Tactical Tangents

De-escalation shouldn't mean accepting more risk. Here are some ways to extend an olive branch and give people a peaceful way out without sacrificing anyone's safety. With adequate skill proficiency and good tactics to mitigate danger, we can create the physical and emotional space needed to think through these difficult problems. We have to be able to get past our egos and defense mechanisms to a...

The Mantis is a family of firearms training tools that work for live and dry fire. Learn how the Mantis gives feedback to shooters and instructors at all levels in this interview with Austin Allgaier. Mantis is a product that we really believe in and we encourage novice and advanced shooters alike to use the Mantis to take their firearms proficiency to the next level. Hear about ways it can help y...

Two High School students carried out one of the most well-known but least understood rampage murders in 1999 that led to a paradigm shift in Active Shooter response in American Law Enforcement and public safety. One of the lesser known facts of this politically charged event was that the attackers carried 99 explosive devices into the school with them at the outset of this attack, and the ripple e...

The value of air support in law enforcement, EMS, and America's fighting forces cannot be understated. Hear about Jeff's journey in police and EMS aviation and ways you can prepare if you are aspiring to a career as a pilot in one of these demanding careers. We talk about ways the balcony-view in the sky can affect the outcome of critical incidents on the ground, some pursuit and medevac stories,...

FBI Agents Grogan and Dove tragically lost their lives in the infamous shootout in Miami between multiple FBI Agents and 2 bank robbers. The lessons learned, and technology that arose in the aftermath are still felt to this day 30+ years later. Jim and Mike are joined again by Vince and they discuss some of the incident and what changes law enforcement experienced as a result of this tragic shooto...

If you get in a gun fight in your bedroom, you're doing it wrong. Keeping bad guys out of your home and away from your family is a core task for anyone serious about defense. Mike and Jim talk us through how to layer your security to make sure you have the unfair advantage. Our article on Home Security Like what we're doing? Head over to  Patreon  and give us a buck for each new episode. You can a...

Sometimes the skills you need to be a professional have less to do with your actual job and more to do with, well, everything else. Put money away for retirement. Have a backup plan. Have a healthy marriage and life at home. Get a hobby. Taking care of your own wellness and the people around you are what help you be a high-performer at work. All the knife hands and shooting drills in the world won...

Ryan Wyatt is a flight paramedic who has worked on air and ground ambulances, in a trauma center, and overseas. After time spent as a Navy Corpsman, Ryan also deployed to Iraq as a private military contractor flying on Littlebird helicopters doing medevac work. Hear about the time his Littlebird went down behind enemy lines and more. Links: Talon Tactical Medicine Like what we're doing? Head over...

Countries, terrorist groups, and various shady actors have developed their information warfare capabilities into an effective weapon. They are counting on you to be a sucker - Jim & Mike will help calibrate your BS detector to keep them from wielding active influence measures against you. Links: Active Measures by Thomas Rid Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer Like what we're doing?...

Admit it, people like us tend to be "tactical" hoarders. But if you want your gear to actually be functional when the time comes that you need to use it, you have to put hands on it from time to time. Make sure your screws are thread locked, check your zero on your optics, pack enough water and socks, etcetera. Like any TacTangents episode it's not just about your gear. This also has a lot to do w...

Learning about emergency medical care is more complicated than knowing how to slap on a tourniquet and a chest seal. Understanding the importance of getting your patient to a trauma center ("Bright lights and cold steel") is a good first step in establishing priorities of work when minutes and seconds matter to a person who is seriously wounded. This episode is a starting point to help steer your...

Mike Pannone of CTT Solutions spent years as a Recon Marine, Special Forces Soldier, and SFOD-D Operator. After losing an eye from a blast injury he medically retired and worked as a high-risk contractor overseas and now spends most of his time training people all over the world. "Noner" shares some pearls of wisdom related to mental conditioning, theories and assumptions in tactics, and skills co...

