Strike Tactical Solutions

Newsletter 10/2006

The month of October in the year 2006, has been a sad one. Jeff Cooper, the dean of modern day gunfight training, has died and was laid to rest early October. Also, October has been one of the bloodiest in the war on terrorism. More than 100 US soldiers were killed in this time period in Iraq and Afganistan.

Hardly a day goes by that yet ANOTHER Police Officer has been murdered in the line of duty. All we can do is help prepare our warriors by providing them with the most effective street-survival training known to man and pray for their safe return at the end of each shift. Be assured, our thoughts and prayers are with you.

On a more positive note. The Illinois Tactical Officers Association's (ITOA) Annual Training Conference is to be held from the 19th to 21st November 2006. The Banquet Speaker will be Brigadier General David L. Grange, USA Army (Ret.). Nobody does more for Police Officers than ITOA. Led by ITOA President Jeff Chudwin, the ITOA team's only goal is Officer education and Officer Safety. If you are not a member yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. To register for the conference please go to: http://www.itoa.org/conference.htm

In this issue:

1) In Memoriam: Jeff Cooper - Henk Iverson
2) Training: Let's get serious! - Henk Iverson
3) CAUTION: 223 Ammo Selection - Jeff Chudwin
4) Prevent Injuries - Have a better life! - Caren Iverson
5) Trainer of the Month: James DiNaso - Henk Iverson
6) The Threat: IED - Victor Jesus Garcia USMC
7) Quote of the Month - Henk Iverson

IN MEMORIAM: JEFF COOPER

By Henk Iverson

Jeff Cooper was recognized as the father of what is commonly known as "The Modern Technique" of handgun shooting, and was considered by many to be the world's foremost expert on the use and history of small arms.

Born in 1920, John Dean Cooper, more commonly known as Jeff, was a former Marine Lt. Colonel who served in World War 2 and in Southeast Asia during the Korean War. He received a bachelor's degree in political science from Stanford University and, in the mid-1960s, a master's degree in history from the University of California, Riverside. In addition to his expertise in firearms, he was a history instructor, philosopher, adventurer, hunter and author.

In 1976, Cooper founded the American Pistol Institute in Paulden, Arizona to train law enforcement and military personnel, as well as law-abiding civilians. Jeff sold the rights to API in 1989 but continued living on the Gunsite ranch. He was well-known for his staunch and thoroughly-researched advocacy of large caliber handguns for personal defense, especially the Colt 1911 pistol.

Jeff died peacefully at his home on Monday, September 25 and was laid to rest at Gunsite on 2 October 2006. May you rest in peace warrior.

TRAINING – LET’S GET SERIOUS!

By Henk Iverson

I have been training warriors for more than twenty years. Through my career as a soldier and police officer, I have been lucky enough to have been exposed to excellent training, including firearms, tactics, empty hand combatives etc. Passing on my knowledge and real world experience has become my life’s work.

Working with “high-speed” warriors, I have the opportunity to dissect training programs, training doctrines, tactics and techniques and discard those I deem inferior. “Showmanship” techniques and tactics get good people killed. My only goal in training is to save lives – PERIOD! Do I know everything there is to know pertaining to fighting? NO! I am a lifelong student of fighting skills and I will be until the day I die.

With that said, I want to make the following statement. In my experience, we should NOT differentiate between empty hands fighting and armed fighting. FIGHTING is FIGHTING! When you are fighting for your life with a weapon of some kind or with your empty hands, the mental approach to that fight should be the same. The tools and tactics may change but the end-result is NON-NEGOTIABLE , survival and prevalence AT ALL COSTS! The easiest way to teach this doctrine is to fully INTEGRATE empty hands combat skills with close quarter firearm skills and tactics.

CHANGING THE COLOR OF TRAINING

Law Enforcement training is at a critical crossroad. Modern America is proving to be a deadly testing ground for training. Hardly a week goes by without a Police Officer being killed on the street in the line of duty. ”Female Officer Shot and Killed”, “Police Officer Murdered” and “Police Officer Shot in Face” are but a few headlines that shock us into reality.

