Protected: Personal Protection for Interns, D-Day 2025
This class was for female summer employees of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
Author: HeloMaster
Gandhi the Satyagrahi
The Mahatma Gandhi is one of my personal heroes, and a hero to millions of others. Most people don’t know that he actually condoned violence in certain narrow circumstances.
Protected: Ladies’ Personal Protection for San Xavier Community, 31 May 2025
To reduce the dreadful number of MMIW, Missing / Murdered Indigenous Women, several volunteers taught ladies of the San Xavier District, Tohono O’odham Nation, how to protect themselves.
Wind Turbines and Highway Signs
There is a darker side to the gun culture that we responsibly armed citizens must own and stamp out, whenever we learn about anyone engaging in such dangerously irresponsible behavior.
Escape from Upper Floors
Former ATFE Deputy Director Scott Sweetow points out that fire has always been used as a weapon, and it is increasingly a tool of active violence. In Mumbai, for example, most of the victims did not die from gunfire or …
“Nobody called off the war!”
Daniel K. Inouye was a 17-year-old high school student living on Oahu, Hawai’i, on December 7, 1941. When he heard on the radio that Pearl Harbor was under attack, and saw the smoke from the burning ships and the Japanese …
The Neck Drag
This niche patient movement technique, stolen right out of infantry manuals, is useful if you need to stay below the smoke of a fire, or if you need to move a patient while staying behind low cover, or even in confined space rescue, like from a narrow culvert.
The Zurich Drill
This article I wrote about a heroic sky marshal was initially published as “Repeating the Feat: The Zurich Drill” in the April 2025 electronic edition of Dillon Precision’s Blue Press. This Heloderm.com version contains more photos than they have room for in Dillon’s “Stealth Catalog.”
ICSAVE: Saving Lives, One School at a Time
This article first appeared in the July, 2024 electronic edition of Dillon Precision’s Blue Press. ICSAVE, Integrated Community Solutions to Active Violence Events, is a genuinely not-for-profit non-profit (some “non-profits” aren’t, really) that educates the public, police, fire, and EMS how to minimize loss of life during mass casualty incidents.
Where to Put It
This article about “The Great Placement Debate” was first published in the September, 2024 electronic edition of Dillon’s Blue Press. It covers when to follow American College of Surgeons protocols and when to follow military guidelines when placing a tourniquet–along with some other “gutter medicine” Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures.
Protected: Pediatric First Aid, Spring Semester 2025
Our emphasis in this semester’s First Aid elective was Fire Safety. Students learned how to put out fires and how to escape from burning structures without dying of smoke inhalation later. Most importantly, we established guidelines for quickly determining when a fire is getting too big to fight.
Protected: Movement to Contact, 29 Dec 2024
This class was conducted in three parts: The first was indoor dry runs, learning the hows (and more importantly, whys) of clearing structures. The second was outdoor dry and live-fire practice emphasizing teamwork in flanking and movement by bounds. The last part of the class was back indoors, integrating flashlights into our methods for clearing structures in low light situations.
Stuck in the Second O
This close encounter of the wrong kind taught me several lessons about interpersonal confrontation, and our responses to assault, at an early age.
Protected: Sample Plan for 1st Residence
This guidance is for a pair of roommates in their first apartment. It addresses how to plan for threats including fire, burglary, and home invasions.
Protected: Lawful Use of Force, 20 Oct 2024
This in-home course for a single mom and her son was parts I – III of Heloderm’s May / Can / Should curriculum, along with some demonstrations and a site survey with suggestions and practice for defending the mom’s home.
Protected: Personal Protection for Adolescents, Fall 2024
Parents and educators requested a self-defense type elective for middle schoolers at a Montessori school, in the Fall semester of 2024. We sent out a tentative outline of the subjects we thought to address, and several students enrolled. This document summarizes what we covered in class, and why.
Protected: MA AZ Continuing Ed at Gunsite
These are notes and observations I made during a one-day “booster shot” of training at Gunsite Academy for security teams guarding houses of worship. It also includes a brief vignette about how some of the skills we honed there got put to use less than a week later.
