Take a look at the headlines of any major newspaper and you can tell that these are difficult times. Turn on CNN and you’ll hear reports of wars and terrorist attacks. It doesn’t take much to convince people that their safety is in jeopardy. With official resources spread so thin, more and more, people are taking the responsibility for their own safety. For many, the first step in doing so is to consider a firearm as part of the solution.

Just as owning a piano doesn’t make you a musician, simply owning a firearm doesn’t make you prepared to defend yourself or your family. There are legal and ethical responsibilities as well as a host of practical issues to take into consideration. In addition, the dynamics of a life or death encounter demand the proper mind set, tactical skills and shooting ability if you hope to survive.

Increasingly, those in the military and law enforcement communities are also looking to supplement their official training. As time and finances run short, agencies are often forced to cut all but mandatory training. This leaves officers and military personnel to deal with rapidly increasing threats using reduced skills and confidence in their survivability. Constantly, these professionals face the need to spend their own time and money to obtain the training that they need to accomplish their missions.

The goal of this manual is to lay a solid foundation on which to build a lifestyle anchored by protection and safety. With the objective of giving the individual control of his or her immediate environment, this foundation can be combined with hands-on training and diligent practice, to provide a real sense of security for you and those you seek to protect.

It should be stressed that a manual such as this is only the first step in this process. The principles, tactics and skills taught here MUST be developed through professional training that is grounded in the real world. At all costs, you should avoid any training that is based on the concepts gleaned from target shooting, so called “practical” competition or out-dated methods. These things are a substantial hindrance to surviving a deadly force encounter. In short, they can get you KILLED!

Beginning with a thorough discussion of the principles of personal protection, we then dissect an overview of personal security considerations. This manual then hopes to offer basic skills as a starting point for the novice and as a review to polish the ability of the experienced shooter. It progresses to more advanced skills and tactics, as well as detailed considerations that are specific to each type of weapon (handgun, shotgun and rifle).

This manual is unique in that it contains detailed lesson plans in outline form as well as courses of fire and score sheets. In addition, there are handouts that may be reproduced and distributed if this manual is used in a small group training environment. Created in modular form, each section of this manual can be used independent of the others. While this makes for some redundancy in the printed material, it adds great flexibility for its presentation in training.

As a professional, who for over 25 years has made his living on a daily basis with a weapon, Len Breure takes seriously the tactics and techniques that work in the real world. Attached you will find a brief description of his credentials.

Len has had the opportunity to collect a host of training, experience and awards. These include military “Expert” ratings with the 1911A1 pistol, M-16 assault rifle, M-203 grenade launcher, M-60 machine gun & M-14 battle rifle. Add to that instructor certification, as both an Infantry and Military Police Weapons Instructor and you will have a solid foundation to build on for training and experience with Special Response Teams and Anti-Terrorist Operations. He was also able to round out his military career with Sniper Training, shooting on the Army Rifle Team and serving on a Mobile Training Team.

Early in his law enforcement career, Len was given the opportunity to become a firearms instructor. That led to becoming the Range Master of the county’s police academy, responsible for all the weapons training for the 19 agencies within the county. These duties progressed to positions as an Instructor Trainer for the New Jersey Police Training Commission, Special Response Team Instructor and Emergency Services Coordinator for his police department.

He has also had the opportunity to accumulate a number of degrees and honors in the academic realm. Graduating Summa Cum Laude three times, Len holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice, a Master of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice Management and a Doctorate Degree in Criminal Justice Education.

Over the years Len Breure has been involved in numerous types of firearms competition, earning N.R.A. expert ratings in High Power Rife and Practical Pistol, I.P.S.C. AA class rating and U.S. Army Excellence in Competition medals for both rifle and pistol. This pales in comparison, however, to having “seen the elephant” as Col. Jeff Cooper would say, on several occasions.

Len has also had the opportunity to train under (or conduct training with) some of this nation’s finest. These have included the F.B.I., D.E.A., A.T.F. and Department of Defense. Much of what he teaches and lives by today comes from such noteworthy instructor’s as Chuck Taylor - American Small Arms Academy, Col. Jeff Cooper – Gunsite Academy, Massad Ayoob - Lethal Force Institute, John Farnam – Defense Training and many others.

Introduction

The subject mater contained herein is of an extremely serious nature - life or death! If you want to be “entertained”, you’ve come to the wrong place. For the hunter or target shooter, this material won’t meet your needs. If your goal is to survive a deadly force encounter, then we’re after the same thing.

It is my desire to be completely honest in order to clearly and concisely convey this critical information that may save your life in a gunfight. The object is to develop a discipline for personal protection and self-defense.

While applicable to people from all walks of life, the primary audience is those who go armed on a daily basis. Some of the material is more closely aligned with law enforcement, military or security situations.

Not “targeted” for the competitor, the only type of competition this material deals with is that which has survival as its prize. A no-nonsense approach is therefore required. Existing theories have been put to the test - what has been proven to work has been included - everything else has been omitted. What we are left with is based on more than 25 years of personal experience as a soldier, police officer, weapons instructor and serious student of these martial arts.

All too often matters such as these are not taken seriously enough. Focusing on one’s “image” at the expense of reality is one sure way of ending up with a less than favorable outcome. These long standing techniques have been proven time and time again. They not only CAN, but also most assuredly WILL come through when the going gets tough.

I hope that you will never find yourself in a situation where you are required to use this information. If you do end up there, remember this - in the final analysis, it is the individual (not the weapon) that determines the outcome.

Leonard M. Breure
New Richmond, WI
2003