Reflection

Part 1: 2 Hour Presentation

1. Assessment
I believe that I deserve a P because I met all of the requirements and I think that although there were some issues, I adapted and overcame.

2. What are you most proud of your presentation and why?
I am most proud of teaching the class how to apply the tactics that I showed. I think it was fun and could maybe save someones life.

3. What do you think you did well on in the project? What do you think you could have done better?
I think that I learned alot about SWAT I think that I have learned so much tactics that I will not have any issues going to any special operations group. I should have been on time with my assignments.

4. What is your EQ and what is your best answer?
What is most important in being an effective SWAT team member? Marksmanship

5. How has the last month of culminating events (e.g I-Search, Two-Hour, Exit etc) affected your answer to your EQ? Has it changed? Why or why not?
The only thing that completely affected my answer was my final interview. The interviewee told me that marksmanship is key and backed up his answer. I don't think that the final events changed anything because I was using all of the information that I researched to complete the assignments.

6. What suggestions do you have in order to improve the senior project?
I think that the senior project should not be as big of a thing as it is. It distracts completely from core studies. I have honestly taken nothing from the core classes but learned alot about SWAT. I thank the project for helping me learn tactics but I hate it from distracting me so much from everything else.

7. Overall Senior Project Assessment

AE P AP CR NC

P, I have met all of the requirements for my project, and if I were asked any question about SWAT, marksmanship, tactics, or physical fitness I can answer it accurately. I think I have learned alot about my topic and I know that I truly am passionate about it.

Service Learning

I did, over 190 hours worth of service learning on my project. I was the sergeant and then the captain of explorer post 499.
Joshua Neiheisel.
626-939-8557
The most important thing that happend during my whole experience was when I was promoted to the position of captain. It put me in a leadership role and it was a demand that I knew everything.

Every single time I was there, I learned a new concept of SWAT. Every day i wasthere, we focused on those three answers. I began to gather all of the answers to my EQ because of this.

Independent Task 2

            For my Independent Task, I decided to workout. The exercises that were done, were closely related to that of a SWAT operator. The actual workout plan was called crossfit. Crossfit is a called that due to the different types of exercises and fitness styles, to form what they call elite fitness.

            Much of what I did will be discussed in my I-Search paper, but one thing I will not menmtion is the 10 phsical skills required to achieve elite fitness and how it pertains to SWAT.

1. Cardiovasculoar/respiratory endurance- The bodies ability to process,m deliver and store oxygen. Needed by every SWAT officer for any amount of quick speed movement is done.
2. Stamina-The badies ability to use energy. As a SWAT officer, energy must be reserved at times, then brought out to combat anything.
3. Strength-The combined use of muscular units to create force. Officer’s are required to bear heavy equipment that does require force to carry.
4. Flexibility-The ability to maximize range of motion at any given joint. On SWAT sometimes, an officer must go into some of the most akward positions in order to take a perfect shot.
5. Power-The abilityof muscular units to apply maximum force in minimum time. When SWAT officers confront a dangerous subject, it may seem more logical to strike the opponent then to tacklethem. So this is why power is very important.
6. Speed-The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement. A SWAT officer must be able to literally run to the sound of gunshots, he must be able to chase suspects, and both requires speed.
7. Coordination-The ability to combine several distinct movements into a singular distinct movement. Although few people realize it,SWAT officer’sare martial artist’ andthey must be able toswing there weapons out of the way while simultaneously arresting a suspect.
8. Agility-The ability to minimize transition time forom onbne movement to another. SWAT operators are constantly miuxing up theremovement and switching roes.
9. Balance-The ability to control the placement of the bodies center of gravity in relation to its support base.This iz the most important quality to SWAT operatos because without balance, there will be no accuracy in a shootout.
10. Accuracy-The abikity to control movement in any given direct or at a given intensity. This is especially important to an officer in a fight.

Every single workout done required maximum aggression which completely exemplifies the aggression needed from a SWAT officer for all operations.

An example of a workoutwould be.

Five rounds for time of:

135 pound Overhead squat, 5 reps

10 Toes to bar

40 pound dumbbell Hang squat clean, 15 reps

20 Double-unders\

This workout is a non stop beat down of ones body. These workouts completely work on all aspects of the 10 physical skills needed for a workout. A usual workout took me an hour each day, done usually 5 times a week.

Outline

SWAT

EQ: What is most important in being an effective SWAT team member?

Intro

Talk about why I chose the topic (I chose this topic because I want to be a SWAT officer because it is the most intense and in my opinion the most badass job anyone can have. You  give people in the absolute worst situations hope, because they know you will do all in your power to save them.)

History of SWAT (Started 1967 after Watts riots. SWAT was made to defend police stations originally. After several horrible incidents, SWAT was made to act as a unit that dealt with the most complicated problems that patrol could not handle. SWAT has been an elite team who have adapted to changes in laws and in society. The two biggest changes to that have happend are the changes in tactics after two of the most horrible massacres to happen in American history. The attacks on 9/11 have added a new counter terrorism element to SWAT teams, and have trained teams for combat as well as domestic situations. The other was the Columbine Massacre, the old school, sit and wait tactics had to be let go. Now it doesn't matter how ill equipped and unmanned a team is, once people are screaming for help and getting shot, we teams run in balls to the wall to save them.)

Answer 1: Marksmnship

(Marksmanship is the platform on which all aspects of SWAT stand on. Without it, there is no point to train.)

Moving and using cover with rifle We'll have red rifles. I will have each student learn to "fire" the weapon properly from a standing, crouched a prone position. I will teach them to do it as they demonstrate it.

Answer 2: Combat Problem Solving.... sounds weird...

