CORRUPTION, NATIONAL DRAFT, HOW TO USE A SLING, CLEANING YOUR PRECISION RIFLE
Journal for Law Enforcement, Intelligence & Special Operations Professionals
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018
VOLUME 11 • NUMBER 4
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Counter CONTENTS
The Journal for Law Enforcement, Intelligence & Special Operations Professionals
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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 VOLUME 11 • NUMBER 4
COVER STORY: 16
FALSE FRONT by Garret Machine
FEATURES:
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THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER WHEN YOU OWN THE FENCE: REGARDLESS OF YOUR ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL VIEWS, CORRUPTION ALWAYS FITS by Karen Maguire, PhD, MSF, CFE, CFS, CPA CONSCRIPTION: A PRESCRIPTION FOR CONFLICT by Dr. Ygnacio “Nash” Flores
DEPARTMENTS: 06
From the Editor
34
Innovative Products
36
Product Review
38
Book Review
40
How to
The American Airlines Lounge Armor Wall, The Portable Vehicle Barrier, Phantom Products Slings and Their Proper Application Violence of Mind: Training and Preparation for Extreme Violence By Karim Manassa Clean Your Precision Rifle
Cover Photo:
IDF
The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 5
Counter The
FROM THE EDITOR: The American Airlines Lounge Should we open it up to the whole airport or try to turn the whole airport into the American Lounge? Further, why is there no other such lounge to be had? by Garret Machine
I
fly almost as much as a pilot. Every week I board an aircraft or two on a trip to a faraway state. Each trip is to a new place, and each week it is another flight or two back. I check weapons each and every time, and every airport and airline has a different procedure. Some airports want you to show them the weapons at the ticket counter, some bring over the TSA, others ask you to bring your weapons to TSA, and in some cases you do not interact with TSA at all. I have had many instances of inconsistencies, including being asked to declare plastic non-guns and my M4 even making its way to Heathrow Airport in London while I was in Tampa, Florida. I make every attempt to limit the airlines I fly to only American as my #1 choice and Delta as my #2 choice. When I fly American I always enter the lounge prior to my flight to work, eat, drink, read, etc. When US Airways and American merged, things got better overall for my travel. I enjoy the lounge, and when traveling with a work associate or friend, I always bring them in as a guest. People learn in different ways; as an instructor with small arms and combat, I explain, demonstrate, and even in some cases draw an image. Because we all learn through our experiences, I like the use of analogies. If you have ever been through the Charlotte (CLT) airport on a connection, you will find the airport large and it has many people, terminals, gates, levels, and intricacies. While overall safe and clean, it is still noisy, it is dirty in some areas, it offers few amenities, and it lacks any privacy or luxury comforts. Nothing is for free in that airport, and people are on the go with little regard for your overall quality of experience. In stark contrast is the American Lounge. It is an island protected by a secure border; while connected by land and easily approachable, not everyone is allowed in. If you are an American, then you can enter; you approach a border, enter, and meet a controller who verifies your credentials. If you fail to have the requisite credentials, you are not permitted to enter. In some cases if you are a productive member of society, if you have earned well, then there is a mechanism for gaining access otherwise restricted, and you may be allowed in. If you breach the border, you are removed and may even be detained. Once inside, you experience crisp, clean, and fresh faces who smile at you and a long list of services: secure WiFi, clean bathrooms, showers, and even free beverages, free Starbucks, free hot meals, cable TV, free computers with Internet, free fax machines, free scanners, free printers, free newspapers, free guacamole bar, and the list goes on. If you are in the American Lounge, you have a higher quality of life than any other place in the entire airport. However, for each and every person that enters that space, the quality of life of those already inside is diminished by some percentage, until the point when nice women at the front desk turn you away when you try to enter. In these cases, the lounge staff choose to preserve and maintain a standard of living that exists nowhere else in all the airports, in all the terminals, by titrating the lounge population. If they did not regulate the entry control point, then eventually the whole airport would be entitled to the American Lounge, and it would no longer be the American lounge. It would simply be the rest of the airport. I have traveled to the rest of the airport; I do not want the American lounge to be like that, nor do you. Once you experience both worlds, you learn to appreciate what you take for granted. While the wonderful and polite people at the ECP manage to preserve the level of class in the Lounge, they even will let in a select few as they balance the levels within. I have seen families, friends, and colleagues divided and split for the greater good of those inside. To summarize, we all are not entitled to the American Lounge or America; each one who enters the lounge or country unchecked is taking away from the quality of life and standard of living of those who have lawful rights and privileges that they earned. In an effort to preserve what we have fought and paid for, I strongly support the decision to maintain order at the border, at any expense. Garret Machine Editor, The Counter Terrorist
Journal for Law Enforcement, Intelligence & Special Operations Professionals
VOLUME 11 • NUMBER 4
AUGUST/ SEPTEMBER 2018 Editor Garret Machine Director of Operations Carmen Arnaes Director of Advertizing Sol Bradman Administrative Jennifer Junatas Contributing Editors Dr. Ygnacio “Nash” Flores Garret Machine Karim Manassa Karen Maguire Mikey B Graphic Design Morrison Creative Company Copy Editor Laura Town Advertising Sales Sol Bradman bradman@homelandsecurityssi.com 305-302-2790 Publisher: Security Solutions International 3479 NE 163 St. • STE 127 N Miami Beach, FL 33160
ISSN 1941-8639 The Counter Terrorist Magazine, Journal for Law Enforcement, Intelligence & Special Operations Professionals is published by Security Solutions International LLC, as a service to the nation’s First Responders and Homeland Security Professionals with the aim of deepening understanding of issues related to Terrorism. No part of the publication can be reproduced without permission from the publisher. The opinions expressed herein are the opinions of the authors represented and not necessarily the opinions of the publisher. Please direct all Editorial correspondence related to the magazine to: Security Solutions International SSI, 13155 SW 134th Street, Suite 103, Miami, Florida. 33186 or info@thecounterterroristmag.com The subscription price for 6 eZine issues of the magazine is $19.99. (1-866-573-3999) Fax: 1-786-573-2090. For article reprints, e-prints, posters and plaques please contact: Security Solutions International at villegas@homelandsecurityssi.com or call 786-573-3999 Please visit the magazine web site where you can also contact the editorial staff:
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THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER WHEN YOU OWN THE FENCE
REGARDLESS OF YOUR ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL VIEWS, CORRUPTION ALWAYS FITS By Karen Maguire, PhD, MSF, CFE, CFS, CPA
8 The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.� - Thomas Jefferson
T
he release of the Panama Papers provided a unique glimpse into the world of power players. Evidence revealed corruption at the highest levels of governance, be it country leaders or FIFA ethics panel members. This led to a new outcry for the abolishment of corruption. For centuries, economists have proposed models of an economy that would minimize corruption. Unfortunately, fraud theory suggests that no matter the model, corruption thrives. This is true for public organizations, private organizations, and terrorist organizations. If one
Photo by: Pixabay
accepts the premise that corruption will exist and thrive in any economic and political environment, then we must look for ideas to incorporate into our analysis of corruption potential. This will enrich the identification, assessment, and management of terrorist threats.
