Applying Tactical Decision Making to a School Shooting

Make no mistake, when a shooter is on your campus, you are in a combat situation that is dynamic and time-competitive. Delayed actions and/or ineffective decisions can cost lives. Delays or inaction on the part of administrators, teachers and even students create or maintain a window of opportunity that the shooter is sure to exploit.

A valuable system in understanding the importance of proper timely decisions in a critical incident is the OODA Loop (sometimes referred to as Boyd’s Cycle after its creator, retired U.S. Air Force Col. John Boyd). Being a student of and expert on tactical operations, Boyd detailed that in many of the battles, when one side as not able to keep up with the ever changing dynamics of a combat situation, that slower to react side was almost always defeated. In observing this, Boyd concluded that timely decision making is critically important and applied the phrase “time-competitive.”

According to Boyd’s theory, conflict can be seen as a series of time-competitive, Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) cycles. Conflict begins by each side observing their position, their surroundings and that of their adversary. Orientation is next. Orientation is critical because the dynamic nature of combat makes it impossible to process information as fast as it is observed. Orientation can be thought of as snap-shot approach to obtaining perspective. Once orientation is gained, it is time to decide.. The decision considers all factors that were present at during the orientation phase. Lastly, final process is to act on the decision.

The “loop” occurs when our actions have changed the situation and continues throughout an incident. A tactical advantage is gained by the person who completes this OODA cycle the fastest. Obviously in a school shooting, this tactical advantage is limited and does not equate to tactical superiority. However, being able to rapidly implement the most appropriate response options can save seconds and in combat, seconds save lives. So how important is time in a school shooting?

Imagine that you were aware a student just left their house with the intention of carrying out a Columbine style attack in 10 minutes. Clearly you would have the ability to enact meaningful precautions and probably stop the attack altogether. This provides an extreme example of how time can equate to safety. So what if you became aware of their intentions when the student arrived at the parking lot? Would you still be able to save lives?

On the other end of the extreme, imagine you are a teacher and a student enters your classroom with a gun. No advanced warning, no lockdown has been announced. You have observed the gunman. You orient yourself to your surrounding and realize the gunman is blocking the only entrance. You decide that getting out of the room is not possible (the gunman is blocking the door) so fighting back is the only option. You act by yelling at students to fight back and begin throwing books and chairs at the gunmen. How this scenario ends would be dependent on a great deal of factors. The point is to exemplify that the sooner the decision to lock down, run or fight back is implemented, the more students have the opportunity to live. When a shooter is in a classroom, delays, inaction or bad decisions, such as hiding under desks, eliminate all time considerations for the shooter.

”In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” Theodore Roosevelt

If you are interested in this type of training, consult with your local law enforcement or qualified vendor. Make certain instructors can adequately address all aspects of planning for a shooter.

Stay safe

Brad

This post is provided by SafePlans (www.safeplans.com), an all-hazards preparedness solution including emergency plans, staff training, and detailed site mapping.

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