Training Plan Part 3a

Kalashnikovs

Despite the simplicity of the weapon, loading an AK is actually slightly more error-prone, in my experience.

1. You can’t—on most variants—lock the bolt to the rear.
2. Insert the magazine, being sure to insert the front portion of the magazine first, and then rock the magazine up and in, seating it firmly. I watch this get messed up ALL THE TIME. People that hate the AR15, because “it’s too finicky,” end up not seating the front of the magazine properly, or they end up not rocking the magazine all the way in and seating it. In either case, they almost invariably end up spending way too much time messing around with getting it seated properly.
3. Once the magazine has locked into the seated position, try and tug it in the reverse direction, ensuring that it is, in fact, locked in.
4. Use the charging handle to pull the bolt ALL THE WAY TO THE REAR, and let it go. Allow the gun to go into battery under the tension of the spring. Then, grasp the charging handle and perform a press check.
5. Congratulations, you loaded an AK.

Reloads

There are two basic categories of reloads in “combat shooting:” the “speed” or “emergency” reload, and the “tactical” reload, or the “reload with retention.” Speed reloads should be utilized any time your gun runs dry in a fight. This is—again, in my experience—the single most common “malfunction” you will face, using most modern weapons, manufactured by reputable companies.
Tactical reloads, and reloads with retention, are done “when there is a lull in the fight.” Often, you may have to induce that lull yourself. If your partner is providing suppressive fire, and you are getting ready to move, or have just moved, take the time to perform a reload, if you feel you need to.
You are NOT going to know the exact number of rounds you’ve fired. Anyone who tells you that you will is either, a) a savant, or b) full of it. I’ll let you wager your life on which one is more likely.
What you CAN know is a rough estimate of “I’ve fired more than half my magazine,” or “I’ve fired less than half my magazine.” If you think you’ve fired more than half? Take the opportunity to top off, if you’ve got it. If not? Hope you finish the fight before the mag runs out, or that you’ve mastered the speed reload.

For most of us, the chances of needing to speed reload are pretty slim, as a result of “I shot my gun dry.” This is especially true with “normal” CCW pistol work. Nevertheless, there are two considerations here:

1. We’re not just talking about “everyday” CCW encounters here. You get ambushed by a crowd of bad guys, or are dealing with a herd of cannibalistic San Franciscans, post-SHTF, it is entirely plausible that the 18 rounds in your Glock 17, or even the 30 rounds in your AR or AK are not going to be adequate.
2. Stuff happens. Whether you miss a lot, or the dude you shoot just takes a lot of killing, or your magazine breaks after a round or two, there are reasons to practice and master your speed reloads.

Malfunction Clearances

I don’t know how many times I’ve had students in a class—even a more advanced class, ranging from CQB and patrolling classes to vehicle classes—that had a malfunction and suddenly realize they are not qualified for the class they are in because they don’t know how to clear the malfunction. Sometimes, they’re legitimately under-qualified. We back them off, and have them run some of the more remedial aspects. Other times though, they know HOW to do the corrective action, they just don’t KNOW how to do the corrective action—under stress. Their brain just stops and everything falls apart.
Whether you use SPORTS, TAP-RACK-BANG, or transition to your sidearm (which is fine, if you’re close enough for your sidearm to be more efficient than corrective action), this is something that has to be practiced until you don’t even think about it. The only way I know to do that is to set up malfunctions and drill them, over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over. Sorry, but “Oh, I did 10 reps of Tap-Rack-Bang last year, in a class,” is not going to cut it. You will fail when you have to do it under pressure.

Practice

During Q2 of my annual training plan, I limit the amount of repetitions I do of my snap-firing and drawstroke drills. I just hit 10-15 dry-fire drills and then move immediately on to working my reload drills dry-fire. When I do live-fire range work, I intentionally download my magazines, randomly loading 5-10 magazines with anywhere from 3-10 rounds. Then, I randomly grab the magazines and stick them in my mag pouches and gun, so I cannot be certain what load is in the gun at any given time. This incurs a “surprise” factor when the reload comes up.

Dry-Fire Speed Reload

Ben Stoeger has written that he likes to see speed reloads in less than 1.1 second. I’ve witnessed guys hit speed reloads—during drills—in less than one second. I generally aim for the actual reload to run just under 1.5 seconds. For most people, for most purposes, anything less than 2.5 seconds is probably adequately impressive. It’s not like you should be standing still, not moving in the middle of a fight, to conduct the reload. You should be moving to a position of cover—if you’re not already there—and then executing the reload. Ideally, of course, your reload should be protected by your partner providing cover, so in either case, 2.5 seconds is more than adequate—as long as it’s legit, and you can hit that time, under stress, without fail.

To set this up, I’ll set a par time on my shot timer that is my current training par time. I will then execute speed reloads, dry fire, consistently hitting 10-15 repetitions under the par time. Then, I’ll drop a hundredth of a second, until I can beat that. When I hit a time that I can’t beat for 10 repetitions in a row, that becomes my new par time for the dry-fire training week.

Dry-Fire Tactical Reloads

First off, I don’t advocate or really even teach—let alone practice—the old fumbling two mags in one hand method of tactical reloads. What I teach and preach and practice is what has become known as the “reload with retention,” that I learned as a cherry private in the Ranger Regiment, with an M16A2. I will drop the partially-expended magazine into my support hand, and stow it away. Then, I will grasp a fresh magazine and insert it into the weapon. It’s demonstrably faster and less error-prone, whether with rifle or pistol.

I don’t really “practice” tactical reloads much anymore. That’s probably not something I should admit to, but it’s true. I’ve got hundreds of thousands of repetitions of performing them, and anytime I change a magazine in a weapon, outside of speed reloads, I get practice in anyway, so I’m not too worried about it. I’ve yet to have it cause a failure.

For novices learning though, setting the tactical reload up, sans ammunition, is pretty simple. Empty magazine goes in the gun, bolt forward on an empty chamber. On “GO!” drop the mag into the support hand, and stow it. Grab the fresh empty mag from your pouch and seat it. Bring the gun up. Done.

Dry-Fire Malfunction Clearances

I legitimately don’t know a way to practice malfunction clearances dry-fire. Nor do I have any reasonable suggestions for time hacks to aim for. I can hit tap-rack-bang in less than two seconds. I only know that because I’ve seen the split occur when it has happened during shooting more complex drills.

What I typically teach guys to do for dry-fire of tap-rack-bang, is to seat a magazine, with dummy rounds, and simply do snap-drills, through the whole magazine of dummy rounds. You WILL master the instinct to tap-rack-bang when you feel the click. That only works for failure to seat and fail-to-fire malfunctions though, of course.

For more complex malfunctions, I like to set up the Three Little Kittens drill that SGM Kyle Lamb teaches (there’s a YouTube video of it, I believe, or you could avoid being a cheap fucker, and order his videos…). This is three different rifles down range (good excuse to get to shoot your buddy’s pimped out rifle…), each with a different malfunction set up. On “Go!” you move to the rifles, clear the malfunctions, and fire one round (To be honest, I haven’t watched the video in a while. That’s how I set it up).

Conclusions

Successfully hitting your target with your weapon’s fired projectile is the single most crucial skill in combat shooting—or shooting, period. Unfortunately, achieving that is not the total sum of all combat shooting skill. You need to be able to keep your gun in the fight, throughout the duration of the fight. That requires learning and practicing gun-handling core skills as well.
Go forth and do good things. Who does more is worth more.

Addendums

1. The new book, “FORGING THE HERO: Who Does More Is Worth More, A Tribal Strategy for Building Resilient Communities and Surviving the Decline of the Empire” has gone to the printer. I waited an extra week, because the cover art got hung up. It still hasn’t come through, because the artist had scheduling conflicts and didn’t get a chance to get it done. Hopefully, we’ll be able to make it a poster in support of the book, or something. The design is AWESOME!

2. Sam Culper and Forward Observer also have the artwork for a t-shirt that will be produced for MG, in support of the book’s message. So, all of you who have been bitching about getting your hands on some MG swag…it’s en route.

3. Finally, Gadsden Dynamics has the MG Underground Chest Rig in stock and available. I designed this because I couldn’t find a single rifle mag pouch set up that could be worn “concealed.” This is not going to work for “non-permissive environments” under a t-shirt. It was designed for “underground” urban work though. Think, “I’ve got to roll through a really shitty ghetto, and I’d really like more than one magazine for my rifle, on my person.” This, thrown on under a light jacket or button-down, untucked shirt, conceals really well, from as close as five feet away. It’s pretty slick, and they did a good job refining my design, and producing it.(In the interest of intellectual integrity, I get no percentage from sales of the product. I just wanted a piece of kit that would be useful to people, and I couldn’t find one that fit the bill. The guys were willing to design it and manufacture it. Go thee forth and procure one!)

https://gadsdendynamics.com/product/mg-underground-partisan-chest-rig/

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Gear for the American Patriot: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Training Plan Part 3

Developing a Practice Program, Part Three

Up to this point in this series, we’ve discussed the overall scheme of developing an annual training program, and we’ve covered some basic fundamental marksmanship drills for practice. In this installment, we will be covering basic Core Skills, and the drills we use to practice them. Core skills can be defined as those tasks that are fundamental to effective gun-handling and shooting that—along with marksmanship—are CORE to prosecuting a fight with the firearm. For the purposes of this installment, we will briefly cover reloading and other malfunction clearances. These are the skills that—programmed properly, as part of your training and practice—will allow you to fire each shot as a deliberate, conscious action, fast enough to solve whatever shooting—or non-shooting—problem that you find yourself confronted with.

General

A malfunction can be defined as any situation where the gun does something unexpected, or does not do what is expected. Generally speaking, the malfunctions we are concerned with are those that occur—for whatever reason—when we attempt to fire a round, and the weapon fails to do so, for whatever reason.

With contemporary fighting firearms, in my experience, the single most common reason for “click instead of bang,” is a simple one…the gun is not loaded. Whether that is a result of not having loaded it properly at the outset, or because you have run the gun dry, is irrelevant.

The second most common reason for malfunctions seems to be simple operator error (which is not to say that failure to fully seat a magazine or chamber a round is not operator error). In this regard, I am specifically considering things like an inexperienced shooter—or an experienced shooter who is an inexperienced fighter and suddenly finds themselves in an actual fight—messing things up. The reality is, shooting and gun-handling are relatively complicated tasks, when executed properly, and require higher order intelligence to manage. When you’re scared and your “reptilian” brain amygdala is screaming at you, it’s entirely possible to mess up even simple tasks like walking or chewing bubble gum.