Does your Department provide training that realistically reflects what happens on the street? If you answer “yes” to this question, congratulations! Your Department is one of the very few that does. Now answer these questions: You are faced with a criminal that has made the decision that he is NOT going to jail today and he will do EVERYTHING in his power to stop you from arresting him. He has a concealed weapon and he is prepared to use it against you. Are you ready to put handcuffs on this guy? Have you been trained BEYOND the fundamentals, fully integrating empty hands combative skills and close quarters combat shooting skills, to survive this scenario? If you answer “no” to either of these questions, I am the bearer of bad news my friends … your Department does NOT provide training that reflect street encounters!

For years and years we have known that the average person can cover 21 feet in about 1.5 Seconds. (Also known as the Tueller Drill) How much time will it take to cover half that distance? Do you think that you can outdraw your charging attacker at these distances? If you have this notion, you are in for the shock of your life! Most EXPERIENCED gunmen are lucky if they get their hands on their pistols before the attacker is all over them. Now add a Level 3 Security holster to this mixture!

I have seen instructors teach their students to move rapidly to the rear to “create more time and space” to draw their guns. In what world are you living? Do you have eyes in the back of your head? If you move into unknown terrain (to the rear) inside a home, you are most surely going to land on your back, the WORST place to be! Realistic training should reflect this fact.

Let’s break down “training” into what it really is. Training is defined as PREPARATION. Preparation for what? If you answer “for a street-fight”, don’t you think your “preparation” (training) should include ALL aspects of a real-life encounter? We train our students to act / re-act in a responsible, professional manner when faced with criminal intent.

Mere competence (adhering to minimum standards) in the manipulation of a firearm, including marksmanship, does NOT prepare Police Officers for violent encounters with hardened criminals. Given, it is a step in the process, but way too little time is spent on FIGHT preparation. Marksmanship training is important but knowing how to deal with a murderous close range attack is CRUCIAL!

We have to change the color of training!

INTEGRATED STREET SURVIVAL TRAINING

What is ”integrated training”? Integrated Firearms training simply means that we COMBINE empty hands combative skills and close quarter defensive pistol shooting skills. We now have OPTIONS to choose from. If attacked at close distance, the Police Officer must be able to deflect the attacker, counter-attack with effective strikes to create a window of opportunity to draw his baton, Pepper Spray or his/her firearm.

As a Police Officer you are within arm’s length of people you deal with, all day long. I call this conversation distance,CRITICAL DISTANCE. If you are attacked within the “critical distance”, your street survival skills need to be super sharp if you want to escape injury or even death. Remember, action beats re-action every time. You will be RE-ACTIVE during this attack. A few days ago I received an email in which it was reported that a Police Officer was attacked at very close range and HE HAD HIS THROAT SLIT! I am not a doomsday prophet my friends, this is reality. This happens every day! Are you prepared?

To deal with these attacks, you need to train your empty hands skills so they become INSTINCTIVE. Moving off the direct line of attack should be gospel to all your training. We have found in our research that people who do not move off the line of attack WILL get shot – period! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!

Your tactics MUST include EFFECTIVE empty hands combative skills. Hammer fist strikes to the bridge of the nose, to the eye socket or temple, followed up by knee strikes to the groin, bladder, stomach, Solar Plexus are but a few tools. Open hand strikes to the ear, eye gouges and elbow strikes to the head and jaw of your opponent gives you even more options. Palm heel strikes to the nose or jaw is also effective if delivered with aggression. When your life is at stake, you can use a web-hand strike to the “Adam’s apple” area of the throat of your attacker. WARNING: This is deadly force. Crushing the cartilage in the throat can cause bleeding into the lungs that can lead to drowning. Also, swelling in the throat can cut off breathing. Only use strikes to the throat as a last resort!

