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bers; become fluid in your action.” To consciously think of the
steps can be disastrous.
The next portion of the HQC qualification that is very well
thought out is the differing courses of fire throughout the movement of targets during the qualification. I can recall attending
training with either the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s “Top
Gun” training or its “Basic Narcotics Investigator” training.
There was a block of instruction that involved the critique of a
Sheriff’s Deputy from somewhere in the central to western part
of the country. The Deputy was involved in a very intense
shootout with multiple actors. There had been video taken of
the Deputy drawing his handgun out, firing two shots and
returning the weapon to his holster. He did this three times
before taking a knee and emptying his brass into his hand and
ultimately placing the spent casings into his pocket.
The critique found two fatal flaws in his training. First off, his
department’s qualification/training consisted repeatedly of
drawing from the holster and firing two rounds and returning
his weapon to the holster. The second flaw came from a
directive issued by his department, issuing punitive disciplinary
action if deputies left brass casings on the ground of the range,
thereby forcing the deputies to empty spent casings into their
pockets. Keeping this critique in mind, I find that it is brilliant
that the HQC qualification consists of drawing from the holster,
keeping the target/aggressor at cover suspect position, and
weapon retention, in addition to varying the number of shots
fired throughout the course.
An example of how we use this lesson with training at RTSP is
the course that we give on drawing from the holster. The lesson
plan consists of five stages but it is very common to say to a student: “Learn the steps by the numbers and then forget the num-
The final aspect of the HQC qualification calls for different
shooter positioning and ammunition management such as:
crouched over a barricade, kneeling, support hand shooting,
tactical and emergency magazine changes, etc. If the HQC qualification did not call for these changes throughout the course, it
is likely that some officers would nev \