Fortunately, over the last century-plus of semi-automatic weapons design and use, there has been enough experience accumulated in the practical shooting community (I’m using the term here to specify people who shoot for practical applications, like smoking bad guys, not for the shooting sport, although considering most of the skills advanced practical shooters use originated there, or vice versa, the two may as well be synonymous in this context), to have ready solutions to both of these issues.

Loading and Reloading

Administrative loading of a rifle or pistol of the semi-automatic variety SHOULD be reasonably straight forward. For our purposes, I’m going to limit myself to describing the methods I use to load my Glocks, my AR-variant rifles, and my Kalashnikovs. If you develop a set ritual for loading your weapons, then you KNOW, every single time, that you’ve done it the exact same way, every single time…

Glock

Loading the Glock pistol is the height of simplicity.

1. Ensure there is no magazine seated in the weapon. Lock the slide to the rear, and visually inspect the chamber and bore for obstructions.
2. Seat a full magazine in the magazine well, and slap it home firmly, with the heel of your hand. You should feel it click into place, but whether you do or not, grasp the baseplate of the magazine and tug it firmly to ensure that it is fully seated, and locked into the magazine well.
3. Reach up with your support-hand thumb and release the slide lock lever, allowing the gun to go into battery under the recoil spring tension. DO NOT “SLING SHOT” THE SLIDE!!! (Invariably, when I see people do this, they “ride the slide” forward with their hand. This may induce a failure, if it prevents the round from seating fully).
4. The weapon is now loaded and hot. PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING. FOLLOW THE SAFE FIREARMS HANDLING RULES!!!!!!
5. There are a couple of options to ensure that a round actually seated. The first is to use the loaded chamber indicator, sticking out of the ejection port side of the slide. That is, after all, what it is designed for. Theoretically, it is possible for this to get gummed up and not function properly. I’ve NEVER seen that happen, but… The second is to perform a “press check.” To perform the press check, simply pull the slide back, far enough to visually inspect the chamber and see the brass of the seated case. Allow the gun to go back into battery—under it’s own power—once you’ve done so. If you’re worried about the round not seating…with an AR-variant rifle, a) lube your gun better, and b) use the forward assist. That’s what it is there for. With an AK, slap the back of the charging handle. With a Glock, I make it part of my pattern to tap the back of the slide with the heel of my support hand, to ensure that it is fully seated, after doing my press check.
6. Voila! Your gun is loaded, and you KNOW it is loaded. Now, safely—looking the gun into the holster, go ahead and holster your gun. If you work with an instructor that tells you, “Never look at the holster when you’re holstering your gun,” I want you to do two things: a) call him out for being an idiot, and b) then ask him “why not?”
Generally, the reason given for this is “There might be other threats that you need to address.” If that is the case…WHY ARE YOU PUTTING THE GUN AWAY?” Another reason I’ve heard is, “Well, I need both hands to secure the detainee!” You should not be putting the gun away until you have physical control of the detainee anyway (something I cover in detail in classes and in The Reluctant Partisan) anyway, and if you have that control, you can take a second to look at the holster. Not looking is a really good way to shoot yourself with your own gun, when a piece of your cover garment gets caught between the trigger and holster.

AR-Variant Rifles

Loading the AR is also simple.

1. Lock the bolt-carrier group (BCG) to the rear. Insert the magazine firmly, feeling for the “click” as it seats.
2. Grasp the seated magazine and pull firmly, ensuring that it is seated. Failing to do this critical step is the single most common cause of malfunctions I see in students, period, bar-none.
3. Press the “ping-pong paddle” bolt release and allow the gun to go into battery.
4. Using the charging handle, pull the BCG back far enough to visually inspect that there is a round in the chamber. Tap the forward assist to ensure the gun goes back into battery.
5. Close the dust cover (Honestly, probably not the end of the world, but it drives me crazy).
6. Your rifle is now loaded.

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Gear for the American Patriot: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Training Plan Part 2b

After my first magazine, and establishment of a par time, I’ll move up the 50 meter line and do the exact same thing, on the same target. Now, the target appears to be twice as large. While it would be nice if my times were twice as fast, the reality of how the human brain works means that my par time for 50 meters averages around .6-.7 seconds. Then, I step up to the 25 meter line for a magazine. Now, I’m looking at sold half-second par times, occasionally dropping one to 0.45 seconds. I’ve gotten a 0.39 second shot, exactly once, as I recall, without poring through my shooting log (In the interest of intellectual honesty, that was a fluke. I actually called that shot a “miss” before I heard the steel ring). My tested “pure reaction speed” is generally around 0.18 seconds (I test this by running the timer. With the weapon pointed in a safe direction, safety selector switch on “FIRE,” and finger already on the trigger, not even worrying about actually hitting a target, all I have to do when the timer sounds is squeeze the trigger. Testing this in classes, the average has been between 0.19 and 0.22, with three or four people total, over the course of a dozen classes, being faster than 0.16. I’ve seen TWO people that were at 0.14. One was a former fighter pilot). That means, even at a 0.5 average, I’m moving the gun into position, recognizing an adequate sight picture, and breaking the shot in roughly 3/10ths of a second. In my forties? I’ll take that.

Finally, I’ll step back to the 100 meter line and push myself to go as absolutely fast as possible. While I—obviously—want all of my rounds to hit the target, I don’t get upset if I miss either. I’m trying to push the limits of my ability. I EXPECT to miss! On this iteration, again working my way through an entire magazine, I only record the times on shots that hit. The average may only drop 0.01 seconds, but guess what? That’s 0.01 second faster than I was before. Over time, that will increase. I’ll be faster, but still hitting an acceptably challenging accuracy and precision standard.
Realistically, being able to get fast, accurate hits on targets, inside of 100 meters is the most important aspect of real-world combat shooting with a rifle, that we need to be focusing on. It is the NUMBER ONE priority for your carbine/rifle training. If I have time afterwards, and the range is long enough to make it possible, I’ll step back to 200 meters and beyond, and I’ll work snap shots from positions other than standing. At 200 meters, I’ll drop to the squatting and work on breaking my shots in less than 1.5-2.0 seconds. I’ll push out to 300, 400, and 500, and working on dropping into the prone and breaking my first shot in less than 3.0 seconds.

This standard is based on the doctrinal “3-5 second rush.” Assuming the guy I’m fighting is trained, I’m going to assume he’s well-trained, practiced, and disciplined. From the moment he moves, when I have an opportunity to notice him moving, and move to acquire a sight picture and snap my first shot, to get a hit, I have…three to five seconds…
That is ALL I do for my rifle live-fire range work, once a week, the first two weeks of a quarterly training cycle. I’m not going to lie to you. It is BORING! Not that I’m super-gifted, because I’m not. I’ve worked very hard to develop those abilities. If you do the work, you will get the results you need to get.

The last two weeks of the first month of the training cycle, dedicated to marksmanship-specific training, I’ll continue doing the snaps, but I’ll generally just fire ten shots at each line, finishing the magazine with controlled pairs instead. This reinforces that my positions are not only adequate to get me on target, but are robust enough to allow follow-on shots, if necessary. The catch is, I do these the EXACT SAME WAY that I do the single shot snaps, and I record my times meticulously, just like the single shot snaps. The thing is, while I think a 0.15-0.2 split time between the first round and the second round in the controlled pair is eminently achievable at 100 meters, your split times only matter indirectly. If you punch a round into a dude’s head, or groin, with a rifle, inside of 100 meters, you’re going to have time to get a second one into him. The reason I note and record my split times is because it is indicative of the strength or weaknesses in my shooting position. If it is taking me longer this week to get my sights back into alignment to break my second shot, that tells me that my position is loose, because I’m not managing my recoil adequately.

For the handgun, “snap shooting” isn’t really “snap shooting” of course. We don’t—generally—walk around with a pistol in our hands. That’s why we carry them, every day, everywhere we go, right? Because, we can have it, in the holster, ready at hand, but out of sight to avoid scaring people, or giving away to a potential bad guy that we’re armed and prepared to respond. All Walter Mitty, Red Dawn fantasies of the coming conflagration aside—seriously, does anyone NOT realize we’re living in the midst of TEOTWAWKI, right now? Seriously—for the vast, majority of us, in the event that we have to (get to?) use a firearm in a contemporary context, outside of LEO or mil work, it’s going to be our concealed carry sidearm. Sure, I keep my MK18 in the truck with us, everywhere we go. But…I don’t carry it into the grocery store. I don’t walk into my mother’s house with my rifle slung over my shoulder (the poor woman is uncomfortable enough knowing that her “baby” is walking around with a Glock concealed somewhere on his person).

Being able to get to—and use—your pistol, at an expert level is, by any reasonable measure, inarguably more important than whatever your skill with a rifle. Most importantly is the FACT that you’re actually likely to have the pistol with you when Jamal Jihadi or Carlos Cartel kicks in the front door and starts shooting people. Second, skill with the pistol transfers across to the carbine a lot better than the reverse.

What is involved with “snap shooting” with the pistol? Obviously, sight picture/sight alignment and maintaining them via a steady position still matter, but just as important—perhaps more important—is being able to get the thing out, and into your hand, in a manner that will allow you to make your first shot break within the time standard you establish, and is robust enough to allow for rapid follow-up shot (because, it’s a pistol, and follow-up shots are WAY more likely to be needed than with any rifle).

“Snap shooting” with the pistol is the drawstroke to first shot break. Period. While a sub-1.0 second drawstroke from concealment, inside of 10 meters/30 feet (yeah, it’s actually 33 feet, I know.) is easily achievable with practice, I think being able to draw and hit a 3×5 index card, on demand, in less than 1.25 seconds is a reasonable standard. Yes, the “vital zone” of an adult male is significantly larger than that. If you’re happy with a six-inch circle, or an eight-inch circle, that’s fine, but a 3×5, working to develop the ability to put it into a 3×3 or even a 2×2 circle, at speed, especially at closer ranges (call it, inside of 15 feet?). It also gives you a greater margin for error when your hands are sweaty, and your shaking with nerves, because it just got real, and you’re concerned about not missing the bad guy and hitting the wrong person…

After shooting my groups with the pistol, I’ll start at the ten meter line, and do a simple draw from concealment to first shot break, on the timer. With a double-stack Glock 19 or 17, I’ll run through two full magazines. The first will be with both hands working the gun. The second is shot, still from a drawstroke, strong-hand only.

