MAY 2008

SFC HEADQUARTERS DOCTRINE

"Read by Thousands Round' the World!"

May 29 2008: The Military Weapons Range Continuum and the Knife

(Roy Reynolds and Mike Gillette demonstrate the perceived military knife combat fight, at least as so commonly trained. But is this dueling-based method the best for reality survival?)

The military knife by its very nature and size is a short range, close quarters weapon of silence and surprise, threat, control, shock and awe, injury and death. It exists near the end of an extensive, military weapons continuum and therefore sees actual little, practical use in combat in comparison. Since physical distance and range is an issue, here is the military weapons continuum by range.

Range 1: Long-range missiles
Range 2: Short-range missiles
Range 3: Shoulder-fire missiles
Range 4: Long range rifles
Range 5: Lessor range rifles and "sub guns"
Range 6: Grenades
Range 7: Handguns
Range 8: Bayoneted rifles
Range 9: Impact weapons
Range 10: Knives
Range 11: Other - Improvised weapons

“Down to the Knife,” is an old US Army military phrase. How often does a soldier actually engage in a knife fight? What are the odds that you will lose everything and be down to the knife. Worse odds yet, how will your enemy come to this point, that both of you will be in a dueling knife fight. Research shows that military knife fighting is a fairly rare occurance. Even more rare in this mixed-weapon world, is the probality that two enemy soldiers will settle in for a knife duel. Despite the weapons continuum, it has, can and will happen and therefore knife versus knife, knife versus hand, knife versus stick, knife versus gun threats, and knife versus improvised weapons training must be properly conducted in relation to its realistic, situational possibilities.

Adios, Amigos

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May 2008: Memorial Day Weekend...

Click here for more...

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20 May 2008: Ye' Old Detective Magazines - Murder, Mayham and Potboilers.

Remember these? A few decades back these magazines were everywhere. I could walk into a gas station in Arkansas, a 7-11 in Texas, a bookstore in Los Angeles, or a candy store in New York City and find an array of Detective Magazines on the racks. All the covers were of scantily, clad women in various layers of suffering, bondage, or holding weapons. Cleavage and guns. The text on the covers read the promise of actual mysteries, crimes and arrests. (Check out that one title-"can a 63-year old midget rape big country gals?")

By the way, and as an aside, corner stores in bigger, eastern cities were often called “candy stores” and may still be in some neighborhoods. They were the 7-11 stores of yesteryear and sold way more than just candy.

You can see how politically incorrect these covers became to the women's movement and soon, the magazines themselves disappeared completely from the stands. Gone too were the variety of odd, police-related ads, least of which the ubiquitous “detective courses,” have gone by the wayside. By lengthy and expensive correspondence you could learn to become…a detective. No doubt, flashing your correspondence course certificate down on the desk of any police chief, even J. Edgar Hoover himself and they would declare, “Why sit right down here boy, we have a job for an edamacated' man like yourself!”

One thing was certain however, despite the covers and the ads, the actual stories in the magazines were fastidiously researched! The reporters usually worked hard, traveled, attended court room trials and interviewed when possible, as many police and witnesses they could. So wrapped in all this sexest and culture junk, the case coverage was quite good. The story had to be a little flashy, a little newsy, very violent or very mysterious…well, what crimes do today's cable TV news shows cover? Those kinds of cases.

Two or three of my murder cases caught the detective magazines' attention and were covered in the 1980s. Another in our detective squad, David Scott had at least one or two stories printed also. I remember dropping the startling detective magazine on Scott's desk and David's eyes opening wide.

“You're in this one, bubba?”

“Oh, no.” he said, expecting lies and trouble. He read it, looked up and said. “That's pretty much right on.” Actually you could write a really good book on David Scott's interesting cases, adventures and misadventures. Instead, they picked a pretty tame one for the magazine.