Jim explains how to analyze, exploit, and change the terrain you are fighting in to gain an unfair advantage over your opponent - whether in a parking lot or a battlefield. Walking you from Thermopylae to the Taiwan Straits to the engine block of your police car and the desks of your classroom, we help you assess and understand your operating environment. Red Platoon by Clinton Romesha Like what w...

One of our favorite and recurring guests, Isaac, just got back from Army Basic Training and shares some insights and stories that might help anyone getting ready to ship out as an enlisted soldier. This is a useful conversation if you want to know what to expect from Basic Training aka Army OSUT (One Station Unit Training). He is one step closer to his dream of becoming a Special Forces Soldier/Gr...

In the mid-90s a little girl was reported to be kidnapped but was later found dead in the basement of her large, Boulder CO home. The case remains unsolved today, and several procedural errors on behalf of the officers and investigators who responded to the scene tainted our best chances to identify and prosecute Jon Benet's killer. Many believe the parents or her older brother were to blame. We m...

Most of us have daydreamed, imagined, and rehearsed what certain survival or self-defense encounters will look like in our minds, so we are going to make fun of our younger-selves and shed some light on something we are all guilty of: The Tactical Fantasy. This episode is about making sure that we ground those fantasies in reality. This goes beyond truck guns and the Zombie Apocalypse, it also spe...

A terror plot at the turn of the century was thwarted by the professionalism of CBP Agent Diana Dean. For those of us old enough to remember the Y2K drama, you might not have heard of the foiled plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport amidst New Year's celebrations for the year 2000. This Al Qaeda sponsored terrorist attack was halted in its tracks by a squared away Customs and Immigrat...

Chief Master Sergeant Keaton shares some war stories with us, including the time he won the Pitsenbarger Award after saving the lives of 5 women and children who were used as human shields by an enemy force in Afghanistan. Along the way he illustrates some lessons learned and leadership pointers that he picked up while leading some of America's most elite operators throughout his 30 year career wo...

Some of you might have experienced a crisis that was later described as a "Charlie Foxtrot," which is an acronym for the sort of situation known for being chaotic, overwhelming, and difficult to manage. Mike and Jim discuss the doctrinal definitions of fog and friction and talk about some coping strategies and training philosophies that will help you deal with these kinds of problems. This is not...

Dr. Daniel Blumberg is a licensed clinical psychologist and professor who has spent over 30 years working with several large law enforcement agencies in the realm of pre-employment screenings, management consulting, and services related to police officer wellness, ethics, and resilience. His research has shined a light on many of the moral risks that affect those of us in law enforcement: what the...

How do the rules change when you go from sports to the street? What changes on the ground vs. standing up? How should you apply your nunchuck skills in the context of self-defense? Mike and Cecil talk about all things martial arts and how they fit in to street fighting in real life. He specializes in an interdisciplinary approach to entanglement and close-range fights where weapons - including you...

John Huston was one of the first Americans to successfully complete an unsupported expedition to the North Pole. His expertise in cold weather survival and expedition planning has led him to opportunities training Special Operations Forces and he uses his experience as public speaking and training curriculum related to high-performing teams, operational planning and risk management, leadership, te...

In April 1970,  4 California Highway Patrolmen were killed by two men after an armed road rage incident. Those men were career criminals in the planning stages of a robbery attempt who were heavily armed. This incident had a ripple effect for police agencies across the country that led to significant progress in the realm of firearms proficiency and officer safety. There are several lessons learne...

While you don't need to deep dive all of the science here, you do need to understand the tactical implications of a fight or flight response as it relates to training, perception, memory, and attention. Mike and Vivian discuss muscle memory, building good habits, perceptual distortions, and ways to enhance our performance under stress.  Further reading on Perceptual Distortions in Lethal Force Enc...

Jim breaks down some fundamentals for how to turn Sun Tzu into operational reality with the handy acronym MOSSMOUSE. This is useful in any sort of fight or conflict in which you want to use tactics and strategy instead of just brute force or power to fight your way through it. How can you apply it to your situation?  Like what we're doing?  Head over to  Patreon  and give us a buck for each new ep...