I do the exact same thing with the pistol that I did with the carbine, except I’m drawing the gun from concealment, instead of coming from a ready position. I’ll move up to the seven meter line, and then the three meter line. Finally, I’ll move back to the ten meter line.

I’ll finish up shooting a group at 25 meters, just to reinforce precision and accuracy, before winding up.

Like the rifle/carbine, this is the entirety of my live-fire range visit with the pistol for the first two weeks of the training cycle. The second two weeks of the cycle, I’ll split the first magazine at each distance, shooting half the magazine, one drawstroke at a time, with both hands, before transitioning to the strong-hand only for the second half of the magazine. The second magazine at each distance is dedicated solely to controlled pairs, for the exact same reason I do it with the carbine.

Conclusions

The single most important shot you can fire in a gunfight is the first shot you fire. It’s going to determine the course of the rest of the fight. You can either make it hit, on time, or you’re going to spend the rest of your life trying to catch up and fix your mistakes…

Spending a significant portion of your training cycle doing nothing but working snap shooting and first shot breaks from the concealed carry drawstroke will go a very, very long way towards ensuring that your first shot does what you need it to do.

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Gear for the American Patriot: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Training Plan Part 2a

———-Brief Interlude for a Rant about Target Selection———-

There is a common belief among many trainers that you have to use “humanoid” or photorealistic targets for “combat training.” This is a persistent belief that, as far as I know, is based on the same flawed SLA Marshall “research” from World War Two that has convinced most of America that killing bad people is “unnatural.” We “need” humanoid” and photorealistic targets, in order to “overcome” our “natural, innate reluctance” to kill other people. It’s Pavlovian Operant Conditioning.

I’m only going to say this once, so pay attention: IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT TARGET YOU USE, AS LONG AS YOUR MIND IS RIGHT!!!!

There is a reason that the best trainers out there switch back-and-forth between bulls-eye targets, silhouettes, colored dots, and even index cards. IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! What matters is that you can, on demand, place a shot—or every shot—in as small a place as you have determined is necessary. I tend to rely extensively on basic buff-and-white IPSC standard silhouettes, when I am teaching classes. To make smaller target zones, I use 3×5 index cards and/or a Sharpie marker pen. In large part that is because I end up hauling a lot of stuff around the country with me when I travel to teach. I don’t feel the need to carry eighteen flavors of targets as well. I also come from a background that favored improvisation for achieving training goals in austere conditions. I am all about the “making do” mindset. My personal favorite target for training is a simple IPSC silhouette with a 3×5 index taped or stapled on it somewhere. In the center of the index card, I draw a circle around a quarter ($0.25 coin) with a Sharpie, then fill in the outline, as an aiming point.

If the only targets you can get your hands on are basic little bulls-eye targets from Wal-Mart’s Sporting Goods section? You’ll be just fine. Don’t sweat it. Even better, for about $5.00, you can buy a package of 3×5 index cards, a roll of masking tape, and a Sharpie, over in the Home Office section, and you won’t run out of targets for a year or two.

If you WANT to drop the funds to buy super-duper, ultra high speed, photorealistic targets of Islamic jihadist “tangos” to make you feel all Tier One JSOC Jedi? More power to you. You’d be better off spending that money on ammunition though.

———-End of Rant———-

With the rifle/carbine, I like to start out shooting a group at 25 or 50 meters, followed by a “real” group at 100 meters (my optic is engineered to be zeroed at 100 meters, after all). I am looking for a legitimate two minute-of-angle group. If your personal or group standards mandate a 4MOA group, then that should be your goal. If your group standards are less stringent than 4MOA, you need to find a group that is more serious. If your personal standards are less stringent than 4MOA, you need to straighten up, and set some legitimate standards for performance.

With the pistol, I shoot my groups at 10 meters and 25 meters. I legitimately expect a three-inch or better group at both ranges. I also practice, and recommend, either after shooting your groups with the pistol, or alternating on different range trips, shooting these groups with the pistol strong-hand only and weak-hand only.

It is important to point out that there is a distinct, critical difference between precision and accuracy, and group shooting is where you have the opportunity to validate both of these, without the pressure of time constraints. Shooting a tight, 2MOA group, that impacts eight inches from the anticipated point-of-impact is precise, but it’s not accurate. Shooting a 10MOA group the center of which is dead center on the intended point-of-impact is accurate, but it’s not precise.

A precise group that is not accurate may be indicative of a sight misalignment, like my earlier reference, or it may be a matter of you making the same mistake every time (“Glocking” the trigger is a good example of the latter). Your group shooting should focus on achieving the perfection in both.

Task: “Snap Shooting”

The first shot you fire in a gunfight really will set the stage for the rest of the gunfight, for better or worse. It needs to be delivered with precision and accuracy, but it also needs to arrive in time. Snap shooting is the best method I know of to achieve that ability level. It is so important, the first month of each quarter, I will devote my entire range session weekly to nothing but snap shooting. I will literally, spend an entire hour—or two, when you count pistol—doing nothing but shooting single shot snaps (draw to first shot break with the pistol).

The hardest part of building speed and accuracy is getting into a good, solid firing position, with an effective grip on the gun that will allow you to break an accurate shot, as fast as possible. A very dear friend who happens to be a long-time instructor down at Gunsite, once pointed out to some mutual friends we were coaching one day, “it’s not about shooting faster. It’s about shooting sooner.”
That is SPOT-ON! It is going to take you—as an individual—a given amount of time to break the shot, without disrupting your sight picture/sight alignment in the process. That time will vary from individual to individual, and while it SHOULD get faster with practice, at any given moment in your development as a shooter, that time is non-negotiable. Trying to go faster means you mess up and miss. It’s going to take you the time it’s going to take you, to break an accurate shot.

What you CAN do however, is move faster getting to the point of breaking the shot. That practice is best achieved during dry-fire. The key to this, of course, is that your dry-fire “shots” have to be legitimate. Hitting the designated/desired position, and then yanking the trigger, without paying attention to the fact that your sights just jumped six inches on the end of your muzzle, is not doing you any good. It’s going to be detrimental. It will mess your shooting up. Dry-fire is only valid if it’s valid.

For my live-fire visits, with the rifle, I start on the 100M line. On the timer, I will fire an entire magazine, one shot at a time at the target of the day. For my snap shooting, I’ll generally shoot steel, because I’m lazy and don’t want to bother walking downrange after every single shot to note hits and misses and tape targets. I start the quarter shooting an eight-inch steel plate, and over the course of the month, if I am making my time goals, I’ll reduce the size of the steel to six-inch plates. (My long-term, ultimate goal is a sub 1 second snap shot, from the standing at 100 meters, to a four-inch plate.)

It’s important to point out that I record, in my shooting log, the time for every single shot. I note any misses as well. At the end of each range trip, I will average out those times to find my “par time” for dry-fire training for the next week. If I miss more than three shots out of a magazine, I know I’m pushing too fast and will deliberately slow down, taking my time. If I miss more than five shots, I’m obviously having a really bad day, so I’ll just turn the timer off and focus on slow, deliberate aimed fire from that position and distance for the duration of the magazine. Generally however, on an eight-inch plate, I’m at the point that I can consistently get 100% hits at speed. My average, on demand par time runs between 0.85-0.9 seconds.

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Training Plan Part 2

Developing a Training Plan, Part Two

Marksmanship Training

It has been correctly said that the most important shot you will make in a gunfight is the first round out of your gun. That shot can—and generally will—determine the course of the rest of the fight. Whether in a military/paramilitary context of small-unit combat, or an armed citizen context of concealed carry self-defense shooting, an accurate, precise first shot, well-delivered, can provide you with the time and reaction gap needed to allow you to deliver a second, third, or subsequent shots, as needed. A miss, on the converse, may well be just the motivation the bad guy needs to step up and deliver his “A game.”

This has led to the pithy cliché, parroted by so many, without thinking, that “speed is fine, but accuracy is final.” While there is a great deal of Truth in this old phrase, it has been too often misinterpreted by the corrupt and untalented, to intentionally obfuscate reality by convincing the ignorant that speed is completely irrelevant, as a way to absolve themselves of their incapability of teaching students to progress and shoot faster, while maintaining acceptable levels of accuracy. Training after all, has become an industry, and making money requires customers. Making students uncomfortable, by putting them in positions to fail, even in a learning environment, where they could learn from those failures, can lead to a loss of revenue when they decide to stay home and watch John Woo movies, instead of returning to be pushed to uncomfortable levels.

Worse yet, in my mind, are those who have, in some circles, long pushed the concept known as “combat accuracy,” that has been equally abused. I don’t know where this concept actually originated. I do know that I first heard it used by blindly loyal advocates of “pointshooting,” as an excuse for their inability to shoot with a degree of accuracy greater than “minute of the entire target.” Generally, in my experience, in the ensuing years, it has come to mean something along the lines of “well, if any of my guaranteed-lethal, buffalo-slaying, forty-something caliber bullets hit that bad guy anywhere, his head’s gonna get blown plumb off’n his neck! I’m ‘combat accurate’ and these here rounds is guaranteed to pole-ax a gol-durned horse!”

This is, on the face of it, ridiculous, and has been—rightfully–mocked among trained shooters of a…dare I say it….higher caliber. The real problem however, is that like so much within the modern discourse, neither conceptual approach is completely wrong, they’ve just been abused and malformed to fit certain narratives. It is true that, generally speaking, you cannot miss fast enough to win a gunfight. It is also generally true that, a couple of solid hits to a vital area of the human body will stop most threats from continuing their nefarious actions.

It demonstrably does not require the same level of precision to stop a carjacker crawling through the driver’s side window of your vehicle as it does to stop a rapist, holding a knife to your teenage daughter’s throat, across her bedroom. Within the training paradigm of marksmanship training then, we have to establish two separate, but balanced metrics of performance. We have to determine how accurate we need to be, and we need to determine how fast we need to be able to make those shots, on demand.

This is, at the most basic level, the single most fundamental determinate of skill-at-arms with personal firearms, whether sidearm or carbine. It’s not simply a matter of “can you make the shot you need to make, when you need to make it?” More accurately, it could be said that the important question is, “can you make the shots you need to make, in the time frame you need to make them in?”
If you cannot reach the standards for accuracy, within a given time standard, there is no reason to try and complete more complicated drills. If you can achieve the standards however—whatever your standards are—then achieving success in more advanced, complex drills is simply a matter of putting the marksmanship into application. Multiple shot strings are really no more than a matter of repeated individual shots, completed in rapid sequence. Multiple target engagements are simply a matter of repeated individual shots, on each target, completed in rapid sequence.