VAN HALEN? OH, THE PAPERS On April 3, 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) announced the impending release of the Panama Papers. Given in 2015 to the German
The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 9
Panama city at night. Phtot by: SaavedraVS
“Containing over 11.5 million documents, the leak documented the activities of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. SZ and its reporters brought the data to the ICIJ.”
newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), reporters Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier received 2.6 terabytes of leaked data from a whistleblowing source known to this day as simply John Doe. Containing over 11.5 million documents, the leak documented the activities of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. SZ and its reporters brought the data to the ICIJ. Over the next year more than 400 journalists from 100 news organizations deciphered and indexed documents written in six different languages. The result was a state-of-the-art interactive database that allows the public to search and view the millions of cross-listed documents. In 2017, ICIJ and the Panama Papers reporting team received the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting and were named a finalist in the International Reporting category
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(Hudson, 2017). The Panama Papers embody four decades of paperwork. Mossack Fonseca served its clients by creating offshore entities. Over these four decades, the firm created more than 214,000 offshore entities, many of which were layered with one another. An offshore entity is legal on its face. However, when it is used for tax evasion, bribery, corruption, and/ or money laundering, the entity operates illegally (Fitzgibbon, 2018). Even more disturbing were the people creating and utilizing these offshore entities: politicians, celebrities, athletes, terrorist organizations, criminal organizations, and drug cartels. Fourteen current and former country leaders were among the 140 politicians from 50 countries that utilized the offshore entities to move money through 21 tax haven countries. Sixty-one family members and associates of presidents, prime ministers, and kings were identified as well (ICIJ, 2016). Many of the named politicians campaigned on anticorruption platforms, including Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson of Iceland, President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, and President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine. Reporters found more than $2 billion in transfers conducted by associates of President Vladimir Putin (ICIJ, 2016). With citizens of many countries finding their anticorruption candidates indicted in corrupt transactions, the anticorruption message continued to resonate. Conspicuously absent from the pantheon of politicians are any
from the United States of America. Articles following the initial release of the Panama Papers suggested that Americans do not need offshore entities. Instead, they can receive the same service from the states of Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming (Wieczner, 2016). If you’re more of a “second shooter on the grassy knoll” kind of person, more sinister scenarios emerge. For example, perhaps a wealthy world player paid to have the data copied from the internal server. When the terabytes arrived, the player sanitized the files before having them leaked. Information can be far more valuable than cash, and this player now has information on important Americans that can be used to extort desired results.
FATHER GUIDO SARDUCCI? RIGHT, ECONOMICS Father Guido Sarducci, a character created in the heyday of Saturday Night Live, had a comedy routine called the Five Minute University (yes, it’s on YouTube if you’re wondering). His concept was to teach only what the average college student remembers five years after graduation. For economics, it was supply and demand. For many of us, this is exactly and only what we remember from that core class. However, there are folks who devote their entire careers to economics and its effect on society. These experts are aligned with various schools of economic
thought. A quick Google will get you Austrian Economics, Behavioral Economics, Classical Economics, New Classical Economics, New Keynesian Economics, Post-Keynesian Economics, Marxian Economics, and Modern Monetary Theory. Each of these schools has an opinion on how much government should regulate the economy. These discussions inject political views that correlate with how a particular school thinks the government should control a market economy. This creates a continuum of opinions that range from no government involvement (e.g., Austrian, Classical) to complete governmental control (e.g., Marxian, Modern Monetary Theory). All schools of economic thought
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do have one view in common. Their arguments are based on rational players doing what is best for the economy. Behavioral Economics focuses on the players themselves. Advocates believe that the economy can best be understood by examining how an imperfect participant reacts and adapts to the economy and its markets. The optimal level of government involvement in the economy can then be determined by the action of its imperfect, rational players. Fraud theory suggests that the concept of an imperfect, rational player can be taken much further. What happens when the imperfect players redefine what is “rational”?
KICKBACK AND RELAX? AH, FRAUD AND CORRUPTION Dr. Donald Cressey created the Fraud Triangle for his 1973 text Other People’s Money. He believed that three elements needed to be in
play for fraud to occur: Perceived Pressure, Perceived Opportunity, and Rationalization. He described the triangle as follows: Trusted persons become trust violators when they conceive of themselves as having a financial problem which is non-shareable, are aware this problem can be secretly resolved by violation of the position of financial trust, and are able to apply to their own conduct in that situation verbalizations which enable them to adjust their conceptions of themselves as trusted persons with their conceptions of themselves as users of the entrusted funds or property (Cressey, 1973, p. 30). Herein lies the key. To become corrupt, one rationalizes their unethical and illegal behavior to a point where a fraud is justified in their mind. In other words, the rational mind in economics models has altered their perception of reality and rationalized a new vision of themselves. This alters the execution
12 The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018
of the economic model parameters. The imperfect, rational player is now seeing their criminal behavior as rational. Fraud and corruption seem like viable options. Ergo fraud and corruption are both unfortunate and unavoidable. For example, a politician or leader with control over their economy may rationalize and justify receiving bribes for votes as their way of staying in power. By staying in power, they believe they can get bills passed on issues about which they feel passionately. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ Taxonomy of Fraud defines four types of corruption (2018): Bribery – The transfer of something valuable is suggested or agreed to in exchange for an official act or commercial decision. Conflict of Interest – This arises when an individual or entity fails to disclose an interest in something of value that can benefit if the person exploits their role in the negotiation or operation. Illegal Gratuities – Whereas a bribe
is provided to affect an upcoming decision, an illegal gratuity is presented after a decision has been made as a reward. Economic Extortion – An individual or entity is threatened into giving up something of value in order to avoid being harmed in some way. Opportunists often utilize multiple methods of corruption to achieve their unethical goal. These offenders include individual power players, criminal organizations, and terrorist organizations. Their methods are used in all aspects of an economic paradigm, including legal and financial representation, as well as public and private commercial activities. Kim Jong-un and Carmen Miranda? Yikes, Perpetrators and Victims of Terrorist-Driven Corruption The Panama Papers revealed that Mossack Fonseca repeatedly created shell companies for terrorist organizations and countries on the United States’ black list (among other black lists). The law firm continued to
represent these clients after knowing who their clients were and for what the shell companies were used. For example, shell companies were used to hide the sale of aviation fuel to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his military. Beyond Syria, other regimes that Mossack Fonseca represented and with which it transferred funds include North Korea, Zimbabwe, and the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah (i24NEWS, 2016). The vast majority of military soldiers and law enforcement officials represent and defend their countries with bravery and integrity. Unfortunately, some do succumb to temptation or fear. In the U.S., the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security work with other agencies and the Internal Affairs division of U.S. Custom and Border Protection to investigate border corruption. The FBI considers this corruption a matter of national security. Corrupt acts include accepting bribes or illegal gratuities for allowing drugs or aliens across the
“To become corrupt, one rationalizes their unethical and illegal behavior to a point where a fraud is justified in their mind.”
