I train…
irregularly, but at least once a month.
If you are new to this, the militia is simply a gathering of interested people. Some of us voted Obama, some Bush, some don’t vote. But we all feel responsible to respond in an emergency, whatever emergency that may be. We’ve taken an oath to protect the constitution from enemies foreign and domestic, but I think we all have ideas that could improve it. We’re a diverse bunch, black, white, Christian, Atheist, conservative, lib… well.. liberals don’t really show up. Who knows why. We really aren’t that political when we meet because politics kind of gets in the way of the reason why we are even together.
But its important to train, to practice, to be ready to respond, equipped and able to defend our families and our livelihood from what weather may come. Hence, I train.
I love training with these guys because a majority of them are former Army and Marines. They are casual, expert, and tremendously deadly. Most of them served during Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of them in combat deployments.
When I’m with this particular group…
we always run ECP drills. ECP stands for Entry Control Point, or in layman’s terms ‘guarding the gate’; a 4-man check-point. One man speaks and issues commands, one man searches the perimeter of the vehicle, two over-watch. The man who issues commands is supposed to get each person out of the vehicle and search them one at a time, then the vehicle, before being allowed through the front gate.
We rotate our attending members through all 4 positions in the drill and over the course of an hour everyone gets to practice each position once. We normally go 2 or 3 hours.
A good trainee will repeat the same thing over and over until the process is grilled, hot and black, into their brain.
A good trainer will change things up and remind you how impotent and mortal you really are. So that you will train harder.
At this particular moment…
I was the person speaking. My duty weapon was low ready, single point harness, right hand on, left hand gesturing. My search-man is low ready, flanking the vehicle. Over watch has our backs, driver and passenger in reticle.
“Stop the vehicle.” The vehicle slows and stops.
“Roll down your windows. Turn off your engine. Keep your hands high on the steering wheel. You two in the back seat, keep your hands high on the seat in front of you where I can see them. You, ” I gesture to the front passenger, “keep both your hands on the dash.” The front two comply. There is commotion in the back seat.
The driver screams, “I have a man shot! They got him in the leg. He’s bleeding out, we need help!”
I radio to over-watch, “Have a medic on standby, one possible gunshot wound, we’re going to clear the vehicle.”
The driver screams, “You need to hurry man, he’s dying!”
“Reach out through the window, with your left hand, open the door from the outside. Exit the vehicle.”
Entry Control Point Drill
He begins to comply but two of the other passengers also begin to exit. My search man yells, “Stay in the vehicle!”
The driver starts to get back in. I tell him to get out of the vehicle.
I’m confused. The driver seems confused, my search man is focused on the front passenger.
As the driver starts to get back out I see his right hand reach under the seat and quickly flip a weird object in my direction. It fumbles in the air lopsided.
One of the back passengers has raised a hand gun to show my search man that he is down, search man is out of play now.
That weird object was heavy, it dinged my rifle when I hit it out of the air. But I didn’t identify it. Dumbfounded, I just stood there trying to figure out what it was. Me, just staring at the ground.
Over-watch probably could have neutralized the threat from here on out.
It took me about 6 seconds to realize I was looking at a grenade.
The driver, our top ranking man, we call him Top, laughed. Points to my search-man: “You’re dead.” Points to me: “You’re dead. And if over-watch wasn’t paying attention then they’re probably dead too.”
“I did everything right” I thought, “I could have dove away from the grenade if I knew what I was looking at, but the occupants of the vehicle were going to continue toward me and they were armed.”
Top said “Sometimes, people die.” He continued, “I’d rather that poor sucker in the back of that car die from his wounds, than for you two to die trying to save him. If the passengers don’t comply, you are not obligated to render aid, if they want aid, they will comply. In a heated situation – maybe its a dad and his son is legitimately shot and he actually does need help. He’s panicking, his son is dying, and he thinks you aren’t going to help him or he considers you to be a threat.”
We glanced at each other, he continued, “This is ECP, this is not a charity. You control this entry point. You are the lives standing in between those outside our wire and those inside our wire. You are not obligated to render aid, you are obligated to control this entry point at all costs.”
“That being said,” he finished, “Shit will hit the fan, and people will need help and we ought to provide what we can. Just don’t do it to the detriment of the entire camp. You’ll run into more uncertainty than you will certainty, stick to your orders. Control This Entry Point.”
I’ve never in my life had a grenade thrown at me…
and I’m still not sure there was even a ‘right answer’ to the drill.
I died last Saturday…
but I’m grateful to be able to re-spawn, for now.
By Sovereign Wil – DontComply.com