The following is an example of how an integrated fighting system saves lives. A friend in South Africa walks out of his hotel in Johannesburg. As he gets to his car, a criminal shoves a pistol into his back. He “cowers”, pretending to give up. The criminal spins him around, shoving the pistol into my friend’s face for intimidation purposes. Fearing for his life, my friend re-acts. In an instant, he deflects the attacker’s pistol, grabs his attacker's gun-hand into a control hold and delivers a powerful elbow strike to the jaw of the bad guy that stuns him momentarily. Immediately my friend follows up his initial counter-attack by presenting his own pistol from a concealed holster on his hip and fires a hollow-point bullet straight into the face of the criminal. The attacker dies on the scene.

Better to have the skills and not need them than need fighting skills (URGENTLY!) and not have a clue what to do! Integrated training works.

THE SPEAR AND SHIELD TECHNIQUE

During the 1830’s, the Zulu king, King Shaka, decided that the main weapon of his warriors needed to be shortened. The shaft of this weapon, a long throwing spear, was cut in half, effectively rendering the spear into a short stabbing “sword”. This short stabbing spear was called an “Assegai”. The Zulu “Impi” (Warrior) now had a shield and fighting stick in the one hand and his short stabbing spear in the other. Shaka’s strategy was to bring his warriors into contact distance with the enemy. They could defend against strikes with the shield and attack the enemy with the stabbing spear. Gone were the days that a Zulu warrior could run towards the enemy, throw his spear at a target, miss, and run away. To prove their bravery, the proud “Impi” had to close with the enemy and kill him at close quarters. If they ran away, King Shaka had them killed!

I study war history and found that this “short stabbing spear” of the Zulu Kingdom was much like the Roman Short Sword. The tactics employed by both armies were basically the same. I took this lesson to heart and adapted my contact distance defensive shooting tactics to match the tactics employed by the warriors of old.

I teach my students a contact distance tactic I call the DEFENSIVE SHIELD. In Force-on-Force training, my students hear me yell “shield up, keep your shield up!” all the time. The defensive “shield” simply means that you bring the arm of your non-shooting hand up in front of your body as you would hold a ballistic shield. By immediately bringing this “shield” up in front of you, a barrier is placed between you and the assailant. This barrier gives you the split second and enough space to counter-attack. The instant he hesitates to deal with the surprise of your "shield", you attack. This attack may include empty hand strikes, knee strikes, baton strikes or reverting to deadly force if forced to do so.

The SPEAR part of the technique is presenting your pistol into a retention position. Your pistol is drawn, muzzle onto target as soon as it clears the holster, elbow back, shooting hand thumb touching the pectoral muscle on the side. Pressing your little finger into your ribcage will cant the pistol slightly away from your body, leaving enough space for the slide to run freely. Lock your wrist as you fire the weapon. This is the most effective contact distance shooting position in modern gunfighting.

Remember that you are alone and fighting a person that is intent on harming or even killing you. You are left to fend for yourself in this life/death confrontation.. This is NOT the time to be squeamish! If you are FORCED to shoot your attacker, be sure to keep your muzzle away from his body. If you should press the muzzle directly against his body, the pistol may not fire if the slide is pushed out of battery. Shot placement is not critical at this point in the fight. Shoot him to stop his initial attack on you and physically get him OFF you.

Fire several rounds into his body, then step away at an acute angle. Get your pistol into a strong two-hand hold and if he continues his violent attack, fire well aimed shots into the high upper chest. Through experience I have found this to be the very best target area for close range engagements. If he is wearing body armor, we might get lucky and hit flesh and bone in this area. The high chest area, just below the neck, is where all the major veins and arteries meet on the highway from the heart to the brain and back. If we can put several large caliber bullets into this area, we have a good chance of stopping the attacker.

Why step off at an angle? Most people that are shot, fall FORWARD meaning right on top of you! Get out of his way! If you step directly to the rear you might stumble and fall with the attacker on top of you. If the perpetrator still keeps coming, lift the front sight onto his face and shoot him in the head. If the bad guy falls forward with his hands underneath his body, step forward immediately and place a foot or knee on his neck so that he cannot bring his weapon to bear. Scan the immediate area, 360 degrees all around for more attackers. Your pistol should be in a "retracted ready" position as you move and scan. Do NOT holster your pistol too soon!

