Orlando Shooting: Excellent Piece by Marine Tim Lynch
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- Published: Monday, 20 June 2016 00:53
19 June 2016
Tim is a retired Marine infantry officer. I spent much time with Tim in various provinces in Afghanistan, such as Nangarhar, Kabul, Kandahar, Helmand, Nimoroz.
Good Lord almighty we went everywhere together, often alone or with just one other man, an ex-Aussie Soldier named Shem.
First time Tim picked me up in Kabul to take me to Jalalabad, Nangarhar, there was a bag beside me in the backseat filled with grenades. I said I'll just help myself to a couple of these.
We were going down roads sometimes passing burning and blown-up, shot up vehicles. IED holes, and people who obviously were Taliban and associates, yet somehow we got away with it. You had to be there to believe it.
I was not advertising this at the time due to the obvious peril, but we both learned a lot about the war which left both of us ahead of the curve when writing about it.
This morning I checked Tim's website and saw that he posted on the Orlando shooting.
Our thoughts are parallel on this.
The people in the nightclub should have bum rushed the shooter, and the first two cops on the scene should have gone in there in the combat mode.
Anyway, people with much infantry or special operations combat experience realize that there should not have been a three-hour standoff. That should have been over in five minutes.
Some people offline have said, "But what if he had a bomb?" So what? What if he did have a bomb? You might die. Go in there and get him. If you die you die.
That was not a hostage situation. He was killing innocent people.
I published something similar after the Paris attack and Facebook blocked me for 7 days. Hopefully they will not block me this time.
After I saw Tim's piece, I just called him in Texas and we talked for about 20 minutes. I said right on, keep it coming.
This is real experience talking, not idle chatter and not bluster. We both have seen a lot of combat. There is only one thing to do in a situation like this -- attack, attack, attack:
Fourth Generation War Comes To America: What Are You Going To Do About It?
by babatim on June 19th, 2016
Orlando is not the first mass shooting by a so called ‘Lone Wolf’ Islamic Jihadist in America; it’s the seventh in recent years but this one is different. The knee jerk reaction from the political left and their media enablers has (unbelievably) gained traction in the establishment media. The Orlando massacre has nothing to do with guns; decreasing the civil liberties of law abiding Americans is not the answer. A majority of the American public knows this and are dismissing the governing elites attempts to spin this attack for political advantage out of hand. The problem is Islamic Jihadists and the fact that they are embedded inside our society and are going to, with ever increasing frequency, attack the citizens around them in the name of Allah. It’s what they do.
I find myself in a unique position, given my background, training and experiences, to write about an appropriate response to the Icehole (the FRI name for ISIS) violence. I’m a retired Marine infantryman who taught at a professional firearms training academy for several years. I also spent over 8 years in Afghanistan; most of that time I was in the contested provinces and all of that time I lived outside the wire embedded inside the local community. I carried a sidearm (and often a rifle) daily and when in the south I was never without fragmentation grenades in both my vest pockets. I have spent decades studying the literature associated with gun fights and gun fighters. I met Dave Grossman before he published On Killing and used his unpublished manuscript when we remodeled the USMC Infantry Officer Course close combat package. I had the honor of meeting and listening to Col. Boyd before he passed. For those of you who do not recognize these names read on – they are the core of the Sheepdog phenomenon and Sheepdogs are about to step onto the historical stage and light the way for freedom loving peoples to follow.
That the target was a gay night club is irrelevant. Homosexuality and Islam have a strange relationship due to the many peculiar customs routine among unmarried young adult males that in the west would consider homosexual. That’s old news. My speculation is that the nature of the target aided the Icehole shooter by de-humanizing his targets through the interpretation of the targeted group contained in the Koran. He could have targeted a stripper bar or any kind of bar for the same reason.
This observation enrages the gay rights crowd who insist this attack was an attack on gays specifically and thus a hate crime first and a Jihadist crime second. I am not sure what difference it makes to view the attack this way; as far as I’m concern this was an attack on the foundations this country was founded on and thus an attack on all of us; not just gays. But I have family and friends who find this view reprehensible and I don’t know what to say about that except I love my family and friends and am trying to show them a way forward that is not predicated on fear.