Photo by: Pixabay The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 13
border and into the U.S. In addition, corrupt government officials provide aliens with forged immigration papers and driver’s licenses. Corrupt officials may knowingly or unknowingly assist terrorist cells in funding, traveling to, and executing attacks on U.S. citizens (FBI, 2018). In the commercial arena, Chiquita Brands International recently settled a class action lawsuit brought by the families of six Americans who were killed by the Columbian paramilitary group FARC in the 1990s (Pierson, 2018). Chiquita admitted in 2007 to paying millions of dollars to both FARC and its opposition, paramilitary group AUC, for ten years in order to protect its employees and operations in Columbia (CBS News, 2011). The Mises Institute, which is home to the Austrian School of Economics, stated in 2011 that Chiquita had no choice
but to pay the extortion money. They compared the extortion funds to the $25 million fine Chiquita had to pay the U.S. government (Mises Institute, 2011). Chiquita was accused of violating the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act by the families of the six Americans. In addition, the families of 4,000 Columbian victims accused Chiquita of violating the decidedly older 1789 Alien Tort Statute (CBS News, 2011). Did Chiquita have a choice, who could they trust?
TAKEAWAYS? I’M NOT EVEN HUNGRY If one accepts the premise that corruption will exist and thrive in any economic and political environment, then we must look for ways to incorporate this assumption into our analysis of corruption potential. This will improve threat assessments and
provide added safety to anti-terrorism professionals in the field. Viewing players as potential fraudsters enriches the identification, assessment, and management of potential threats. The U.S. Marine Corps coined the terms “Left of Bang” and “Right of Bang.” Left of Bang means the time before an unwanted event occurs, such as a terrorist attack. Right of Bang signifies the time following such an attack. Behavior detection techniques are utilized to do everything possible to keep Marines Left of Bang and alive. Fraud detection techniques laced with common sense can be applied in a similar manner (and hopefully less lethal situation) to hypothesize threats caused by corruption: -- People will do what you pay them to do. If a luxury carmaker extols the quality of its cars yet pays employees based on production targets, the
Re 460 029-2 “Chiquita” in Genf. Photo by: Markus Eigenheer 14 The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018
carmaker is really incentivizing quantity, not quality. Envision an employee who rationalizes that they don’t get paid what they deserve, and a perpetrator can pay for all sorts of corrupt tasks. -- Does everyone have a price? This question has been and will be debated for centuries. It is useful, however, when considering the presence of corruption. For most of us we can say for sure that our price is higher than one of New Jersey’s mayors. He faced forty years in prison on federal mail fraud and wire fraud charges for laundering $12,400. However, realizing that some people have low ethical thresholds will help you create a fuller picture of the possibilities. -- Corrupt organizations breed corrupt behavior. Prisons are referred to as finishing schools for criminals. This environment exists outside of prison walls as well. One of the best ways to hide a fraud is through company growth, particularly by acquisition. MCI Worldcom employees followed the “tone at the top” and took advantage of the acquired firms. Sales employees realized that if they switched an existing customer from one acquired company to another, the customer would encounter no gap in service, but the sales employees would earn a commission. Referred to as “slamming,” back and forth they moved existing clients as they inflated their commissions. -- Ask whether a conflict of interest could be in play. If you can imagine a potential conflict—for example the possibility of kickbacks, bid rigging, or familial ties—then this is an area where preventive controls should be put in
place and a target area for any fraud examination if you are Right of Bang. -- Ask if personal safety is a concern. This applies not only to employees in drug cartel- or terroristcontrolled areas, but also to potential whistleblowers. They may be afraid to speak up without your protection. -- Lastly, trust your instincts. If it doesn’t smell right, it probably isn’t right. Our subconscious mind absorbs far more than our conscious mind. Those hairs on the backs of our necks are there for a reason.•
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Karen Maguire, PhD, MSF, CFE, CFS, CPA Professor of Accounting E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration Coastal Carolina University kmaguire@coastal.edu
REFERENCE Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. (2018). Fraud tree. Retrieved from http://www.acfe.com/ fraud-tree.aspx 2 CBS News. (2011). Chiquita accused of funding Columbia terrorists. Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews. com/news/chiquita-accused-offunding-colombia-terrorists/ 3 Cressey, D. R. (1973). Other people’s money. Montclair: Patterson Smith. 4 Hudson, M. (2017). Panama Papers wins pulitzer prize. Retrieved from https://www.icij.org/blog/2017/04/ panama-papers-wins-pulitzer-prize/ 5 i24NEWS. (2016). ‘Panama Papers’ firm had files on alleged terrorism financiers: Report. Retrieved from https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/ international/108568-160404panama-papers-firm-had-files-on1
alleged-terrorism-financiers 6 Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2018). Public corruption. Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/ public-corruption 7 Fitzgibbon, W. (2018). Panama Papers law firm Mossack Fonseca closes its doors. Retrieved from https:// www.icij.org/investigations/panamapapers/panama-papers-law-firmmossack-fonseca-closes-doors/ 8 ICIJ. (2016). Giant leak of offshore financial records exposes global array of crime and corruption. Retrieved from https://www. icij.org/investigations/panamapapers/20160403-panama-papersglobal-overview/ 9 Mises Institute. (2011). Extortion, private and public: The case of Chiquita Banana. Retrieved from https://mises.org/library/extortionprivate-and-public-case-chiquitabanana 10 Pierson, B. (2018). Chiquita settles with families of U.S. victims of Columbia’s FARC. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters. com/article/us-usa-court-chiquita/ chiquita-settles-with-families-ofu-s-victims-of-colombias-farcidUSKBN1FP2VX 11 Wieczner, J. (2016). Here’s why the Panama Papers spared the U.S. Fortune Magazine. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2016/04/20/ panama-papers-us/
The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 15
FALSE FRONT by Garret Machine
Cpl. Jonathan Blake, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Combat Center’s Crossfit Ripper Gym Photo by: Lance Cpl. M. C. Nerl
16 The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018
I
“Knowing is half the battle.” - G.I. Joe
t is July and hot as hell in the Middle East. It is Sunday, around 13:00, and I’m informed that there will be a mission tomorrow. Naturally, there is preparation to be done. I go to the gym on base, as I always do at about 14:00. Our gym is a stateof-the-art facility positioned in our base for the purpose of each man attaining his fitness potential through his weekly training routine. Each man is mandated to train for a minimum of three times a week in the gym
or through calisthenics and running outside; this is logged with his team just like any other qualification. I finish my power and cardio training in just over an hour. I do Burpee muscle-ups (which is a pushup to immediate high jump to a pull-up bar, to a muscle-up which is a pull-up above the bar— that’s one rep), which I love and believe are the single most complete upper body exercise. I always start with abs or a run to warm up, and then I start my sets: 15 Burpee muscle-ups then 100
crunches × 4. The process repeats four times total, once for regular crunches, once for flutter kicks, then knees to elbows, and finally, weighted (gripping a weighted medicine ball with both hands and twisting from side to side on the floor). Then it’s off to a 30–40 minute run outside the base (which is on the West Bank of the Jordan River) with about 35 pounds of gear on my back. When running outside the base, I wear my plate carrier over a t-shirt, work pants, New Balance 991
The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 17
