Line of Sight or Sight Distance is defined as the length of road surface a driver can see and have an acceptable reaction time. The people that are responsible for designing our highways, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), have guidelines concerning “line of sight”, and from those guidelines developed the all-important Decision Sight Distance (DSD)

AASHTO defines DSD as the distance needed to recognize a problem and complete a maneuver safely and efficiently. And according to the scientists who have done an enormous amount of research on driver reaction time the “average” driver needs 2.5 seconds to complete the “recognize a problem” part of the DSD.

The questions then becomes – How much distance do you use up before you get to the “maneuver safely and efficiently” part of the process. A good rule of thumb is that for every 10 MPH a driver needs 40 Feet of sight distance. If you are moving at a highway speed of 60MPHyou would need 240 Feet (40X6) of sight distance at 75 MPH you would need 300 Feet. Hence if you are driving on a highway and for whatever reason, usually a hill, or a series of bends in the road, and there is not 240 to 300 feet of sight distance, drivers will slow down. If the volume of traffic is sufficient it will cause an accordion affect. Please keep in mind that these distances are for the average driver

Sight distance plays an important role in supplying safe and secure transportation.  It is a major factor in determining if the event you drive into is winnable. During your Route Survey know how far you can see NEVER DRIVE FASTER THAN YOU CAN SEE – Which means never drive at a speed that will not give you the time to react at the given sight distance.

As you are conducting a Route Survey, the question you need to ask yourself is “ At the speed I am moving with the given sight distance how much time do I have – and in that time frame what can I do with the vehicle. It makes no difference what training you received and where you received it or what type of vehicle you are driving – No matter what the scenario, accident or vehicle violence – If you don’t have enough sight distance at the speed you are moving it is a no win scenario.

Training in armoured vehicles is a completely unique experience – Keeping in mind that a driver can only use what the vehicle offers. So knowing the armoured vehicles capability is vital – it is as much about knowing what the vehicle can’t do as it is about what the vehicle can do.

Glen came to our instructors program a while back to learn our method of instruction. Glen is a rare breed – a proven race winner who can teach. He has won the East African Safari Rally twice.

You can reach Glen at

Glen-Edmunds-Performance-Driving-School

PO Box 19124, 
Nairobi 00501, 
Kenya

VDI’s first introduction to Janine was when she came through our training program as a student. At the time she was a Secret Service instructor working at the Rowley Training Center for the Protective Operations Driving Section.

Prior to that assignment Janine was a Federal Officer for the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division starting as a patrol officer covering the White House, Vice President’s Residence. As an instructor at the Training Center she was responsible for teaching students different driving techniques such as, motorcade tactics, evasive maneuvers, and pursuit driving. She assisted in developing and modifying lesson plans and driving courses as well as being assigned to motorcade details for visiting dignitaries.

 While attending the VDI program it did not take long for the VDI team to figure out that Janine was special, and fit the VDI instructor model. Joe and Larry asked her if she would like to come on board as a VDI instructor. They explained the process, and warned Janine that it was not easy – she accepted and came on board with VDI.

 She went through the rigorous certification process required to teach a VDI program. Like most everything Janine does, she tore through the Scotti Certifications training and process in record breaking time.

 She balances the rigors of being a VDI instructor with being the mother of two beautiful little girls and works with her husband’s Heavy Metal Band – she has tried to explain what Heavy Metal is but, really, I’m 72, it’s a waste of time. In her on right Janine is a blues singer with a voice that will leave you speechless.

 She has the ability to take the complex concepts of vehicle dynamics and explain them in an easy to understand manner; like all other VDI instructors Janine supplies research driven training with an objective, measurable performance standard, and has a burning passion to ensure students reaches those standards.

For this old man, every time I’m at the training programs it is a privilege to watch her teach.