It is clear that our federal and local law enforcement agencies are not capable of protecting us from the Islamic Jihadi threat. Look at the latest Icehole Shooter; interviewed by the FBI twice, a gun store owner refused to sell him weapons or body armor and reported him to the FBI as a potential Jihadi terrorist, the store that did sell him the guns also called the FBI after doing so because they thought him a potential threat. The Orlando police department waited three hours to take him down and how many people bled out and died due to the delay is unknown but (given the circumstances) had to be a considerable. There was even an off duty cop outside the club who traded shots with the Icehole but then fell out of the media narrative. Where did he go? Why didn’t he follow the Icehole in and try to take him out? I’ don’t know but I also cannot think too many valid reasons for the lack of follow up.
People who chose a career in law enforcement tend to focus on the skills needed for professional development. If they are not part of a tactical team proficiency with firearms are not a requirement. The ability to pass annual qualification is all that is needed for advancement. Qualification and training are two different things but a vast majority of police officers will never use their service sidearm so it is hard to justify four or five day tactical training courses. Paying for the manpower hours, range time and ammunition is beyond the capabilities of most law enforcement agencies. There are plenty of police officers who train regularly on their own time and have excellent gun handling and combat marksmanship skills. One of them was pulling security at a recent Pam Geller event in Garland, Texas. How stopped two Jihadi’s, armed with rifles and wearing body armor, with head shots from his Glock .45 service pistol. That officer demonstrated tier one operator levels of performance in combat marksmenship and tactical decision making. There are many like him but most police in most places cannot be expected to perform at that level.
Obama and the sycophants he has installed at the helm of the American government are still importing tens of thousands of un-assimilateable, hostile Muslims (not our former interpreters who we promised could come here) into our country and setting them up with our tax money. Why?
Mistaking the government for a competent entity that cares about the average American citizen is insane. We’re on our own when it comes to Islamic terrorists folks and my question is what are you going to do about it?
For a vast majority the best thing to do is nothing. The chances of being caught up in one of these attacks are remote. You can live your life without changing daily routines or habits because you will never be caught up in a terrorist attack. This is the “hope” plan as in “I hope it doesn’t happen to me” and given the laws of averages it will prove a solid plan for the vast majority currently residing in the United States.
Those who do nothing about the threat of Jihadi’s are sheep; they cannot or will not accept responsibility for their personal safety or the safety of those around them. The law of averages, not The Law is their only protection. But the law of averages is moot if you are in the cross-hairs and there are thousands of Americans alive today who will be killed by Jihadis in the future because our government has neither the will or ability to stop them.
For law abiding Americans who believe hope is not an adequate plan there is another option and that is to become a sheepdog. Human Sheepdogs are, by nature, not a threat to their fellow citizens but are death dealing fighting machines when they, their loved ones or the sheep (other citizens) are in peril. To be effective in this role the sheepdog needs to be prepared mentally, physically and emotionally for close quarters battle (CQB). Death lurks in the CQB environment; the only way to beat death is to kill without hesitation or remorse. That is not easy to do.
Don’t think you’re up for that? Think again, if a woman can fight off a mountain lion with her bare hands or a retiree with poor gun handling skills can not capable of protecting us (who both had guns) out of an internet cafe then you can take on a Icehole Jihadi. The other option is to submit and die.
If you are a christian who believes your religion forbids the taking of human life I urge you to read this postat the Captain Journal. Herschel Smith can sort you out in a heart beat. He is also the most prolific (and best) blogger in the country on Sheepdog related issues.
