Here's the sordid tale of one incident, mass ignorance and a little office politics....
I was the Duty Lt on the Night shift at a Light Max prison in Md,getting ready to wrap up after an uneventful shift. I was notified the Security Chief wanted to see me after I was relieved on post. I made my way to his office in the Admin area of the prison, and was waved in immediately. I knew then that whatever it was, I wasn't in trouble. If I was, I'd have been kept waiting.As it was, I knew I wasn't going home right then....
The Chief got right to the point. A female rookie had flunked the shotgun part of the firearms training, and had filed charges against the State, her instructor and the Administration, saying that
she had been persecuted and harassed, thus causing her to flunk the shotgun course. Her scores with Mini 14 and Model 64 revolver were marginal. She passed, but not by much on courses I regarded as way too easy.
The Chief was joined at this point by the Training Officer, a decent sort who was no firearms authority but a good trainer. The TO advised me that this rookie had "Slipped and fallen" on her first day at the Academy, tried to convince the State Doc she was permanently disabled thereby, and seemed more into getovers than work. She had written up her instructor as sexually harassing her, had claimed that many women of her race had been rejected due to bigotry among the instructors, and was shaping up as a first class problem child.
One of the things she had claimed was that she had been persecuted after rejecting her shotgun instructor's advances by being given a shotgun way too heavy to lift.Of course, how she could be expected to control inmates when a shotgun was more than she could bear was not brought up by her.
I saw an approach open up.
After giving my ideas to the Chief and TO, I borrowed a ten lb capacity scale from the mail room and took it to the armory. I weighed 6 shotguns with it, all 18" bbled 870s, including the two training shotguns that had been used the day on the range she had flunked. Weights ran from 6 lbs, 10 oz, to about 7 lbs 3 oz,IIRC. I returned to the Chief's office, gave him a short written report, and we planned this out.
Around 8 AM the rookie reported for "Remedial" firearms training. She had an obvious attitude walking in the door. She also brought along a union rep I knew, and wished I didn't. He was slime, a bottomfeeder. They started in on the harassment, and the Chief said that she would be given an opportunity to redo the shotgun portion of firearms training, using the Senior Instructor(ME!) and she would be given the lightest shotgun we had to see if that corrected the problem.Also, the TO would be personally supervising the qualification process.
So we went to the range and along with the usual range equipment, we took one of the video cameras we kept for documenting incidents, two blank cassette tapes and a pair of hot batteries.....
We went to the range and every thing we did, from the classroom portion to the actual shooting was taped. She had been given the lightest 870 in the armory, got intensive one on one training in how to handle it, proper form,and so on. And there was no sabotage, she got as good training as one would find in a police style entry level course. Then, the fun started.....
While being taped, I shot the course for demonstration. Then, happily, a female Instructor from the Women's Institution showed up and was pressed into service. Sgt Parks(Now with the Federal Marshalls) was smaller than the oxlike rookie, had never fired a shotgun before starting with the state, and was one darn good competitor at trap and 3 gun.She fired also. Our scores were well up over 90%. All this was taped. And Sgt Parks stuck around to lend a hand and to also score the targets.
SO, it was our rookie's turn. Like many folks who know no better,she tilted back to try to counterbalance the weight of the shotgun, and I had her lean into it like we all should.I took her through the practice round, and she kept trying to lean back. By state rules, no help and /or instruction can be given during the actual firing for score, so as soon as she was ready, she had to fire all by herself.
During this, the union rep had stuck around to "See Justice done". Did I mention it was a sweltering summer day? As I wiped the sweat from my brow, I was comforted to see him and the rookie sweating even more than I.
Hammer time:
Even after firing 10 light trap loads, another ten 00 for familiarization, the 10 rounds of Winchester 00 shot for score rocked her. Of course, she had forgotten to lean into the shot after the first round, the butt migrated from her shoulder cup to her upper arm,and when it got back to her shoulder part of the pad stuck up over her shoulder,thus the recoil was concentrated in the smaller area in contact. Couldn't help wincing a little myself, tho I kept a professional demeanor.
After the dust settled, it was scoring time. All rookies needed to pass with a score of at least 70%, which meant 63 hits out of 90 pellets fired.
Her score was in the 30s. Ray Charles,with proper training, could have beaten that.
At this point, the TO asked her(While filming) if she wanted to try again. Her response,"$%^&*,NO!!. Her rep, by this time completely sweating through his cheap wool suit pants, said they had to confer and they went aside.
We returned to the Institution, and the TO passed the word up the Chain of Command that the rookie had failed the shotgun portion. As per procedures, she was called into the Warden's office and terninated forthwith.Meanwhile, I had been ordered to prepare and submit a comprehensive written report of all this.
Some comments....
One,COF was 5 rounds from the 15 yards line at a tombstone type target, 5 more from the 25. The exercise started with a "Cruiser Ready" shotgun, empty chamber, full mag, action locked shut, safety on. After the four rounds in the mag were shot, the slide was kept to the rear, the 5th round "Combat Loaded" through the ejection port.
Typical Rookie scores on this were about 75-80%.
Two,if she had put the same effort into learning the weapon and getting with the training,she'd have passed and still had a job. Instant Karma, in this case.
Three, any training done should be documented in some way. Those of us that get training should hang onto those certificates and score sheets. Those of us that give training should keep a copy of everything.