sneakers, a backpack, and pistol and ammunition. I shower up at about 16:30, and by 17:00 my team is in full preparation for our next outing. We meet to discuss all aspects of the mission, including the time, place, the man we want, and all the possibilities of how we can actually get him. At 18:30 we break for dinner. Meat is always served to us on Sunday night—chicken, as I recall. I like to strip the chicken and mix it
in with white rice, which I refer to as a “power meal.” Most nights I’m feasting on a healthy diet of hardboiled eggs, tuna salad, and yogurt, as dairy meals are the typical army fare for us. Unlike other western armed forces, we do not have commercial foods such as McDonalds and Pizza Hut on base. We do not have options: We must eat what is served to us, or we don’t eat at all. I actually like this system because it keeps things simple
for me. It helps me to stay intensely focused on the task at hand. At 20:00 we start mission-specific tactical training. This training begins at the firing range for a night fire of pistol and rifle on moving targets across a 10–50-meter outdoor firing range. This drill is in addition to our monthly mandate of at least two pistols ranges and two rifle ranges during night and day, both with moving and stationary targets. We
Photo by: Pixabay 18 The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018
have eight outdoor ranges on our base: two that are 50-meter and one 100-meter along with specialty ranges and one elevated sniper range. After that we practice the exact combat scenarios we might face in the field on this operation, including but not limited to injured man, peripheral attack, and general human factor intelligence errors. I enjoy this training, as it is always different and dynamic. By 1:00 am we are finished
with mission-specific combat scenario training. After I am ready and stow my gear, I shower for the second time today, have a snack, floss, brush my teeth and hit the sack before 2:00 a.m. after checking my rifle and pistol one last time. My Monday begins at 09:00 a.m. when I wake up and am informed of a mission cancellation. The mission was to take place later that afternoon, so this frees up some time for training. The cancellation is due to poor intelligence on the subject’s specific location and comings and goings. We are given a target and all that is known from an external unit; it is then on our own internal apparatus to amass what is immediately current and relevant to detail the hit, so it is on us... My day then consists of combat medical scenarios from 11:00–12:30, during which I work with the unit paramedics and doctor through some basic drills, such as for handling a wounded man in the field as well as evacuation options. For example, it could take XX minutes to get a 669 chopper to evacuate an injured man on location, so in some places it is better to get him into the back of a car and try to drive him across the border/checkpoint to an Israeli hospital while the medic works him in the back. We practice setting up IVs on each other, making Asherman valves, which are one-way valves placed on a hole in a mans chest after he’s been shot or stabbed in the anatomical area of the lungs. We practice applying Hemcon dressing, which is a 4-inch by 4-inch pad that can stop arterial blood loss in places where a tourniquet cannot, such as on the neck. We also practice improvising and tying
tourniquets, which are Combat Application Tourniquets from North American Rescue. At 12:30 we break for lunch—chicken again. After that around 14:00 we are out on the ranges; it is pistol dry fire/ live fire, stress shooting, stationary/ moving targets, and day range until about 17:30. Pistol training is by far my favorite out of all weapon training, probably because I am very good at it and about half of the time it is all we carry. There needs to be more pistol training instead of rifle training because it is harder to shoot a pistol fast and with accuracy when compared to a rifle. However, generally someone who is good with a pistol will be good with a rifle. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my Colt Commando and believe it is the single greatest battle rifle known, far superior to the Tavor. After that I go for a nice run, and it is not quite as hot but still warm and bright out, so I need my yellowed glasses. Inexpensive polarized sunglasses work just fine, but I wear glasses day/night on ops to protect my eyes. I run out of the base past the parking lot to my left, as I glance over at my motorcycle and cruise down our long steep winding driveway and off the guarded property. I have my black Nokia 6233 cell phone with me so that I could listen to The Stones, Bowie, and The Who saved on the SD card as I make my way around an industrial park outside our base. I return at around 18:00 and hit the showers. The pipes are so hot from the desert sun that there is not a drop of cold water to be found. Then it is dinnertime by 18:30: red meat and green vegetables tonight. By Monday Photo by: IDF night we are informed that the same
The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 19
“Just 30 years ago it was Fattah that was the extreme militant group that we refused to negotiate with, but now they are the lesser of two evils.”
mission is back on, and then an hour later it is postponed again until Wednesday. That’s how it is, multiple missions being run by multiple teams within the unit simultaneously. Sometimes you get the quick hitand-run daytime mission with all the adrenalin, sometimes you get the night raid, sometimes you get the Intel game like this week. With all the peace talks and with the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, being in the country, as she is twice a year, our hands are completely tied. It is funny to me how the West told the Arabs to use a democratic election for choosing their leader and they elect Hamas as the ruling party, who we all see as a terror faction—and then the U.S. negotiates with Fattah in the Annapolis conference, which is now at odds with Hamas... Just 30 years ago it was Fattah that was the extreme militant group that we refused to negotiate with, but now they are
the lesser of two evils. To a seasoned combatant in the war on terror, it is evident that terror is a problem with no solution, only suppression, and clearly something that will never allow peace. The Middle East in general, as long as it tolerates terrorist solutions, will never be a civilized place like say, Canada; it can’t be. It’s not in the Arab world’s DNA, history, or culture, so long as all nations comingle religion and politics. We must adjust our objectives and except that, as the Arab world cannot change and accept our way. Western Democracy and Islam must agree to disagree, and that is all that will ever be in this land, so generations soldier on. That is what I have learned through observation and experience in the field. Only time will tell if I am correct, but according to the patterns of history, I already am. The most wanted men are off limits to us due to these types of negotiations. But our unit has a reputation that we plan to uphold, a reputation for taking matters into our own hands—always with the greater good in mind. On Wednesday we finally go in after much indecision. First, we are told by our on the ground sources that our target is not home, then that he is, and later that he is on the way; this goes on for hours. So we wait patiently for him, ready and poised, like a pack of wolves protecting their territory, waiting for the right moment to strike. The moment must be perfect to attack. When a bear enters the wolves’ territory, the wolf that spots him does not foolishly react to his presence with immediate violence. The wolves, like us, must be careful, calculating, and
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above all, they have to be cunning in order to take down the bear without sacrificing one of their own. By 2:00 a.m. Wednesday night I find myself getting out of a bulletproof box that most would call a vehicle, which can hardly stop moving to let us out. Quickly, two others and I run from our car to a two-meter wall across the street from his house. The night air is hot, and the sky is clear. There is not a cloud in the sky, only the moon and some streetlights that also provide some light. I feel good tonight; the whole thing just feels good. Our run is only about 30 meters, not more. We climb over the short wall, and it’s only a 4.5-foot drop to the other side. This wall will provide our cover from enemy fire that can come from the house as it is lower on the far side. If our enemy tries to fire from the house, we will have the temporary cover to stop 7.62mm rounds. In other words, we are positioned. The other side of the wall where we land is an empty lot, about 50 meters wide by 50 meters deep. It is covered in grass, weeds, rocks, and some trash. To our backs beyond the lot there are rolling hills with various dense structures; to our left an apartment building; and to our right a dark construction site, which looks like the shell of what is intended to become more apartments. There is our wall, the street we arrived on, and then the enemy’s house in front of us. Over the radio we are informed that all men are in position after each man confirms his safe arrival to his vantage point. I am with two other men. One has with him a black eight-part folded stretcher in a backpack on his back; the other, a black folded ladder with