In my case, one selected was a mystery and the public “loves a mystery,” as they say. A college professor was found murdered in his home and there were no apparent, common leads. Just a stabbed, dead guy and stuff stolen. Rich housing addition. Frightened neighbors. Shocked colleagues. You get the picture.

I would break down the progress of the case in a long chapter for mystery lovers? Some may like that and Lord knows that is what "Law and Order" and "CSI" does week after week. But to me, it is a tedious, potboiler and boring. So, long story short - the Prof was killed and his car and possessions stolen. His Mercedes turned up in the projects of Ft Worth, sans tires, in a wooded lot - a common car dumping ground. So…only a local would know where to dump the car! I spent a week in these projects, waving around reward money, trying to find a guy selling those tires to area people, chop shops, and car repair places. Guess what? I found the tire store! But it took about 60-plus hours of gumshoeing in the hood. I got a suspect name. Got the ties in evidence. But a solid murder case? Not yet.

In the crime scene, there was a big; “undusty” place on an open shelf in the prof's living room. This was once the home of a big screen TV? So next, I studied the prof's life. Going through his financial records, I discovered he had all of his possessions serviced and tuned-up on a tight schedule. I found a repair job on his big screen TV, visited the repair store and got the horsepower on the set. Armed with the make, model and serial number I changed boots and spent another few weeks in two different projects/slums, waving reward money, dropping my new suspect's name, looking for the sale of this TV set. My efforts paid off. A dope dealer bought the TV from my bad guy and he gave it to his father.

Late one Saturday night, I knocked on the door of a small, splintered, old wooden house in the projects. I saw through the door window an old black man, swallowed up in a sunken couch, in the dark, eyes wide, watching the professor's television, just 3 feet from his face. He let me in. I told him who I was and,

“Mister Wilson, if the serial number on your TV matches the one on my notepad here,

the TV has to leave with me.”

It did match and within two or more weeks I build a solid case and I arrested the bad guy one subsequent night. Caught him on a rolling stake-out of his common haunts I'd collected. Nothing exciting. I just showed him the business end of .45 and told him he was under arrest for murder. The bad guy was an ex-con, had a violent, criminal history and was once arrested by another one of our detectives, Mike “The Batman” Bateman. Bateman had scored a confession on that last case. Batman said he created a repoire with the bad guy, so I asked him to help me on this one. The two of us sat down with the bad guy. Bateman was invaluable, as he always was, just a great partner, and we got the confession, all the accomplices, etc. A pretty bow tied up, from a real head-scratcher.

Not a bullet, bulleted. Not a punch, punched. Not a chase, chased. Yet, this case made some headlines, and it was boring as hell to me. Most were anyway, but I never knew how boring...until they were over. The end could be exciting. You could actually die in the end sometimes. But speaking of headlines, I am told that the major university in our city had a monthly dean's meeting and the subject of their dead professor came up in the conference. All the criminal justice professors started dropping their scholarly opinions. One declared,

“Homicides are only solved within the first 48 hours…” Professor Hemlock declared.

“Hemmm-haw, hem-haw,” says the choir.

“This case is now over a month old. The case will never be solved.”

“Hemmm-haw, hem-haw. Here-here,” says the choir.

“Too bad the “real police,” like Dallas homicide, aren't working on this.”

“Hemmm-haw, hem-haw. Here-here. Yes-yes.” says the choir.

Then they all adjourned, left the meeting hall and right out there in the lobby was the daily newspaper with the big, glaring headlines,

“Denton Detective Arrests Professor Killer.”

My chuckling, spy-in-place (one of the deans) said the profs scoffed up the paper and read it aloud in groups. Yeah, shove that up your hem-haw, Brainiacs.

The other two detective magazine cases? I think the serial killer with the peeled faces stored in his refrigerator was one case, as chronicled here in earlier blogs. The other? I just can't remember. Probably it was another routine, boring killing and I wore some cowboy boot soles down to my socks.