Questions, comments?
I was the Duty Lt on the Night shift at a Light Max prison in Md,getting ready to wrap up after an uneventful shift. I was notified the Security Chief wanted to see me after I was relieved on post. I made my way to his office in the Admin area of the prison, and was waved in immediately. I knew then that whatever it was, I wasn't in trouble. If I was, I'd have been kept waiting.As it was, I knew I wasn't going home right then....
The Chief got right to the point. A female rookie had flunked the shotgun part of the firearms training, and had filed charges against the State, her instructor and the Administration, saying that
she had been persecuted and harassed, thus causing her to flunk the shotgun course. Her scores with Mini 14 and Model 64 revolver were marginal. She passed, but not by much on courses I regarded as way too easy.
The Chief was joined at this point by the Training Officer, a decent sort who was no firearms authority but a good trainer. The TO advised me that this rookie had "Slipped and fallen" on her first day at the Academy, tried to convince the State Doc she was permanently disabled thereby, and seemed more into getovers than work. She had written up her instructor as sexually harassing her, had claimed that many women of her race had been rejected due to bigotry among the instructors, and was shaping up as a first class problem child.
One of the things she had claimed was that she had been persecuted after rejecting her shotgun instructor's advances by being given a shotgun way too heavy to lift.Of course, how she could be expected to control inmates when a shotgun was more than she could bear was not brought up by her.
I saw an approach open up.
After giving my ideas to the Chief and TO, I borrowed a ten lb capacity scale from the mail room and took it to the armory. I weighed 6 shotguns with it, all 18" bbled 870s, including the two training shotguns that had been used the day on the range she had flunked. Weights ran from 6 lbs, 10 oz, to about 7 lbs 3 oz,IIRC. I returned to the Chief's office, gave him a short written report, and we planned this out.
Around 8 AM the rookie reported for "Remedial" firearms training. She had an obvious attitude walking in the door. She also brought along a union rep I knew, and wished I didn't. He was slime, a bottomfeeder. They started in on the harassment, and the Chief said that she would be given an opportunity to redo the shotgun portion of firearms training, using the Senior Instructor(ME!) and she would be given the lightest shotgun we had to see if that corrected the problem.Also, the TO would be personally supervising the qualification process.
So we went to the range and along with the usual range equipment, we took one of the video cameras we kept for documenting incidents, two blank cassette tapes and a pair of hot batteries.....
We went to the range and every thing we did, from the classroom portion to the actual shooting was taped. She had been given the lightest 870 in the armory, got intensive one on one training in how to handle it, proper form,and so on. And there was no sabotage, she got as good training as one would find in a police style entry level course. Then, the fun started.....
While being taped, I shot the course for demonstration. Then, happily, a female Instructor from the Women's Institution showed up and was pressed into service. Sgt Parks(Now with the Federal Marshalls) was smaller than the oxlike rookie, had never fired a shotgun before starting with the state, and was one darn good competitor at trap and 3 gun.She fired also. Our scores were well up over 90%. All this was taped. And Sgt Parks stuck around to lend a hand and to also score the targets.
SO, it was our rookie's turn. Like many folks who know no better,she tilted back to try to counterbalance the weight of the shotgun, and I had her lean into it like we all should.I took her through the practice round, and she kept trying to lean back. By state rules, no help and /or instruction can be given during the actual firing for score, so as soon as she was ready, she had to fire all by herself.
During this, the union rep had stuck around to "See Justice done". Did I mention it was a sweltering summer day? As I wiped the sweat from my brow, I was comforted to see him and the rookie sweating even more than I.
Hammer time:
Even after firing 10 light trap loads, another ten 00 for familiarization, the 10 rounds of Winchester 00 shot for score rocked her. Of course, she had forgotten to lean into the shot after the first round, the butt migrated from her shoulder cup to her upper arm,and when it got back to her shoulder part of the pad stuck up over her shoulder,thus the recoil was concentrated in the smaller area in contact. Couldn't help wincing a little myself, tho I kept a professional demeanor.
After the dust settled, it was scoring time. All rookies needed to pass with a score of at least 70%, which meant 63 hits out of 90 pellets fired.
Her score was in the 30s. Ray Charles,with proper training, could have beaten that.
At this point, the TO asked her(While filming) if she wanted to try again. Her response,"$%^&*,NO!!. Her rep, by this time completely sweating through his cheap wool suit pants, said they had to confer and they went aside.
We returned to the Institution, and the TO passed the word up the Chain of Command that the rookie had failed the shotgun portion. As per procedures, she was called into the Warden's office and terninated forthwith.Meanwhile, I had been ordered to prepare and submit a comprehensive written report of all this.
Some comments....
One,COF was 5 rounds from the 15 yards line at a tombstone type target, 5 more from the 25. The exercise started with a "Cruiser Ready" shotgun, empty chamber, full mag, action locked shut, safety on. After the four rounds in the mag were shot, the slide was kept to the rear, the 5th round "Combat Loaded" through the ejection port.
Typical Rookie scores on this were about 75-80%.
Two,if she had put the same effort into learning the weapon and getting with the training,she'd have passed and still had a job. Instant Karma, in this case.
Three, any training done should be documented in some way. Those of us that get training should hang onto those certificates and score sheets. Those of us that give training should keep a copy of everything.
Questions, comments?
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