2015 Course Calendar
Feb 2-3, Tactical Pistol, Kent WA
March 2-4, High Risk Warrant Service, Spokane County, WA
March 5-6, Ballistic Shield User, Spokane County, WA
April 13-15, Carbine/Submachine Gun User, Kent, WA
May 25-27, High Risk Warrant Service, Kent, WA
June 15-19, Pistol Instructor, Kent, WA
August 17-21, Basic SWAT School, Spokane County, WA
Sept 14-16, Tactical Pistol, Kent, WA
Oct. 19-21, Carbine/Submachine Gun User, Spokane County, WA
Oct 22-23, Tactical Pistol, Spokane County, WA
Nov 16-18, Hostage Rescue, Spokane County, WA
Dec 14-16, SWAT Team Leader, Spokane County, WA
The Decathlon is a series of ten athletic events completed over two days. There is a long held belief that the competition doesn’t truly begin until the second day. The second day focuses on the more technical events, and since the athletes are tired from the first day, it is exponentially harder to complete. No decathlete holds the world record in any one event, similarly no world record holder of a single event would even be competitive in a Decathlon. The world of police special operations is pretty damn similar.
10 Tactical Events in no particular order of importance:
Fighting – You better be able to use your fists and feet effectively. Very few operations statistically require gunplay. If there is force it is administered the tools you have physically attached to the chassis.
Physical fitness – You absolutely must have physical strength AND cardio endurance for the above. Being fit also plays into using tools to affect entry, carrying 30 or so pounds of additional equipment, and being prepared for the mission that does not allow you to arrive on the rails of the Bearcat.
Weapons – When gunplay is required, you better be damn good because there is no Silver medal in this event. It’s gold or a pine box for you or a teammate. Within the weapons category I have my primary, secondary, tertiary (i.e. breaching shotgun) and all of them likely have different manual of arms. If I’m carrying a blade, and I do, then I also need to attain a level of proficiency with that. Not just slicing and dicing, but retention in the fist fight as well.
Breaching – I have to be able to efficiently and effectively run a halligan, hammer, ram and tomahawk. I also need to have knowledge of ballistic breaching and the gun that supports that. The manual tools live closely to the PT category above.
Tactics, Techniques and Procedures. There is no single play, I must have an expanded knowledge of TTP’s so I can quickly drag on the right remedy. Covert, Slow & Methodical, Dynamic, HR. Within those categories, each event is unique, so one dynamic warrant to the next will be slightly different based on unknown variables. If you’re team has buses, trains, vessels and aircraft, you better be knowledgeable on all the nuances that go into those specific battlespaces to be able to enact TTP’s. This is extremely technical, but once mastered it should also be intuitive. Getting to Zen requires effort, there are no shortcuts in this cateogry.
Specialty Equipment. In this day and age you are remiss, and maybe even negligent, if you aren’t exploiting technology. Night vision, Robotics, remote listening, Pole cameras and even UAV’s are in the professional teams arsenal. I must know how to use each of them and use them well.
Medical – More than ever we are required to have expanded knowledge and equipment to repair ourselves, our teammates and citizens. The days of calling in Fire for this task are OVER. Get good in this area, we simply cannot be naive that we will be injured. Seconds count in this arena, handle your business. This includes teams with the benefit of surgeons and medics, those dudes may not be able to get to you or may be too busy with worse problems to help your dumbass.
Specialty vehicles – Armored vehicles are big and somewhat awkward to drive. Everyone should be able to start and run the auxiliary equipment like lights, remote spotlights, thermal imagers and whatever else that vehicle has.
Training/Trainer – One of the best and easiest ways to give back is to provide training to your agency for all they have given to you. Guys will appreciate it, it breaks down the wall of elitism, and it requires you to become the expert or look like a jackass. I strongly believe we owe a debt in the way of training others when we have been provided with so much.
Leadership – From newest guy to senior team leader. EVERYONE has a duty to hone leadership skills. On my team we stress, demand and require leadership at all levels. As a SWAT member you will be called upon for leadership on hot calls while on patrol. Very early on you are expected to make the right decision, quickly on operations. You will be held accountable for those decisions. As a formal leader, get good at democratic leadership when time allows, and Autocratic leadership when it doesn’t. Each man should have a vision of where the team will be regarding proficiency when they leave the team. Start forging that from your first day.
So there you go, ten events to be a good SWAT man. All of them require a great deal of effort. None of them can be ignored if you want to win a gold medal. The Tactical Decathlete has a full plate, and without question you will not be world class if you only work on these things during training. It will require time, effort and energy outside of work if you want to be a world champion. It is the most full time, part time assignment I have ever held.
No world record holders, 90%ers in EVERY event. The second day is the hardest, it separates men from boys, professionals from fan-boys and champions from silver medalists. Which one are you?