Sheepdog Mental Conditioning
Perspective sheepdogs should start their professional development with the man who came up with the Sheepdog concept; LTC Dave Grossman, USA (Ret) and his book On Killing. Understanding the psychological basis for overcoming man’s instinctive reluctance to taking a human life is critical to developing the mind set required to fight and survive in a close quarter gun battle. One of the most important lessons to internalize from Col Grossman is his intra vs extra species conflict model. Many of you are familiar with the “fight or flight” model which is a good conflict model for exta-species encounters. When confronted by a Rattlesnake your options are to kill it or leave it alone and leave the area. When confronted with a human threat the fight or flight model expands to include posture and submission. Most of the fights you have witnessed in your life involved tedious verbal and physical posturing before the adversaries came to blows. Many victims of violent crime submitted when confronted by the criminal. Understanding how violent encounters escalate as well as the normal human responses to violence is imperative because the Sheepdog has to learn to bypass them to be effective.
Another essential book is The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker. Dave Grossman speaks at the Gavin DeBecker and Associates Mosaic Threat Assessment seminars and I was scheduled to go to one years ago but it was cancelled due to wildfires at the venue in Big Bear. I remain disappointed to this day. The Gift of Fear is a textbook on how to spot human predatory behavior. This understanding hones the senses by providing a framework that assists in anomaly detection. Detecting anomalies within the daily pattern of life is the quickest way to identify a potential threat. You do not need a laundry list of things to look for you just need to pay attention to every anomaly that catches your eye. Behaviors like loitering, angry hostile stares, excessive headgear in warm weather, sunglasses at night etc… could mean something or could mean nothing.
We have been told by the media, educators, politicians and other members of the ruling class that violent acts are unpredictable. That is absolutely not true and DeBecker’s book will teach you why. Remember our most recent Icehole shooter was throwing off such obvious, hostile vibes that two gun stores reported him to the FBI. How do you think that Icehole was looking before he unmasked inside the Pulse nightclub …what kind of vibes was he throwing off? DeBecker will teach you what is already ingrained inside your brain housing group and that’s how to spot predators. More importantly he’ll eliminate the most common response to the sudden appearance of dangerous anomalies which is denial.
The last topic to read up on is the OODA loop. There is much written by and about Col John Boyd, USAF (Ret) so a link to a compendium of his writings is here. OODA is the acronym for Observe Orient Decide Act and it’s importance to a gunfighter cannot be overstated. Once you enter the fray you function on mental and physical conditioning; there is minimal cognition occurring as you adjust to the noise suppressing, vision narrowing, fine motor skill degrading rush of adrenaline. It is tough to handle which is why high end firearms instruction includes breathing exercises that are designed to bleed off adrenaline and keep the pulse below 150. The time to think is while observing and the sooner you orient onto a target the more time you have to prepare for the upcoming fight. Once the flag drops there is no time for thinking…only action counts.
The next post will cover the mechanics of gun-fighting in the close quarter environment but there is one more component of the combat mindset that needs to be internalized and its not good news. If you are in the midst of a Jihadi attack and present a gun to fight back you’re going to get shot. There is no way around it; you have to understand up front you will be hit so that when you are hit you stay in the fight. Being shot is not the same as being killed and most people who are shot in America do not die.
Of course it is possible to intervene in a shooting and come out of the encounter without a scratch but you can’t think that is going to happen before you fight. You have to understand you’re going to get hit and might well die and then you have to ignore that and fight like a demon possessed. Going through the crucible and emerging without a scratch means you’re lucky, or blessed or cursed….as some of my fellow vets know being the one guy to walk away from a gunfight without a scratch can be a curse as well as a blessing….but I digress.
People who have been hit hard will bleed out if they are left in a pool of their own blood for three hours before the cops feel its safe enough for them to go in and get them. For the people who were shot at the Pulse it was their bad luck to be attacked in a city with a substandard, risk adverse, tactical unit.
The Sheepdog deals with reality not the narrative and the reality is he is on his own when confronting Iceholes (or common criminals dubbed ‘teens’ by the establishment media). So my perspective sheepdog friends remember the essential truth for sheepdogs. If caught up in an Icehole attack you are on your own. There is no one coming to help you; you have to deal with the threat and rescue the injured because that’s what sheepdogs do. Sheepdogs are humans who are not perfect, we are tolerant of the normal faults and foibles of our fellow man with one exception: we cannot stand and will not associate with cowards.
Up Next:
Gunfighting
Click here to see Tim's article over at Free Range International.
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