"The Tactical Advantage" by Gabriel Suarez

• Even an ace tactician will die if he puts himself into a no-win situation.
• The mental attitude, or mindset, you have when you are faced with violence has as much, and probably more, effect on the outcome as any other factor.
• The first step is the realization that everybody in the world is not a polite, hard-working patriot like you. There are predators out there in the concrete jungle, just as in any jungle. These predators have no regard for your life, your family, or your possessions.
• The second step in the mental development of a non-victim is the willingness to defend oneself when offered violence.
• Simply stated, you must be willing to kill any man who would harm you or your family. You must be willing to offer greater violence for violence offered.
• We simply cannot go through life poised to draw and shoot everyone who we suspect might be a predator. We cannot anticipate specifically, so we must anticipate generally. We must develop a state of mind founded on environmental awareness where the sudden appearance of a hostile adversary doesn’t surprise us.
• Attitude makes all the difference.
• You must develop an escalating state of alertness and, subsequently, an awareness of the environment in which you operate. This will provide you with the ability to respond without hesitation when you are confronted with violence.
• The best method I know to obtain such a combative and aware mind-set is through intense study of the color code of readiness.
• The first mental state is simply unreadiness. In this condition, all your focus is within yourself on your private thoughts and problems, and you are completely oblivious to your surroundings. This mental state is characterized by the color white.
• The next ascending level of alertness s characterizes by the color yellow. A man in condition yellow is mentally relaxed, but he is aware of his surroundings.
• After condition yellow, we come to a condition of specific alert, characterized by the color orange. A man in condition orange has noticed one of those pre-fight clues and is specifically alert to its source.
• This final level is condition red, which means that a fight is now quite likely. We haven’t decided to shoot yet, but we’ve located a specific individual who may be hostile and who may require shooting, depending on his reaction to us. The determining factor to your response is the personal establishment of a mental trigger. This is simply your perception of the subject’s intent based on his actions.
• The mental trigger that you establish is limited only by your legal and moral rules of engagement. You must establish your mental trigger long before the fight so that when the event unfolds, you will not require a personal debate about whether you should shoot.
• Be specific with yourself about why you are there and what it is you are trying to accomplish.
• Knowing what you are getting into and what you are trying to accomplish may dictate the tactics you will choose.
• Rules of engagement will vary with the landscape, but generally a hostile with a gun in his hand will get shot. So will a hostile who rushes out to grab you while you are holding him at gunpoint, even if he is unarmed!
• The graveyards are full of men who believed in fair play.
• Remember, if you lose, you die!
• One of the deadliest misconceptions in tactical circles is that a single operator can safely negotiate an entire area (indoor or outdoor) alone.
• The rule is to avoid searching alone.
• The principles of military operations in urban terrain teach us that from built-up areas overwhelmingly favor the defender over the aggressor.
• Remember the reason you are searching, because that will determine the intensity and method of your efforts.
• Use your senses to look for target indicators.
• Target indicators are anything that will point to the presence of an adversary. They are often categorized as shine, movement, sound, smell, shape, contrast, human sign, and tactical sign.
• Human sign and tactical sign are indicators left behind by a sloppy adversary.
• Tactical sign are any indication that the adversary has modified his environment to his presence.
• Avoid producing target indicators.
• Searching a building for a hostile is 50 percent hunting and 50 percent avoiding being hunted.
• If you make an unintended noise, stop, look, and listen for about 60 seconds before proceeding.
• Do not assume something is secure until you’ve checked it out yourself.
• Be dead sure or be dead.
• Maximize your distance from potential threats and minimize your exposure to them.
• Do not let your muzzle (or feet) protrude into the unsecured space in front of you.
• Move tactically.
• When it is time to shoot, pay attention to the basics.
• The three secrets: sight alignment, sight picture, and trigger control.
• One of the fundamental rules of tactics is to stay away from corners. Corners are second only to doors as a potential hazard for the searcher.
• Do not walk down the middle of the hallway; stay to one side.
• Do not stand directly in front of the door, whether it is open or closed. The area directly in front of the door has often been called the “fatal funnel,” and many who have dallied there have paid for their mistake with their lives.
• Always “soft-check” the doorknob before trying to forcefully open the door.
• As you start to open the door, pull your weapon back toward your chest in either a close-contact position (if using a pistol) or an underarm assault position (if using a long gun)
• The angular search (sometimes referred to as “slicing the pie”) involves moving incrementally in a half-circle, clearing the room a sliver at a time and a step at a time from the outside.
• When you search a storage closet or any extremely close-quarters environment, your main concern should be weapon retention.
• Except for specific situations, both your eyes and your gun muzzle must always be oriented in the same direction.
• One of the primary lessons a gunfighter must learn is the difference between cover and concealment.
• Cover is anything solid that offers ballistic protection.
• Concealment is anything that hides your presence from the adversary.
• Sometimes cover will also offer concealment.
• If you are being attacked, your response must be to counterattack immediately.
• Realize that many things most people consider to be cover are really only concealment.
• Most of the things people tend to hide behind, thinking they are taking cover, can easily be penetrated by gunfire.
• Avoid changing hands to shoot from the support side.
• Shooting around cover is preferable to shooting over cover.
• The problem in reduced-light environments is identifying targets.
• Initially your light will be off. You will only turn it on to scan an area that you simply cannot see clearly enough with the ambient light. Do not stroll through the combat zone with your light beam on as you search.
• I cannot stress enough that, in no-light conditions, your first reaction to a stoppage must be to extinguish the light and move. Then you can fix the problem.
• If one of your people is hit, you reflexively shoot back at the source of the gunfire.
• The bottom line is that thou shall not abandon your wounded in the kill zone!
• If you can bring more people to the party then the bad guys, do so.
• Stealth is a primary concern when moving through a structure looking for an adversary.
• Do not relax too soon.
• If he initiates the action (shooting at you), you are already behind the reactive power curve. No matter how fast you are, your reactions will not be quick enough to prevent his actions.
• Is the adversary's life so important to you that you are willing to risk your life to keep from killing him? Your answer will determine your philosophy about such confrontations.
• Remember, action always beats reaction.
• Your first reaction when a hostile grabs your weapon must be to get the muzzle pointed toward him. Your intention is to shoot the attacker, not just get your gun back.
• Engaging in physical contact while you are under arms is to be avoided at all costs, because the risk of losing your weapon is too great.
• If you want to be successful (i.e., keep breathing), you must make your solution fit the problem. Don’t make the mistake of trying to force one technique fit every circumstance, because you will fail.
• One of the most important things you can do to enhance your firearms skills is constant and consistent dry practice of the fundamentals in conjunction with regular live-fire practice.
• Just as with any form of semi athletic skill, continuous practice is important to the development of tactical skills.
• Only perfect practice makes perfect performance.