evidence of this when officers fire and then search and scan to the left and right of their targets and in some case over their left and right shoulders. They are simulating that they are checking for a potential threat in a direction other than the one they are facing, but the design of the range really doesn’t lend much credibility to that possibility.
On the range, officers are not going to turn suddenly up-range and engage a live-fire target with a real firearm — this would be considered unsafe — but this possibility does exist on the street. The officer can never truly know what direction from which a new threat may come and he must know how to quickly find and attack the threat, regardless of the direction from which it originates. This is why it is so important for officers to learn how to pivot and turn into a potential deadly force threat and be taught from a practical point of view how to do so efficiently. Failure to teach officers how to pivot and turn into the other 359 degrees of vulnerability can lead to a hesitated or panicked response and poor firearm handling.
Practical Principles of Turning to Fight
In breaking down the cause for conducting a practical pivot and turn, there are basically two types.
• Proactively: The officer intends to turn into the desired direction quickly and present his firearm in that direction — one example is entry into a room and quickly pivoting into a hard corner to search for suspects
• Reactively: The officer is unaware of the threat as it presents itself to him in the form of sight, sound or even impact — in other words, the officer may be caught by surprise and must respond without prior thought. Unfortunately, the direction of the stimulus is seldom right in front of him.
Proactive footwork can be practiced in many ways and is often one of the core skills practiced by tactical officers singularly and in teams. A great deal of practice is placed into ending the turn with eyes, body armor, and firearm all simultaneously ready for confrontation. Unfortunately we don’t always know when we will be attacked and so we must also train for a reactive response. Since reaction and surprise often go hand in hand, we should understand the human startle response and simplify any movement that follows that surprise reaction.
There has been a great deal of research on the human “startle” or “flinch” response and modern police instructors like Tony Blauer have even created entire defensive tactics programs from it. Most who study the startle response agree that a few unconscious physiological things consistently occur. In conjunction with other things such as increased heart rate, the arms and shoulders will reactively raise to protect the head, while the feet will attempt to grab better footing as the center of gravity drops to enable a fight or flight response. The head and eyes will immediately try to find and identify the attack even if the movement has already begun to flee. In the case of our officer, reacting to a ranged gunshot from his flank or rear, he will generally drop his weight, raise his shoulders, arms, and hands to protect his head, and look in the direction of the perceived threat.
With this in mind, I break the concept of teaching and conducting pivots and turns into a few simple principles:
1. Practicing pivots and turns should be conducted with the startle response in mind. If one knows they are about to pivot and turn in advance, they may do things that are contrary to nature. I’ve observed techniques taught such as a pirouette on ones’ toe or raising their weight onto one toe — spinning and then setting the foot back down, facing in a separate direction. If you were competing for speed (such as in a shooting competition) and knew you were going to turn quickly, you might find this faster, but if caught in a startle response, the body would likely work against such a technique. It is more practical to train for the body’s natural self defense response to an ambush rather than practice to win a proactive race.
2. Follow the head. The eyes and ears will work together to try to find the threat and once they locate the direction of the problem, they will attempt to stay focused on the problem for self preservation. Since the head is of substantial weight and it will already likely be lowered closer to the center of gravity, it will lead towards the direction of the threat. The weight of the head and upper body will tend to shift over the pivoting foot allowing the feet to follow and face the problem.
3. Don’t get too caught up in the footwork. As mentioned, the head will lead if it is allowed. Techniques should be developed which allow the head to find and track the threat while the feet pivot and turn into the threat. Techniques which prescribe some form of choreography which places the right foot in “spot A” followed by the left foot stepping into “spot B” and simultaneously pivoting on both, look really slick on a flat range but may not be practical in the real world environment of uneven ground, snow, objects in the way, etc.. There is no harm in trying or practicing these techniques, but the feet will find a way if we let them.
4. Raise the firearms safely without muzzling the whole world around you. A few years ago, while teaching pivots and turns in a firearm instructor school, I came up with the verbal mantra “Eyes — Feet — Muzzle” or “Eyes — Feet — Gun” in describing and teaching the principles. The head snaps around and the eyes find the target. Next, the feet pivot and turn the body towards the target so that body armor faces the threat and the gun can be raised from the centerline onto the target quickly and efficiently. This mantra is consistent in word and principle with Boyd’s OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act). Through the use of the Safety Circle (highlighted in a previous article), the officer can maintain muzzle discipline and turn quickly into a problem without needlessly muzzling other innocent people or other officers in the immediate area. Using the eyes (observe) and then the feet (orient), the muzzle is then raised from the safety circle directly up onto the target and the officer decides and acts with a deadly force response.
Taking the Principles to the Range
Once the principles are taught and understood, the square range can be used to practice. Generally, I break the responses into four starting positions.
1. Left shoulder facing the target: the shooter starts with his muzzle pointed in the safety circle and his feet pointed down the firing line at the next student with the target to his left. If he is using the safety circle, the muzzle is not pointed anywhere near the officer standing in front of him on the line. On command, the shooters find the target with their eyes, then follow their head pivoting and stepping into the threat and finally the firearms is raised to fire at the target. Right handed shooters using a two handed grip, may cheat up with the gun across their chests as they turn. This is fine as long as they don’t muzzle other people, but they should continue to turn completely onto the target as they fire.
2. Right shoulder facing the target: This response starts the opposite of the last with the right shoulder facing the target this time. The shooter should completely turn before raising the gun. Right handed shooters will not be able to cheat this time without breaking the two handed grip, but may simply punch the gun out with one hand. This is permitted so long as they do so safely, but it leaves exposure in the vulnerable point of the body armor vest and will not work with a long-gun.
3. Facing away — left response: The shooters face away from the target (up-range) with muzzles pointed in the safety circle. This simulates the attack coming from behind. When the fire command is given the shooter snaps his head around the left shoulder and his feet follow, stepping around to face and engage the target. The shooter should not raise the muzzle until the body has brought it around far enough to engage directly from the safety circle.
4. Facing away — Right response: The shooter faces up-range as before, but this time his head snaps around to find the target over the right shoulder and his body follows to engage. It is important to teach both left and right response since the shooter cannot anticipate from where the threat will come. If he is only taught a left shoulder response he will have trouble with a threat that comes from his four o’clock. All four responses should be practiced starting with the handgun both holstered and drawn. When the principles are understood, a long gun should also be introduced into the drills if possible.
A good firearms drill that incorporates an explanation of the all of the principles, a bit of dry-fire practice and then several repetitions of live fire will enable the officer to have the ability to quickly find and attack a threat regardless of it’s orientation to him. Not only do teaching pivots and turns become useful for practical and tactical responses, but it also reinforces the value of the Safety Circle. When I teach Safety Circle, I always immediately follow up with Pivots and Turn drills to reinforce the principles.
These principles and drills taught in tandem are a great way to train for the realities of the 360 degree street environment, once again, “bringing the street to the range.”