Regardless of the weapon in question—carbine, pistol, or shotgun, heck, even light machine gun, for that matter—marksmanship at speed is really comprised of a few interrelated things: your grip on the gun, your firing position, your presentation or drawstroke and presentation, sight picture/sight alignment, and breaking the shot in a manner that doesn’t disrupt your sight picture. It’s really that simple.

Basic Marksmanship Drills for Rifle and Pistol

Inarguably, it is extremely critical, at the beginning of every single range trip, to start out with a focus on basic, deliberate precision and accuracy. The best way to achieve this is to begin every range trip, whether with pistol or rifle, with shooting basic groups.

Task: Group Shooting

This will help you reinforce your focus, throughout the forthcoming range session, on things like pressing the trigger in a manner that will not disrupt your sight alignment, taking the time you need to get the accuracy you need, and—perhaps most importantly—it will validate, or invalidate your zero (as an example, on a recent “fun” trip to the range, my Glock 17 was hitting consistently to the left by six inches. Assuming that I was “Glocking” the trigger, I slowed down and shot a clover-leaf group at 10 meters, and the rounds were still six inches to the left. I fixed my sights, and brought the POI back to the center of the 3×5 index card. Had I followed my own advice and shot the group to begin the trip, this would never have been a problem).

Your group can be any number of shots. The Army, for the entire time I was in uniform, doctrinally mandated three-round groups. Most good trainers will advocate for at least a five round group, assuming that at least one will be a flier. I am comfortable, with my rifles, shooting a three-round group, unless I “call” one of my shots as a flier. If you’re not comfortable with your ability to “call” your shots, then shoot a minimum of five round groups. With my pistols, I actually like to shoot a ten-round group most of the time. A ten-shot, one-hole group, punching out the center of a 3×5 index card is a pretty good confidence boost before you even start shooting anything else.

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Training Plan Part 1a

Being Mindful
When you push to the point of making mistakes, then it’s time to stop and pay attention to what your failure point is, and start “being mindful” of how to fix the problem. I used to tell people to “slow down,” but found that simply telling them to “slow down,” didn’t fix anything. They still made the exact same mistake, they just did it slower. Instead, it’s about shifting your mental focus from “going fast” to “think about what you need to do.” Calling it “mindfulness” makes it sound like some sort of New Age, Zen, Hippie stuff, but it’s really not. Focus on the process, including the overarching reason for the process (killing someone before he kills you or someone else) and what you need to perform in order to achieve the purpose. It’s training for performance, rather than outcome. If you perform correctly, generally, you’ll achieve the outcome you are seeking.

Be In the Moment
This is closely tied to the mental-spiritual concepts we’ve talked about in some of my more recent articles. Sometimes, on your live-fire days, especially, you need to just relax, and shoot a scheduled drill without trying to push your limits. This is about just shooting the drill accurately, and seeing how you do. Don’t push yourself faster than what you feel you’re capable of doing flawlessly. Often, shooters—especially eager novices—feel like this is an utter waste of valuable, limited training time. There are two distinct reasons I believe that taking the time to just be in the moment is absolutely critical, though.The first is for your psychological resilience. Just like making advances in PT means occasionally backing off, lowering the weights, or slowing down your runs, to let your body recover, and avoid physical burn-out, your brain needs that rest from constantly pushing at its extreme limits occasionally too. This is why I cycle my training through the yearly quarters, and this is why we occasionally just chill out and shoot a drill to “see what we can do.”

The second reason is the “spiritual” part. When the time comes and it’s on you to “beat the bad guy,” you’re either going to be able to do so, or you’re not. Nothing you can do, in the moment, is going to change your skill level. You’ll either be good enough, or you won’t be good enough. If you’ve trained enough, and the other guy hasn’t trained as hard, or as smart, as you? You’ll probably be okay. Ultimately though, you’re going to have enough on your mind, ranging from “OH CRAP! THAT DUDE HAS A GUN AND IS SHOOTING PEOPLE!” to the cognitive process needed to process data and determine if you can take a shot or not, or if you need to move to take a shot, etc. Your body is going to receive the command to execute, and it’s going to do what it is capable of doing, predicated on your training up to that point, at its own pace. If you’ve let it do so in training, then two things result: A) you have mental confidence in your body’s ability to do what it needs to do, and you can focus on your information processing, and B) if you do feel yourself getting panicked into a rush, you can let yourself “be mindful” of the process, by focusing on performing, rather than worrying about the outcome. You really cannot miss fast enough to win. You can, however, miss fast enough to hit somebody’s six-year old kid nearby. Continuing to “push” yourself to push past the boundaries of your ability at that point will NOT fix the problem. You cannot fix the problem of smoking a kid by then shooting their playmates as well.

Speed
Drills come in two basic, distinct flavors, when it comes to time metrics. Some, like your marksmanship and core skills drills, will be set up in a specific way, and should generally always be set up the same way. These are drills designed to determine specific time and accuracy metrics, and this consistency in set-up allows you to assess improvements in your performance. In this article series, this type of drill will have very specific standards metrics, for both time and accuracy. The standards provided are all realistic, reasonable metrics, readily achievable in reasonable time frames; by anyone sufficiently motivated to train regularly (we’re talking like 10-20 minutes every day for dry-fire, and 45-60 minutes every week or every other week for live-fire range trips. Really, if you can’t slice 15 minutes out of your day to gain proficiency with your firearm, you have no business carrying a firearm any-damned-way!).

Many of the application skills drills however, are not designed to be set up in a specific way, and doing so actually detracts significantly from the value of the drill. This, of course, means that comparing time metrics from one set-up to another is largely pointless. For these, a general time frame of how long it should take competent shooters to complete the drill will be noted, but the best metric you can take note of on these are things like time to first shot/hit, split times between shots (how well are you managing recoil and driving your gun back on target?), and how clear your communications are between partners, or how correctly you executed your decision-making drills.

Conclusion
This is intended to be at least a four-part article series. Part Two will cover the drills I use for dry-fire and live-fire training to improve marksmanship, under the description provided in this Part One. Part Three will cover Core Skills and the drills I use for those. Part Four will cover Applications Skills and some of the drills I use for improving those. Part Five will be an actual layout of a quarterly training plan for pistol, carbine, or both (we’ll see how tired I am of writing this series by the time I get there…) In the meantime, I seriously urge you to consider some of the conceptual ideas covered in this Part of the series, as you go about whatever practice you are currently doing. I feel obligated to point out that being able to achieve a given task or skill component correctly, consistently, is a prerequisite to “pushing” your ability, however. If you can’t hit an eight-inch plate from the standing with your rifle at 100M, then there’s no point in trying to push to hit that eight-inch plate from the standing with your rifle at 100M, in <1.0 seconds. If you don’t have the basic motor pattern of your speed reload drilled in, so instead you fumble it regularly, then going faster is NOT going to fix it. Pushing can only come after you’re able to perform the skill on demand, under a time constraint. I’ll share one of my “Mosby’s Maxims:” “If you can’t do it on demand, then you can’t do it on demand.” So-called “game players” are an imaginary construct of people too lazy to show up and do the work. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Training Plan Part 1

Developing a Practice Plan, Part One, By John Mosby

(One of the most frequent questions I get asked in classes is, “How do we practice this stuff when we go home?” The short, easy answer, of course is simply to follow the appropriate POI course outlines in the appendices of Volumes One and Two of The Reluctant Partisan. They are laid out in a manner that allows you to use each block of instruction as a practice session. If you lay out the fundamental skills needed to complete each block, and use them for dry-fire practice, then when you go to the live-fire range, you can simply shoot the table of fire for that particular block. In a couple of months, you’ve worked through the entire program, and—hopefully—seen some impressive improvements in your skill set.

During the last block of classes however, I was asked at least once, in each individual class, to post an article specifically on how I set up my annual training plan and break it into cycles….This is the first installment of a Five-Part series on the subject. –JM)In short, I divide the year into four quarters of three months each, and then I work through a three-block cycle, with each month dedicated to a particular training block. The quarterly training cycle includes three basic training blocks that, for the sake of convenience, I will label “marksmanship,” “core skills,” and “application skills.” Most of my regular training is my daily training focused on dry-fire training in the marksmanship and core skills blocks. That is because these are the foundation of skill, and if those two blocks are dialed in, the application is cake.

A typical live-fire training session will be composed of shooting 2-3 repetitions each of 2-4 specific drills designed to focus on elements of the current block of emphasis. An efficient training session, of course, should be set up in such a way that requires minimal shifting of the range set-up. A) this saves time, making my training more time efficient, and B) especially on public ranges, the less trips I need to make downrange to change the set-up, the safer I am from some knucklehead trying to show off for his wife or girlfriend shooting me out of stupidity. I’ve got a lot of stuff on my plate, and I want my range trips to be effective, but I also need them to be efficient, so I make a concerted effort, if it’s a “working” range day, to be done in 45-60 minutes, at the outside (A “working” range day is when I’m there focused on my personal skills. A “non-working” range day is when I’m teaching the wife—although I generally try to maintain the same time constraints then—or when I’m at the range with friends and we’re just shooting different drills for fun and to spend time together, building frith (Fellowship/Comradarie/Team)

Every shooter with any length of experience is aware of some famous drills, has likely shot some of them, and probably has a favorite or two. It’s critical to understand however, that it is not this drill or that drill which is important. A properly designed practice drill is not about recreating specific combat situations. Instead, it is designed to achieve a specific training purpose. Generally, this is to measure your current level of skill and test your training progression, or to improve your skill. If a drill—no matter how well-loved—is not achieving that for your particular training focus, it’s pointless for anything beyond ego gratification.

Marksmanship

This block should focus on your ability to make progressively more difficult shots, at progressively faster speeds. Many shooters fall prey to the lazy hubris of believing since they can shoot an “acceptable” group, at a given distance, they are “good enough.” A popular one in “prepper” circles is the 4MOA standard of The Appleseed Project (Meanwhile, at the last rifle course, in AZ, I was publicly berating myself for shooting a 2” group at 50M, from the squatting position…until I realized we were actually shooting at the 100M line for that iteration). That’s just not an acceptable mindset in the real world of gunfighting. You should ALWAYS be striving to improve your accuracy and speed. Speaking objectively, there is no such thing as “accurate enough” or “fast enough.”