Protected: TacMed Scenarios at Gunsite, 18 Aug 2024
This refresher training was part of continuing education for volunteer security teams guarding houses of worship in the Phoenix metro area. The training took place at Gunsite Academy. After doing “dry” room clearing with SIRT pistols in the Playhouse, live fire in the Pit shoot house, and live fire on the Urban Scrambler, students rotated to the TacMed skills station on the Shotquad range. This article details what medical skills were trained and why.
Protected: Managing Multiple Assailants, 28 Jan 2024
In this live-fire class we trained handgun in the am, and carbine in the afternoon.
Protected: Active Violence Exercises, 05 Aug 2024
Periodically over the last few years, Heloderm has worked with a preschool to train their personnel, harden their facilities, and develop practical action plans for the event of violence and other emergencies. This time, we reviewed Run Hide Fight principles (about a third of the students had not been in previous sessions) before EXERCISING their plans. Simulations included stimulus (blank fire) and the actual communications systems they have to use. This post summarizes what was trained on 05 Aug 2024, and why.
Protected: Pediatric First Aid for Educators
This advanced Bleeding Control, Pediatric First Aid, and All Ages (Infant, Child and Adult) CPR / AED program was for educators at a Montessori school, most of whom had previously trained to a basic proficiency level, and were looking for more challenges.
USAF Revolver Holsters & Ammo Pouches
This article is about different holsters and associated leather gear the Air Force procured for their S&W Model 15 revolvers in the 1960s through ’80s. It also contains historical data about the USAF’s proprietary PGU-12/B ammunition, and my first felony collar.
The GI .45: a Classic Single Action Only
The development and combat history of the GI .45 (and its clones) has been exhaustively addressed elsewhere. This article mostly focuses on specific aspects of manipulating single action 1911 pattern pistols, with some of the safety feature engineering and lore thrown in for context. It wraps with my own experiences and lessons from carrying and shooting the M1911A1.
Protected: North by Northwest
This site security survey was for a pair of co-located medical practices that service women’s needs.
Ladies’ Personal Protection
We celebrate every time another glass ceiling is shattered. But sadly, gender inequalities still plague us. For example, most predators are male, and most rape victims are still female. We don’t seek to increase the number of female predators; rather we seek to reduce the number of ladies being victimized. Here are some tools you can use to avoid becoming a statistic. Ladies’ Personal Protection is ideal for college coeds, high schoolers about to enter the dating scene, and those who close up businesses or work late shifts; but any ages, husband and wife teams, or any other combination of genders are welcome.
Protected: Ladies’ Personal Protection, 25 May 2024
This class for a mother and daughter focused on empty hands techniques and strategies to stay safe while jogging and dating. We also touched on Active Violence survival, bomb threats, and resisting carjack / abduction attempts.
A Case Study in Comorbidity
As we approached the 4th anniversary of George Floyd’s tragic and unnecessary death on 25 May 2020, pundits on opposite sides of what Lawrence Kasdan called “The Grand Canyon” still separating too many Americans of different colors rolled out the same diametrically opposed versions of the event. I was not there, but as both a law enforcement Use of Force instructor AND a 30+ year EMT, I think there are lessons here that can prevent repeating the mistakes of the past–IF we heed them.
Protected: Pediatric First Aid, Spring Semester 2024
Hermosa Montessori school offers the Health and Safety Institute (HSI) Pediatric First Aid with Child, Infant, and Adult CPR & AED course for their older students. HSI is also known as the American Safety & Health Institute, or ASHI. Spring Semester 2024 …
Protected: Pediatric First Aid, Spring Semester 2024 Read more »
Protected: The Short Leg: Off-Lines at Ascension, 05 Feb 2024
Teachers at a Lutheran pre-school spent an hour learning how to off-line various pistols, as continuing education in support of their school’s emergency action plan. There was also some exposure to countering edged weapons attacks. Although we did not expect anyone to achieve mastery in the limited time available, we hoped that this brief exposure at least convinced them they can defend their kids if necessary, even if unarmed and facing kinetic threats. This training summary outlines what was taught and why on February 5, 2024.
Ways to Fight Tunneling In
In life-threatening situations, we tend to get hyper-focused on the task at hand, to the exclusion of all other stimuli. While this may be a survival oriented response, it can also cause us to miss something important, like additional patients, or the person who caused the mayhem coming back to finish the job. Here are some ways you can stay global in your perpsective.