Blood Triail: Me, Benny Parkey and Lonnie Flemming working on the street outside the prof's home. "Looking for clues" as they say. Benny Parkey is now the high Sheriff of Denton County, Texas. Lonnie is retired. David Scott is the head of a major, narcotics division. Mike "Batman" Batemen is now a judge. The killer's doing life. Me? I'm just a "karate bum" that kinda' gets around.

Addendum: I will never forget the day after the murder trial conviction. Bateman and I drove to the Ft Worth projects and distributed some of the $10,000 cash reward to various snitches and informants I had developed. I felt like a game show host or a lottery board dispenser. And then the Batman and I had some of the best Bar-B-Q brisket ever, in some ratty, bug-ridden, hovel of side-street, lunch shack.

Adios, Amigos,

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17 May, 2008: Are You Safe At Work?

The challenges for the military are obvious. Troops in the field are at risk. Rear echelon troops in the rear are at lessor risks and troops at home are like civilians in their normal jobs. The challenges for law enforcement and security are obvious. These troops in he field are at risk. Admin troops are at lessor risk and are much like the civilians in their normal jobs.

Civilians and their normal jobs. In the United States the Department of Justice and the Center for Disease Controll try to track injuries and acts of violence in the so-called sweeping term - “American Workplace” that arena where in a nation of some 300 million people, of whom teen-agers and adults toil at some job. Safety issues vary from the coal mine to business office. Important, but not the subject here.Other civilized countries have their own official groups keeping track of this issue. Excluding the vast amounts of workplace accidents and injuries, any place were people interact is a natural touchstone for interpersonal violence.

In a given year, 2005, there were a total of 559 homicides recorded. 421 were by shootings and 138 by the ever-mysterious “other.” (Other is by hands, vehicles, hammers, knifes, whatever). According to the Department of Justice, 1 in 6 violent crimes occur in the workplace. Murder is the leading cause of death for women on the job, more than from any other source of occupational injury. Sometimes the simple difference between these categories is good first aid and great EMTS and ERs. The homicide and its intent, seem to evaporate away for the stat table charts? What of simple assaults and aggravated assaults? There are estimates. The CDC reports that,

“an average of 1.7 million people were victims of violent crime

while working or on duty in the United States, according to a report published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), each year from 1993 through 1999. An estimated 1.3 million (75%) of these incidents were simple assaults while an additional 19% were aggravated assaults. Of the occupations examined, police officers, corrections officers, and taxi drivers were victimized at the highest rates. For the same time period, over 800 workplace homicides per year were recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.”

In order to shift focus to workplace violence some accepted guidelines and definitions were made. The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration developed a model in the 1990s describing three types of workplace violence based on the perpetrator’s relationship to the victim and/or place of employment. A fourth type was added based on a workshop convened by the Injury Prevention Research Center at the University of Iowa in 2000 [IPRC 2001]. These four distinct categories remain in existence today and are:

Criminal Intent (Type I ) when the perpetrator has no legitimate relationship to the business
and is usually committing a crime in conjunction with the violence (example: robbery, terrorism);

Customer/Client (Type II) when the perpetrator has a legitimate relationship with the business
and becomes violent while being served by the business (example: patients, students, inmates);

Worker-on-Worker (Type III) when the perpetrator is an employee or past employee who
attacks or threatens another employee or past employee.

Personal Relationship (Type IV) when the perpetrator does not have a relationship with the
workplace, but has a personal relationship with the intended victim.

When organizing doctrine to protect you, yours and the business you own or work in, fashion your programs to fight these problem areas.

Adios, Amigos,

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14 May 2008: Dummies and Bullets

Back in the 1970s, our police department range officer introduced what was a fairly common piece of training gear and practice into one of our qualifications. The dummy round. A dummy round is a bullet that doesn’t fire! Dummy! It has neither a cartridge or gun powder.

