Tactical Tangents

This might sound a little boring, but let's face it: Trying to get stuff done when you're dealing with your bosses is a skill of its own. Some people are better at it than others. We discuss some str…

What is a tactic? How do we come up with them? The word tactical is one of those buzzwords we throw around, but what does it all mean? We are going to talk about how people apply creativity and probl…

Mike and Jim discuss the differences between a boss, manager, and leader, styles of leadership and how they affect a team or organization. We'll cover things like establishing social norms and how cl…

We interviewed Andy Brown, the author of Warnings Unheeded, to discuss his role in stopping an active shooter with an AK47 by shooting him in the head from 68 yards away with his pistol. We cover the…

Craig Douglas is a retired SWAT and undercover narcotics cop who started a company called Shivworks, specializing in close-range and entangled gunfighting and knife defense. His classes and training …

Whether you are organizing an air battle campaign or you are wrestling over a gun with a bad guy, there is a lot to be said about the element of time. Mike and Jim discuss how we have to account for …

We met with the commanders of the Air Unit and SWAT Team for the Bernalillo Co Sheriff in Albuquerque. This is a busy agency with a lot going on. We talk about leadership, career paths to special tea…

Doctor Tang is a trauma surgeon, professor of surgery, and the Director of Trauma at the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson, AZ. Doctor Tang joins Mike and Jim to discuss things related n…

We are just starting to comprehend the impact of information protection and cyber security on tactical reality. It turns out that you don’t have to be a level 9 computer hacker ninja – you just have …

Language warning! In an earlier episode, we had our buddy Isaac on the show who was getting ready to start the police academy. Isaac graduated the academy and is now a sworn officer in the middle of …

A police officer on the east coast was fired for failing to shoot a suicidal person with a gun. We talk about applying critical thinking to discussions like this, because it's important that we consi…

The courts make the final judgement on use of force--but they rely heavily on the expert testimony of legends like Massad Ayoob. Mas is a champion shooter and long-time teacher in matters related to …

Annette is a competitive shooter, private firearms instructor, attorney, author, blogger, and she was gracious enough to join Mike on the podcast for an interview. If you are just getting into shooti…

Communicating during a crisis is its own skill all by itself. We’re going to talk about some principles that can help you get it right whether you use radios professionally in public safety, aviation…

Ambush is a term that we tend to overuse to mean any attack that catches us off guard. We are going to define the term ambush and, more importantly, define the counter-tactics to apply if you are amb…

Like many good ideas in the tactical community, "Slow is smooth, Smooth is Fast," is one of those that started out with strong roots and grew into something barely recognizable. We lose IQ points whe…

In the mid-nineties a Fedex employee facing termination attempted to hijack Fedex Flight 705 from Memphis to San Jose. His plan was to take over the plane and crash it into the Fedex headquarters, an…

Boyd used to walk people through a thought experiment in which he wanted people to use their imagination to “create a new reality,” to illustate the creative nature of our minds. In a tactical sense,…

John Boyd was the guy behind the OODA loop, the F-15, the F-16. He and his group of reformers were also largely responsible for the A-10, the Warfighting manual for the USMC, and some of the planning…

In episode 6 we discuss a couple of road rage incidents that escalated to the point someone got hurt or killed, and one that was handled pretty well by a guy in Indiana. These stories are important b…