Many debates on tactical fitness focus on the question of which exercise or routines are the most effective. We believe the more important question is, how do we measure whether a fitness program actually improves effectiveness in a given mission set? Part 1 of this three-part article offers five common sense fitness principles that provide a good starting point for answering this question. Whether you are a unit leader/commander or an individual citizen, the same core principles of combat performance evaluation, program development, physical performance testing, personalized adjustment and worst-case scenario planning can help greatly improve your combat fitness and mission readiness.

Special Tactics is planning some major evolutions, including more articles/debates and the release next month of three new titles that are now available for pre-order. In the coming weeks, Special Tactics will be posting blog articles that relate to these upcoming titles as well as the current selection of tactical manuals. There is also some additional post-activity and new website functionality planned so stay tuned.

After publication of the Single-Person Close Quarters Battle manual, a large number of readers requested more information on two-person tactics. Given the rising frequency of deadly attacks and terrorist incidents, it is not unlikely that armed citizens and security professionals will find themselves in situations where they need to defend themselves with the help of a partner. This book focuses on deliberate, defensive tactics designed to increase your chances of survival in a deadly attack. 

The Law Enforcement CQB Manual is now ready to ship. The manual provides a wide selection of common sense concepts and tactical options, designed to help law enforcement officers develop their own mission-specific tactics, techniques and procedures to increase survivability and effectiveness. The manual is intended to be useful to all law enforcement personnel from the lone patrol officer who faces threats every day on the street, to the tactical teams that serve high-risk warrants and respond to hostage situations.

Special Tactics holds the opinion that overall, American citizens and communities are not doing enough to prepare for deadly terrorist attacks. We have fire drills, but why is there so little formal education and training for how to deal with a deadly terrorist attack? Potential terrorist targets such as schools, airports, offices and places of worship are often poorly prepared to deal with a deadly attack perpetrated by terrorists or violent criminals. To help counter this threat, Special Tactics is releasing its first “Mini Course,” a 20-slide presentation entitled Surviving a Deadly Attack in an Enclosed Environment.

In preparation for the release of our new Law Enforcement Close Quarters Battle manual, this debate compares the traditional points of domination room entry technique with the newer limited penetration techniques. This debate is important to the new manual, since the manual takes a balanced approach that is designed to be flexible enough to be useful for any department and modified to fit existing tactical preferences and SOPs. Limited penetration techniques call for the tactical team to clear a room and engage targets while standing in the doorway or remaining very close to the door, without penetrating deeper into the room. The points of domination technique calls for the tactical team to rapidly penetrate deep into a room and assume points of domination with interlocking fields of fire.

The hard copy (paperback) version of the Single-Person Close Quarters Battle Manual is now available. The manual is the same size as a standard magazine (8.5 x 11) in order to make the illustrations and diagrams easy to see. The manual is for sale online at the Special Tactics Pro Shop.

The tactical concept of “slicing the pie” has been around for many years and is known by several names including “threshold evaluation,” and “angled clearing.” Special Tactics advocates a slightly different approach to its execution than what is taught by some other tactical schools. The key difference is speed. While some schools advocate executing the movement very slowly, Special Tactics suggests moving as quickly as possible while maintaining some degree of weapon accuracy.

The scenario of a single Soldier or SWAT officer having to operate alone is relatively unlikely and often receives little attention. However, for ordinary citizens or for police officers responding to an emergency call, the chances of having to operate alone are quite likely, yet there are almost no tactical references (books, videos or classes) that provide useful information on the subject of single-person tactics. Special Tactics has just published a digital manual to help fill the dangerous capability and knowledge gap in the area of single-person tactics.

Quality tactical training is essential for keeping our military and law enforcement professionals at the top of their game. However, many training courses, schools and unit-level training exercises fail to achieve true, sustainable performance enhancement. This article provides a simple list of twelve questions to help leaders and students gauge the quality of tactical training programs.

This debate compares two different ways to stack on a door while conducting urban operations. While these techniques each have several names, we will refer to them as the “close stack” and the “dispersed stack.” For security reasons, keep the discussion at the conceptual level and use general terms.

Special Tactics believes that analyzing the enemy is extremely important. While this is an older video, it still offers some valuable insights both on the threat and our failure to understand it. Special Tactics respectfully disagrees with Dr. Anthony Cordesman’s analysis of the Daesh training video in the CNN interview.

Proponents of Maneuver Warfare are often labeled as mavericks who have trouble conforming to military culture and discipline. In turn, "Maneuverists" often brand their opponents as uncreative micromanagers who can only win with overwhelming firepower. However, such heated debates are often misguided and founded on misunderstanding. Several key insights can help illuminate the true essence of Maneuver Warfare and its opposite: “Synchronization Warfare.”

This is the first of many debates that will be hosted by Special Tactics. Debate topics will cover everything from individual skills to battalion-sized combined arms operations. This first debate compares the “low-ready” weapon carry technique to the “high-ready” weapon carry technique.

Why are there so few books or references on tactics? Retired Navy Captain Wayne P. Hughes’ excellent book, Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat is arguably the only book on naval tactics published in the modern era. Good books on land warfare tactics, air combat tactics and law enforcement tactics are almost as hard to find.