The first thing you have to remember is that someone has given you the opportunity of a lifetime. You have solved the riddle of “Catch-22”. You can’t get a job without experience, but how can you get a job if no one will let you get the experience. What comes first, the chicken or the egg? Meaning that someone saw something in you that makes them believe that you can do a job that you have never done before. It’s a huge leap of faith to hire a guy or girl for their first job. Others were passed over and you were selected.

In most cases, the people that were passed over had friends on your new team that are not pleased that their pals were not selected. Their feelings are hurt that their buddies did not make the grade. They are embarrassed that they put their name on someone that did not pass muster. Strike one! Not a great beginning, is it? Through no fault of your own, one or more members of your team are not thrilled that you are there. They may even resent your presence.

Now, these same folks have to train you to do things the way that works for the team. The key word here is: TEAM. Everyone has a job to do in order for the team to be a success. They will be looking for weakness, laziness, stupidity; and your attitude will be scrutinized every minute of every training day. They will expect you have a certain level of training and understanding of what they do.  You will get a crash course in what to do, what not to do and how to do things. You will be given very little slack. And you will be expected to pull your weight sooner rather than later. They are working every day busting their asses trying to keep the VIP and the team alive. And now in their eyes, the team has been weakened by a new arrival that does not know how things are done or why they are done a certain way. Tempers are short as they’re pulling their full load and teaching you at the same time. Strike two!

The learning curve will be very steep. You will be judged sternly. Oh, and by the way, this is how things should be done. If a mistake is made, people could die. Your new team will be asked about your progress, attitude, and aptitude. All they know about you is that you are new and someone above their pay grade made the decision to hire you.

One thing about EP work and PSD work that I have to point out is that not everyone is able to do the job. I always wanted to play in the NFL. Guess what, I wasn’t big enough or fast enough to do it. No matter how bad I wanted it, it just wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t take it personally. I still watch the draft every year hoping to see my name called. It’s the same thing in this line of work. Some folks aren’t good enough! Not smart enough, lazy, out of shape, lack decisiveness, lack the skill sets required, or some combination of all of the above. We don’t play a professional sport where we go out and have beer after a bad game. People die when we lose. These are the attitudes of your new teammates as they evaluate you. Are you an asset or a liability?

Nobody really cares what your background is. I’ve fired SEALS, Recon marines, cops, SF guys, regular military guys, SWAT cops, and every other flavor cool guy under the sun. We don’t care what you did yesterday, we care about today and tomorrow. Your past help you get here. Let it go and concentrate on using those skills in your new gig. Enough said.

You got the job because someone liked something about you. They thought you would an asset to the program. With this being said, the people that hired you will listen to the other guys when they ask about your performance. They need to know the truth about your progress and decide whether you can become a valued and trusted member of the team. Lives depend upon this evaluation – BOTH the VIP’s and your team mates. There is no room for a weak link and you will be culled from the herd based upon your peer group’s evaluations.

OK, you have two big strikes against you going in. What do we want to see from you? How can you level the playing field and actually make the grade? How do you impress the guys/girls?

First, it is far better to let people think you stupid than actually open your mouth and let them know you are stupid. Do not give your opinion on how things are done. Unless you were hired to run the show, then for at least a month make no suggestions on how to do things better. Your opinion means nothing until you know the nuances of your new job. The guys do not have time to explain why they don’t do some things a certain way while they are teaching you the way to do something. Reread that last sentence. Memorize it. Learn the team way before you ask why things aren’t done a certain way. These methods are tried and true and work. Believe me, unless it’s a start up gig every method known to the profession has been talked about, tried, implemented or discarded. You will be very hard pressed to invent some new way of doing things.

Second, show up with the proper gear. You will need it. Follow the gear list and bring it all. You may not think something is important, but your team leader sure does or it would not be on the gear list. Four pairs of pants mean four pairs. Two pairs of foot wear mean just that. Don’t try to out think the guys doing the job until you have been there for a while. They know more than you do.