What do you do in case of a malfunction? Use your pistol as a IMPACT WEAPON. Strike your adversary across the nose or just above the eyes with the side of the slide of your pistol. This will most likely open up a wound, causing blood to flow into the attacker’s eyes. An strike to the nose might cause a break, a lot of pain and make his eyes water. If he cannot see, he cannot fight effectively. Keep striking until he gives you the opportunity to get your firearm back into service.

TRAINING FOR THE FIGHT

Training for this type of violent attack, is serious business. It takes weeks of repetition and dry-fire practice to get the pistol into the correct firing position, without shooting yourself in the other hand! These techniques are for seasoned gunmen and should NOT be taught to beginners. It takes time to mature into a good fighter. Do not rush the process. There are many techniques to master in CQB training, of which this is one.

After mastering Phase 1 – range training on flat cardboard type targets, we move onto Phase 2, 3-D targets. Placing shots into a 3-D target at contact distance is an eye opener! Reality sets in. Angled/oblique shots become real. In Phase 3 we add multiple targets, some at contact distance, others further away, some at 90-degree angles.

If a fighter has become competent at these skills, it is time for Force-on-Force scenario training. Cardboard targets do not shoot back. Have not seen one attacking a Police Officer in a while either! Human beings need to be trained into AUTOMATED CONDITIONED RESPONSE. Plain and simply put, act without thinking. “You will fight as you train” is a statement far too few take to heart. The statement is correct. When we talk about training, we emphasize repetition. We are conditioning the brain (sub-conscious mind) to take over when our body and mind is under severe stress. Under survival stress, the body/mind falls back to the only thing it knows – the training you received. You WILL re-act as you have trained! This has been proven over and over again on the street.

In Force-on-Force training, we can create a “violent” encounter in a controlled fashion. We can do the same scenario over and over to condition the body and mind for an automated response. Now our fighter is up against a living, thinking, moving human being. No more flat cardboard target. The human “target” yells obscenities, shoves a finger in your face, does not comply to your verbal commands. At any given moment, the “bad guy” might give up OR draw a weapon.

In our training center, we take students onto the mats, teach them effective empty hand strikes, deflections and explosive low kicks. Now we arm them with AIRSOFT pistols and INTEGRATE their combative skills with gun-fighting skills. We end up with a fighter that is well rounded, a Police Officer that is secure in his/her abilities.

When you are at Force-on-Force level training, live-fire range training is necessary for skill maintenance. We have to train as we fight. We have to prepare our Police Officers for current street conditions. We cannot afford the loss of ONE Police Officer. We have to prepare them for the fight!

At STRIKE Tactical Solutions we salute our Law Enforcement Officers and present the very best training. Your life is not an option!

CAUTION: 223 CARBINE AMMO SELECTION

by: Jeff Chudwin - Olympia Fields IL P.D.

A key issue in the selection and use of the police patrol carbine is choice of ammunition. The .223 cal. (5.56 mm NATO designation) round is the predominant caliber; used mainly in the AR-15 / M-16 type weapon system.

Part of the equation in determining ammunition choice is which bullet weight to select for your rifle/carbine. Much depends on the barrel twist rate of the weapon. As a general rule, the faster barrel (rifling) twist rates can stabilize heavier bullets, the slower twist rates cannot.

The twist rate is indicated as a number 1/7, 1/9, 1/12 etc. This represents a full rotation of the bullet in the barrel rifling (first number) for every 7, 9, or 12, inches (second number) of barrel length. The 1/7 inch as well as the 1/9 inch twist rate will stabilize the heavier bullets used in the .223 or 5.56 m/m barrels such as the 62 thru 77 grain bullets currently in use.

This faster barrel twist rate will also allow the use of the original M-193 55 grain FMJ bullet. So if you use a recent production .223 (5.56 m/m) rifle or carbine with a twist rate between 1/7 to 1/10, you have the use of a wide range of bullet weights. Some will be more accurate than others and it requires testing of the individual weapon to determine the best loading. Some barrels are stamped with the twist rate, others you must contact the manufacturer to be certain. Most current barrels are manufactured with a 1/9 inch twist. However military barrels are 1/7 inch.

As to the slower twist barrel as found in the original AR-15 SP1 / M-16 A1 which is a 1/12 twist rate, bullets of 55 grain or less weight are recommended. Bullets in the 60 grain and higher weight class often do not stabilize adequately when fired in the 1/12 barrel. This is referred to as yawing. Such a bullet does not spin like a drill bit but wobbles or turns on its base and can turn sideways in flight.

This discussion is centered on accuracy and terminal performance. The bullet must be stable in flight to be accurate and not strike the target sideways where penetration may be limited.

The accompanying photo illustrates a target hit by 5.56 m/m 62 grain M-855 green tip, current issue military ammunition. This bullet type was fired from an M-16 A1 as supplied to departments by the Federal 1033 LESO program. As seen, the bullets impacted the target sideways or on angle at 25 yards. Accuracy is greatly reduced, as is the ability to penetrate objects or body mass.

It is important to know what you load in your magazines. In the photo, the round to the left of the green tip is a 55 grain M-193 FMJ. If you did not know, it may well be a 62 grain FMJ and you unknowingly face the same accuracy / penetration issues.

Know your ammo and understand the reason for making the choice of bullet weight and bullet type.

PREVENT INJURIES – HAVE A BETTER LIFE!

By Caren Iverson

I had the privilege of attending an “Injury Prevention Class for Police” presented by James DiNaso and Kate Brown of PKCO (Police Kinesiology Company). It was great meeting like-minded people, and I enjoyed this class tremendously. It was a physical, hands-on class. As a Personal Trainer, I ensure that my clients do exercises correctly and this school was presented with the proper execution of technique in mind.

We looked at musculo-skeletal disorders. The US Department of Labor defines a MSD as an injury or disorder of the muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, cartilage, or spinal discs. MSD’s do not include disorders caused by slips, falls, motor vehicle accidents, or similar accidents.

It was scary to see the number of work-related MSD’s involving days away from work. The most days were of people between the ages of 35 – 44, with the age groups 25 – 34 and 45 – 54 not far behind! Injuries of the back are the most common, where injuries to the shoulder, resulted in the longest absences from work. So, post-incident correction is better than pre-incident prevention!

According to James DiNaso and Kate Brown, there are SEVEN basic movement patterns. All movements are variations and /or combinations of these basic movement patterns. They are: pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging, trunk flexion, trunk extension and trunk rotation.

To start off, one needs to WARM UP – obviously! I always used to skip the warm up sessions before training. They were too boring for me at the time, and my coach’s explanation of WHY it is important, didn’t mean much to me then!

Warm-up increases the core body temperature and prepares the body for higher intensity exercises. The increasing core body temperature will lend to more pliable muscle and connective tissue, minimizing the chance of injury. Dynamic flexibility exercises increase the range of motion and prepare the body for activity. A traditional static stretch needs to be held at least for 30 – 60 seconds to be of any benefit.

Training the core muscles is of the utmost importance. The core muscles are the muscles that support the trunk, including the muscles of the low back and abdominal area. In Eastern Philosophy the core muscles are known as the “chi” – your energy, or life force!

There are also physiological and structural differences between genders. We learnt that because females are born with less muscle mass, thus use 40% less energy than a man when walking the same distance.

Because of the female’s Q-angle (the measure of bone alignment from hip to knee) it can cause medial rotational instability of the knee, and because of their carrying angle (measure of the bone alignment from the upper arm to the lower arm) it causes more stress at the wrist joint during certain exercises. Because of the physiological and structural differences between genders, it causes higher rates of knee, elbow and shoulder injuries in females. Strong core muscles can also prevent back pain as we get older, AS ALL OF US DO!