The textbook definition is as follows, “a dummy round for use in firearms training. The dummy round can be loaded in a conventional semi-automatic or fully automatic weapon. The dummy round is configured in the same manner as a standard round of live ammunition. This allows the dummy round to be loaded in a clip, chambered and ejected in a normal manner. The casing portion and the bullet portion of the dummy round are constructed of a single integral unit in order to eliminate the risk of separation of the dummy bullet from the casing during ejection of casing from the chamber.”

Our range officer, patrolman and Vietnam sniper vet, Jim Tom Bush always went out his way to liven up our qualifications and even spent copious amounts of off-duty time building moveable walls of shoot houses and varied courses for us etc. He really should have held a full time position doing this. All on his time, he was always battling the budgets and apathies of the desk-bound, coffee sippers, nay-sayers and cluck-cluckers of our administration. Looking back, when I was a younger fool, I should have volunteered to help Bush do all this work, instead of chasing around temporary, female prospects and altering the chemical formula of whiskey into urine.

Bush bought dummy bullets, probably out of his own wallet. It was the new era of the semi-automatic in law enforcement for many agencies and Bush felt our officers needed the new experience of a dud round, and a failed cycling. If your bullet was a dud in a revolver? You just simply kept pulling the trigger, thus turning the cylinder, and passing the bad bullet. But these newfangled “automatics?” (Some people still casually call semi-autos as “autos” or “automatics,” but we know in the big picture they are not. The older you are, the more you might slip and call one an “automatic”)

He needed a few boxes of standard-size dummy, bullets to pull the trick. On the range, a partner took your pistol while you faced “south” of the targets and studied the parking lot. Your friend may or may not insert dummy rounds into your magazines, and then in some random order. With a safe hand-off, and a bad drill team corner turn, he handed you your pistol and magazines and you shot the planned course. When your pistol went click instead of bang, you racked back the slide to pull the baddie bullet out and flipping off. This let the next good one into the chamber to continue. Unless your devious partner put two duds in a row?

I had never actually done these dummy bullet drills before, though the US Army training had warned us it could happen with our M-16s and .45s. Since so many common, range rounds are battered reloads, there is a calculable amount of duds in any shooting course. So, through the years I had experienced the rare, occasional misfire, and despite the verbal warnings of this possibility I still remember being just a bit shocked, like

“what the ___?”

when realizing my hammer fell on a dud. Then I recalled what to do. I have seen this shocked expression on others when this happened. Spoiled shooters we are!

However, I recall the different, mental mindset back then in that planted “dud” session. Knowing I would surely fall on a dud at any time, I was fully confident, ready and aggressive to deal with dud rounds. But, It was a feeling that passed away again through time though. Perishable. Three quals later, minus the dummies, duds became a low-event probability that would once again surprise us and slow me and my comrades down.

All this comes to my mind this month as the US Army now plans to overhaul their weapons training and qualifications. Troops have fired their long guns quals in this manner - 40 rounds of ammunition at 40 pop-up targets, firing from what they call cold-war era prone and foxhole positions. Trainees must hit 23 to pass. In the new proposed qual, trainees would shoot 30 rounds at 15 targets, BUT three rounds are duds - you still shoot 30 live rounds but each magazine is loaded with 11 rounds! One somewhere in the succession is a dud. Therefore, you work through 3 stoppages, all in ranges of 50 to 300 meters. The targets will not fall until a required number of hits knock them down, as the Army wishes soldiers to understand the need for multiple shots on one man at times. At this point in time, I cannot find any plans or regs that admit what a passing grade hit ratio is.

It seems to me when I went through my basic training qualification shoot in “Little Vietnam” Ft. Polk, LA in 1973, we shot pop up targets dressed like VC and NVA on a swampy, jungle trails that rose up at hill with the 300 meter shot at the top of the hill. (The far target may have been 280 meters? I just can’t remember anymore) I can’t recall any prone or kneeling positions in the test as it was a pretty mobile, forward moving course. You walked forward and shot at pop-ups. We shot hundreds of rounds on other Polk courses in all these other knee and prone positions. And we shot in full web gear of the day. No dummy rounds, though our drill sergeants called us dummies all the time.

