Approach to breach
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By Larry L. Beresnoy
When we start out as new tactical officers and begin our training we can all agree the learning curve is very high. There is so much to take in; movement, weapons handling, flash bang deployment, chemical munitions, less lethal munitions, warrant service, handling a barricade, hostage rescue, linear assaults, rural operations and much, much more. The list seems almost endless and we often wonder how we can stay proficient in all of these areas, especially for part time teams that train one or two days a month.
As a beginner many of us take what we learn at face value. With limited experience we rarely question what we are being taught. We figure, hey, if this instructor is teaching it, it must be the way things are done. As we attend additional schools, network with other tactical officers and gain more operational experience, we grow as operators and look at what is being taught from a difference perspective. We no longer take what is taught at face value. We look objectively at the tactic, compare it to what we already know, discuss it with our peers, test it with reality based training and then form our own conclusions. If it passes our test (also known as the BS meter) we change our tactic for the better or place the new tactic in our SWAT toolbox for just the right occasion, and if it doesn’t pass, we forget it ever existed.
One of the areas that our team has changed completely from what we were initially taught is how to approach a breach point on a warrant service. Here are some of the places in which our team has made modifications to the lessons we were taught: