I was a young man in a foreign country going through a combat experience. At one point, two other guys and I were hauling ammo from our position to another. We were experiencing a lull in firefights and were moving through a series of bunkers and berms with relative cover. Me and one other guy had the ammo in our hands and on our backs. The third guy was security, and we were glad he was there. We went around a corner and ran into a roving patrol of 9 enemy soldiers who were pretty lax in their patrol discipline. We met them and it surprised us both. But our security guy was doing his job and took out 3 enemy before we could drop our ammo and get our rifles on target. Fortunately, it took the enemy a little longer to figure out that they just bumped into the enemy, and we neutralized them before they could get their rifles pointed in our direction. But had our security man been a little hesitant, the story would have turned out different. He was ready even though it was a surprise. He closed the small distance between us and hit them with such a heavy force, and then as we followed, the enemy didn’t know what hit them. This is classic violence of action. In close quarter battle there are 3 principles that must be used without hesitation, without thinking, to win the short gun fight. They are Speed, Surprise, and Violence of action. In our case, we won this scary confrontation even though we were outnumbered. We walked away without a scratch because these principles were adhered to. Because of the security man’s speed, even though we too were surprised, the violence of action was successful.
Violence of action is the principle by which we neutralize the threat as soon as possible. If I were to sum up the concept in one word, it would be dominance. We must dominate and overwhelm the enemy both physically and psychologically to prevent them from defending their position or mounting a counter-attack against us. When it comes to Violence of Action, overwhelming force is the name of the game. Think of it like this. You're watching a UFC or boxing match. You see one of the fighters launch a brutal series of punches into his opponent with the speed and ferocity of a machine gun. You can literally hear his fists smash into his opponent’s head as he shreds him into a bloody pulp. The beaten fighter buckles under the unrelenting storm of punches, unable to fight back or protect himself. Eventually, the referee steps in to stop the fight before someone gets seriously hurt. The fight is over. Pitted against such overwhelming force, the other guy never had a chance. Can we apply that to CQB? If our goal is to overwhelm and dominate the enemy, there's a number of ways we can get that done. From a military or law enforcement perspective,
we can begin by using demolitions to breach the door, tossing a flash-bang into the room
blasting holes or using a vehicle to ram open additional entry points into the wall.
Follow it up with a well trained team flooding the room with guns and that's violence of action in a perfect world.
But what about in a civilian context? Does violence of action apply to a security-minded citizen? Yes, it can. If you have to clear your house or enter a shopping mall to retrieve a loved one during an active shooter event, violence of action is especially critical. And while you may not have breaching assets or demolitions handy, or even a team, you can still establish violence of action.
Utilizing fast, aggressive maneuver and fire superiority may be all you have. But if you do it right, it may be all you need. Anything that allows you to gain and maintain dominance over the enemy is what we're looking for.
The principles of speed, surprise, and violence of action all have a synergistic relationship to the others. Gaining the element of surprise will help you with speed. Moving with speed will help you sustain violence of action. Speed and violence of action can help you gain the element of surprise. They all work together. But just like with speed and surprise, there are common mistakes shooters make when implementing violence of action. We could go down a large rabbit hole in talking about all this but let’s focus on three mistakes that can overturn all these principles.
Failure to commit is the first mistake.
You know about the fatal funnel, usually a doorway or threshold you must cross to advance toward the threat. These funnels are where you are the most vulnerable. Moving through them quickly is imperative but moving deliberately and quickly when you don’t know where the threat is. Because of this danger new shooters may freeze causing many problems. A static target in a fatal funnel is of course very dangerous but also stops the other team members from entering.
Danger is danger. If you are going into a place where you know a bad guy is, there will be danger. So, when you must go, go! Move in a controlled and aggressive manner. Dominate the space. Commit to move, and then work the plan. You should be flexible because combat is often unpredictable.
The second mistake is inadequate weapon skills. You must know your weapon if you are to take it into combat. You need to be able to reload it in the dark. You need to be able to clear it in a moment. You should also know how to transition from your primary weapon to your secondary. When I taught tactics in the military, I found that even those with training and experience can fail at weapons manipulation, clearing malfunctions, and transitioning was always a hang up. You must practice these three things until you have the muscle memory to do them without thinking or in your sleep. This is no joke, I saw people die in combat because they could not clear a weapon!
There are many things you may not be told will happen in CQB. The stress, fear, and overload of battle is something you need to think about and be ready for. You should learn safety in battle such as: not flagging others if you happen to be with someone, keeping your finger off the trigger until you know what and who you are engaging, muzzle discipline. Combat is a mess. It’s usually quite loud. It can be very confusing in terms of where the enemy is, where rounds are coming from, and who should be shooting where. The sights, deafening sounds and adrenaline can cause debilitating fear and hesitation. These are emotions you must control. For me it was anger. I was very angry someone was actually trying to kill me! It made me angry but I needed to keep it in check and under control or I could have done some stupid things.
When jams or malfunctions occur on the flat range they are simple and easy to correct. But when they occur during a close quarters engagement, it can be catastrophic. You and your team need a plan of action for how you will handle these a malfunction should it occur. When you are solo shooting from cover is imperative. Having a malfunction out in the open is a really bad day. Make it part of your standard operating procedures (SOP), so that everyone is on the same page. The same goes if you're working alone. Have a plan and work it into your training.
Another mistake that is common is targeting. Discrimination is extremely important in CQB. Don’t shoot your friends. It irritates them. Remember you can only move as fast as your eyes process the room or battlefield. Move with intent and deliberately.
Shot placement is a part of targeting. In CQB, the enemy must be incapacitated immediately. Shots that wound, but do not immediately incapacitate aren't much better than missing the target completely. Why? Because even if you inflict a mortal wound, if the threat is not immediately incapacitated, he can still pull the trigger and kill you with his dying breath. To ensure immediate incapacitation, you must make well-placed head shots.
The challenge is many of us have been taught to aim center mass of the target. Head shots aren't something we're accustomed to doing on the move. And while chest shots that enter the heart and lungs are normally fatal, it may take several seconds for the threat to expire. Again, that's enough time for him to return effective fire on you. Besides, the threat could be wearing body armor. Yet another reason why head shots are necessary.
To gain immediate incapacitation, aim for the area approximately in the center of the face, below the middle of the forehead, but above the upper lip. That will "turn off the lights."
But why the head? Can't we achieve incapacitation with a shot to the spinal column? Yes, a hit to the spinal column (anywhere below the jaw and the top of the sternum) can get it done, but that's a very narrow target. If you're off by even a few centimeters, you may leave him with enough gas in the tank to deliver a fatal shot to you. Train yourself to make well-placed head shots and you avoid the problem altogether.
Now, having said that, there is another way to approach the issue of shot placement. I know of some units that don't train their personnel to take head shots. Instead, they prefer the to teach "shoot the threat center mass and continue shooting until the threat is down" approach. Personally, I'm good with that too.
Remember the three principles of Close Quarter Battle, which are speed, surprise, and violence of action. We discussed each element but have only scratched the surface.
I know that some of this is hard to deal with. Most civilians don’t run into an armed roving patrol. But if you are alone and face 3 guys intent on doing you harm you may have to employ some of the above tactics. Most confrontations are at close quarters. Unlike a battlefield your only objective is to stop the threat. Stopping the threat may not be a head shot. But if 3 guys are twice my size and are coming at me with knives I will respond as I have been taught. But always remember to live by ADD (Avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation).
Close quarter battle is not often needed by the average concealed carrier. But many of the principles apply.
Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn
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