In the field, bullets get beaten up, wet and dirty and all troops need the regular training of dealing with stoppages. I think this dummy bullet idea is great idea for civilian, police and military training.

Adios, Amigos,

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10 May 2008: Tomo Nage: The All-To-Forgotten Throw

The growling alien viciously charged Captain James T. Kirk. The force was overwhelming and Kirk could not match or defeat it. Instead, he took a note from his martial arts class at the Starfleet Academy and he grabbed the alien, fell back, planted both feet, toes pointing, duck-foot out, into the lower stomach/pelvis of the alien. The intrepid commander went with this rushing momentum and tossed the bad lizard man/thing clear over his head.

Captain James T. Llucana tosses alien Danny Killeen

Citizens, soldiers and police are often so charged and overwhelmed. It would be wise strategy to introduce them to this failsafe, worst case scenario, wheel throw escape. Often in chaotic practice and real world fighting, the wheel throw won't exactly manifest in a complete toss. But it will often yield a high right side or high left side toss.

If you can't manage the two-foot pelvis plant, then a knee and shin on the body, and a twist and throw might toss the opponent off of you still, but to the side.

Why is this body, wheel throw not a popular method. I don't know. Perhaps the "fear of flying" on the part of adult practitioners in classrooms may be a cause. Perhaps it seems to "martial artsy" for the immature eye of some complainers. But I think it is a valuable tool to use when dashed and crashed.

It has been officially in my Unarmed Combatives course in the level 5 "Forward Takedowns Module" for well over a decade. I think it is very practical thing to know and exercise.

Toss him sideways too if need be! Anything is better than him on top.

Use the foot, and if the opponent is too low? Then use the shin or knee.

Live long and Prosper

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7 May 2008: The Combat Clock: The Directions of Attack

Recently I wrote here about the attack delivery system of every weapon on the planet - thrust, hook, lunge or pump. This month, we add to this by asking and answering the question, WHERE will these thrusts, hooks, lunges and pumps come from? By doing so we learn how we attack or counter-attack.

Decades of differing martial arts confused me. Single systems were simple incomplete. Looking into other martial systems just meant learning a bunch of other, incomplete systems. One such problem in this frustrating rat race of systemologies, is the various lines of attack protocols each used for hand, stick, knife and gun tactics. The worst in my opinion are the two extremes - the over-simplified and the over-complicated.

1) The over-simplified systems that have that old disproved Hicks Law Theory that we can barely function with two or three tactics in our caveman brains. 2 or 3 angles of attack? Come on!

2 ) The over-complicated systems such as some of the Filipino methods that make you memorize various, very forgettable, disjointed, angle-of-attack, numerical patterns from 12, to 72, some even to 144 angles. Let me put it to you this way - only really committed people memorize and retain these angle patterns and sub-patterns. People often with the system logo/brand tattoo on their arm, are the kinds of dedicated people and commitment that will remember all these required angles of attack. I am convinced that these complicated numerical systems and the required, deep level of commitment needed are why Filipino martial arts are slowly disappearing on the market place into very small, hobby, workout groups. The student loss ratio is high and the material retention level is low. 72 angles of attack? Come on!

The simple clock. The unforgettable numbers of the clock. The clock face is an imprinted image in our minds since early childhood. (Sure, we see digital clocks here and there, but we will see the clock face for another century, maybe longer.) The simple angle of attack pattern is right on your wrist, work or play. I discovered - or better put - I re-discovered the simple, military clock method as a training foundation.

Hand, Stick, Knife, Gun Basic Combat Clock Training:

12 o'clock from axis to above

3 o'clock from axis the right,

6 o'clock from axis to below

9 o'clock from axis to the left

Axis point is the center

Hand, Stick, Knife, Gun Advanced Combat Clock Training:

From the axis out to all 12 numbers of the clock

Offense: you hook or thrust, lunge or pump at the numbers on the clock.

