Leadership and Training for the Fight

Using Special Operations Principles to Succeed in Law Enforcement, Business, and War

Paul R. Howe

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781616083045
• eBook ISBN: 9781628730005
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

• Ideal for fans of Dave Grossman, Paul Howe, George Thompson, and other authors of police books
• A brilliant military intelligence book that shares leadership and training for the fight
• Includes riveting stories of military operations

In Leadership and Training for the Fight, MSG Paul R. Howe, U.S. Army Retired, shares his thoughts on leadership that he has developed through extensive combat experience. Howe analyzes leadership concepts. He also provides advice on how to understand students and to change your teaching methods. This military and leadership training book is based on Howe's unique insight as a Special Operations soldier. Leadership and Training for the Fight is the perfect guide for anyone interested in improving their leadership skills, whether in military or civilian situations.

 

PART I

THE MENTALITY AND ACTUALIZATION OF LEADERSHIP

1

COMBAT MIND-SET

Take it like you own it and leave it like you sold it.

—From a former Special Ops sergeant major

• COMBAT MIND-SET DEFINED

• THE PROBLEMS WITH HUMAN NATURE

• DEVELOPING A SINGLE COMBAT MIND-SET

• AGGRESSIVENESS IS THE KEY

• TACTICAL CONFIDENCE

• INDIVIDUALIZED MENTALITY: FIGHT- THROUGH MIND-SET

• TEAM LEADER MENTAL PROGRAMMING

• TACTICAL COMMANDER MENTAL PROGRAMMING

SCENARIO: NIGHT ACTION

We had a full moon, one that seemed to be one hundred percent illumination. I watched a couple of Rangers move from the command post (CP) to the corner of the RPG alley with what appeared to be an M60 machine gun. They hadn’t been there more than a few minutes when a gunman fired an RPG that impacted the corner they were using for cover. The impact of the round and the subsequent explosion knocked them off on their ass. A few folks from the CP came out and dragged the men back to safety. I called in to the assault commander (AC) and told him to get the gunships in and work the alley over. He reported to me that the command and control (C&C) bird was not sure where everybody was and that they would not give us fire support.

I was fucking pissed.

I told him that there were not any friendlies up that alley. For a moment, I lost my composure and switched the frequency on my radio from the working net to the command net that the C&C bird was monitoring. I called my commander in the air and told him, “You get those goddamn gunships in here right now.” I relayed that I just watched two Rangers get peeled off a wall and that, “there were not any good guys up that alley.”

Afterward, I switched my radio directly to the gun bird pilots and requested fire missions. They were more than happy to deliver some steel on target. Actually, they had already taken the initiative and performed some gun runs without the C&C bird’s approval, keeping many of the bad guys off of us. These pilots set the standard time and time again, proving that they had the greatest courage, initiative, and discrimination, culminating in an incredible warrior ethic. The gun bird pilots requested that we mark our position, and we did. Shortly afterward all the positions were marked. Anything outside our markings was fair game for their miniguns and rockets. They continued to tune up anyone intent on causing us problems.

Things were starting to slow down as the sun set. We got quiet and started using the shadows of our new home. You could hear the pilots servicing some large groups of militia who were assembling and trying to move on us. The bad guys were bringing their forces from all over the city to rendezvous points, issuing battle plans and then moving toward our positions. The pilots were engaging groups of forty to fifty people at a time, clearing the street with their miniguns, which reminded me of a chainsaw biting into wood.

Soon the smaller enemy began to probe us using three- to six-person elements. I was scanning the intersection twenty-five meters to my left and then back to the corner of the alley about twenty-five meters to my right front. It was quiet – too quiet.

Suddenly I heard loud jabbering and saw three individuals appear out of the alley to my right. They were dressed in dark pants and light-colored shirts. I asked Tony, my assistant team leader, if there were any Rangers still in that position. He said, “No.”

I raised my CAR-15 from its low ready position and swept my safety to full auto. I placed my tritium front sight post on the middle thug and knew that I would sweep from center man to right and then back across the cluster. I figured Jake would take the lead guy. I braced the heavy CAR-15/shotgun combo against the doorframe for added support. I waited a few more seconds for Jake to take the lead. Jake was twenty yards across the street in the CP, ten yards from the alley corner. Jake was on them and illuminated the first bad guy with his white light.

The man stood there stunned for about a second or two with an AK in a low ready position. They looked like raccoons caught red-handed in a garbage can. Jake began to service him with a few rounds of 5.56 green tip (standard issue NATO cartridge). I cut loose into the center man full-auto and swept to the third and then back to the first, firing a total of about fifteen rounds.

Out of my peripheral view, I could see the rounds sparking off the alley wall twenty feet behind them in a tight pattern. The weight of the weapon and the supported position helped manage the recoil and keep my group tight. The next day showed a group slightly larger than a basketball in the wall behind where they had been standing.

