TWO PERSON TACTICS
2 DAY COURSE
In the kind of emergency that warrants the use of a firearm, there will certainly be more things that need attention than one person can effectively attend to. The situation may well demand you focus on two things at once, which is impossible. (E.g.: The problem may be in one direction and your oblivious child in the other; one cannot shoot and call the police at the same time.) With the stress and distraction, one could use some help. Fortunately, most of us have people in our lives who are very likely to be around in the event trouble finds us. We can, and should, plan and train to work with them effectively.
Spouses are prime examples of pairs of individuals who would benefit from working out a plan. Others include good friends or family with whom we spend our recreational time, co-workers with whom we travel, and close friends or neighbors. Much can be gained from organizing and coordinating what you and one of these partners do.
But more often than not, this valuable resource is simply disregarded.
Learn to Work Together
“Two-person tactics” is about two people working out ways to assist each other more effectively, thereby making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. This is so even if the person you expect to be with is not likely to be armed. At a minimum, they are a second pair of eyes and ears, and someone to watch your back and call for help. If they don’t know what to do, however, they can add to your problems.
This course assumes that trouble has found you in your home, car, or workplace, and the two of you must now assess and address a potentially life-threatening problem. It is about getting signals straight, having a plan that is easy to remember and simple enough to work, minimizing confusion and indecision, avoiding duplication of effort, and, above all, not getting in each other’s way. In this course, we determine what resources participants actually have at their disposal day-to-day, and assume that is what you will be working with. This instruction is designed for who we actually are, not some idealized “warrior.”
Issues addressed in the course include:
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Secure communication (verbal and non-verbal).
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Being predictable to your partner without broadcasting your intentions.
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How and where to move relative to one-another.
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Assigning roles for different emergencies (e.g.: child abduction vs. robbery).
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Taking advantage of all available eyes and ears.
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Recognizing who must be making the decisions, when, and passing off control in a deliberate way.
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Planning for extremely difficult decisions (such as when to leave the other behind).
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Training with the other person in mind.
The course may only be attended by people in pairs. To attend alone would defeat the whole course objective. At least one person in any pair must be a shooter. Because many people trained to use firearms share their life with someone who chooses not to train with firearms, one non-shooting member of any team is perfectly acceptable. Ideally, both partners will be armed, and both may shoot if they meet the minimum training requirements. Even where one party will not be armed, the total effectiveness of the pair can be multiplied, and disastrous errors voided, if only the two put some advance effort into learning how to work together.
For purposes of the course, it is perfectly okay to just come with a friend, even if that is not the person with whom you expect to be operating in an emergency.
Equipment Requirements
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Ear protection and Eye protection.
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Cap or hat with baseball-style bill.
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Firearm, clean and zeroed with at least one spare magazine, speed loader, or shell carrier. (This applies only to those who intend to shoot.)
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Knee and elbow pads.
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150 Rounds of Ammunition. “Match grade” or “carry” ammunition is unnecessary, and its use would be a waste of money. All shooting will be inside 25 yards. No incendiary, armor piercing or tracer ammunition is permitted.
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An inert training replica of whatever weapon you will be shooting, with holster or sling to fit. This means a “red gun,” “blue gun” or similar training replica. (If you let us know in advance you need one, we can provide a training AR-15 and many types of hand guns, but we cannot guarantee we have a replica of what you carry.)
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A carry strap is required for any long gun. If you have trained with a long gun, you know why. If you have not trained with a long gun, you may not, of course, use a long gun in this course.
This course is sponsored as a public service by the Firearms Instruction Research & Education (FIRE) Institute, a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation.
“HAVING A GUN AND THINKING YOU ARE ARMED IS LIKE BUYING A PIANO AND THINKING YOU ARE A MUSICIAN”
Col. Jeff Cooper (U.S.M.C. Ret.)