Failure drill

For those here who train a lot, I am curious to hear varying opinions on the failure/Mozambique Drill.
What distances do you usually practice this, sidearm or primary, etc?

Most of my experience doing this drill or variations of it have been within 25 yards, and with a pistol under a timer as part of an overall firearms qualification with the department by which I am employed. I would like to know more about this drill, variations of it, and other peoples opinions about it. I am curious to hear what some of the more experienced persons here think. I am also curious to the general consensus here regarding the pelvic girdle as a valid variation of the traditional failure drill (we do both as part of our quals).

Any replies or input would be appreciated for learning purposes, thank you.

Not being a dick, but this might be more appropriate in the training/tactics section.

You Sir are not a dick! Thou hath spoken correctly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrigandTwoFour

Not being a dick, but this might be more appropriate in the training/tactics section.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5.56 Bonded SP

For those here who train a lot, I am curious to hear varying opinions on the failure/Mozambique Drill.
What distances do you usually practice this, sidearm or primary, etc?

Most of my experience doing this drill or variations of it have been within 25 yards, and with a pistol under a timer as part of an overall firearms qualification with the department by which I am employed. I would like to know more about this drill, variations of it, and other peoples opinions about it. I am curious to hear what some of the more experienced persons here think. I am also curious to the general consensus here regarding the pelvic girdle as a valid variation of the traditional failure drill (we do both as part of our quals).

Any replies or input would be appreciated for learning purposes, thank you.

First let's make sure we are talking the same language - a failure drill (AKA drug or armor drill) is when the officer has fired rounds to the center mass area without the desired result, the officer then transition aim to the head to deliver incapacitating shots. In this respect the failure drill is driven by the shooter's analysis of the situation. The Mozambique, on the other hand is a method of engagement for all close range threats. The shooter fires two shots to the center mass and then immediately, without analysis, transitions to the head and fires the 'anchoring' shot(s).

I would use the terminology 'failure drill' or 'drug and armor drill' never 'Mozambique.' LEO's should always be taught that the subsequent shots to the head are fired only after assessment of the reaction to the center mass shots.

Let me explain why I think that failure drills SHOULD NOT be a part of any scored qualification.

As part of my former job, I've served as the state's expert witness in several shooting cases. I have had to lay the foundation of why we train officers to shoot center mass in lieu of shooting the arms or legs of assailants. In a nutshell this is the litany used: those body parts move more quickly than the center of mass; normally we expect officers to be under some degree stress which would impair their ability to be that precise; the hours allotted to firearms training in the state mandated training course, and at most agencies do not allow the normal patrol officer to develop that skill, etc.

In those circumstances, after making that spiel, having the opposing counsel ask 'Well then, could you explain why in spite of all you've just said the Fvcknuckle Junction Police Department has their officers deliver precision shots to a specific zone on the head during firearms qualification?' Pretty sure I could handle it, but really don't want to be forced to.

Instead, I would make failure drills a part of every range training session.

Let's talk for a moment about using the pelvis as an alternative aim point. This is what one of the leading authorities on wound ballistics, Dr. Martin Fackler has to say about the pelvis:

“I welcome the chance to refute the belief that the pelvic area is a reasonable target during a gunfight. I can find no evidence or valid rationale for intentionally targeting the pelvic area in a gunfight. The reasons against, however, are many. They include:

1) From the belt line to the top of the head, the areas most likely to rapidly incapacitate the person hit are concentrated in or near the midline. In the pelvis, however, the blood vessels are located to each side, having diverged from the midline, as the aorta and inferior vena cava divide at about the level of the navel.

2) Additionally, the target that, when struck, is the most likely to cause rapid and reliable incapacitation, the spinal cord located in the midline of the abdomen, thorax and neck), ends well above the navel and is not a target in the pelvis.

3) The pelvic branches of the aorta and inferior vena cava are more difficult to hit than their parent vessels -- they are smaller targets, and they diverge laterally from the midline (getting farther from it as they descend). Even if hit, each carry far less blood than the larger vessels from which they originated. Thus, even if one of these branches in the pelvis is hit, incapacitation from blood loss must necessarily be slower than from a major vessel hit higher up in the torso.

