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Chrystal's Corner
October 2022
Agencies near and far are experiencing the labor crunch. It can be exhausting constantly being asked to do more with less. The FTOs are overtaxed in a desperate attempt to play catch up with the resignations and retirements. It is more important than ever that those still serving DO more than just what is asked and BE more than just what is expected. What we really need from our officers is for them to step up and be the leaders and mentors they are meant to be.
We have no right to complain about something in which we have not actively attempted to change. Your department is a direct reflection on those who work there. I plead to you to take a little extra pride in your department, but more specifically, those with whom you work. We need to constantly be looking into the future. No matter where you are in your career, your days are already numbered. What is the legacy you will leave behind? Those who follow you are your legacy. Build the best replacements you can. Be the kind of officer those following you can look up to and aspire to emulate.
Societal opinion will swing back in favor of those who protect us. It is up to you to make sure your people are up to the task. Go out and build a pack of guard dogs. Eventually you will be appreciated for your efforts. We look forward to seeing you on the range!
June 2022
Ah, June. Summer is on the way. For many kids, summer vacation is what they’ve been waiting for since spring break. Parents…maybe not so much. Summer vacation brings with it a whole new conundrum. “How do we keep our little tykes busy and out of trouble for 3 months?” In addition to the trips to the lake, wetting a line, riding the innertube of death, and battling armies of insects, may I suggest some good old fashioned patriotic plinking?
In light of recent events, this may seem to some as “inappropriate” or “out of touch”. I maintain that there is no better time. Todd and I are always preaching that it is imperative to introduce our officers to new firearm skills, techniques, and tactics in a safe and controlled environment. A place where learning can take place and mistakes are simply learning opportunities and nothing catastrophic. This same idea may be doubly important when it comes to introducing firearms to our children.
I came from a generation of rifle racks, with rifles, in the back window of just about every pick-up in the school parking lot. We all had knives in our pockets and in our lockers. Shocker, no one ever used them inappropriately. Our parents took the time to teach us to use them properly, respect their power, and respect other people. We always fear what we do not understand. If we demystify weapons and teach children to respect them, and to respect other people, we can preserve our Second Amendment Rights. Remember, if we give up one of our Constitutional Rights, we are well on our way to losing them all.
We look forward to seeing you on the range!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Creative Thinking - It’s Not just for De-Escalation (Part 2)
In part 1, the case was made for applying individual cognitive load capacity, autonomy, and psychological safety in the training space to develop creative thinking in students. While this may be something you can easily envision doing in a MILO simulator, instructors often become rigid when faced with live-fire environments where results need to meet a certain standard.
But a need to meet a standard result doesn't mean there’s a need for standard processes.
So—if creative thinking is acceptable in a live-fire training program, what does it look like? It’s actually a lot simpler than many firearms instructors may believe. Let’s unpack each of the three necessary components:
Cognitive Load: Research shows that the autonomic nervous system is a factor in cognitive capacity. In the absence of fancy EEG brain technology (I mean, if you have it...good for you!), one of the best ways to make sure someone has adequate cognitive capacity for learning is to take active measures to engage their parasympathetic nervous system. Try starting the training event with something like an immersive VR experience designed to create a calm and focused mind. Alternatively, a short session of eyes-closed visualization and intentional breathing can help calm students, reduce their cognitive load, and can help keep their attention focused on training.
If a student appears to be at—or near—their maximum cognitive load, and if you're unable to create a calm and focused mind, it may be time to send them home. Unlike a real-world crisis response, training can wait for another day. It may not be convenient for the instructor, but it’s not about the instructor, it’s about the student. Firearms training is literally about life and death decisions and skills, so don’t expose anyone to increased risk because someone in the group is at cognitive overload.
Autonomy: Give your students the opportunity to design their own drills and encourage creativity while meeting certain performance objectives. Tell them to be innovative or novel in their approach. This will allow them to expand their minds into unchartered territory, provides ownership, and gets them engaged in the choices they make.