a harness on his back. One man watches the peripheral area behind us as I watch the house, not yet aiming at it, just eyes because we still have not broken silence and concealment. The mission must be preformed in absolute silence until it is no longer possible. This protects us in our most vulnerable moment, which is when we are moving into our final positions and exposed to the world. The third man kneels down to speak
on the radio to report our situation. I am standing at the wall so I can just see over it; to the house I am not there and concealed by debris; the other men are kneeling and we are tightly packed. A car approaches from the right, and I stay still so as not to be seen. The car casually rolls by, and then I readjust and reacquire a better sight of the house. Just at that moment after being in position for about fifteen minutes, two bullets
suddenly shatter the concrete to my left from behind us, without so much as a warning. I am being shot at, but not from the house, as the shots land on my side of the wall. The shots had to have come from behind us, but where? I turn, as no one has returned fire, and ask in a whisper, “What the fuck is going on?� A and D are the two guys with me, and both have been in the unit some good years. We quickly move three meters to
These exclusive photos show the efforts of the IDF soldiers in Judea and Samaria. Photo by: Israel Defense Forces Circle 313 on Reader Service Card
The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 21
IDF soldiers in the Hebron area. Photo by: Israel Defense Forces our right and reposition. They are scanning the area for the source of the shots, while I maintain my watch on the house. Nothing comes up. It must be sniper fire from off in the distance. D radios in to the mission leader and reports, “Sniper fire from the peripheries on my squad” and “No injuries” before the sniper has a second chance to adjust his aiming and take us out. I aim to the sky to destroy the streetlights closest us. D radios, “Fire clean on the streetlights,” which means that I am the one firing and that no one should be concerned for their safety. I secure the light above me in my line and fire one shot into the light fixture, creating total darkness around us. My muzzle flash suppressed but stil noisy. Next, I take aim at another streetlight slightly further away. Just then another shot hits, and this time right in front of
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A on the wall about a meter from me. Before I can react, I fire on the second light. I again fire into the fixture, creating darkness and shadow, which I know will not provide cover but will help to conceal us from the sniper. Why didn’t we shoot out the lights when we got there, or the night before? Because if we would have fired upon arrival, we would have blown our silent cover and ruined our surprise factor (which is over now anyway due to the fire we took on). We would not want to awaken the neighbors, who will emerge with guns in hand to investigate the source of fire. The night before was also not an option because we didn’t want to send up any signals that something was about to happen in the neighborhood, especially when dealing with targets that are already paranoid to begin with. The lights
are out now, and we must hold our position in order to ensure that our man, our initial reason for being here, will not be able to escape right out the front door without detection;
additionally, we cannot go over the wall to the street side because that would make us visible to anyone who may pass by or happen to look out a window. At this hour, the streets, like in most neighborhoods, would likely be empty. To expedite the job and to further secure us, we are told over the radio that a four-man team is climbing onto the roof of the back of the house. The back has much more cover and provides an easy ascent, due to the external structures of the house and adjacent buildings. The monkey squad secures the roof with the help of some hooks and ladders. They then move back down to the small second-floor balcony, and by this time three other two-man teams have moved closer to the house. One team is at the back door in the alley behind the house. The two other teams are at windows waiting just below them against the wall for any visible movement inside or sounds coming
from in the house. The team on the balcony enters the house from the balcony door using a hand-pumped, hydraulic, silent door splitter. They do a quick, silent search for people in the second floor; meanwhile, the team at the back door silently enters and completes the search of the bottom floor. No one is allowed to move between levels until both levels are secured and searched. So far, there is only silence, but very soon it would be broken by the unexpected sound of gunfire. It is a two-story house. Two men up stairs clear that floor while two keep watch and wait on the roof; they are joined by another pair in order to search the downstairs again immediately after for intel gathering. The search ends within about a minute after every room, closet, and cupboard is searched with flashlights on gun muzzles, all of it moving quickly. There is nothing inside worth collecting, and we find no
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“As soon as the van stops for us in the street it comes under fire—about three shots on the back door and left side.” weapons, no equipment or people. We call in our vehicles to get us out still undetected (by all except for that one sniper who is still at large somewhere in the distance). We move out, unsuccessfully but alive, to our vehicles. D, A, and I plus two others from the window on the right of the house get into a van that pulls up near where we were dropped off. As soon as the van stops for us in the street it comes under fire—about three shots on the back door and left side. We get in quickly while still unclear as to where the fire is coming from. The van is scathed but only mildly damaged due to its hardened, bulletproof structure. I usually feel confident when the enemy is engaging me. I feel that if we are in an urban environment and I know where my adversary is, somehow or another my team and
I will get him. We will kill him if he shoots at us. On the other hand, when a man is hiding in a far-off location sniping me, I find myself helpless, only able to take cover and spend my energy searching for the source of fire. It is a similar feeling when people are throwing bricks off rooftops at me; sure, I have a rifle but what good is that going to do me when I don’t even have a target? I am finally back on base at 6:00 a.m. I sleep for the first time that night. By noon on Thursday, six hours later, I’m up again. I eat on base and then head home, back to Tel Aviv where we live and relax for the day. By late afternoon I go for a run with friends J, B, and M, who are also soldiers; we run steps with a ruck mimicking the total weight of full kit. We run the steps inside the Sheraton Hotel on the beach in Tel Aviv, with Led Zeppelin playing in my headphones. I run the 24 floors five times, and the whole thing is so calming and meditative for me; I have time to think about anything and everything while the steps and floors just pass me by. I finish and return home to shower and eat, and by 20:30 pm I am called on my cell phone and told to get ready. I will be picked up in a van and taken back to the unit. It will be a recon mission for a larger operation next week. Looks like another sleepless night..•
24 The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018
Photo by: IDF Photo by: IDF The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 25
CONSCRIPTION: A PRESCRIPTION FOR CONFLICT
IS IT TIME FOR CONSCRIPTION?
Photo by: Pixabay 26 The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018
By Dr. Ygnacio “Nash” Flores
Few national conversations create as much dissonance in American society as the discussion concerning whether to use conscription or volunteer service as a means of staffing its military forces.
