The pendulm (and scythe) are swinging ... Heed the warning.

[Erick Gelhaus]

Open Letter to T&T Visitors

Normally, I’d open with Greetings but I am not in that friendly of a mood. I’m pretty perturbed and I have been for a while.

Sadly, this is directed at only 5-10% of the folks who come to Training & Tactics. But it must apply to all.

The following was posted in General as part of the thread about pet peeves on TFL:
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...=203551&page=4
1) Name calling, rudeness, put-downs, macho I'm-tougher-than-anybody-and-I-can-just-whup-a$$ attitude. AKA "testosterone poisoning".

3) Endless scenarios. They have trivialized the "tactics and training" forum into silliness. When I first started reading on TFL I learned a lot there, but too much of it is just ridiculous now.

It was a distilliation of what was bothering me.

I have been the primary moderator for this area since Rich Lucibella asked me to take it over in November, 2000. Prior to that, I only moderated the Shotgun area.

In August, 2004 my reserve component unit mobilized for deployment to Iraq. As a result I have obviously been absent until quite recently.

Denny Hansen is the other moderator here. In addition to his time here, he is the editor for S.W.A.T. magazine. While I’ve been deployed, Denny has had a well publicized “aw-chit” to deal with. As a result, Denny has not always been able to devote his time here. Denny’s background, for those not familiar with it includes:
14 years of active law enforcement, department firearms instructor, 5 years in SWAT; he continues instructing and attending as many schools as possible every year to prevent stagnation; and is a member of the Kevlar Survivor's Club. They give you a real pretty plaque, but you have to earn it the hard way.

Capt Charlie is the newest moderator here. His background includes 28 years in law enforcement including 4 yrs. As a Fed (but I don’t hold that against him). He’s been shooting and training only a few months less than I’ve been on the planet.

So, I pretty much think that Denny & Charlie have a “clue.” I’m obviously the youngster and I know I don’t have the answer. Should you be interested, I’ve been employed by the military or a public safety entity since I turned 18. 15 + years in law enforcement, a deployment as an Infantry NCO in Iraq and I teach at one of the “name” shooting schools. Again, NO, I don’t have the answer.

Between us, we’ve over 60 years of sworn uniform or under-cover law enforcement, military, armed citizen and training time between us. Does not makes us “experts” but it might put us in the reasonable knowledgeable individual category.

So, now you’ve got our backgrounds, let me go back to the post mentioned at the start of this thread.

When I got back from Iraq and returned to TFL, I was anywhere from appalled to disgusted by a significant percentage of the threads in Training & Tactics. But, rather than jumping in immediately and swinging a scythe without discrimination, I chose to try and sit back and watch what was going on. My mistake.

I tried posting “what’s the purpose of this thread?” a few times; guess that was too subtle. I tried sending PM’s to various folks, some subtle & others bordering on a high velocity use of a clue bat; that was too subtle as well. I tried closing threads as being irrelevant; that did not work either.

So, what am I going to do with Training & Tactics?

It is time for the scythe to come out. And it comes out immediately following the posting of this as a sticky thread.

There are fifty-two (52) pages of threads in T&T. If you want to know what is and will be acceptable, look at those from the origins of T&T. And since there are fifty-two pages, there is a reasonable chance that something has been asked before. I do not have an issue with folks resurrecting worthwhile threads. If the old thread is not quite on point, include a link to it in your post and then go on.

Threads that are outside the scope of Training &/or Tactics, will be deleted. If your thread gets deleted, that is your warning. Post outside the scope again and I will ban you.

An occasional scenario based on a legitimate, real world situation is fine. Emphasis on the words occasional and legitimate. If you want to post repeated, silly scenarios that border on asinine, see the above.

While I believe that Tactics is far more an Art than it is a Science – it is not do I go left or right, but rather why would I go left or right – those opinions / posts that violate sound tactical doctrine will go away, quickly. The decision as to what is and is not acceptable will be made by the moderators.

For the foreseeable future, T&T will be a bad place to be silly. The pendulum is going to swing back.

In the past, T&T used to be regularly visited by professional, competent trainers such as Pat Rogers, Randy Cain, Jeff Gonzales, and Stu Nakamura. If you do not know who these gentlemen are, it is your loss. No doubt the decline of the quality of this forum may have something to do with their absence.

A couple of other thoughts … I post under my real name. I have a strong preference for folks who do the same. I end up having to stand by what I put out on the Error Net. If you hide behind some moniker and you are posting asinine things, I am very likely to view you as a clown. I will then treat you with the respect you deserve.

If you have graduated from school, you should be able to post in a coherent fashion, utilizing the English language. I’m not looking for doctoral level discourse but decent punctuation and spelling are required.

For the 90-95% that this does not apply to, hopefully you will see the benefit shortly. In the meantime, don’t encourage the problem children. Please ignore the problem posters by not contributing to their threads.

Cops & Citizens … yes, we are civilians too. We know (or should know) this. Like you, I go home into my house at the end of my work day – so do Denny & Charlie – believe it or not; home defense and off-duty / CCW issues are remarkably the same.

Training is the second half of the title of this forum. So, yes, we strongly advocate training – as long as it is from competent, proven instructors. We also encourage reviews on training that you have attended, it is always appreciated.

Bottom line, this is a venue for responsible and competent discussion of issues relating to training and tactics by decent normal human beings, regardless of where they get their paychecks. I will see it returned to being responsible and competent or I will close it down.

The scythe is now in effect.

Erick