FBI Citizens Academy: Week #5

By AnnetteDashofy

For our fifth session, we met on a Saturday morning at the firing range. 

Range Day for my FBI Citizens Academy Class

We started the day listening to a fascinating lecture on Use of Force, which raised lots of questions from my classmates—most of which were answered in the segments that followed. A few takeaways—law enforcement is trained to shoot to stop the threat. Not to kill. Not to injure. While it looks cool on TV, no one can shoot a gun from a subject’s hand or place a shot in the knee to stop them. They’re trained to shoot for center mass and to continue firing until the threat is stopped.

The fun started with a demonstration by the bomb techs. These guys really enjoy their work! They set off a number of explosions of all types, from homemade to military. The scary part is how easily items we all have in our medicine cabinets, basements, and garages can be combined into a bomb. Equally scary is the ease of finding directions online. The comforting part is most of these directions aren’t exactly accurate, and someone trying to use them is more likely to blow off their hand than to successfully create an explosive device.

My big takeaway was learning that the explosions we see in the movies and TV are nothing like the real thing. The film industry shows you lots of fire. At the end of their demonstration, the bomb techs triggered a “Hollywood Wall of Flames” and only then did we realize none of the other explosions had involved such an inferno. There was smoke—different shades of smoke mean different ingredients—and smells and booms. Sometimes the booms were softer. Some shook the earth. And some sent out an honest-to-goodness shockwave that we could feel in our chests.

My thinking is Hollywood does the Wall of Flame to show a visual impact because the sound and shockwaves can’t be duplicated. In reality, the sounds, smells, and sensations had a much bigger impact on us than anything we see on film.

(Side note: I wish I had photos or video to show you. We were told we could photograph stuff for our own personal use, but we were not permitted to share it online.)

 

Glock 22 40

After the bomb demo, we were split into groups to go through three different stations. My first one was live fire. We were armed with a Glock 22 40 and an H&K MP5 10mm assault rifle and took turns with an instructor. 

 

My target--Not too shabby!

The next station was a SWAT training simulation—Shoot/Don’t Shoot scenario. We were walked through a “house” and in each room, there were posters showing the people one might encounter. Some of the “subjects” were armed, some were merely pointing a finger or holding a can of Pepsi, some were cops. We were armed with pellet guns and had to make split-second decisions. My partner “killed” a guy with a can of pop. I’m pleased to say I aced it! I killed the bad guys and did not kill any civilians or other law enforcement.

Unfortunately, the program ran over and I had to leave before completing the third station, which was a FATS (Fire Arms Training Simulator). I’d already done these a few other times (and if you’ve read the opening scene of my With a Vengeance, you know that Zoe has too!) FATS is a computerized exercise with a large screen where a scenario plays out. The participant is armed with a Glock that doesn’t fire projectiles but is read by the computer so you can see afterward where—and who—your shots hit.

The entire day gave us a new appreciation of what the FBI and all law enforcement face every day out in the field.