A
mong the banners raised as arguments against conscription—or the draft—are conscription is not required in a developed democracy; should women serve; is the nation willing to lose the lives of its citizens in foreign wars; and, will the lower income families provide the lion’s share of people in uniform? The current infrastructure of the United States military forces is experiencing a diminishing capacity to carry out its expected capabilities. The United States is no longer considered
the premier military force in the world. The Defense Department’s performance in Iraq and Afghanistan adds to the inability of the United States to win an unequivocal and conclusive victory since the Second World War. The Korean War began a streak of stalemates that includes the quagmire of Vietnam, and the current reconstructive failures in premature calls of victory in Iraq and Afghanistan. The current rise of violent extremism and an increase in natural disasters and conflicts around the world all call for an increased role
for the United States military. The common denominator in these equations is that the current military forces do not presently have enough service members or equipment to staff all its varied missions and the expectations of an ill-informed public. The United States has had an allvolunteer military force since 1973. The draft was last used to put men into uniform during the Vietnam War. Since then, the United States has been able to staff its missions around the world, such as those in Grenada, the First Gulf War, the Afghanistan War,
The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 27
the Second Gulf War, plus numerous other missions that put forces on every continent around the world. U.S. military forces have also been assigned to aid in natural and manmade disasters domestically and around the world. Reinstating mandatory conscription will ignite debates in every part of society as the trickle-down effects of conscription ripple through every social, political, economic, and ideological segment in the mosaic that forms the American culture.
THE RICH MAN’S WAR—THE POOR MAN’S FIGHT Axioms often carry hidden truths that society shuns out of shame. The idea that people drafted into the military are expendable is reinforced with the perception that people drawn into the enlisted ranks come predominantly from the lower income communities. This does not mean that these targeted communities do not have a voice in the national debate on military service. In Russia, mothers have long banded together as the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia to protest as an anti-war organization. An increase of military missions filled by conscripted service members will likely result in a similar collective political voice in the United States. Without question, mothers hold a unique authoritative force in anything harmful to society; consider Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The Department of Defense must do a better job of recruiting people from all sectors in society. An equitable risk across the economic strata of society will help in
gaining support for a conscripted military force. Deployment of those conscripted will determine if the mothers will be supportive of or against national conscription. The power of collective voices in the debate on conscription will have the inimitable power of swaying the ballot box.
ETHICS OF CONSCRIPTION: UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES As this section’s heading declares, war brings with it the question of ethics. The quandary is that ethical perspectives are as varied as the stars in the sky. A leading argument against conscription is that democracies develop to a point where conscription is anachronistic and anti-democratic. Support of this argument is found in the European Union in addition to the United States. The European Union has been phasing out conscription as a source of staffing its military forces for nearly a decade. A strong argument for discontinuing conscription is that technological development in war fighting has reduced the necessity for maintaining large standing military forces. An argument against this theory is that a nation, regardless of its political construct, has a duty to secure its people against all threats. This reasoning led to a repeal of Sweden’s short-lived abolishment of conscription in 2017. Swedish leaders’ growing concern for Russian aggression in the region required a standing military force capable of serving as a deterrent as well as providing a pool of trained civilians in reserve to meet real threats.
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Reinstating conscription in Sweden and as of June 2018 France, supports the idea of national service in the name of national security. Along with conscription comes the question of conscientious objection to forced military service. When the United States practiced conscription during the last century, draftees had options to object to service. These objections fell into two categories: objection to carrying arms in the performance of duties and objection to serving in the armed forces. With these objections came legal ramifications that many chose to exercise rather than serve in the military. Conscription, where implemented, is a means to ensure the safety and security of a society. Conversely, where conscription is not mandatory, it can be argued that those opposed to national service develop an outlook where national security is viewed from the comfort of a living room and ignorance of global threats thrives in a world of false expectations. In the years since the end of the Second World War, the United States has seen an erosion of military service as an honorable civil act. As the Greatest Generation fades into history, so too is the understanding of military service being ubiquitous to nearly every family in the country. Many veterans can relate stories of how their military experience is viewed negatively by those who have not had individual or familial experiences of military service. An example of anti-military service is where the disdain for military service is assumed in certain sectors of Americana. In many California public high schools, educators bypass student
Young men registering for military conscription. Photo by: Bain News Service, publisher autonomy and in some cases laws by printing and distributing mandatory federal forms to students requesting information on military service with a “do not contact” block pre-checked for students. These kinds of actions are not only presumptuous, they are unethical, as the school administrators are more than happy to collect federal funds in conjunction with distributing the forms. A discussion on the ethics of conscription must include a dialogue about women as part of the eligible pool of candidates for mandatory military service. Though most nations exclude women from mandatory service, women have come a long way in breaking down former barriers
to service in the military. A true acceptance of women in the military will come with inclusion in any legislation on conscription. Doing otherwise would be misogynistic practice on a selective scale, however a number of feminists have said regarding selective service that they don’t want equality in this area. In this case, they feel that just the men should be included. This question, though, is being measured in the relative peace experienced in the second half of 2018. If the United States was threatened with annihilation or invasion, the question of women being conscripted would be a fait accompli as the nation struggles for regime continuity.
Many other questions will arise because of conscription. With the draft, military leaders can expect to see an increase in disciplinary and administrative cases. Also, how will a conscripted military force be organized? Into which branch of service and in what occupational specialties will draftees be routed? Will a guaranteed source of people to serve in uniform result in mission creep as lawmakers in Washington seek votes by sending military forces to reestablish the United States as the global police? With a trained and ready force at the nation’s disposal, will future administrations be more willing to use force in the pursuit of international relations? These are just
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a sampling of the ethical issues that conscription will give birth to. The draft will also require funding to support an expanded military force. This translates into more taxes or at least, redirection of the national treasure to support the military complex. Second-order effects will have positive and negative effects in the economy. Will the draw on public
sectors that would have employed draftees be negatively impacted by conscription? Is the current job market willing to comply with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act for those conscripted? Will profit for those in the defense industry be viewed as moral economics? The defense industry will undoubtedly grow, as arms, ammunition,
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equipment, and supplies are matched by a growth in support services to the defense industry. Last is the question of the ultimate sacrifice for servicemembers. This discussion includes the growing suicide rate among servicemembers and veterans. Is the American public ready to welcome new members into the Gold Star family?
Photo by: Pixabay
A CITIZEN’S DUTY? Conscription in the United States began with the Civil War, though protest against impressment dates back to the Colonial era. Skirting conscriptive duties—draft dodging— has a long history of being illegal in collective societies and is illegal in the U.S. Draft dodging is specifically listed as a crime in the Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest sets of laws in the world. Questioning the validity of conscription in the United States enjoys a history as long as the practice of conscription. During the Colonial era, impressment of citizens in the army and navy left a lasting scar on the idea of maintaining standing armies. The United States Supreme Court has visited the constitutionality
of conscription in several landmark cases. In 1916 the Court found in Butler v. Perry that conscription was neither slavery nor involuntary servitude within the meaning of the Thirteenth Amendment. Conscription was again upheld in 1970 when it was challenged in Massachusetts v. Laird with the arguments of raising a militia and the process of declaring war. In 1990, arguments against conscription unsuccessfully raised the constitutionality of national service again in Employment Division v. Smith by exploring religious beliefs constituting a valid excuse for not serving in the military. Arguments for a religious exemption from military service reach as far back as 1775, when pacifists ineffectively attempted
to claim exemption from mandatory military service. The United States is not alone in considering the legalities of conscription and military service. Sweden serves as an example of a contemporary experiment with an allvolunteer force to meet contemporary defense challenges. After seven years, Swedish leaders made the decision to reinstate conscription to bolster military readiness against perceived Russian threats. The decision also identified military service as a civil duty within a democratic society. The value proposition of conscription as a civil duty is unequivocal when national security is faced with a real and current threat. It can be argued that the idea
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of conscription, as a civil duty, is grounded in participation of the citizenry in the military as a socially-based categorical imperative. Citizenship, through this perspective, is a right earned and not a right gratuitously bestowed through birth. Unfortunately, the aversion to military service concentrates recruiting efforts to lower-income communities in an attempt to avoid demanding any form of sacrifice from the nation’s more elite communities. In a combination of disingenuous efforts, the military ranks are being marketed as a means to a better life while those from more privileged families reject military service, demonstrating they lack. understanding of sacrifice as part of citizenship. Would conscription change this construct, or would the privileged, like those during the Vietnam War, find convenient means of circumventing conscription through the power of money and influence?