Explosive Threats during Casualty Care
Here are three case studies of medical intervention in the face of explosive threats. This is not a primer on blast injury; rather, it discusses tactical considerations should you need to perform medical care in a potentially explosive environment.
BVMs
Bag valve masks are underappreciated tools for getting air into your patient, without getting close to their face and breathing the same air. This information can help you use BVMs more effectively with less risk to your patients.
Cold Zones Aren’t
In tactical medicine, we talk about the “hot zone, the warm zone, and the cold zone.” We make those distinctions to differentiate what kind of care we should be giving under which conditions. But its critical to realize that what’s cold and what’s hot changes rapidly in dynamic active violence events. There really is no such thing as a permanently cold zone.
For many years fire departments pushed back against any kind of tactical training. They had no problem running into burning buildings, but one bozo with a .22 anywhere in a 100 acre complex was “too dangerous.” This article gives the lie to the notion that EMS personnel can continue to operate without at least rudimentary tactical training.
Impaled Objects: No 11th Commandment
An impaled object is anything stuck in the wound. It could be a weapon, or they might have just fallen on a piece of rebar. Theoretically, the impaled object, and any clothing it pulled into the wound, might be tamponading, …
Where to Shoot a Kidnapper
Part II of our series on one of the most difficult dilemmas potentially faced by armed citizens picks up where Hostage Rescue in the Home left off. In addition to protocols that go beyond head shots, we delve into the tragic, nauseating world of child abduction, and what you can do about it.
Part A of this article discusses essential traits and skills required for hostage rescue.
Part B gives you options beyond head shots, should the opportunity for a CNS strike not present itself.
Part C discusses dealing with crimes against children.
Protected: Manage Your X
The Friday before 2023’s annual AZ CSN Defending the Flock conference, we did four hour sessions to get deeper into subjects we could only touch upon during an hour and half breakout session. Two of those dealt with movement, and how it’s not always possible to get off the X. This annotated training outline covers aspects of hostage rescue and how proxemics affect use of force.
Movement to Contact
This is about some very specific types of movement: specifically, those when contact with an armed adversary is anticipated or likely. While avoiding or breaking contact is preferred, there are times when neither of those are possible. Knowing proper movement techniques can keep you alive.
Hostage Rescue in the Home
If someone breaks in and is kidnapping your kid, you (hopefully, backed up by your trained domestic partner) ARE the hostage rescue team. This article, first of our two-part series specifically addressing Hostage Rescue, discusses several fundamental concepts that you should probably practice with your family BEFORE you have to save your kids.
Magpul Speed Plates for Glock
The Magpul Speed Plate for Glock magazines was a product in need of a raison d’être. I found a legit use for them, but I also found them to be less robust than other Magpul products.
Norm the Navigator
I wish I’d gotten to know him better, while he was still around. But then, the same could be said for so many of “the greatest generation.” What I can tell you is how we met, and what little I …
Slingology
This post addresses different types of slings, their uses, advantages, and disadvantages. Of particular importance, it discusses how to get slung behind you should you need to free your hands.
Protected: Defensive Pistol 1B, 27 July 2023
This was the second part of a free Firearms Safety class for one first-time gun owner, and a Defensive Handgun class for both students.
Protected: Defensive Pistol 1A, 20 July 2023
This in-home session was a free Firearms Safety course for a first-time gun owner and an intro to Defensive Pistol for both students.
Catastrophic Failure of an OEM Glock mag
In 3 decades as a Glock operator and range master, I’ve seen one Glock-made magazine come apart when dropped. This article gives details, as well as some descriptions of your OEM and aftermarket options.
Hypothermia: Lessons from SERE
This primer on cold-related illness lists both how, and how NOT, to treat hypothermia, based on some humorous experiences we had in SERE school.
The Myth of the Racking Sound
The humble but powerful shotgun is losing popularity as a home defense weapon. If you choose the shotgun as your “go to” for home invasions, make sure you choose it for the right reasons.
Protected: Defensive Shotgun, 02 Jun 2023
This Intro to Shotgun course exposed the students to various aspects of the shotgun as a defensive tool.