The gunman farthest to the right in the group went down hard and fast, while, to my amazement, the first and second man moved around him and began dragging him back up the alley from where they came. The boys across the street said they did not make it far up the alley. They later reported that they could hear moaning probably where the trio collapsed and died from loss of blood.

Tony said calmly, “We should probably spread out.” I began to respond, “That’s probably a good idea.” We had taken two to three rooms of what might be considered a small house or apartment. Tony took Kim and moved through a barred window that Scott had torn out. They linked up with a fragmented group of Rangers and a couple of our guys to include a Special Operations medic. This window separated the house we were in and the next house, which connected to the alley and overlooked a crashed Black Hawk helicopter. As a buddy team, they each took a window with different fields of fire, but could see each other in the same room. One controlled the street to the north and the alley where the bird lay, and the other controlled the alley to the west where we had taken so much fire earlier.

Across the street, the CP had gotten quiet. We had several leaders there, four as a matter of fact. The AC and another leader of the same rank, plus two senior NCOs and an assault team were present in the courtyard and in the house. The second officer was along on the hit for a bit of on-the-job training, while the two senior NCOs ran platoon-sized elements. From my perspective, they were all relying on the one AC to absorb all the incoming information, process it, and then make all the tactical decisions. I think these “leaders” were in a bit of shock at how quickly and violently the battle had escalated. Probably 80 percent to 90 percent of the information was going from them to the C&C bird and not to us on the ground.

At the TL level, we were trying to tie in the now current positions of our perimeter with interlocking fire. I was on the internal channel talking with the other teams, trying to establish fields of fire and trying to ensure that we had all the approaches covered. It is tough to do at night, talking about intersections and terrain features, hoping that you and your counterpart were looking at the same area. We established a protocol of sorts: When you were about to shoot at incoming enemy, time permitting, you would radio and alert the force. You gave a direction, description, and distance; and then you would engage your threats. You would then give a brief call when you finished shooting to let everyone know what the outcome was. Sometimes the bad guys came in too quick, and you just had to shoot first and then do your call. The first method helped ease your nerves, because you knew in your mind what was coming. The second method caused you to tense up until you received the status report. You did not know if the team or your position might be overrun and you might have to turn your direction elsewhere. Also, by being alerted, you could tuck back in and not be exposed to friendly or enemy fire or “bleed over” fire from the exchange.

During this and other actions, our internal radios enabled us to effectively communicate and keep the force informed. The one technical problem we faced was that of battery life. As most law enforcement personnel are aware, communications are one of the biggest weaknesses in the system. Ours were no different. Our batteries were a rechargeable type that did not last long when transmitting. For years we had asked for a disposable lithium-type battery that you could carry in an emergency and talk on for days when things got tough. To ensure constant radio communication, one person on the buddy team would turn their radio off and receive the information verbally from his partner to save battery life. After a few hours, they would switch radios, and the other man would turn his on. This went on all night.

Everyone was on edge, and my biggest fear was that of being overrun. I went through a mental checklist of my equipment, my “layered offense” as I termed it, and how I was going to do business if the bad guys came at us en masse.

I checked all my rifle magazines and ensured that I could easily get to them should we get hit with a wave of enemy bodies. I thought about stacking them on the window ledge next to the door, but that would limit my mobility. I would be stuck there in that position, good or bad. I chose to keep them on my body. I checked my shotgun rounds; I still had the thirty or so I had brought in with me. Should my rifle fail or I run out of ammo, I would go for my shotgun and #4 buck. Should I need to transition from my shotgun, I would go for my pistol.

I had one mag in the gun and two on my belt. My final check was my last frag and my knife. I had one large fragmentation grenade left. I would save my frag for a large group of fighters or to clean some hard cases from out around a corner. My knife was for when it got up close and personal. Before I got to that point, I would prefer to pick up an enemy AK assault rifle, as I always had a soft spot for it in my heart for its reliability and knock-down power and for the power of its cartridge.

As the night wore on, Tony and Kim started to get some trigger time. They would engage the bad guys here and there, allowing them to come down a wall to an indefensible position and then open up with a 40mm grenade to the front and 5.56 on both sides with great results. At one point, I was scanning the intersection to my left, one that was supposedly covered by a sister team, when this bad guy comes walking down the center of the street. I was trying to put my light cover back on my rifle gun light when I had a white light accidental discharge (AD).

Simply put, I screwed up, and my white light flashed the ground. Instead of going straight, this recon scout made the last bad decision in his life and turned toward us and started walking down the center of our street. He was doing a recon, trying to pinpoint our positions so he could later bring back his friends with RPGs to try and root us out. I pulled my pistol out and started tracking him, putting my tritium sights center mass of his right side. He was a big guy, over six feet and stocky. Looking at the background of my target, I realized would be shooting almost directly into the CP and my muzzle flash would be exposed to three different directions.

