“I learned that good judgment comes from experience and that experience grows out of mistakes.” ~General of the Army Omar N. Bradley

By Fred Leland and Alex Olesker

“The strategic success of the Byzantine empire was of a different order than any number of tactical victories or defeats: it was a sustained ability, century after century, to generate disproportionate power from whatever military strength could be mustered, by combining it with all the arts of persuasion, guided by superior information.” ~Edward Luttwak

Followers of this blog and those I have worked with know the workshops I run utilize tactical decision games, in the form of pen and paper exercises, tabletops and force on force free play exercises involving the use of Simmunitions. Also in these workshops we stress the importance of identifying lessons learned utilizing the after action review process. These training methods all stem from creating and nurturing both the individual and organizational cognitive and physical skills necessary to observe, orient, decide and act while according with an adversary(s).

“Criticism exists only to recognize the truth, not to act as judge” ~Carl von Clausewitz

Red Teaming-an approach to understanding our adversary and the methods they use. Red teaming or playing the role of our adversaries is an outstanding way to gain insights into not only the mindset  of our adversaries but in to the methods they use in carrying out their operations.

By Fred Leland

Seattle police say they'll review police tactics and training after an officer was shown on video punching a young woman in the face. Everyone reading this article should take a look at this video before continuing. It’s provided at the link above.

By Fred Leland

This  video depicts fast transient maneuvers on both the adversarial and friendly sides. An unknown risk stop (KEEP IN MIND ALL CONTACTS ARE UNKNOWN RISK).

Over on Massachusetts Police Legal News Attorney/COP Ron Sellon offers some valuable insight into the lessons learned from the after action review released last month on the Oakland PD March 21st incident that left 4 police officers dead in a  2 hour time frame.  In the end failure to critique  our responses in a candid and honest way leads to more deaths and doing things the same way we always have.

“Because of the zero-defects mentality officers will often use caution when admitting mistakes or allowing others to criticize them; the AAR can turn into a ‘who shot whom’ if not properly facilitated.” ~Don Vandergriff