Prioritize your training. Train the weakest links that affects your own performance (ex: lack of flexibility, lack of upper body strength). Train for function and job related performance, NOT just health related fitness.

Some sample exercises (3 sets of 10 – 20 reps):

Warm up/Dynamic flexibility:
* Jumping jacks
* Standing trunk twists
* Body weight squats
* Arm circles (forward and backward)
* Lunges forward
* Trunk flexion/extension
* Shoulder rolls
* Lunge backward
* Arm swings
* Leg swings

Core training:
* Crunches
* Opposite arm and leg lifts
* Skydivers, Prone T’s, Russian Twist
* Jackknives

Basic Movement Patterns:
* Pushing: push-ups, bench press
* Pulling: pull-ups, pull downs
* Squatting: overhead box squat, back squat
* Lunging: forward, backward, walk
* Trunk flexion: crunches, jackknives
* Trunk extension: skydivers, Prone T’s
* Trunk rotation: Russian Twist

Pre-habilitation Exercises:
* Shoulder: straight arm flyes
* Back: Prone Y’s, T’s, W’s, Quadruped opposites
* Knees: Box squats, double/single bucks
* Balance/stability: single-leg stand, eyes closed, balance pads


A lot of information was shared in a short space of time. These exercises are not new and I use most of them for core strengthening, flexibilty and general fitness. Put together, these exercises make up a very effective training system. Strong core muscles can also prevent back pain as we get older, AS ALL OF US DO!

If you would like to find out more about the classes, you can go on James and Kate’s website at: www.pkcotraining.com

THE THREAT: IED

By: Sgt Victor Jesus Garcia USMC

This is a reminder of the threat our soldiers and marines encounter everyday in Iraq. Recently, I just found out about a marine from my former unit recently injured in Iraq, which resulted in loss of his left eye and damage to his frontal lobe. Sgt. Meehan can also attest to this threat.

My mission as a squad leader was to find and eliminate the enemy; an enemy that disrupted the rebuilding of the city’s infrastructure and corrupted the influence of well-meaning community leaders. Also, an enemy bent on killing Americans and any Iraqi who collaborated with Americans. This mission became consistently harder with the changing tactics of the insurgents.

During my last deployment, it no longer became a fight that involved close combat. As a battalion we did encounter a few skirmishes on the road against would be convoy ambushes, but nothing at the scale of the close quarter battle that raged during the fight for Fallujah. Our biggest threat became Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), Suicide Vehicle-borne IEDs (SVBIED), and Suicide bombers. The insurgents had adapted there tactics to rely heavily on scaring the population and attempting to demoralize the coalition forces through IED’s.

The IED is tough to combat; it is not as if you are encountering an insurgent with an AK-47, on which you can return deadly fire. There is no clear way to positively identify an IED. On many patrols we would find IED’s on the side of the road in everyday garbage. One IED was found by the sheer benevolence of an Iraqi resident.

This Iraqi resident ran into the middle of the street to stop the convoy prior to entering the kill zone of an IED, which consisted of (3) 155mm artillery shells and few bottles of diesel fuel to add a napalm type effect. It took the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team approximately 30 minutes to find it despite knowing the general location of the IED.

The IED had been place below road level underneath a sheet metal, which blended well with the surroundings. Another squad on patrol lead by an observant point man found an IED emplaced in the carcass of a goat that was half buried. Another example is when sections in the median of the road would be removed and replaced with concrete laden artillery shells, which was not noticeable to the naked eye.

IEDs do not even need to be sophisticated to send a message or cause great bodily injury or death. A simple flour bag could be placed on the side of the road with any form of explosives inside. As the following will demonstrate; a squad was out on patrol when the squad leader had halted the patrol to investigate a suspicious flour bag on the side of a major road.

As the squad leader peered into the bag he observed several wires. Immediately, he yelled at the patrol to seek cover while he dove away. Fortunately, he and the patrol escaped unscathed from the explosion, but the IED had managed to injure a few civilians. IED’s like this one causes the population to lose confidence in the security forces to combat the insurgents; enhancing the support given for the insurgents.