So I got on my radio and called Jake and told him to take the guy out when he leaves the perimeter. Jake had a great position at his gate that concealed him from all angles but one. Jake acknowledged and let the guy walk about fifteen feet and then fired one round that struck him in the lower left of his back and exited the right front side, the bullet poofing out of his shirt as it exited his body. The guy spun around and looked at Jake for a second, at which time Jake serviced him with two to three more rounds in the chest, dropping him in his tracks. This bad guy dropped in the wrong spot and later became a speed bump for some of our recovery and convoy vehicles.

Immediately a voice came over the radio, one of the senior NCOs in the CP, saying, “I don’t think he had a gun.” I thought to myself, “What a dumb motherfucker.” He still had not switched over to combat.

Just then, as I was scanning back to my left, I saw another guy was walking down the center of the street where the first one had come from. I raised my rifle and was tracking him with my front sight, and I had a good squeeze going on my trigger, when bam, the guy dropped. A sister TL (who I thought had that area covered) had just opened a window and saw this guy in the middle of the street, probably twenty feet away. He tagged him with several rounds and immediately got on the radio, saying, “You gotta tell me when these guys are coming in.” I laughed and told him that I thought he had that area covered. He did, and I did not take it for granted. Things tend to look different in the day than at night. Lesson learned.

An hour or so later, the two deceased recon scouts’ friends decided to come pay us a visit. The light from the moon was so bright it produced night shadows. These were cast from buildings, trees, etc. I was watching the intersection to the left again, even though it was supposedly covered, and caught sight of a Somali gunman on a knee, poking his AK around the corner. He fired one shot down the wall toward the area of the CP. I told the guys in the CP to tuck in and hold tight. The path leading to the CP was sloping and the round went way above their heads. This guy was reconning by fire. This is an old military technique where you shoot and then see who shoots back.

We all held our fire, and he got a little braver. He crawled on his hands and knees halfway down the wall with his AK tucked under his arm, moving like a jungle cat, slow and precise. He used the shadows as he moved, and I viewed his movement as a work of art. He moved up to a point about twenty feet from the CP, looked hard for a moment, turned around, and went back to the corner from which he came. I told Scott to get ready—we were going to get some business. We had just taken up a high/low position when all of a sudden the corner where the bad guy was exploded in gunfire, one-sided, of course.

It seemed the other team spotted him, and there turned out to be five more of his friends getting ready to move on the CP. Our sister team worked them over good, putting rounds into all of them. Again, they managed to drag their dead and wounded back up the street. Once the first light came, there were no bodies to be seen.

AFTER-ACTION COMMENTS

SUSTAIN

• Continue to require individual initiative at the team member and TL level to ensure that they are thinkers that are shooters and shooters that are thinkers.

• Ensure the communication process continues at the individual and team levels.

• Know when to change from a surgical mind-set to a combat mind-set. Discuss this before you go into harm’s way. Otherwise, as a leader, let them know when to shoot by setting an example.

IMPROVE

• Don’t layer fire support. The soldiers on the ground know who is shooting at them and from where. Generally, fire support gets screwed up when you get a third and fourth party involved.

• Senior leadership needs to get proactive; check the perimeter and support the teams in the fight. Again, lead by example.

COMBAT MIND-SET DEFINED

An aggressive combat mind-set is possessed by people who can screen out distractions while under great stress to focus on the mission and are willing to go into harm’s way, against great odds if necessary. Hemingway might have described it as “grace under pressure.” Simply put, we must be able to maintain our focus and composure and not allow fear or stress to cause us to make stupid mistakes. Combat mind-set sets the stage for all components of this book. Without it, you will be unable to employ positive and decisive leadership in critical situations.

The problems that affect combat mind-set lies with human nature. When the sound of shots ring out, the average person will stop and cringe physically and mentally. As soon as their mind registers what the shots actually are—i.e., gunfire—their fight-or-flight response wil...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Note to Reader
• Preface
• Introduction: Accelerating the Loop
• Part I: The Mentality and Actualization of Leadership
• 1. Combat Mind-set
• 2. Individual Leadership
• 3. Selection
• 4. Team Leadership
• 5. Organizational Leadership
• 6. Combat Leadership
• 7. Training for the Fight
• 8. Leadership Planning
• 9. Counseling and Mentorship
• 10. Realities of Combat and Tactical Tips
• Part II: Tactical Instruction and Leadership in the Field
• 11. Developing yourself into a Good Student
• 12. Developing a Teaching Mind-set
• 13. Understanding the Student
• 14. Understanding the Whole
• 15. Developing Tools to Teach a Class
• 16. Developing a Specific Course Curriculum
• 17. validation and Refining your Instruction
• 18. Managing high-Risk Training: General Concepts
• 19. Managing high-Risk Training:The Tactical Rifle and Pistol Instructor Models
• 20. Managing high-Risk Training:Shoot house Instructor
• 21. Managing Leadership Training:The Tactical Team Leader
• 22. Safety
• 23. Technical Skills, Tactical Skills,and Their Integration
• 24. Maintaining the Instructor Edge
• 25. Selection or Training Courses
• 26. Training Combat Mind-set
• 27. The Profession of Training
• Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations