SWAT Team Member Slat Rat!
Last night’s FBI Citizen’s Academy was a total blast. After a tres interesting lecture on laws and FBI policies regarding use of deadly force, we split into two groups and headed off for actual “training”.
First up for my small group of eight (I was the only girl) was SWAT Team training. We learned several methods for looking around a corner: using a very handy mirror at the end of long pole, “Slicing the Pie” (as opposed to “Cutting the Cheese”); and the “Quick Peek”. Slicing the Pie involves utilizing the projected angle of a corner to get a good view of hallway without the “Bad Guy” being able to see you. You also have a special stance for holding your pistol so you can have a sight line for a shot but not be a target yourself. A “Quick Peek” is exactly what it says with a minimal amount of head exposure.
Oh - regarding the phrase “Bad Guy”. That is the operative phrase. It’s always “The Bad Guy”. I think “Bad Guy” is now a part of my lexicon.
After we learned how to peek around corners, we suited up in SWAT gear, grabbed our deactivated SIG Sauer handgun and proceeded to learn how to enter and clear a series of rooms as a team. My body armor vest was made for a guy about twice my size and filled with ceramic plates. So it weighed a ton and was a bit unwieldy, but I could still maneuver with my team. I just had to slide the vest over to my left shoulder so I could extend my shooting arm.
It took a bit of instruction, but we sort of figured out how to clear the room - which by the way, was the Men’s Restroom and Locker Room. Then one of our instructors hid and we got to go in after him. What fun! It took us about ten minutes to get to him - we were pretty slow. I was running dual point with one of my teammates and so when we found the “Bad Guy”, I was the one who called him out. So, said, “FBI. Come out with your hands up!”
Well, he came out and then told me I had to be THE ALPHA. You gotta show you’re top dog and that you’re in charge with overwhelming force. I replied that I could do Alpha. He went back in and I called him out again:
FBI! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE WITH YOUR HANDS UP! NOW!!!!!!
That impressed everyone. In fact it became a joke amongst several of the agents there last night. One of my teammates said it was his favorite moment of the night. 
Next up was FATS the Fire Arms Training Simulator. Basically the several live action scenarios are projected on a screen. You’re armed with a wired up Glock handgun and you participate in the scenarios. It’s sort of like a old fashioned video game with real people projected on a big screen. I didn’t do so well on mine. I sort of killed my on-screen video partner. It was some consolation that the agents said that I had one of the toughest scenarios. And some of my instincts were actually spot on. For example, the bad guy charged my partner and they were wrestling on the floor. I wanted run up and shoot the bad guy at point blank range but I didn’t know how to do that in the video game. I do now - just run up to the screen and fire directly into it. 
Anyhoo, all in all it was a great night. Just a ton of fun and very very instructive. And we got more fun SWAG - an FBI Citizen’s Academy pen and and Alaska FBI trading card!
Hello. I am 
What a badass!
How totally cool! When do you you want to go shooting?