Defense : you block attacks coming in from these clock numbers.

Footwork and Groundfighting. Lay the clock down on the floor and you can dissect footwork patterns and ground strategies.

I have taught thousands and thousands of people from utter novices to experts, rookie cops to black belts, from all over the world, and I can get them to interact with each other in mere moments by using this basic clock point format.

Clockwise. Counter-clockwise. The clock imagery can also be used in numerous ways and explanations from timetables, to major troop movements to joint locks and blade twists.

And remember, when practicing these clock angles alone and "in the air" so to speak, you are only learning "weapon manipulation" skills. Whatever the weapon, be it a hook punch or a stick strike - "Solo Command and Mastery" skills - I call them, DO NOT assign strikes to body part targets in your official nomenclature. Do not always call a 12 o'clock strike a head strike, or a 3 o'clock hit a heart strike. In combat we do not know what position the enemy's body will be in. Plus, your first strike, stab or shot will probably change the template! You are only practicing a directional delivery skills when working alone. If you always imagine hitting specific body parts in your solo workouts, then change up the targets in your mind. Keep your mind open to options, to hunting moving targets that change.

I recall in the 1990s, a police academy instructor, kicked back in his office chair, feet on his desk, complaining to me,

"you can't teach these people anything. If you teach them three angles of attack?

In six months, they will forget two of them."

Instead of complaining, he should have been judiciously working ways to develop and mold doctrine into unforgettable, high retention methods. Lazy, uninspired bastard. He was wearing a wristwatch, by the way.

The combat clock. Simple. Unforgettable. Versatile. No tattoos required.

Adios, Amigos,

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2 May 2008: and Hock…You Take The Back!”

When I walked onto the Criminal Investigation Division floor to start my 3pm to 11pm evening shift, I could tell something was “up.” The day shift guys were scrambling to get their tactical vests and assorted personal and standard-issue shotguns.

“Hock!” said one, “Hurry up here!” and they directed me up to the third floor meeting room, which was constructed like a small theatre.

“We will hit this house….” And the briefing went on, conducted by a SWAT team Sgt who also was a detective Sergeant. I'll just call him here, “Sgt Larry.” Down in our city's projects, in an old two-story wooden, house bound for demolition, local crack/cocaine dealer and an ex-con named Willy Vics was running a dope house. It was a magnet for bad guys and hookers from the region. Our narc guys had a freshly signed warrant in their hands.

“David, Benny, Jeff…you three will enter here and will move upstairs…Tony…you…” and Sgt Larry laid out the plans, much of what had been hashed out all afternoon while waiting for the warrant to be written and signed. There was a somewhat, discreet effort to rest the SWAT team a bit those days. Recently a local team had set a house on fire with a flash-bang that had ignited a curtain, and well, there was a movement, you might call it, to tone down militant appearances a bit. At some point Sgt Larry decided his detectives should do this, not our SWAT. So, his chalkboard was filling up with tactical brilliance. White arrows were laid down aggressively, but there was a bit of a problem manifesting….the back of the house. It emptied out to a big yard connected to a neighborhood of other yards. The arrows ran out of people to cover the escape routes! I would say there were at last eight detectives assigned arrows.

SGT Larry looked up at newly arrived me. I was gear-less at this point in a suit and tie, “...and Hock…you take the back.”

Ok. The back. A few of us had run hundreds of these deals in the last 15 years and we all had “taken the back,” at one point or another. Nothing new here. Most of the time, its common effect was having the suspect hear officers at his front door, then peek outside a rear window, see an officer standing guard back there and then he would usually surrender. Usually. Some hide in the house. We have had to chase a few. (I would often put something across the back door causing a fleeing felon to trip). I witnessed one investigator throw a brick and hit a fleeing suspect in the head. Took him right down. He couldn't shot him!