Psychological safety: “Psychological safety isn’t soft and fuzzy; it’s challenging, and it’s about learning how to have thoughtful, data-driven dialogue, where we make progress and come up with new ideas.” Start with creating a training environment that encourages experimentation without belittling, embarrassing, or demeaning students. Instructors should be coaches, teachers, and facilitators who create an inquisitive and thought-provoking learning environment where students of all skill levels feel comfortable experimenting. Establish a student-centric culture of empathy, support, and servant leadership where the students know they are surrounded by people there to support them in their goal of improvement.
Instructors should allow students to experiment safely while balancing speed and accuracy. Different drills, different circumstances, and different scenarios will change the accuracy standard and how fast they can engage the threat/target. If the accuracy standard is a large center mass area, encourage students to speed up instead of
trying to shoot one-hole groups. Set up different size targets to make students change speeds based on target size and encourage them to push their boundaries. Students need to understand their “speed limits”—when they can get on the accelerator and when they need to slow down. Let students push beyond their speed limits to learn
their limitations, so long as they can push those boundaries safely.
In summary—remember, it’s not about you (the instructor). It’s about your students. Know their cognitive capacity. Trust their ability to make choices. Create a culture of encouragement. Only then will they be able to experiment safely. Once this happens, we will start building better students.
Click here to learn more about MILO’s live fire training solutions.
Bios
Todd Fletcher is the owner and lead instructor for Combative Firearms Training, LLC providing training for law enforcement firearms instructors. He retired 25+ years as a full-time police officer. He has presented firearm instructor training at multiple national and international conferences and is the author of 75+ published articles. He can be reached at Todd@CombativeFirearms.com.
Dr. Joy VerPlanck is a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer with a background in organizational training and instructional design. She received her doctorate from Central Michigan University in educational technology with research in the effects of simulator training on the cognitive development of police officers. Dr. VerPlanck leads MILO’s Cognitive Division.
Agencies near and far are experiencing the labor crunch. It can be exhausting constantly being asked to do more with less. The FTOs are overtaxed in a desperate attempt to play catch up with the resignations and retirements. It is more important than ever that those still serving DO more than just what is asked and BE more than just what is expected. What we really need from our officers is for them to step up and be the leaders and mentors they are meant to be.
We have no right to complain about something in which we have not actively attempted to change. Your department is a direct reflection on those who work there. I plead to you to take a little extra pride in your department, but more specifically, those with whom you work. We need to constantly be looking into the future. No matter where you are in your career, your days are already numbered. What is the legacy you will leave behind? Those who follow you are your legacy. Build the best replacements you can. Be the kind of officer those following you can look up to and aspire to emulate.
Societal opinion will swing back in favor of those who protect us. It is up to you to make sure your people are up to the task. Go out and build a pack of guard dogs. Eventually you will be appreciated for your efforts. We look forward to seeing you on the range!
June 2022
Ah, June. Summer is on the way. For many kids, summer vacation is what they’ve been waiting for since spring break. Parents…maybe not so much. Summer vacation brings with it a whole new conundrum. “How do we keep our little tykes busy and out of trouble for 3 months?” In addition to the trips to the lake, wetting a line, riding the innertube of death, and battling armies of insects, may I suggest some good old fashioned patriotic plinking?
In light of recent events, this may seem to some as “inappropriate” or “out of touch”. I maintain that there is no better time. Todd and I are always preaching that it is imperative to introduce our officers to new firearm skills, techniques, and tactics in a safe and controlled environment. A place where learning can take place and mistakes are simply learning opportunities and nothing catastrophic. This same idea may be doubly important when it comes to introducing firearms to our children.
I came from a generation of rifle racks, with rifles, in the back window of just about every pick-up in the school parking lot. We all had knives in our pockets and in our lockers. Shocker, no one ever used them inappropriately. Our parents took the time to teach us to use them properly, respect their power, and respect other people. We always fear what we do not understand. If we demystify weapons and teach children to respect them, and to respect other people, we can preserve our Second Amendment Rights. Remember, if we give up one of our Constitutional Rights, we are well on our way to losing them all.
We look forward to seeing you on the range!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Creative Thinking - It’s Not just for De-Escalation (Part 2)
In part 1, the case was made for applying individual cognitive load capacity, autonomy, and psychological safety in the training space to develop creative thinking in students. While this may be something you can easily envision doing in a MILO simulator, instructors often become rigid when faced with live-fire environments where results need to meet a certain standard.