The balance between accuracy and speed is always going to be contextually subjective (that’s non-military speak for METT-TC dependent, by the way…).It’s subject to range, target presentation, and—above all—the limits of your personal skill and ability. This is why so much of your training time should emphasize making “impossible” shots in “impossible” times (Miss S, did you catch that?).

Core Skills

Core skills are those fundamental gunhandling and shooting skills that—along with marksmanship—are…wait for it…core to effectively prosecuting a fight with a firearm. This includes things like your drawstroke, or the presentation from ready with your rifle, reloading and other malfunction clearances, target transitions, and the other skills that will allow you to make each shot you fire a conscious action that occurs in a deliberate manner, but fast enough to solve the problem you are confronted with.

Application Skills

Application skills are those skills that allow you to translate your marksmanship and core skills into actual gunfight problem solving skills. This includes things like movement, use of cover and/or concealment, effective communication for working with a partner, safeguarding a principal like a non-combatant bystander or family member, while prosecuting the fight, and—the single most important skill in all of the gunfighting world—discrimination shooting with good, solid, accurate, rapid-fire thinking and decision-making under duress.

Critical Training Concepts

Perhaps the most critical training concept that you need to understand is that you’re going to mess up. That’s WHY we practice! Lots of shooters—and I’ve had a lot of them in classes—have this ridiculous notion that if they mess up in training and practice, that they’re a failure. It’s as if they mess up, such as blowing a shot, or even shooting a “no shoot,” in practice, that they are somehow indelibly imprinting training scars into their neural motor pathways. Incorrect! You ARE going to make mistakes. Even the experts make mistakes. THAT’S WHY WE PRACTICE!!!!!!

Make your mistake. Then, analyze why the mistake happened, and determine how to fix the deficiency, and then move on. That’s the point, people. Seriously. The first two times I fired for qualification in the Army, I failed to qualify and had to shoot it again (actually, the second time was as a private in the Ranger Regiment, and I had to shoot the qualification table FIVE TIMES that day before I finally managed to meet the standard!) Fortunately, I had good mentors who taught me to take the time to analyze the problems, and figure out how to fix them. Over the course of the rest of my career, I managed to never shoot less than Expert, and honestly? I’m ten times or more a better marksman and all-around shooter now than I was when I was a soldier.

Pushing Your Limits

Your dry-fire and live-fire practice should be about getting better. That means you generally have to push yourself to perform any given drill harder than you feel comfortable. If you’re not pushing out of your comfort margins, you’re simply not going to improve. When you push, you’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to blow some shots. You’re going to fumble and drop magazines during reloads. You’re going to trip, fall, and face plant in front of people (don’t ask…). You’re going to shoot “no shoots” as you push to go faster on discrimination shooting drills. The point is to push yourself to your failure point, and then to fix whatever deficiency created the failure. The majority of your training, both dry- and live-fire, should be of this type. It’s critical to understand though, that it’s not just a matter of “go faster!” You’re trying to determine when and how to move faster, but you’re also trying to determine how to modify your techniques to allow you to make the shots you need to make, in the times you need to make them.

It may be about accepting a “good enough” sight picture to get the shot you need to make. It may be a matter of changing where or how your reload magazine is carried to improve the efficiency of your biomechanics.

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Recommended Gear

This is a recommended gear list for a patriot going on a patrol that will last up to 3 days. This is tailored to be for an assault type mission, maybe an ambush, or combat patrol. This is just a minimum standard for gear, and it is open to personal preference. This gear list is based on my experience and works for my team and I.




First Line Gear (The clothes you are wearing and the items in them)

 

•  Weather appropriate clothing (non-chafing)
•  Good quality boots
•  Good quality socks (wool preferred)
•  Non-chafing undergarments
•  Ball cap/Boonie/Beanie
•  Sidearm with at least one spare magazine(holster)
•  Knife
•  550 cord
•  Fire starter
•  Compass
•  Tourniquet

 Second Line Gear (Gear you need, but can ditch if you have to)

 

•  Chest rig/Plate carrier
•  Rifle Mag pouches (8-10 mags minimum)
•  Fighting knife/Tomahawk (Personal preference)
•  Blood type patch
•  Spare parts for primary weapon system
•  Tourniquet
•  Safety glasses/sun glasses
•  Comm gear

 

•   Battle belt
•  Rifle mag pouches (2 or more)
•  IFAK with blood type patch
•  14 gauge needle (2)
• CAT TQ (2)
• Chest seal (2)
• EMT shears
• Gauze (H&H, Curlix, Quickclot, 3” rolls) (2)
• Gloves, Nitrile (4 pair)
• Israeli Battle Dressing (2)
• NP Airway/Oral airway
• Quickclot sponges (2)
• Duct tape
• Sharpie
• Providine/Iodine 0.5 oz (4)
• Tape, Surgical 2”
• Trauma Cards
• Trauma pads 5” X 9” (3)
• Triangular bandages (2)
• Bacitracin 0.9g (8)
•  Gun oil
•  Fighting knife
•  Pepper spray (anti dog tracking)
•  Multi tool
•  Hearing protection (Amplified type)
•  Gloves, Tactical, or leather
•  Handgun magazines (2 or more)
•  Dump pouch
•  Handgun holster (or use a tac holster under BB)
•  Water filter/purification tabs
•  Water carrier/canteen
•  Storm proof lighter and tinder

Patrol Bag/Third Line Gear (Longer term sustainment items)

 

•  Spare ammo in mags (4-6 or more full magazines)
•  Water carrier(s)
•  Water purification (tabs/filter)
•  Rations (3 days minimum)
•  Eating utensils
•  Large Ziplock bag(s) for trash
•  Waterproof bag(s) for inside pack, to keep everything dry
•  Sleeping system
•  Hammock
•  Thermal tarp with 550 cord to hang it
•  Self-inflating sleeping mat (Without which all your body heat will disappear)
•  550 cord
•  Firearm cleaning kit
•  Gun oil
•  Socks X2 (wool)
•  Foot powder
•  Blister kit
•  Camo face paint
•  Seasonal spare clothing/rain gear
•  Gillie Suit
•  Shemag/sniper veil
•  Beanie/Balaclava
•  Gloves
•  Folding saw (coil hand saw)
•  Multi tool
•  Knife
•  Flashlight (with red lens)
•  Compass
• Maps of AO (in water proof case)
•  Flexi-cuffs (large zip ties)(at least 2 sets per person) 
•  Write in the rain notebook and pen
•  Medical kit
•  Bug spray
•  Small shovel to dig cat holes for poop
•  Baby wipes
•  Hand sanitizer
•  TP
•  Lip balm
•  Vaseline/petroleum jelly (to help mitigate chaffing)
•  Hard candy (to help prevent coughs and for morale/quick energy)
•  Caffeine pills (helps you stay awake on guard duty/patrolling)
•  Wind proof lighter/flint & steel/Tinder (Dryer lint works great)
•  Medications if needed
•  Mission specific gear: radios, batteries, wire cutters, breaching tools, long range weapon system, shotgun, flares, booby traps, thermal imager, tangle wire, early warning devices, drone (for scouting), burlap or camo for OPs

I personally put everything in my pack in ziplock bags, then most of my gear in the main compartment of my pack also goes into a water proof/float bag. Please use this list for you and your team. Modify it for your own use/AO.



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Common hand signals

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Patrol Packs & Sustainment Loads

Great topic by the always outstanding Max Velocity. Please read this, print it, hand it out to your team/friends. This is really good information. Do not only read this though, take this into account when setting up your pack/ruck.

http://www.maxvelocitytactical.com/2016/03/gear-patrol-packs-sustainment-loads/

This post is derived from the gear talk that I give as part of Combat Patrol Classes (CP). If you have not attended this class, you really should – the prerequisite is Combat Team Tactics (CTT), which is really the MVT ‘basic training class.’ CP really moves you on to a higher level of training, with patrolling, patrol base, recce, ambush, and raid which are staples of any irregular warfare situation – not to mention the utility of knowing how operations may be conducted against you, and the training on Ground Domination Activity (GDA) security patrolling in order to protect your area.

There is much nuance in this post, which may or may not translate well across the medium of the internet. As usual, I see much nonsense out there. Many people get hung up, for example, when watching a class training video, with the exact terrain the class took place in. Well, not only do you not always get to choose your ideal terrain, but either way these TTP’s are the same, just adapted to the specific environment. It is about training the basics, and adapting, rather than becoming focused on, or limited by, whatever terrain the class took place in. Terrain at classes is just a different flavor. Small Unit Tactics (SUT) is simply SUT, adapted specifically to the operating environment.

In this same vein, people like to criticize training that takes place in the woods, not understanding that what is being taught is SUT, in a certain training environment (and I don’t have a range in the city). If these basics are applied for real, one would hope that they would be adapted to the environment and common sense applied. But related to this is the notion from some that the woods are not important, and that all conflict will take place in the city. Well, if you want to be there to take part in it, that is your choice! I would argue that you need to make best use of rural areas – you are either there patrolling and defending a retreat or community, or you are moving back out there after an operation in an urban or suburban area. Obviously you can’t conduct operations entirely in the woods, if your enemy is not there, unless of course your whole goal is avoidance. If you wish to conduct operations against an enemy that is in an urban or suburban environment, then it stands to reason that you must go there to conduct them. But you don’t have to live there. Mission, or METT-TC, dependent.

Many preppers can take full advantage of rural areas by simply being there to avoid any conflict in urban areas. If you decide you must partake in any conflict, for whatever reason or cause, then you may either have to operate, evade and defend in rural areas, or you may have to move out of them to conduct short term operations. Which brings me back to the point about these classes teaching you SUT that can be applied in any environment. Fire and movement and squad tactics learned at MVT in the woods of West Virginia equally apply in a suburban environment. If you wish to enter and clear structures, then this adds another dimension which is covered by the Citizen Close Combat (C3) Classes, which applies equally to a lone farmhouse in the woods. But be aware that the urban combat environment is extremely dangerous and casualty intensive, so my advice is go there if you think it necessary, conduct the raid or ambush, and then get out into the rural areas again.

If you do specifically want to be trained on your home terrain, then look into a remote class which can be held at your location: CLICK HERE FOR INFO.