Third, be prepared to work. There is no allowance for jet lag or heat acclimatization. You don’t get paid to rest for three days before you start training/work. You must be ready to hit the ground running. You were hired to fill a slot that may have been empty for a few days. The guys that are there have probably been splitting time filling that slot. They are tired, cranky, and need the rest way more than the new guy does. And now they have to train you. Truly a volatile situation to enter into while everyone is trying to stay alive.

Fourth, be in shape. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. If you have no stamina, no strength, or intestinal fortitude you will be gone quickly. In the private sector, there are no unions, no mandatory sleep times, and no coffee breaks. You eat when you can, sleep when you can, piss when you can and work out when you can. You have to be prepared to work long hours in sometimes arduous conditions and not complain, faint, or get sick.

Fifth, complain at your own risk. Be very wary of complaining to the detail leader, team leader, director of security or anyone else about slights (real or imagined) that you are unhappy about. No one cares about your opinion until you are a respected, valued member of the team. In our world, the squeaky wheel gets replaced, not greased. There is no crying in EP or PSD work.

Hopefully, you will follow these simple steps and some day laugh about how tough your first gig was. And maybe you will only have to wear the tag of “FUCKING NEW GUY” for a few days.

Your comments are always welcome:

Frank Gallagher E5RECON@aol.com

I have noticed the same issue Larry is talking about – people liking posts that they could not have possibly had the time to read. Like Larry I’m not complaining – but we do seem to be in an age where reading is not a big thing. As Larry mentioned – Is the power of the written word diminishing?

Why do I think this phenomenon is important, and linked to job opportunities?  With all the talk in the Social Media about job opportunities – it appears that very few will devote the time to read, listen or are simply not interested in how to find job opportunities. Between Larry – Eric Konohia – Elijah Shaw – Mark James and Frank Gallagher there is an enormous amount of experience – and via the social media they are going out of their way to give readers information on how to get job opportunities – some of their posts are well read but most of them are not well read. I have to admit I’m puzzled by it. In most businesses success is emulated, that does not seem to be the norm in the EP business – OR – is it that my definition of success is not the same as others. SO – “Why is it when successful EP practitioners, like to ones mentioned above, offer advice on how to increase the possibility of job opportunities -career enhancement and advancement, for the most part it all goes un read.

Is it because many of those in the Protection business are part time – and are satisfied with their position? That is not a comment it is a question.

Is it because EP tends to be geography sensitive? That is not a comment it is a question.

Is it because most of the EP Training programs do not address the real skills needed to find job opportunities? Before anyone gets wrapped around the axle – That is not a comment it is a question.

Is it because most feel that going to an EP School and relying on the school’s network is all you need to do to find work? – That is not a comment it is a question.

Why, when those I mentioned, offer help – very few seem to take it. That is not a question that is a comment.

If you have read this entire article – you are far ahead of most others in the business.

My guess is that this post will receive no action – hope I’m wrong.

2012 BROCHURE

An impressive list of Instructors Take a look at the – CORPRATE SECURITY AND THREAT MANAGEMENT

May take a while to load – but worth the wait

December 6, 2003

As Ambassador Bremer came out of his meeting with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Abdul Aziz Hakim (head of the SCIRI party in Iraq) at Hakim’s house in Baghdad, he turned to me and said he would go to the airport (BIAP) with the Secretary of Defense. This was not part of my plan as we were expecting to head directly back to the Green Zone and the Palace. My initial reaction was to protest the move, but I could see the look in his eyes that this was not open for debate. I quickly answered, “Yes, Sir”.

The road to BIAP was referred to as many things. None of them were favorable. We usually called it the highway of death as the insurgents repeatedly targeted and killed coalition forces as they made the dangerous journey from the airport to the Green Zone. The adrenaline began to pump as I mentally made a checklist of what had not been done to make the trip as safe as possible. No advance team, the helicopters had not been briefed; many major components of a regular mission were not in place. The flip side was that as unscheduled visit, no one knew we were heading out there and we would be traveling with the additional man power that Secretary Rumsfeld had with him. I notified the team that there had been a change in plans and that we were off to the VIP lounge at the airport. Needless to say, some of the radio traffic back to me expressed grave concern about doing the mission and questioned my sanity.