But a need to meet a standard result doesn't mean there’s a need for standard processes.
So—if creative thinking is acceptable in a live-fire training program, what does it look like? It’s actually a lot simpler than many firearms instructors may believe. Let’s unpack each of the three necessary components:
Cognitive Load: Research shows that the autonomic nervous system is a factor in cognitive capacity. In the absence of fancy EEG brain technology (I mean, if you have it...good for you!), one of the best ways to make sure someone has adequate cognitive capacity for learning is to take active measures to engage their parasympathetic nervous system. Try starting the training event with something like an immersive VR experience designed to create a calm and focused mind. Alternatively, a short session of eyes-closed visualization and intentional breathing can help calm students, reduce their cognitive load, and can help keep their attention focused on training.
If a student appears to be at—or near—their maximum cognitive load, and if you're unable to create a calm and focused mind, it may be time to send them home. Unlike a real-world crisis response, training can wait for another day. It may not be convenient for the instructor, but it’s not about the instructor, it’s about the student. Firearms training is literally about life and death decisions and skills, so don’t expose anyone to increased risk because someone in the group is at cognitive overload.
Autonomy: Give your students the opportunity to design their own drills and encourage creativity while meeting certain performance objectives. Tell them to be innovative or novel in their approach. This will allow them to expand their minds into unchartered territory, provides ownership, and gets them engaged in the choices they make.
- Example 1: the instructor assigns a drill to a small group of officers (2-4). Let the group come up with a creative drill that combines skills such as reloads, target transitions, threat assessment, malfunctions, use of cover, etc.
- Example 2: set up a course of fire with multiple options and opportunities for problem solving. In this case, there should be no “right” way to do it. Instead, numerous solutions to solve the problem would be acceptable. In other words, the drill would be designed with optional starting positions, and the order of target engagement as well as the number of shots required to stop the threat would be decisions left up to the student.
- Example 3: use a storytelling drill. For example, the first student starts off by saying out loud the first sentence of the story. The next student will add another sentence to the story. Anytime a number, color, or shape is said during the story, students will engage that number, color, or shape on their target with 1-3 rounds depending on the student. i.e: A rabbit went to the store and bought a red Popsicle. In this example, students would fire 1-3 rounds into the number 2 and any red target.
Psychological safety: “Psychological safety isn’t soft and fuzzy; it’s challenging, and it’s about learning how to have thoughtful, data-driven dialogue, where we make progress and come up with new ideas.” Start with creating a training environment that encourages experimentation without belittling, embarrassing, or demeaning students. Instructors should be coaches, teachers, and facilitators who create an inquisitive and thought-provoking learning environment where students of all skill levels feel comfortable experimenting. Establish a student-centric culture of empathy, support, and servant leadership where the students know they are surrounded by people there to support them in their goal of improvement.
Instructors should allow students to experiment safely while balancing speed and accuracy. Different drills, different circumstances, and different scenarios will change the accuracy standard and how fast they can engage the threat/target. If the accuracy standard is a large center mass area, encourage students to speed up instead of
trying to shoot one-hole groups. Set up different size targets to make students change speeds based on target size and encourage them to push their boundaries. Students need to understand their “speed limits”—when they can get on the accelerator and when they need to slow down. Let students push beyond their speed limits to learn
their limitations, so long as they can push those boundaries safely.
In summary—remember, it’s not about you (the instructor). It’s about your students. Know their cognitive capacity. Trust their ability to make choices. Create a culture of encouragement. Only then will they be able to experiment safely. Once this happens, we will start building better students.
Click here to learn more about MILO’s live fire training solutions.
Bios
Todd Fletcher is the owner and lead instructor for Combative Firearms Training, LLC providing training for law enforcement firearms instructors. He retired 25+ years as a full-time police officer. He has presented firearm instructor training at multiple national and international conferences and is the author of 75+ published articles. He can be reached at Todd@CombativeFirearms.com.
Dr. Joy VerPlanck is a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer with a background in organizational training and instructional design. She received her doctorate from Central Michigan University in educational technology with research in the effects of simulator training on the cognitive development of police officers. Dr. VerPlanck leads MILO’s Cognitive Division.
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