The Strength of Ten Men
Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
“The Strength of Ten Men” is a phrase that can be related to everything from ancient mythology to modern lyrics. If you don’t believe me, simply Google “strength of ten men” and sort through the more than 743,000 responses. What is the application in police work? It goes beyond literally being as strong as ten men.
In his recent article “Who Should Kill A Terrorist?” Officer.com contributor Keith Lavery has a section titled “8 to 1″. He discusses the “tactical math equation” wherein a person who:
- is highly trained in combatives
- is armed to the teeth
- has a belief system that implores their death as desireable
- knows their battlefield
- happens to be in a target rich environment
functions more efficiently than a single man. Keith adds in a fortified defensive position and comes up with the equivalent of 8 to 1 as a comparison.
The hidden meaning, for those who don’t think ahead, is that for every ONE such bad guy you need EIGHT good guys working to take him out. The point he’s making is that fighting one terrorist isn’t necessarily the same as fighting one average bad guy.
The good news is that the reverse is also true. We can train our law enforcement professionals to a point where each of them functions with the equivalent efficiency of 8 men (or women - I’m not trying to be sexist).
If we would invest the time and money to train our officers:
- highly in mixed martial arts or “combatives”
- with an assortment of effective weaponry without regard to political correctness
- in the duty-focused self-sacrificing attitude that made our country strong at its inception
- and assign them in a given area so that they can intimately learn their “battlefield”
- to see the moral imperative that they quickly and efficiently neutralize terrorists
then I think we could create more officers that are “8 to 1″ in strength.
Okay… so it’s not “the strength of ten men”… but it IS a far better position than one under-trained, under-equipped, poorly motivated officer working to earn an anemic paycheck.
Think about it. All comments are welcomed.
I really enjoyed your analysis of the illegal alien problem - thank you for taking the time to send it out. We have cross-posted it. Excellent!
Liz
The first thing that comes to my mind is the bank robbery in CA by the two men armed with “autos” and body armor. Now in that case they had the will to live but one thing that you didn’t mention that pertained in that case was the use of drugs. Those men took barbituates to calm themselves before they perpetrated the crime. More than likely in a terrorist situation, much like what hs been reported in Iraq and Afganistan the use of opiate and epinephrine combinations will be seen only adding to the things you list above. I couldn’t agree more that our officers should be trained in advanced combative techniques and be armed in such a way that they could readily respond without being ‘out gunned’ as they were badly in California that day.
Great post sir.
Respectfully,
Robert Gager
On a slightly different note, just read that actor David Spade who is a resident here in AZ has donated 100K to Phoenix PD for the purchase of rifles…THANK YOU MR. SPADE!
All things being equal–firearms, fitness, etc., the fight comes down to who has the stronger will. It’s cliched to say, but the mind is a powerful thing. Strong will, determination, and a frim belief in God will make for a powerful force to reckon with.
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog” is an old but very sound rule of combat life.