The trip out to the airport was uneventful. However, the 18 or so car motorcade with US Army Apache helicopters, Kiowa helicopters, and my 2 Little Bird helicopter’s certainly told everyone in the area that something unusual was taking place at the airport that evening. We arrived safely and the meeting began.

I gathered my men and explained that getting back to the Green Zone was going to be an adventure and to make sure that everyone was aware of the dangers. A truly unnecessary step as they all knew what the risks were. We laughed and said our goodbyes to each other and promised to have a cup of Mead in Valhalla later that evening. One has to love the macabre sense of humor amongst contractors.

At about 23:20, the meeting broke up and the Ambassador and Brian McCormick came out and we loaded them into the motorcade. And, of course, as luck would have it, we would be the first motorcade leaving and heading down the highway of death. The fact that we were now the advance motorcade for the others at the meeting was not lost on any of us and certainly raised the adrenaline levels.

The Little Birds were in the air flying as top cover and scanning for potential issues.

I was sitting in the right front seat of the limo (a level 6 armored Suburban). Q was driving. The Little Birds had just reported that they saw a suspicious vehicle backing down an onramp on the highway and one of them were going to check it out. The shift leader gave the command to shift the limo to the left (away from the side of the road towards the center) while the follow and lead cars shifted to the right.

Seconds later, all hell broke loose.

I heard something hit my window and while I was trying to figure out what it was, there was an explosion of light and sound, the limo veered while Q fought to retain control. Temporarily blinded by the explosions, we could see nothing. I leaned over the seats to check on the Ambassador and Brian just as the Ambassador asked what had happened. “Bomb and AK fire, sir” I told him. I asked him if he was OK and he said that he was. I could see the back of the limo had sustained extreme damage and told him and Brian to get down. The bad guys were shooting at the limo as we sped away at roughly 60 mph through the smoke induced fog. Neither Q nor I could see anything more than 5 feet in front of us. Q was driving purely by instinct and training.

I heard the shift leader over the radio calling out, “TUNA, TUNA, TUNA” – our code for us to drive through the ambush, get off the “X”. The smoke cleared and I looked to my left to see the follow car driver about 24 inches away from me using his car to shield the limo. His side mirror touching Q’s side mirror at 60 mph. I asked for a casualty report and learned that 2 of our 4 CAT team vehicles were damaged, but limping along. No injuries to any of the security team members.

As the AIC, I had to make the painful decision that they (the damaged CAT vehicles) were on their own as I was unsure of the damage to the limo and the Ambassador’s safety always comes first.

The shift leader radioed me again to ask if we were alright and I responded that we were. Apparently the damage to the vehicle was far greater than I knew at the time, but the follow car guys could see it and we could not. We were advised to slow the limo down to make sure we safely reached the Green Zone. We did. And we made it back.

Inspecting the damage to the motorcade vehicles after arrival, we found several bullet holes in the rear of the lead vehicle. The limo had lost the back end (the non armored hatch area), the ECM had been destroyed and we found shrapnel and bullet holes in the armored area just behind the rear seats of the Ambassador and Brian. Additional bullet holes in the right side of the car and, of course, the one that was even with my head on my window. The follow car had extensive shrapnel damage riddling the body and bullet holes. When the explosion went off, the heat from the blast convinced both the shift leader and the driver that their feet had been badly burned. The CAT vehicles finally limped in. All 4 tires had been destroyed and there was extensive shrapnel damage to the vehicles.

We survived for several reasons, the first and foremost was that the drivers behaved under pressure the way that they had trained. They know automatically what to do and did it. We train to get off the “X” for a reason.

Thanks for reading – Frank Gallagher

Please also reference Ambassador Bremer’s book – “My Year in Iraq” for further information about this incident.