Within a few minutes everyone hit the streets in their unmarked cars. I threw on my body armor and raid jacket and left the shotgun in my car. (Too cumbersome in close quarters for me on deals of this nature.) The plan was to give me a minute to park down the street just a bit and trot up to the yard. This was a corner house. Then several cars would skid up to the house front, men bail out, destroy the door and rush in.

I barely had time to jump the fence, when I heard the sound of skidding tires and men yelling out front. It is always difficult to exactly coordinate these things. There were about six back windows and a back door. The first floor extended out beneath the second story. There was like a sloping, large, ledge under the upstairs windows. I tell you this now because in an instant, every hole in the back of this building had people pouring out of it, as people lept, hung and dropped from the ledge to escape.

I stood in the middle of the yard, drew my .45 and yelled,

“halt! Police! Stop!”

HA! I recall at least 12 people running by me as though I was not there. Fat hookers, skinny dopers…you name it. If I had actually started shooting? Well, I'd be writing this from the penitentiary right now.

BUT! One of the escapees was Willy Vic himself! He ignored me too, so I figured…since he was the subject of the raid, I would bail on my useless post and chase him. I decided this a bit late so the sprint was on. Willy had to vault a fence and I was counting on that slowing him down. I holstered my weapon. (Hell, I couldn't shoot anyone here anyway). He jumped on the fence and starting climbing and I reached up and grabbed him. He clung like bat on the chain link. I reached around, cussed and slapped his face a few times. Distracted, he dropped.

Thereupon came the scuffle. Willy landed on his back and my mission was to get him cuffed. Which he didn't want. He still had “rabbit” in him-which was Texican, lawman talk for- he was a runner. He was a big guy, but in his mid-fifties and he was after-all, a daily, dope-head! He was in zero-physical, shape. Now, these guys are still dangerous and I was still surrounded by his escaping dopers who could double and even triple the odds in Willy's favor. Ever try to fight an angry, fat hooker? Hey! I have and it's a handful.

Meanwhile, the “team” is SWAT-tip-toeing through the house as though terrorists with sub-guns were around every corner. I could hear them yelling, “clear! Clear!” as they secured every empty room and closet.

One thing was very “clear” to me. I was all alone in the yard, fighting a guy right beside all his buddies, who I prayed were all busy trying to climb a fence. I had to toss a few rabbit punches into Willy's torso, all the while yelling for him to give up. He ran out of gas and I cuffed him. There was no loyalty among these thieves and all the escapees got over the fence. I was at once, a faiure and a sucess.

I pulled the portable radio out of my back pocket and called Sgt Larry. I reported that I had caught Willy Vic in the yard. I hooked his arm, lifted him and walked him to the front porch of the house where the few, shocked folks who had remained in the house were cuffed and sitting on the steps. It made for great front page, local, newspaper photo - about six guys, Willy among them, cuffed and sitting ont he steps of the front porch and about 6 of our guys in raid jackets and shotguns towering over them.

I stood off from the photo-shoot and was a bit disappointed in myself because I had let about 11 people get away. I was about 38 years old then and had very high expectations for myself. Hell man! “One riot? One Ranger!” Audey Murphy and Sgt York took hundreds of prisoners. I couldn't stop 8 dopers and 4 fat hookers?

But it all became quickly apparent that in the end, I had caught the big fish they were after, and there was a tactical mishap in planning. This mishap that afternoon became an “inside joke” with the troops. For the next year or two there was running joke with CID that anytime we would plan anything, (even a party), it would finish with...

“…and Hock…you take the back!”

The rib was not meant for me but for SGT Larry, which he took with great, good nature and humor. I will tell you that Sgt Larry was a very competent SWAT leader and a smart guy. He is still a friend…but that one day…. I was the Lone Ranger out back for sure.

Adios, Amigos,

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Email Hock at Hock.Hochheim@sbcglobal.net

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