THE CONSCRIPTION CONSTELLATION A review of the various nations that have military forces show that conscription is still a valid source of filling the ranks of the armed forces throughout the world. Of the leading military forces around the world, Israel is alone in conscripting women. The rest of the nations using conscription restrict inductees to men. Every nation with conscription has experienced challenges to the practice of mandatory national service. Conscription fills the ranks of the military forces in China, Russia, South Korea, Brazil, Israel, Turkey,
Algeria, Iran, Columbia, and Taiwan. Except for Israel, none of these nations include women as part of their mandatory national service. Though conscription is mandatory in these nations, each of these countries has exceptions to service. Though the United States does not have mandatory service, males between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five must register for selective service—the daft. This includes all citizens, aliens, and undocumented males living in the United States. Currently, conscription is governed by the Military Selective Service Act. Failure to register with the Selective Service System results in the loss of access to several federal funding opportunities. This can have a devastating impact on those who wish to use federal loans and assistance for education and job training.
IS IT AMERICA’S WAR? Reinstating the draft has again entered the national dialogue as contemporary mission requirements have resulted in a suicide pandemic amongst personnel on active duty as well as those who have completed their tours of service. Deployments have also created stress across family units that results in domestic violence, abuse of alcohol and drugs, and divorce. Is the American public ready to willingly send young men and women to conflicts overseas on missions to protect United States’ interests? It takes little imagination to see a resurgence of universities and colleges taking the leading role in countering a newly imposed draft. Memories of the
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1960s and 1970s will be reincarnated in homes and in the quads of campuses throughout the United States. Will American society be willing to spend national treasure and blood in pursuit of military activities around the world?
DRAFTING A DRAFT Looming large over the debate on reinstating the draft is who will be included in the pool of draftable people. Will the United States follow the example of Israel by requiring mandatory service from young women? Traditional masculine attitudes on the suitability of women to serve could cause misogynistic perspectives on the expected roles of women in society to reemerge. Coming to terms with a person’s daughter, sister, mother, or wife being called to serve the country has not been well-accepted in the nation’s short history. Will the draft be pressing women into a service they disagree with? Another question will ask if the draft has a provision for conscientious objection to conscription or will it be like Turkey, which has no allowance to challenge service based on ideology. Currently all males aged eighteen to twenty-five must register for the draft. Will reinstating conscription add to the potential pool of candidates by including foreign nationals living in America? Currently, the American military allows foreign nationals to enlist in the military. Military service can serve as a means of supporting applications for attaining citizenship. A conversation with an immigrant
veteran can shed light on the meaning and cost of being an American citizen. New legislation will have to measure the challenges to the United States’ national security with a minimum of a twenty-year window. In considering challenges to national security, the government must consider the expected capabilities and capacity of the military against the number of people expected to be trained and maintained throughout each year. National security needs will also have to be considered in terms of the non-fighting roles the U.S. military has adopted throughout the years domestically as well as internationally. Response to natural and manmade disasters, cybersecurity, and various other social programs draw servicemembers and resources from defense missions. Conscription, when reinstated, will have to ensure that everyone eligible—men and women included in this definition—is actively involved in military service. Failure to be inclusive of the entire selected population will create a negative lobby against conscription that will test the Constitution under a post-9/11 security environment. The public needs to understand the limits of a conscripted military force. The public must also be cautioned against being misled by false expectations.•
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Ygnacio “Nash” Flores EdD, MBA, MPS, MA LCDR USN (Ret) Faculty Member Public Safety Division
Photo by: Pixabay The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 33
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PRODUCT REVIEW
Slings and Their Proper Application by Garret Machine
T
his is a great discussion topic and I have a lot to say about it if you care to perfect your sling. We all use a double-point sling before we put it on a rifle. Think of a gym bag, a duffle bag, a computer case, etc. Anytime something is large, heavy, or awkward, we use a double point sling to manage the mass and better distribute the weight between two points. So when it comes to rifles like a SAW, MAG, Minimi, Negev, 240, M60, and the like, a soldier will always use a two-point sling with padding. 25 years ago when I was in military school, we had M1 rifles for drill that had 1.5”-wide, bright-white, two-point slings that ran under the gun. If you remember, the original design of the M16 A1 was two attachment points that also made the gun hang upside down— not ideal. The original intent of the sling was for transport, not combat. Fast forward to today: If you want to be light, agile, quick and nimble, then you want a single-point sling attached just at the buffer tube on an AR platform or similar. Anyone who has been in military combat arms or done a lot of rifle shooting can attest to the fact that a two-point sling will inevitably get in between your front and rear sight or your eye and rear sight, obstructing your vision—not always but sometimes at the worst times. Additionally you will find that the sling, clip, or buckle will get between the butt of the rifle and your body every so often when you position the rifle to shoot. These two things don’t seem like a big deal,
but when they happen it is an issue, and Murphy’s Law dictates that these things will happen. This is a two-point sling issue. Let’s not even discuss three-point slings because they are just gimmicky and offer nothing additional. Further, when doing a transition from rifle to pistol and using the two-point sling, it is too easy for it to “invert” the rifle and have the barrel pointing at the person to your support side. A single-point sling can only point one direction, down. The fact is that if you ever need to use your rifle in real life as a civilian or patrol officer, the sling is useless. In fact, you should not even bother with it. Your reaction to a home defense, vehicle defense, family defense, or in the case of an LEO active shooter intervention will be just that: REACTIONARY in nature. Meaning you will not have time to put on a sling, attach it or whatever. Also it will serve no purpose in actual combat. You will grab the rifle and go; that is the nature of the incident. The sling will be in the way. What if you are in full kit? In this case you do need a sling as a means of retention
36 The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018
and convenience. When in full kit, most units have gone to a fixed single-point system so that the sling is integrated into the plate carrier and clips on and off the rifle. When this is used, a form of secondary retention is also used to secure the rifle to the body when transitioning to a pistol (want to vs. have to) such as when climbing a ladder, processing people, using breaching tools, etc. This retention can be a rubber elastic cord, a “horse shoe” catch, or even a magnet. A right-handed shooter is going to secure this attachment over his left shoulder so that the rifle goes away from his weapon side, leaving access to his pistol clear. If the application is only for range training, hobby shooting, or selfenrichment courses such as GR CTR, the aforementioned still holds true. In such cases, the best sling will be simple, comfortable, and strong. No moving parts, nothing to clink around and make noise, nothing to rust, nothing to break, nothing to adjust. I know Magpul and VTAC and others make quality products, but they are selling you what you do not need. They are too thick, have too many adjustments, and are never used to their full potential. Few people have a rifle on or about their person more than I do—almost every week for 10–18 hours, if not more—and all I use is properly measured and attached 1.5” tubular nylon. See me out on the range and we can talk… •