In August 2003, Frank was assigned to work with Army CID to provide the protection for Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, the presidential envoy, who had been selected by President Bush to oversee the rebuilding of Iraq.  The US Secret Service did an assessment and named the Ambassador the most threatened man in the world and out sourced his protection to Blackwater. At this time Frank became the Agent in Charge (AIC) of the detail. Initially there were 36 men that eventually grew to a cadre of 60. As there really was no existing plan on how to incorporate all the aspects of helicopter support, counter assault teams, surveillance detection, Frank and his men eventually developed the concepts and ideas that eventually became the WPPS program that State Department still uses today. Frank stayed with the Ambassador until both left Iraq safely. His team did not lose a man nor were any injured during the year they were operational. 

Frank was also the deputy program manager for the Bureau of Diplomatic Protection in Iraq teaching for the Department of Defense under the Counter Terrorism Special Operations Forces. He was also the Director of Security for Dr. Henry Kissinger for 6 years and the detail leader for 2 years before that, he has worked for Fortune 100/500 companies, celebrities, and politicians and is sought after as a consultant by many for his ideas on what and how to fix problems on other security details. He has taught for other programs and has decided that the time is right to help develop and deliver the finest program in existence. At last count he had worked in 48 countries.

Frank is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps where he served as a member of 2^nd Reconnaissance Battalion.  His experience there as a special warfare operator included duties such as intelligence gathering, dive operations, surveillance detection, Close Quarters Battle (CQB), small unit tactics, and training.

Keeping Your Edge

Respecting Those That Have Come Before

By Elijah Shaw

 “This guy thinks he was born fully grown.”  That’s a saying I sometimes use which confuses the hell out of people when they hear it.  Allow me to explain:

To me it describes a person that thinks they know everything, particularly the ones that give the impression that this knowledge somehow came right out of the sky and was beamed directly into their brains.  They suffer from a rare and unexplainable phenomenon termed IIC or “Immaculate Information Conception”.  To these individuals they didn’t have to learn something that was taught to them by someone that at some point had greater skill or knowledge about a topic.  Instead they manifested the techniques and owe a debt to no-one.  Or to put it bluntly, they’re full of it.

I’ve said it before in previous columns, our industry is populated by the “Alpha Male” mindset (even in women) and while I also believe it is a valuable trait that allows us to rise above the pack and assume the role of protector, let’s be realistic, there are very few cases of reinventing the wheel.  Instead we as pros learn from one another, and more importantly, learned from someone prior, information or skills that allowed us to obtain the title of “professional”.  The interesting quality I observe is that particularly in the Close Protection Industry, we tend to devalue what has come before, much less pay respect to it.   

Don’t get me wrong, like a traditional family the son should be expected and encouraged to grow up, move away and start his own clan.  From a biological level that is how we diversify and continue the species.   Yet in our industry we not only move out of dad’s house, in some cases we deny we ever even had a father.   IIC Syndrome claims another victim. 

I think part of the problem lies in that there is a perceived vulnerability that lies in the fact that someone had to “teach” us something.  As if the implication may be that it also might mean there is something we don’t know, and could therefore fail at.    Industry speaking, I think we could also attribute it to the fact that many of our teachers may also still be in some way shape or form still associated with the protection business and therefore might actually be competition. 

It’s different to pay respect to your kung fu sensei if he lives in a monastery or passed away many years ago.  It’s another story if you open up a martial arts school across town and may have to compete for the same new students.  Acknowledging the psychology and/or the economics is one thing, but that mindset is likely to do us more harm than good in the long run. 

There is a value to strengthening ties to the past and calling upon the people who have not only knowledge but also the wisdom that comes from experience.  Even if that person no longer has any interaction with what you do, it’s just plain good karma to respect those that have achieved a high level of proficiency in a craft.  It’s one of the reasons we call a person “Doctor” even if they are not operating on us. 

There’s no mistaking that Immaculate Information Conception affects most of us at one time or another, but I think with self awareness we can all do our part to stop it from becoming an epidemic.