This whole topic is related to gear. There is a whole lot of nonsense on the prepper internet community about ‘Bug out bags’ (BOB) and such sayings as ‘two is one and one is none’ etc. It’s all nonsense. Many expect, when they come to class, for me to get them to pack some huge ruck with a whole lot of gear in. Items for all occasions! They are often disappointed. Consider this (Fun spoiler alert – PT is involved!):

•You must pack as light as possible in order to retain practical mobility.
•Although you may have a common ‘standard’ basic load, you must pack METT-TC dependent: mission, weather, environment, duration of patrol, season etc.
•If it is too heavy, you will become tired, lazy and ineffective.
•Sadly the above is related to PT and mindset.
•If it is too heavy, in a contact you will dump it and never see it again.

Realities:

•If you are to operate as light infantry, which is really what people mean with this talk of going all ‘G’ and unconventional warfare-ish, then you need to carry a basic load.
•Operating as ‘light as possible’ is never actually ‘light’ when we consider what we need to carry to operate in such a situation i.e: ◦Rifle
◦Basic ammo load on person – 8 mags.
◦Immediate resupply ammo load – 4-6 mags (patrol pack)
◦Handgun + ammo?
◦Small IFAK.
◦Water
◦Food / snacks
◦Night vision gear?
◦Weather dependent clothing
◦Ballistic plates (yes, please)
◦Radio + batteries
◦Misc items

•This means that we will already be somewhat weighed down by gear. We will also most likely be carrying some type of, even if small, patrol pack for this load in addition to whatever belt or chest rig setup you are wearing. . This may be a small daypack/hydration carrier affair, which you will need if you are ever more than a couple of yards away from either your base, or vehicle.
•If what you carry is too heavy, you will become exhausted and lose alertness, thus take the easy option every time = complacency = death.
•If you carry a heavy ruck load, you will end up having to drop it in an emergency or contact situation, thus losing all your gear.
•Some weather conditions, such as extreme heat or cold, have unavoidable realities for gear carriage if going out for any extended period of time, or perhaps for overnight. This means that you will be unable to ‘go light’ in these situations if you plan to be out overnight or for more than 24 hours. ‘Travel light, freeze at night’ becomes foolish in these circumstances, and the other adage that ‘any fool can be uncomfortable (or die of exposure)’ becomes more relevant.

The realities are now starting to crowd in on us, and we realize that our BOB /ruck is too heavy to be practical, and would likely result in our exhaustion, or dropping it at the first sign of trouble, and that our PT is probably not up to scratch anyway. ‘Two is one, and one is none’ results in a BOB that we can’t, or won’t, carry. As far as bugging out anyway, you may have your BOB squared away, but what about the kids? Grandma? We start to get into nonsense territory, where BOB(s) are really just car bags if you have to drive out in a hurry from a natural disaster, and thus not tactically practical loads.

We are now realizing that:

•‘Light’ isn’t really light, and thus we should try and minimize our loads as much as practical for the mission.

•Why are we even out there? Are we planning on living for weeks out of a patrol base? Or perhaps just going out for a short (as possible) mission? However big your ruck, if you are out for long enough, you will need resupply.

•Thus operations need logistical support, and a plan that does not involve you trying to patrol and conduct operations while struggling around like mules.

•Thus mission analysis and planning.

•If we need to carry sustainment gear for something of longer duration, perhaps an Observation Post (OP) patrol, then the following applies: ◦If you have to carry a heavy ruck, pack your patrol pack ‘grab bag’ with essential items and have it attached to the top of the ruck (under the top flap works) ready to be grabbed and run if a contact forces you to drop the heavy ruck.

◦If you can think of any other way to bring in heavy/sustainment gear, use your intellect. Can you move rations to a cache / patrol base using vehicles or ATV/UTV? Can you incorporate vehicles into the operation anyway? It’s not all about humping gear – use your brain and plan. Perhaps you are manning a long term OP, so you have supplies moved into a cache, to which you can send short patrols periodically to resupply you in the OP?


I have the following recommendations:

•Use a smaller ‘day pack,’ something like a hydration pack with pouches or small patrol pack, for when out on patrol close to your base or vehicles. This would carry the immediate items mentioned above, with space for snacks/lunch etc. This would be added on the back of the chest rig / battle belt concept outlined in the video below, whether or not you are wearing ballistic plates:

•You are therefore not going to be unrealistic about the weight you carry on normal security patrols. Remember that as the weather gets hotter, you need more water, and the thought of humping this gear (plates?) will deter you and make you lazy. It’s a balance between going light on the one hand, and having enough gear to do the job and operate in a contact situation on the other. How far out are you going from the retreat? Are you out over dawn/dusk on patrol and thus need to take NV gear on / off and stow it, etc?

•For operations that are going to be overnight or for a longer duration, try to plan to be mobile with nothing more than a ‘three day pack’ larger-type patrol pack. This will hopefully allow you to remain alert, while remaining mobile in a contact situation, and thus avoiding the need to drop it to bug out.

•Although you will see modern infantry equipped with large heavy patrol packs, and operating under fire with them, and this is the reality, you still do not need to carry the same weight as they do. You do not have to carry much of the gear that a soldier on deployment may have to carry – heavy radios and similar equipment, mortar rounds etc. So apply the balance to this. Your gear is still going to be a hump, but it doesn’t want to be too much. In fact, much ‘overnight gear’ is in fact bulky, but not that heavy – think sleeping bags and tarps etc.

•Purchase decent gear that is where possible small and light but gets the job done. I talk about specific gear brands for classes on the Combat Patrol Class page. Balance minimalism against practical living in the field. Weather has much to do with this.

•If you can move loads for resupply using vehicles, then do so, as long as it is tactically sound for the operation.

What kind of gear goes in a 3 day patrol pack? This is not an exhaustive list, but some suggestions. This is assuming at least one overnight where you have to sleep out on the ground. Much of this gear is for ‘personal administration’ purposes and for keeping you going in the field. It stands to reason that the shorter, rougher and dirtier your patrol, the less you need of this. Again, you can get away with a lot in the summer, if you have water, that you cannot get away with in the winter months:

◦Spare ammo in mags – perhaps 4-6 magazines.
◾This is to immediately resupply if you have a break contact and use some of your mags.
◾For specific operations i.e. ambush / raid you will need more because you will use more as part of the planned ‘action on the objective.’.

◦Water bladders / hydration carriers / Camelbak – the number defined by season, patrol duration and water availability.
◦Means to purify water resupply into the bladder(s).
◦Rations: if MRE, strip down. Two MREs per person per day are sufficient, stripped down.

◾Morning and evening meal entrees, rest of the time eat snacks.

◦Cooker: see above for type of rations. SOLO stove with pot burns twigs as well as solid fuel tablets if you want, and can be used to heat water for rations, purification and also for hot drinks (morale).

◾Dehydrated rations are lighter but require more water to prepare.
◾For shorter term operations, you can consider leaving cookers and heavy rations behind and eating convenience rations such as meal bars and MREs etc.

◦Suitable trash bag, to bag and carry out ration trash (Ziplock).
◦Waterproof/canoe type bags for inside (and perhaps securely outside i.e. sleeping system) the patrol pack, to keep everything together / separate and dry.
◦Seasonal sleeping bag.
◦Bivvy Bag
◦Tarp / MVT SHIELD – use bungees / paracord /lightweight tent pegs to erect. If shortage of trees, consider shelter half poles.
◦‘Thermarest’ style ‘self inflating’ sleeping mat – 3/4 length is fine. ◾Without which all your body heat will disappear into the earth.

◾Will fold down and stow away nicely.

◦Foot care:

◾Spare socks
◾Foot powder
◾Blister kit

◦Seasonal spare clothing / rain gear (‘snivel gear’).
◦Beanie hat / gloves.
◦In the heat, consider at least a spare t-shirt/combat shirt to change into.
◦Folding saw.
◦Small Medical kit with limited medications – anti- inflammatory etc, for less than trauma situations.
◦Bug / tick spray.
◦Garden trowel to dig cat holes for poop.
◦Baby wipes / hand sanitizer.

◾Wipes better than TP.

◦Lip balm.
◦Vaseline / petroleum jelly or specific anti-monkey-butt glide cream. ◾consider wearing spandex type or well fitting boxer briefs to cut down on chafing. Wear well fitting pants that do not chafe the seam between the thighs.

◾This still won’t stop the chafe between your butt crack in certain environments, this is where the Vaseline comes in (yeah, yeah, chortle chortle)
◾Don’t use the Vaseline on your butt and then your lips……
◾Chaffing will mess up your patrol….’nuff said.

◦Lightweight litter or equivalent – one per patrol.
◦I’m not going to get off into patrol medic /specialization stuff and all that.
◦Hard candy – coughs and morale.
◦Mission specific gear: radios, batteries, wire cutters, bolt croppers, lights, flares, booby traps (don’t ask), binos, spotting scope, thermal device, chicken wire, burlap and camo for OPs…..etc….

During a recent Texas Patrol Class, we conducted a full overnight operation, including a patrol base and the works, before moving off in the early hours and laying the ambush. That is because it was a training class, designed to compress and teach aspects of a full operation. Clearly, if it was just the ambush we could have headed out and simply patrolled to the ORP overnight, and shivered in the ambush until it was sprung/or collapsed. Alternatively, it could have been a long way to the ambush site, requiring a long patrol and perhaps some rest stops along the way, whether just lay ups or full patrol bases. The exercise took place on a ranch in Texas. A real operation ‘off the ranch’ might have involved vehicles moving either covertly on roads or cross country. The ambush could have been in a suburban or urban area, perhaps using buildings,. The patrol base or lay up could have been in a building, in certain circumstances. It’s all about applying the principles, as taught, to the situation. What if we had taken casualties or had exploited the ambush site and had gear to haul out? Maybe we could have had vehicles on call…….get the idea…..?

Okay, as we can see, it starts to get detailed when you are thinking about spending time out in the boonies. So let’s engage the brain again and try to figure out why we are out there and for how long. If you are going out for a short term mission then you will want to spend as little time on the ground as possible which is balanced against the requirement to stay out there by the specifics of the mission that you have planned. If you are heading out to raid the cannibal bikers in the next village, you may head out, for example overnight, and attack at dawn, but you may not really be factoring in much of a planned rest/sleep i.e. patrol base or Lay Up. So you may go relativity light (there’s that misleading ‘light’ word again), loaded with ammo, water and any necessary food, and plan to just rest for an hour or two, having placed security, as necessary. That way, you are doing the whole ‘travel light, freeze at night’ deal. I have memories of having an hour or two to kill in places like the ORP while waiting for an op to kick off, and curling up shivering on top of my gear to get up off the ground, and nodding off for an hour or so. Think of the old jungle technique of sitting back to back with rucks on, taking a rest, etc. Perhaps sitting backs against trees….

