There are times in our lives when we encounter something more challenging than we’ve ever faced before. They’re critical moments that help define who we are, and either strengthen or destroy our confidence. For those of us in law enforcement those moments may present themselves in training or on the street. I call such challenges “thresholds”, and the key question becomes, “Will you step over the threshold?”
Each person has their own threshold regarding pain and levels of danger. Indeed, we see people on the TV or Internet doing absurd things such as jumping off bridges while attached to a bungee cord, or jumping over a car speeding toward them. We often refer to these types as daredevils. Realistically, I think they’re irresponsible fools who put their lives in danger needlessly.
Contrast that type of person to LE men and women. Our levels of danger and pain likely relate to our profession. For instance, during training do we give it our all and work until we’re exhausted? Or do we participate up to the point where we begin to feel uncomfortable? Being uncomfortable is not a pleasant feeling, but reaching that point and pushing past it - on a regular basis - could be just the thing that one day saves our life or that of another. If you condition your body and psyche to push beyond tolerance, you create stress inoculation.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the term, stress inoculation (SI). In short, SI is the ability to adapt to things one faces despite highly adverse conditions. SI allows us to become resilient and have the ability to cope with, and navigate through, crises. Resilience is a positive adaption after having experienced a stressful or adverse situation, and it allows a person to rebound from adversity with more strength and the ability to function normally.
Therefore, to apply SI pragmatically to our training, our trainers must somehow create situations and scenarios that mimic critical situations we’re likely to encounter. Better yet, recreate incidents that have actually occurred and use them to expose the dangers and lessons learned. As an example, much of our work involves being physical - we chase and fight people. However, not all of our training addresses those types of encounters. What’s needed is training that involves running and climbing and then going hands on with a combative subject. I’m sure we’ve all been there - chasing a subject and then needing to subdue and cuff them. It may only have taken a couple of minutes, but by the time the thug is cuffed we’re mostly out of gas.
That’s a threshold moment. Most officers will accept the challenge and do whatever it takes. Some, unfortunately, will fight up to the moment they begin to feel fatigued or uncomfortable. In that instant they’ve lost the fight and the subject escapes, or worse, injures the officer. Incidents like this are the reason we need to train to step over the threshold, to inoculate ourselves to stress so that we automatically adapt to the challenge and win.
The same theory applies to firearms situations. If our trainers only offer qualification targets and a static line, we may as well skip that training because it’s not likely to serve us well in a gunfight. What’s needed are challenging courses that demand we push ourselves to the point of exhaustion and fatigue - ones that make us question our abilities; that make us sweat and pant. Courses that are conducted indoors and out, in bright sunny weather and lowlight conditions - in cold and hot temperatures - with cold weather gear, in uniform or plain clothes - in other words, train how you will fight.
I know most trainers are on board with this mindset. It’s the admin folks (stating liability and safety concerns) that always K-5 our ideas to make training more realistic. Frankly, some of their reluctance is because they’d have to undergo the same rigorous training and they’re likely afraid they’d fail. The answer, trainers, is to continue to push your agenda and ideas to conduct stress inoculation training. It means your efforts will likely save an officer’s life by teaching them not to hesitate at the threshold, but rather step over it.
Stay Safe, Brothers and Sisters!
John Wills
John M. Wills is a former Chicago police officer and retired FBI agent. He is a freelance writer and award-winning author in a variety of genres, including novels, short stories and poetry. John also writes book reviews for the New York Journal of Books, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. His new book, The Year Without Christmas, is available now. Visit John at: www.johnmwills.com.