Protected: Wood and Iron
This summarizes findings from an on-site security survey of a medical facility.
What you don’t know about Domestic Violence
Domestic violence, or DV, may not seem like rocket science. An angry drunk gets off on hurting those closest to him. But our lack of understanding of the patterns and nuances of violence, particularly domestic violence, doesn’t make it go away. This article explains several aspects of DV, and legislation used to combat DV, that are little understood by most of us.
Heckler & Koch P9S DA to SA
This article explains the Double Action to Single Action auto pistol trigger concept. It also gives specifics about a gun that in many ways pioneered concepts adopted by the modern breed of polymer framed pistols.
The Smiths
This article discusses firing techniques, methods of manipulation, historical data, little-known esoterica, and some few memories of the Smith & Wesson revolvers, particularly those used by US airmen and naval aviators during the Cold War.
TacMed Terms
If you trade bullets with someone, expect to get hurt in some way. Your tactical training is less than it should be if it does not address how to help the wounded. This is not a comprehensive medical dictionary, but rather, explanations of some terms germaine to the “tactical medicine” / rescue taskforce world.
Encyclopedia of Edged Weapons Terminology
Some terminology is unique to EWs, edged weapons. “Tang” means one thing when we are holding a pistol, and something else when we are dealing with a knife. This glossary has terms useful in the study of the blade.
The Evolution of Different Trigger Types
This article examines how American military close-combat at the end of the 19th through the first part of the 20th centuries greatly influenced the evolution of handgun trigger actions. In particular it delves into the US experience in the Philippine Islands. It also lists different US military revolvers of the era.
British P1907 / Japanese Arisaka / US M1917 Bayonets
This article explains why the British pattern 1907 bayonet was a virtual clone of the Japanese Arisaka bayonet, and why the US M1917 bayonet is a virtual copy of the P1907. Details about markings and other identifying characteristics are included.
Entrenching Tools in Close Combat
The shovel is actually a more effective APERS (anti-personnel) tool than than a bayonet. What it lacks in elegance and beauty it makes up in effectiveness and panache. Shovels are commonplace tools, but are seldom thought of as a weapon you can use to defend yourself if you’re attacked in your garage or garden shed.
Zastava M59 / 66 underfolding blade bayonet
This Yugo blade bayonet has a very distinctive, enlongated ricasso to accommodate the papovka’s permanently affixed grenade launcher.
Philippine Bolos and Spanish Bolo Bayonets
The Spanish learned, during their half-millenium occupation of the Philippines, how effective bolos are as close combat tools. Some Spanish bayonets were clearly modeled after bolos, intended for chopping as well as stabbing. This article discusses Philippine edged weapons, along with some of the history and identifying characteristics of two Spanish bolo blades and a Spanish Yataghan.
Carcano Bayonets
This article may help you identify a bayonet made for the Italian Model 1891 Carcano rifles and their variants.
Why own a bayonet?
Many people collect bayonets and other militaria. Would they ever have any practical application for armed citizens? This posting discusses in what contexts you could possibly use one.
Isandhlwana and the Pulse Nightclub
This article I wrote, originally published on the now-defunct ILIVED website, explains concepts relating to maximum, max effective, and minimum effective range, as they pertain to assaults in confined areas when we vastly outnumber the assailant.
Bus Takedowns
Part 1 of our Tubular Target Trilogy A tubular target is a long and narrow, tunnel-like space we need to dominate, either to enforce the law, to rescue the helpless, or to just stay alive. Most of our tubular spaces …
Protected: Pediatric First Aid, Spring semester 2023
Students took the didactic portions of this Pediatric First Aid with all-ages CPR and AED course via computer; this post explains what was taught in the classroom and why.
Area Targets: A Tango’s Dream
“Point” and “area” targets are military concepts that are directly applicable to active violence and counterterrorism. You should know more than just the difference between them, which is not rocket science. You should know how to avoid having a target on your back, be it the point or area variety. Some of this article was excerpted from a password protected summary of a site security survey I conducted at a high school in Arizona.
Protected: Red Rock HS Life Skills
This site security survey was requested by special needs teachers.
Worm was right there with us
This Desert Storm memoir outlines our relationship with our Saudi Amn counterpart, and offers both highlights and lessons learned from that tour.