You may also be able to incorporate vehicles into the plan, particularly when thinking about ammo resupply and also casualty evacuation. If you can move closer to the objective tactically using vehicles in some manner, then do so, because it will help with your extraction / evacuation.

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Auxiliary Cells

This article is a vital read, read.... PLEASE READ. This is very important stuff, I know... it is long, but please take the time and fully read it. Print it out, learn it, there is a lot of good stuff here.

By, John Mosby

John Mosby is a former U.S. Army Special Operations soldier. He lives somewhere in the mountains.

Laying Foundations: Building an Auxiliary Cell

From providing logistics, communications, and intelligence collection services, to providing transportation to the underground and the guerrilla force; from developing and running safe house and underground hospital facilities, to acting as a “plug-a-hole” reserve fighting forces for underground and guerrilla operations, there’s a wide variety of possible roles for members of the auxiliary to fulfill.

Within each of those roles, there is also a broad variety of sub-categories for auxiliary personnel to fulfill. Looking at the wide range of “duties” of the auxiliary, it readily becomes obvious that we need an idea of where to start. There’s an old cliché, of course, that says “the best place to begin is the beginning.”

Contrary to the popular misconception of too many in the tough-guy “prepper/survivalist/III%” culture, a guerrilla force or underground “living off the land” does not mean they’re out there gathering roots and berries, and catching rabbits with 550 cord snares. That MAY play a role in logistics, but the guerrilla force that ends up in those dire of straits is pretty well screwed. They’ll spend more time trying to keep from starving than they will in achieving their strategic end goals.

Similarly, “living off the land,” is not simply a matter of stealing chickens and cows from the local civilian populace, and damn the consequences. If you want an idea of how well that works out, I would heartily suggest studying the efforts of Napoleon’s army in the Peninsular War. They weren’t guerrillas, they were foreign invaders, but the principles still apply. All you’re going to do is piss off friend and foe alike.

The purpose of the auxiliary is to provide both logistical an intelligence support to the underground and guerrilla force. They achieve this by coordinating the support efforts, ensuring that the local civilian populace that is supportive of the force is protected, and helping provide support for the guerrilla and underground, while any “let’s steal some cows” efforts are targeted only at those hostile to the efforts, and who cannot be converted to supporting them.

“The auxiliary in traditional Maoist insurgency conducts clandestine support functions by organizing people on a regional, district, or sector basis, depending on the degree to which guerrilla forces are organized.” –US Army FM 3-05.201 Special Forces Unconventional Warfare Operations, APR 2003

Therein lies the crux of the “how do I develop an auxiliary?” question.

Who is the guerrilla force or the underground that you are supporting? It need not be formed and active yet—in fact, it generally should not be—but you need to know who they are, in order to support them. What is their strategic goal, and what tactics will they be using to achieve those goals? Without this knowledge, you’re not part of the auxiliary, you’re just a dude with a bunch of stuff hoarded in your basement, drooling over Internet pictures of fat guys in camouflage.

The problem of course, is that—unless you belong to an organized group, like your local militia—there’s no way to know, for sure, the critical answers.

If you don’t know what unit(s) you’ll be supporting, you don’t know what their strategic goals are going to be. The majority of militia/III% “movement” groups in this country are—sadly—a joke of disjointed, divergent polarities, most of them “led” by somebody on a power trip that wants to be the king, and refuses to even consider working together with nearby groups because they might “take over” or something.

One militia group might have decided that their only purpose is to protect their county, while another is gung-ho to go anywhere within their state that they feel requires their presence. A third group, meanwhile, is running across state borders, completely ignoring their claims of “constitutional authority.” They are, in fact, conducting an armed invasion of a neighboring, sovereign state…

Finally, a fourth group may be trying to position itself for a federal-level power struggle, trying to draw in “true believers” to support its efforts to back a coup of some sort.

I have, since long before I started writing the Mountain Guerrilla blog, posited that “we don’t need a revolution. We ARE a revolution.” So, what does that mean?

It means, you need to ask yourself, “why do I care about ‘survival?’ Why do I care about ‘liberty?’”

“Why do I care about ‘survival?’”

Are you interested in survival, no matter what? I’ll let you in on a secret. It’s not going to work. We’re all going to die. The only choices we have are how we live in the meantime, and—hopefully—how we die (well or poorly, not the mechanism of lethality, necessarily). So, what’s the real reason you stockpile guns, ammunition, and food?

I would argue that, from an evolutionary biology standpoint—and from a moral standpoint for most people—the reason we are interested in “survival,” is because we want to ensure that our children/grandchildren/loved ones survive. We tend to believe the best way to ensure that is by preparing for bad stuff, and surviving ourselves. Right?

That’s a pretty solid reason, actually. It also ties into the “tribal/community autarky” strategic goals I discussed in Volume Two of The Reluctant Partisan (and in even greater detail in the forthcoming third book). That is simply a strategy of not worrying about what the idiots in DC are doing, and focusing on your local community of friends and family. Of course, this also drastically impacts the fund-raising and recruiting efforts of any “national ‘militia’ organizations,” but really, forget them. Local, local, local; always. If every liberty-advocate in the USA would quit worrying about what the federal government is saying/doing/trying, and focus on teaching a dozen of their closest family and friends what living independently means, and convince those 12 people to live that life, and do the same? As the guys at Action Figure Therapy say: “Problem solved. Problem staying solved.”

“But…Liberty!”

Why do you care about ‘liberty?’ What does that word actually mean, to you? The Oxford English Dictionary (and for any thinking person, that is really the authoritative arbiter of word definition in the English language), liberty has two basic definitions that are applicable when most people discuss it.

1) the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.

2) the power or scope to act as one pleases.

What if I told you—and brace yourself, this is one of those Matrix-shattering moments in life—that the only people that can have a negative impact on your Liberty, using those two definitions, are members of your local community?

Oh, sure, the federal beast can pass laws. They can tell you “you’re not allowed to do XXX!” They can say, “you MUST do YYY!” But really? They cannot enforce those edicts. Even if they had the physical capability for doing so, it’s someone local to you that would have to tell them you either were or were not doing what you were told. It’s going to take someone local to you to actually come investigate and find out that “Yes, in fact, Mr. Liberty Advocate IS actually daring to do XXX!”

So, if you can either a) keep your local friends, family, and neighbors from knowing that you’re actually daring to do XXX, or you can convince them that you doing XXX is really, not that big a deal, and the federal government overlords are full of crap, then you really have nothing to fear about infringements on your Liberty, do you?

Want a couple of examples?

1) Colorado
2) Washington
3) Alaska
4) Oregon

Every one of those states has legalized recreational marijuana within their states. What has the federal government done? How many arrests and trials of residents of those states, in federal court, have we seen?

Now, that’s one thing. That involved combined efforts from small, local groups, combining to exert their influence on a state government. What about at the local level? What about tribal?

Do you believe that, on the day marijuana was legalized, all those people that are smoking pot in Colorado suddenly decided, “Oh, hey, I’ve ALWAYS wanted to try getting high! I don’t have to worry about going to jail now, so I’m gonna go smoke out!”

There may very well have been a few. The vast majority, however, had been smoking pot, despite it being illegal, prior to that. Yet, they weren’t ALL in jail or prison, were they? They just focused on their local community, buying pot from people they trusted, or who were vetted to them by people they trusted…and for the vast majority of them, they got away with it, for a very lengthy period of time, even though we’ve been in a “War on Drugs!” for decades.

Of course, many readers have their hackles up right now, because I seem to be supportive of marijuana legalization, and that ol’ demon weed is BAD!

A far more useful task would be – instead of worrying about what other people put in their bodies – to look at how they’re getting away with it, in those states that don’t have legalization, and learn from them. Here’s the deal, regardless of what you think about marijuana: there had to be someone growing it. There had to be someone buying it from the people growing it. There had to be others buying it, in turn, from them, and then ingesting it. Despite the fact it was/is ILLEGAL, and has had a concerted effort from federal, state, and local law enforcement, to stop it from being grown, harvested, sold, and ingested. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what you’re trying to do!

Not with marijuana, necessarily—although, can you think of a better way to finance your local tribe’s efforts? Whether you’re focused on short-sighted concerns like guns and the Second Amendment, or invasively high taxation, or any number of other issues that we need to take into consideration, due to undue federal influence.

If you could develop the same types of LOCAL networks that pot-smokers have, you’d have Liberty, in your lifetime…right now. Today.

How?

Let’s look at guns. Everybody loves guns, right? Well, except liberals, and even they love guns, they just don’t love that you have guns. So, how do you start building your networks around guns? Well, how many of your close friends have guns and love to shoot? 4-5? 12-20? It doesn’t matter if they agree with you on religion. It doesn’t matter if they agree with you on taxes. It doesn’t matter if they agree with you on prostitution. We’re focused on ONE aspect now. We’re focused on guns.

So, let’s say you’re like me, and are kind of an a-hole, so you only have 4-5 people you consider “friends.” By that, I mean, they are close enough that you would—literally—step in front of a moving train and die, facing the danger, to save their lives…and vice-versa. Of those, only 3 are serious gun guys. Now, within those 5 people, you have the nucleus of a tribe. Even though the other two aren’t gun guys, they’re loyal to you, unto death. You have frith with them. They may have other close friends who are gun guys too, but let’s focus on the three of your kinsmen that ARE gun guys. You’ve decided that you really, REALLY, REALLY, need a .338 Lapua Mag, but the fed has outlawed them. What are you going to do? You’re going to go to your gun guy friends and ask if they know anyone they trust, who has one they’d part with. In turn, they’ll go to their other gun guy friends, and ask if they know anyone that they trust, who has one. Eventually, down the trail a little bit, someone actually has one, and has decided—for whatever reason—he doesn’t need it anymore. Granted, it’s “only” a Savage 110 BA, but it IS a .338 Lapua Mag. He’ll sell it, but he wants $3500 for it.

Then, the guy down the line of friends of friends, who actually found the .338, well, he wants $500 for a finder’s fee. So, you’re going to pay $4000 for a rifle that originally cost less than $1500. That’s messed up, isn’t it? Guess what….it’s not at all messed up. It’s not a breach of frith, and it’s not an insult to the “cause.” It’s called the real world.