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The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 37
BOOK REVIEW
Violence of Mind: Training and Preparation for Extreme Violence BY Varg Freeborn
A
uthentic, relatable, provocative. These are the descriptors that come to mind after reading Violence of Mind. Simply put, this book is a primer that covers end to end all the critical “must haves” for anyone wanting to protect what’s most important to them before, during, and after contact with a threat. While this work informs and challenges all experience levels, I wish this was available 28 years ago when I first stepped into this space. While the content is not new, the compelling and relatable presentation absolutely is. Written for the civilian audience, Violence of Mind delivers a complete insight into a realm that is alien to “normal earth people.” An ordinary man born and raised in extraordinary circumstances (you will have to read the book) in the Midwest, by 19 years old Varg Freeborn’s fate landed him doing a five-year stretch in prison for a self-defense stabbing. As Varg recounts in the opening pages, “You only have the rights that you can afford to pay an attorney to defend.” It was only after serving his term that his
Reviewed by Karim Manassa rights were restored in a tacit nod by the state to a questionable conviction. Meaning that even with his rights restored, he still had a criminal record with a felony conviction. No matter the time since or circumstances at the time of the incident, he would have to live life with that record never going away. The realities of extreme criminal violence examined in this book were born from Varg’s literal blood, sweat, and tears during this period when he was incarcerated. It’s this knowledge gap in the training industry, which Varg seeks to share with us, that makes his life and message both a unique and invaluable service. Divided into three sections— Mission, Training, and Conditioning & Orientation—Violence of Mind takes the reader through the considerations and constraints too many people never even ponder due to the institutional failures of the “CCW” firearms and martial arts training industries. In Mission, Varg engages the reader with hard-hitting questions and realities surrounding the scope and legalities of
38 The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018
self-defense. Indeed, he condemns the whole “sheepdog” phenomena, while simultaneously eschewing the term “selfdefense” as a fighting style promulgated by the training industry in favor of “selfdefense” being what it actually is: a legal phrase you use when the police arrive and ask what happened. Understanding what he calls the Hierarchy of Escalation includes an emphasis on maintaining self-control, staying in your lane, and taking on the realization we do not control other people: constant themes throughout this section. The Training section breaks down what a proper training program should look like, with principle-based fighting being the ultimate outcome, as this approach “transcends the restrictions of both styles and systems.” Everything from kata versus fight training to development of skills, techniques, procedures, and tactics is reviewed and related to fighting. Capping this section is testing and validation, in particular the relevance of Force on Force training versus the common misperceptions of gaming.
BOOK REVIEW
Conditioning & Orientation is hands down my favorite section of Violence of Mind. In fact, this is where we find the thesis: “There can be no effective violence of action without violence of mind... Orientation [to violence], self control, and the art of concealment are more important than any other skills in the long term.” Here we come to realize not only how these are linked to Mission and Training, but more importantly how personalized and life experiential conditioning and orientation really are. Creating uncertainty through orientation and concealment as a bane to our opponent, derived from self control, “[solidifies our] own confidence, and the ability to break [our] opponent’s confidence.” These are the keys that help us win lethal encounters, whether through avoidance, escape, or having to fight. Slated to become a classic in the combatives genre, Violence of Mind is a must read for anyone serious about carrying a weapon, whether that weapon is a firearm, knife, or their hands.•
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Karim Manassa is founder of South Florida-based EDC Pistol Training LLC, a six-instructor firearms training company designed to inform and challenge Civilian and Law Enforcement students of all experience levels on Pistol, Carbine, Low Light No Light, Force on Force, and Care Under Fire medical training. To learn more about their credentials, philosophy, and courses, visit www.edcpistoltraining.com.
The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 39
HOW TO...
How to Clean Your Precision Rifle
T
he overarching goal of a precision rifle is to maintain a high level of accuracy that is repeatable and reliable. One of the ways to attain this goal is, of course, to maintain your equipment in the best possible condition. Cleaning the fouling out of your bore benefits you by maintaining the shot-to-shot precision of your weapon. There are two schools of thought regarding cleaning your rifle: mechanical and chemical. Mechanical cleaning is the act of scrubbing and scouring the bore with an abrasive brush soaked in a Cleaner, Lubricant, and Protectant (CLP). This gives the gun the appearance of being clean. But this approach doesn’t account for the harshest of fouling: copper fouling. Copper is the devil! It attracts moisture and affects the zero of your weapon over a period of time. As a round travels the length of your barrel, minute amounts of copper are shaved off and packed down with a layer of carbon fouling. This process repeats with each round. This small amount over time changes the velocity of your round as well as having a direct impact on the lifecycle of your barrel.
by Mikey B deactivate the bore cleaner and prevent it from “eating” the copper out of your bore brush. Cleaning Rod: Solid one-piece rod. Just to eliminate confusion, the military issue, takedown-cleaning rod for AR15’s is not acceptable. Patch Holder: Not the open-eye slotted…use the Jag tip or Parker Hale wraparound type. Bore Brush: Use a brass-cored bronze bore brush. Patches: Use cotton patches for their texture and absorbency.
10 MUSTS TO CLEANING YOUR PRECISION RIFLE 1. Always ensure your weapon is clear and on safe. 2. Clean the bore as soon as possible
after shooting. (Fresh carbon is soft.) 3. Do not use excessive force when cleaning the bore. DON’T FORCE OR POUND CLEANING RODS. 4. Use minimum amounts of solvents to clean because they can eat plastics and other important parts of your rifle. 5. DO NOT CONTAMINATE YOUR SOLVENT. Always clean your bore brush before introducing contaminates into your clean solvent. 6. Your bore cleaner or gel shouldn’t have to soak more than an hour. 7. Your copper solvent should not soak more than 15 minutes. 8. Use a clean patch every time you swab the barrel. 9. Don’t use a copper bore brush with copper solvent! 10. If you use any gel, ALWAYS follow it with patches soaked with bore cleaner.•
MATERIALS Bore Cleaner: For example, Shooter’s Choice #7 Firearms Bore Cleaner Copper Solvent: Shooter’s Choice Copper Solvent Lighter Fluid: Lighter fluid serves to .338 Sniper Rifle (modified H-S Precision Pro Series 2000 HTR) Photo by: Zachi Eveno 40 The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018
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The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2018 41
ADVERTISER INDEX
Counter The
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