One horrific example was when we encountered a SVBIED in Fallujah during my last two months of my deployment. Unfortunately this particular SVBIED possibly could have been avoided. A daily convoy, predictable, was departing a firm base from within the city carrying marines that supported the checkpoints.

This convoy became a prime target for the insurgents since it was on a consistent time table. As the convoy was traveling down the road, the lead security element forced a civilian vehicle to the side of the road. Since the civilian vehicle was compliant there was no action taken against it or further investigation.

At this point the convoy was traveling on major road used by the Iraqi civilians so there was nothing unusual about it. As soon as the lead security element passed, the civilian vehicle drove back onto the road and speared headed for the gas tank of the 7-ton truck carrying at least 19 marines. The explosion caused the 7 Ton truck to tip on its side and spill fuel onto the marines. This injured comprised of 4 marines KIA and 13 marines WIA (3 female marines KIA, 11 female marines WIA). This was by far the most deadly attack caused by a SVBIED I had encountered.

Unfortunately the IED in any shape or form is the biggest killer of security forces to date. We must constantly remember the danger that our armed forces encounter every day. There are no easy convoys or missions. Everywhere is the constant threat of attack. We can only hope to avoid them or find them before someone becomes a victim to its murderous nature.

TRAINER OF THE MONTH: JAMES DiNASO

By Henk Iverson

James DiNaso is a Sports Performance Specialist. For the past fourteen years James has helped athletes of all ages and ability levels improve performance through sport specific training. Aside from his experience working with professional athletes in the NFL and MLB, he has helped many promising high school athletes earn Division I athletic scholarships.

James' expertise in strength/power development comes from years of involvement in the sport of Olympic Style Weightlifting, where he has coached school-aged weightlifters to several national championship titles. James holds a Masters Degree in Exercise Science from Eastern Illinois University and professional certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and United States Weightlifting Federation. James has recently moved back to Charleston, IL to be with his family, but will continue to coach and consult on a more part-time basis.

James is now the co-owner of “POLICE KINESIOLOGY COMPANY”. This unique training entity specializes in Police Performance Training Systems. PKCO’s unique courses will improves any law enforcement officers’ ability to perform job related physical skills.

PKCO’s courses are a favorite among defensive tactics, baton, firearms, and fitness instructors from all areas of the law enforcement community. PKCO has adapted the latest technologies and approaches from the training of elite athletes, to law enforcement applications. The latest research from the fields of exercise science, exercise physiology, and kinesiology, are incorporated into all PKCO courses and Police Performance Training Systems.

All PKCO courses and training systems have been developed by degreed and certified sports performance coaches with years of experience working with some of the top professional and elite athletes in the United States. Our instructors have trained hundreds of law enforcement officers at every level including federal, state, county, and city.

Benefits of PKCO’s Police Performance Training Systems include:
• Improve movement skills to get out of the line of fire faster
• Increase the ability to deliver more forceful baton strikes
• Reduce injuries that result from professional & training endeavors
• Ability to better employ defensive tactics
• Gain a tactical advantage through improved neuromuscular coordination and reaction time
• Increase flexibility, strength, and agility in all positions and ranges of motion important to law enforcement
• Greater efficiency in performing law enforcement specific movement patterns
• Increase shoulder stability, grip, and forearm strength for better shooting performance
• Law enforcement specific training programs designed exclusively to meet the needs of law enforcement personnel

All PKCO courses and Police Performance Training Systems are available ONLY to sworn law enforcement officers, instructors, departments, and agencies.

STRIKE Tactical Solutions will be working closely with James and his team, doing research in human movement during survival stress situations. We highly recommend the training that James DiNaso brings to the table.

Please see www.pkcotraining.com for more information.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

By Henk Iverson

" The reality and violence of a real street fight cannot be duplicated on the firing range with ANY target system or ANY drill."
Gabriel Suarez