So, you pony up $4000, and hand it to your friend that you trust. He hands it to his friend, etc, all the way down the line. Two weeks later, your friend hands you a beat up Savage 110BA. You inspect it, and realize, the barrel is damned near shot out. Did you get screwed? Nope. Your auxiliary found you what you said you needed. Now, you’re going to have to replace the barrel. You can either restrict that conversation to your gun guy friends, or you can ask any of your friends that you trust, if they know a machinist or old gunsmith that can build you a barrel. It ends up costing you another $2000 to get a barrel built. You’ve now dropped $6000 on a rifle, and you don’t even have ammunition for it yet….

Newsflash, THAT’S how the underground and auxiliary work.

What!?

So, what does THAT have to do with the original question? You want to help the fight for liberty! You’re not worried about how you’re going to buy guns on the black market!

Patience, young Padwan. It has EVERYTHING to do with the auxiliary you want to start building.

Logistics Auxiliary Cell

1) Cellular Construction

Your cell consists of the people you know, personally, and trust—even unto Death. How many people do you know that you would trust to die—or go to Federal Prison for a decade—before they would rat you out? One? Two? Three, if you’re really, really blessed? That’s your cell. In turn, of the two people you trust, who trust you to the same level, they each have another one or two friends. Those people DO NOT need to meet you, or even know about you. They can know their friend has another friend he trusts as implicitly as he trusts them, but nothing else. Now you’ve got—within the network of multiple tribal bonds—the beginning of a network.

2) Supporting the Warfighters

So, within your three-man cell, none of you are “spring chickens,” and you have recognized that you’re not going to be leading any raids or fighting off hordes of Cannibalistic San Franciscans. What you want to be able to do is provide a level of support to those that need it, who CAN fight off those hordes. How do you do that? You ask your tribesmen, “what do your friends that are young enough to fight, need to do so?” They ask their younger, fitter friends, “Hey, buddy, what gear/equipment/supplies are you short on? What do you have, but recognize is perishable/expendable, and WILL need to be replaced/resupplied in the future?”

The reply comes back, through the intermediaries, “Ammo. Gun parts. Body armor. Medical supplies. Food.”

“Great, you knuckle-draggers. What kind of ammo? Parts for what guns? What type of body armor? What medical supplies?”

“Oh. Sorry. Yeah, my guy says he and six of his friends are all running M4 carbines, and SIG Sauer P226 pistols. They’ve got Level III ceramic plates for their body armor, size large, and they’re worried about basic TC3 medical supplies. Can we help?”

“Sure. Now, I know what specifically to stockpile. I’ll get on it.”

Let’s assume for a moment, that you’re an older guy, you grew up with an M14, and .45ACP, and you think 5.56 and 9mm are jokes. You also know though, that you’re beyond an age where you’re interested in looking for trouble. Does it make sense to only stock 7.62×51 and .45 ACP, or would it make more sense, in order to support those guys, for you to stockpile some 5.56 and 9mm, besides?

Yeah…..

But, you’ve never taken a TC3 class, so you don’t know what medical supplies you need. You can either ask, or even better, you can take a TC3 class somewhere, and find out what medical supplies are needed, and why, in order to know what supplies will be in the greatest demand, in relation to the others.

You’ve got AR500 steel plate body armor. It’s cheap, and you’re not planning on running combat missions, so why bother blowing the extra money on ceramics? They can have steel!

Go take a patrolling or SUT class, and wear your steel plates for it, then come talk to me about how steel plates are “just as good.”

Do steel plates have advantages? Arguably. They’ll theoretically survive longer than ceramics. Ceramics are single-use items, right? How much does a steel plate weigh? According to the AR500armor.com website, their Level III plates (which are actually, probably NOT Level III, legally) – I can’t count the number of steel plates I’ve seen tested that M855 zipped straight through – weigh 7.5 pounds. So, 15 pounds for a set.

According to the Shellback Tactical website, my Banshee plate carrier weighs 2lbs, 5oz. So, now, I’m at 17 pounds, before I start adding ammunition.

My personal plate carrier, with my ceramic plates, weighs less than 12#. That’s FIVE loaded magazines I can carry, before the weight even equals the steel plate body armor alone. More importantly, I can run a lot further, faster, than I can with the additional five pounds of marginal protection.

Does it cost more? Of course it does. It’s a better product.

Can I afford six or seven or eight sets of ceramic plates? No. If I’ve got ten people in my “auxiliary” however, who are smart enough to set aside a set of ceramics though, I will be able to replace mine, should I need to, down the line.

Buying up supplies, to support the warfighters, without finding out what they need, and WHY they need it, is retarded. You might think you’re an “expert,” but the dude at the tip of the spear is whose opinion on the subject matters. Ask.

3) But, Money!

As we pointed out above, there’s no necessity that you’ll be “giving stuff away.” You MIGHT. It might turn out to be worthwhile to you, when the wolves are at your door, to say, “Hey, Joey, I know you’re gonna be out there on the line, and I can see you’re lacking body armor. I’ve got a rig set up in my basement. Let me go get it for you!” In return of course, Joey is “paying” you for the armor, by the very minor task of potentially getting shot in the face, to protect your home and life!

Alternatively, if it’s some dude you don’t know, in a cell three towns away, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with telling your trusted friend, who will pass it down the line of friends to the end-user. “Hey, yeah, I’ve got a spare set of ceramic plates stashed away. I need $500 for the set.” The end-user dude, who is not part of your tribe, after all, will either pony up the $500 or he won’t. That’s not your problem.

If it’s GOING to be your problem – if they get over-run and the bad guys are coming to your town next – then maybe you’ll decide to give them away after all, in the hope that he’ll stop them first. Or, maybe your friend will ask you to give them away, as a favor to his kinsman. That’s your decision to make, at the moment, based on circumstances.

In a Nutshell
So, what does it mean, to start a logistics cell? It means identifying who your guerrilla and underground force are—at least in a general sense—and finding out what they need. It means stockpiling the stuff THEY will need, not what you think they will need.
It means asking your friends—whom you trust, even unto Death—to ask THEIR friends, whom they trust, even unto Death, what exactly they feel like they’re going to need. Then, it’s a matter of stockpiling it.

Intelligence Cells

Developing an intelligence cell requires that you begin by defining your area. What area are you going to conduct an IPB (Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield) for? Your town? The County? The State? Once you’ve one that, you need to look at developing a complete intelligence picture, of that area. Hostile threat groups, potential allies, behavior and beliefs of non-aligned people in the area.

At the risk of sounding self-serving, I’m going to suggest two things, if you believe you want to begin developing an intel cell. 1) Take Sam Culper’s class. 2) Get Volume Two of The Reluctant Partisan, and study the two entire chapters I did on Intel Collection and Intel Analysis. Between those two activities, you’ll have a really, really solid idea on how to start developing an intel picture of your area.

When it comes to actually collecting information, most of your efforts will—necessarily—focus on open-source collection from sources like newspapers, the Internet, etc. There’s no reason however, that you can’t teach your two or three friends how to conduct tactical questioning (NOT the same thing as an interrogation), and have them teach two or three of their friends, and then ask them for specific intel product, to be gained through TQ from others that they might know.

The Role of Responsibility in a Tribe
We had friends over for supper the other night, and we sat around playing a strategy board game. As we were finishing up, the conversation turned to the efforts of the Liberty movement. Our friends are well versed in my views on neo-tribalism as the strategy of choice for survival and restoration of Liberty.

As we were talking, I brought up the fact that most of the “rights” we believe are “natural” or “God-given,” did not originate in antiquity in Greco-Roman culture, but in fact were derived from the cultures of the Celtic and Germanic language-group tribes of Northern Europe. One of those is the “right to bear arms.”

Unfortunately, in today’s world, too many have been brain-washed into the belief that this is a “God-given right,” and thus is subject to nothing. The fact is, in the culture from which the recognition of that right was derived, the “right” to bear arms was more accurately, the “responsibility” to bear arms. No free man could be righteously robbed of his right to bear arms within his tribe. Not even by a chief or a king.

In return however, in order to maintain his status as a free man, and member of the tribe, he knew he was expected, when called upon, to move towards the (extremely metaphorical in this case) sound of the guns, weapon in hand, to protect the tribe. Refusal to do so would result in “outlawry.” This didn’t mean you went to jail. This meant—basically—excommunication from the tribe.

In that time and place in history—well, prehistory, technically—not having a tribe was pretty much the same as a death sentence. You were no longer protected by the reputation and fame of your tribe’s ferocity and honor. You were fair game for any dude with a bow or spear, who decided to kill you and take your stuff. Sure, you might be lucky enough to fight off one attacker. If you were a particular badass, you might manage two or three (of course, if you were that much of a badass, you wouldn’t have been cast out for being a wimp in the first place, right?).

So, what does THIS have to do with being the auxiliary?

A lot of people have taken the discussion of being the auxiliary as having meant they don’t need to do PT, train with their weapons, and learn the basics of small-unit tactics. They’re the support guys, and support guys don’t fight, right?

I call BS. You are still responsible for your own safety, ultimately. You may still be called upon, in extremis, to grab your rifle, and go help protect hearth and home.

You STILL need to learn to fight. You STILL need to do PT. You may not ever be “elite infantry” or “special operations” fit again in your life, but you still need to be as dangerous as you can be, and being fit and well-trained is a critical part of that.


Conclusion

So, how then, do we go about building an auxiliary cell?

1) Do PT and train. It is part of the task, AND it will help you understand what the end-users need.

2) Talk to your closest friends and determine if they will be fighters or not. If so, find out what they and their group of fighters feel they will need. If not, find out if they know anyone, that they trust, who will be a fighter. Somewhere down the line, you will find someone. If they’re out there training, find out what they feel like they will need, or even DO need. There’s nothing saying that, just because your local network isn’t fighting RIGHT NOW, that you can’t be the auxiliary, right now, and equip some young guy with the gear he needs. Even if it’s only loaned out—through friends—when he’s training, it’s supporting their efforts.

Send one of the young studs to a class with someone. So what if you need to finance it? That’s what the auxiliary does. They provide logistical support to the warfighters. Even if the “kid” you send to a class turns out to be a flake, or he ends up moving six states away, so what? You’ll still—through your connections, and with anonymity—built connections of trust and loyalty with the group he was with when you financed it.

3) Start developing an intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) of your local area.

4) Of the friends that you hold closest, maintain those relationships, and do what you can to strengthen them. Not just with the individual friends, but between spouses and children as well. Do things together, as families, even separate from “prepper” activities.

5) If you have some acquaintances or “friends” of a lesser bond, who you think are like-minded, spend the effort and time to make those bonds tighter.

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