Interview with Angela McQueen
Angela McQueen wrestled a gun out of a wannabe killer’s hands in her high school cafeteria, most likely saving many lives. On 04 Nov 2022, I had the honor and privilege of interviewing Ms. McQueen where the incident took place, at Mattoon High School in Mattoon, IL.
Protected: Off-lines, 17 Sep 2022
These 2 hour and a half breakout sessions at the annual Defending the Flock conference focused on practicing effective upward off-lines. We also did some stress inoculation while practicing movement off the railroad tracks (the Deadly Diamond) and movement to flank. To a lesser extent we practiced disarms and lateral off-lines to protect a third party.
Protected: TCDS Vulnerabilities and Assets, 20 Jun 2022
This security survey took place at a charter school.
Protected: Pediatric First Aid, Fall semester 2022
This bended learning class for Jr high school students took place on Fridays over the course of the Fall 2022 semester. This resource for the students documents what was taught and why.
Protected: Handgun Maintenance, 28 Aug 2022
This class for new gun owners focused on how to maintain their recently acquired firearms. We also covered trouble shooting and function checks for both auto pistol & revolver. We practiced field stripping a Glock and demonstrated the proper way to remove a Smith & Wesson side plate without warping it.
Protected: Managing School Violence (MSV-B), 22 Aug 2022
This was the second of two classes for educators at a pre-K to 8th grade school. In this session we practiced movement in response to stimulus (blanks from an AK), communication, and response to thrown IEDs. This summary adds additional detail regarding IED searches and recognition. We finished by practicing evacuation, researching useful escape routes from that mostly glass-walled school.
Protected: Revolver & Pistol Fam, 26 Jun 2022
This course included initial familiarization fire for new gun owners. However, we didn’t stop there. We practiced using speed loaders and topping off a partially expended cylinder, as well as slide locked (emergency) reloads, and proactive reloads (topping off) with a Glock. Students practiced shooting while moving laterally, as well as decision fire.
Protected: Managing School Violence (MSV-A), 26 Jul 2022
This class, the first of two that summer for educators at a pre-K through 8th grade school, covered preliminary defensive concepts. We practiced getting inside minimum effective range, metsubishi, vertically off lining an assailant’s pistol, and inducing long gun stoppages.
John S: Dragonslayer SRO
This homage to one of the most professional warrior protectors I know also elaborates on concepts and controversies of School Resource Officer (SRO) programs.
Assaults From Vehicles, Part I: Car vs. Pedestrian
In our Vehicle Fighting courses, we train on what to do if you are attacked IN or AROUND YOUR car, truck, or SUV. This three-part series will mainly focus, instead, on what to do if you are attacked BY someone …
Assaults From Vehicles, Part I: Car vs. Pedestrian Read more »
Protected: A Good Day to Try
This was an opportunity for people considering purchasing a firearm, or another firearm, or just wanting to practice, to be able to shoot any of several different types of handguns, and some long guns.
Pre-Qual Tuneup sessions
If your military or law enforcement qualification is coming up, and you: don’t always pass on the first try, or always pass, but want to do better, or you’re always just a few points shy of earning that marksmanship ribbon …
Defensive Pistol Phase II (Range)
This course is geared towards those who already have a basic foundation in operating a handgun, and want to learn more about how to use one in a fight. The main emphasis of this class is the close range fight, …
Protected: Camp Fury 2022
Camp Fury is an opportunity for adolescent girls to learn more about public safety careers, by practicing skills they would pick up at a fire or law enforcement academy. This after action report documents CPR training they received during Tucson’s Camp Fury 2022.
Protected: Patient Movement at Patagonia Lake
Students from a Tucson Junior High school learned principles of patient movement, both hand-carried and via improvised and purpose-built litters. This series of outdoor exercises, conducted over two days, developed teamwork, communication, and personal responsibility. But the main lesson was that we don’t NEED to be helpless in an emergency; we can be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.
Protected: Teamwork & Movement, 25 Apr 2022
Students in this live-fire course practiced moving safely with and around one another in teams, while engaging targets through 360 degrees, while avoiding line of fire issues with bystanders around and behind threats.