Activity: They will act as a team they will be given a task to enter a room, upon entering a room they will encounter a suspect in a room and they will have to deal with them properly. and the way they feel is safest.

Answer 3: Elite Fitness

Activity: We will do a workout from a fitness program called crossfit. The workout is very difficult and it will push many students to their limit. Many will simply quit. I will tell them that it is similar to SWAT where only a few can make it.

Conclusion:

Marksmanship is the most important quality a SWAT officer has, explained above.

Cpl. Neiheisel- Showed me exactly how to do everything

On Combat-Showed me how to be an effective combat problem solver

POlice Link- Many different articles talking about how to be a good SWAT officer

My product is becoming a leader in the police explorer program. I've learned enough to teach many people the basics of law enforcement tactics.

Independent Component

In order to protect the lives of the innocent, SWAT operators train hard to fight the most violent and brutal criminals in the world. They train with a single thought on their mind; stronger people are harder to kill.

       Most special operations teams require a candidate to go through an obstacle course under a determined time to regulate speed, strength and endurance. Since SWAT is a special operations unit, most if not all American SWAT teams use obstacle courses to qualify candidates for a position on a team.

       I decided to use the Mt. Sac obstacle course as a gauge for my fitness level. My first time was one minute and fifty-three seconds.

       I hope that through a rigorous fitness program I will decrease my time. The fitness program I will use is called Crossfit.

       Crossfit relies on exercises from weightlifting, gymnastics and interval training to create a complete fitness program. The program also puts much emphasis on muscle confusion. I believe that this program is perfect for a SWAT operator because of the heavy equipment, fights and sprints that an operator will be required to do on call outs.

       Many of the movements that are with barbell workouts have funny names but most if not all of them are jerking movements. The reason this is so important is because SWAT operators need to smash down doors no matter how heavy they are. To do this SWAT operators use heavy ramming tools to smash down the door and these fast-jerking movements simulate the fast and aggressive action of smashing the door down. Slow and methodical movements most training programs do, slow down these strikes and are basically pointless.

       The gymnastic type workouts are to keep balance and agility. Both are very important for two different types of fighting. Balance when in different and sometimes awkward positions is a key to marksmanship and can save an operators life, but more importantly a civilian’s life. Agility is the only thing that wins in hand to hand combat, size or strength do not matter and having an upper hand here can save much more than a bullet.

       Interval training is a critical part of any workout and especially important for SWAT operators. Interval training forces your heart and whole body to work much harder for a longer period of time then traditional endurance cardiovascular training. Most if not all-bad guys will not stand to fight a SWAT team. Most turn to running from SWAT, so in order to catch them, a SWAT operator must be much faster in order to catch them. Most of these chases will be very short and fast. Very few of these chases ever reach over a mile. Interval training focuses on all out sprints over few hundred meters over and over again to increase speed. Due to the practical application of interval training, it is much more beneficial then distance runs.

       Muscle confusion is working out by never following a routine tat your body will get used to, forcing your muscles to adapt to every kind of situation therefore greatly increasing muscle growth. On SWAT it is an operator’s job to hurtle the many different obstacles that come with every different situation. By following a weekly or daily routine, muscle growth will plateau and eventually cause decrease in strength. SWAT operators need to always stay strong and ready for anything.

       An obstacle course puts all of these fitness qualities to the test. By working on these principles, I believe the time it takes me to run the course will decrease.

       In order to start the very difficult training program I have explained, I began in November with a workout routine, which used exercises from Crossfit. There were three different levels of difficulty and I chose the medium level of the three.

       I followed the Crossfit, Extreme Adventure Sports Amateur Training Plan religiously for the first six weeks listed. I did not do the seventh week because I decided to take a break for some pain in my shoulder. I also skipped the cardio only days because I also do karate and it would have been excessive. There were hundreds of exercises but the applications for these exercises were described above. Below are links to the website from which I received the routine from.

Week 1: http://www.extreme-adventure-sports.com/workout-routine.html

Week 2: http://www.extreme-adventure-sports.com/intense-workout.html

Week 3: http://www.extreme-adventure-sports.com/cross-fit-workout.html

Week 4: http://www.extreme-adventure-sports.com/interval-workouts.html

Week 5: http://www.extreme-adventure-sports.com/work-out.html

Week 6: http://www.extreme-adventure-sports.com/designed-workout.html

       After I did the six weeks I decided to move to Crossfit. I would complete the workout of the day that was posted on their main page. Again there were hundreds of exercises that I did not list all of them. A link to the Crssfit website is below.

http://crossfit.com/

       I do exercise at least five days and three or four of those days include the Crossfit workouts.

20-Minute Presentation

EQ: What is most important when preparing for a position for on a SWAT team?

EQ answers: Tactical knowledge, marksmanship, physical fitness

I am going to do a gun safety course for my presentation. I'll teach basic things about rifle manipulation which correlates to my essential question answer: marksmanship.

-5 Rules of Gun Safety, story for each rule

-Stance, reason for stance

-3, different positions for rifle

I will have groups of five or six go up at a time with imaginary rifles and practice the positions.

ESLR's

What I've learned?
I've learned that SWAT is very complex and very dangerous. I've learned this by attending weekly traing with the Police Explorers. I have also been on several ride-alongs with SWAT officers. I have also attended monthly SWAT trainings, where I have played as a victim and suspect. I have also begun a physical training regiment to help me be fit enough to go through the SWAT Physical Fitness Qualification course successfully.

I am taking a very active part in my post and in my project.

How can I improve?
I will start to train harder and now that I'm used to helping SWAT I may be able to try more equipment because I am slowly gaining the teams trust.