4) Other than soft tissue structures not essential to continuing the gunfight (loops of bowel, bladder) the most likely thing to be struck by shots to the pelvis would be bone. The ilium is a large flat bone that forms most of the back wall of the pelvis. The problem is that handgun bullets that hit it would not break the bone but only make a small hole in passing through it: this would do nothing to destroy bony support of the pelvic girdle. The pelvic girdle is essentially a circle: to disrupt its structure significantly would require breaking it in two places. Only a shot that disrupted the neck or upper portion of the shaft of the femur would be likely to disrupt bony support enough to cause the person hit to fall. This is a small and highly unlikely target: the aim point to hit it would be a mystery to those without medical training — and to most of those with medical training. - Fackler, ML, Shots to the Pelvic Area, Wound Ballistics Review, Issue 4, 1999.

I'd like to also note that if you are successful in destroying the hip socket or pelvic girdle and the suspect falls to the ground, you are still dealing with, in most cases, an armed subject, who still has the ability to harm you with their weapon.

Training issues:

Perhaps the most common mistake officers make is not stopping the weapon before they fire. The want to shot BANG,BANG,BANG instead of BANG,BANG,(slight pause to stabilize)BANG. Look to the target area, bring the gun to your eyes, stabilize, press.

The second mistake is, IMO, made by trainers. Ask someone to describe the situation in which they think a failure drill would be necessary. They will almost always describe a close range assault with the subject moving in on the officer. If that is the case, THEN WHY ARE WE DOING IT STATIONARY ON A SQUARE RANGE? We need to build the instinct to move off the threat axis while delivering force in these situations. This is another reason that I would not include the failure drill in a qual course.

Finally, you need to move the skill from the drill part of the brain to the amygdalae.

All of my in-service firearms programs had a force-on-force component. Near the end of one pistol class I was doing what I call a 'Night FI Drop Drill.' The officers were in our darkened EVOC garage, using their flashlight to conduct an FI. At some point after the officer had the subject's DL, the subject would go for a knife stuck in their waistband. The response I wanted to drill was - as moving off threat axis, drop the dl, flashlight into the eyes, draw and fire. I had instructed the role players to not go down until they had received a sim round to the facemask. The first evolution through no one immediately transitioned to the failure drill. A ha! Lightbulb! So we reset and set up a snap drill that had them drill failure drills using force-on-force. Went onto another unrelated drill - firing from vehicle. Several hours later, just before course end we put them through another drill that required them to execute a failure drill. No bobbles this time.

I can not over emphasize the impact that simple force on force drills have on officer safety.

just my experiences and thoughts.

I worked as a LEO for 25 yrs, and cannot agree more with what was just posted above.

The use of a head hit following high COM hits is of relatively little value in qualification, whereas its use (and the variations of what happens between the COM shooting and the CNS shooting) are of high importance during training.

In marksmanship qualification I am far more interested in ensuring that the participants are being evaluated on their ability to place shots where they are supposed to be aiming, within specific conditions to specific standards, within specific target dimensions. One of the values in using the "Failure to Stop" or "Mozambique" drills in marksmanship evaluation is in the skill evaluation of the shooter to "change gears" from a relatively large/easy target to a comparatively small/difficult target, while keeping the target at close range.

It is crucial, in my opinion, to separate marksmanship qualification from attempting gunfight simulation. Marksmanship training brings participants to a certain level of proficiency that is associated with a "shoot" response. Simulation is used to ensure that the participants arrive at the "shoot" solution appropriately, and that they apply those shots to the right place in relation to the situation and availability of target. For optimal result in the shortest time possible with an expectation of a large number of students needing to successfully meet training, an intermediary training of human targeting is beneficial. This is where changing aiming points on the fly on a human target in response to target availability makes the most sense.

Thank you, Jack. I was really hoping you would post in this thread.