On training and Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers
The culmination of proper training is predictable performance. On the 22nd of October Canadian Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers shot and killed a cowardly gunman who shot an unarmed ceremonial Corporal Nathan Cirillo as he stood his post and then moved to the Parliament building with the obvious desire to kill even more unarmed victims. Instead he was encountered and engaged by Sergeant-at-Arms Vickers and died on the scene. Officer Vickers had never been in a shooting incident. He had been a Mountie and served in various capacities of Canadian law enforcement for 29 years. What does this all mean? It means a man that spent a career training and preparing himself for “that fateful day” had over those years conditioned himself to act immediately and without hesitation to uphold his oath and truth be told the honor of his profession and himself. People often make comments about combat experience or shootouts for LE and though it is the final test it does not mean those who have not experienced it cannot perform just as well. The men of the 101st that parachuted into Normandy were almost entirely without combat experience, the men that were selected for the Son Tay prison raid in 1970 were not required as a right of selection to the force to have combat experience. Some did not although there were literally 500 initially screened in a time when most in SF had multiple combat tours in RVN. American military performed extremely well in Afghanistan and later Iraq with little or no combat experience at the outset of each operation.
Training predicts performance and it has for centuries. It is no different today. Your training is what will bring success in the gravest of circumstances so train hard, train smart, and train with those that can give you the best advantage of their experience. Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers trained for 29 years for “that fateful day”…and he never knew if or when it would come. Come it did and he passed the test. The will to prepare is what bears the tools to win. Train hard, train smart and be ready. One never knows the time and place they’ll be tested.
-Mike Pannone
Mike Pannone retired from the Army’s premier assault force (1st SFOD-D) after an explosive breaching injury. A year after his retirement America was attacked on 9/11 and he returned to help serve his country as the head marksmanship instructor at the Federal Air Marshals training course and then moved to help stand up the FAMS Seattle field office. In 2003 he left the FAMS to serve as a PSD detail member and then a detail leader for the State Department during 2003 and 2004 in Baghdad and Tikrit.
In 2005 he served as a ground combat advisor of the Joint Counter IED Task Force and participated on combat operations with various units in Al Anbar province. Upon returning he gave IED awareness briefings to departing units and helped stand up a pre-Iraq surge rifle course with the Asymmetric Warfare Group as a lead instructor. With that experience as well as a career of special operations service in Marine Reconnaissance, Army Special Forces and JSOC to draw from he moved to the private sector teaching planning, leadership, marksmanship and tactics as well as authoring and co-authoring several books such as The M4 Handbook, AK Handbook and Tactical Pistol shooting. Mike also consults for several major rifle and accessory manufacturers to help them field the best possible equipment to the warfighter, law enforcement officer and upstanding civilian end user. He is considered a subject matter expert on the AR based Stoner platform in all its derivatives.
www.ctt-solutions.com
Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer some words of wisdom.
