These same concepts are as useful for evacuating an area as they are for "assaulting." If you are in a situation where you want to get out of the area quickly but do not want to turn your back on danger areas, you can simply walk backward while keeping your weapon oriented toward the danger. Instead of walking "heel-toe," you reverse it and walk "toe-heel." This allows you to feel for unseen obstructions behind you as you move.
When closing on a potential danger area, do so with stealth and the ability to respond instantly. The Taylor-designed shuffle step will allow this.
As you approach a particular danger area, such as a door or the apex of a corner, you must slow down considerably and alter your gait to the Chuck Taylor-designed shuffle step.
The advantage to this method is that it allows you to approach very carefully and slowly without compromising your stealth or ability to shoot. This method also discourages you from crossing your feet as you walk, which adversely affects your mobility in tight quarters as well as your ability to respond to various angles.
The shuffle step is equally useful for moving forward and backward as it is for moving laterally. It is similar to the type of footwork that would be employed by a Western boxer. The leg that is closest to the desired direction moves first and is followed by a catch-up step with the other leg. Beginning with a slightly bladed Weaver stance, the footwork patterns are as follows:
To move forward: Take a half-step forward with the supportside leg (front leg) and then catch up with a half-step with the strong-side leg.
To move rearward: Reverse the process and begin with a half-step rearward with the strong-side leg (rear leg), and then catch-up with a half-step with the support-side leg.
To move laterally right or left: The process is identical in concept.
To move to the strong side: Step to the strong side with the strong-side leg a. half-step, and then catch up with the support-side leg
To move to the support side: Reverse the process for the strong side.
If you must close distance quickly, the tactical walk will allow you to do so while retaining the ability to shoot en route.
Engaging a hostile to the firing side is somewhat more complicated and involves a slight change in footwork.
Engaging a hostile to the support side is easily accomplished on the move without altering the normal stride.
When performing the shuffle step, do not allow your feet to touch at midstep. Keep a slight distance (one-half shoulder width) between the feet on each step.
A second common mistake is dragging the feet. Do not fall victim to this. Step with the toe first and then allow the heel to make contact with the deck. Remember that stealth is of the greatest importance when you are using this technique.
Along with stability and enhanced potential for quick movement, this type of footwork allows you to clear an area using the angular search method. The tactical walk and the shuffle step both have a valuable place in an ace tactician's "war bag"-so learn them.
EIGHT
TACTICAL USE OF COVER
AND CONCEALMENT
I have known men in the west whose courage could not be questioned and whose expertness with the pistol was simply marvelous who fell victims before men who added deliberation to the other two qualities.
One of the primary lessons a gunfighter must learn is the difference between cover and concealment. If you learn and use these tactics well, they will be invaluable during a fight-and may very well save your life. If you use them poorly or confuse one with the other, you may become a candidate for that most dubious of honors, the "Distinguished Wooden Cross."
In a nutshell, cover is anything solid that offers ballistic protection. That means that you can hide behind it and be reasonably certain that bullets fired at it will not penetrate and hit you. This requirement may be problematic depending on the type of armament your opponents have on hand. Concealment, on the other hand, is anything that hides your presence from the adversary. A good example of cover is a brick wall; a good example of concealment is darkness. Brick walls will stop most small-arms ordnance. Darkness will allow you to hide, but it will not stop anything. Sometimes cover will also offer concealment.
Cover may be used during a fight to prevent your getting shot. Concealment may only be used prior to the fight to deceive your adversary about your whereabouts. Concealment will provide a base from which to launch a surprise attack. Concealment demands stealth, which is sometimes enough. If your opponent doesn't know you are there, he won't think of shooting you. Cover often offers the same advantages as concealment with additional ballistic protection.
To use concealment you must have prior knowledge of an enemy's approach, as well as the belief that he hasn't seen you. Obviously, if he knows you are there, hiding in the shadows will not help you. To use cover you must have the time and room to reach it, as well as the specific anticipation of hostilities.
There have been discussions about the propriety of always running to cover when a fight begins. Generally the closer the fight is, the less time you will have available to respond to a threat. You will often be forced to react and solve the problem with your own gunfire. Remember the nature of most urban gunfights: short-duration, high-intensity fights. If you are being attacked, your response must be to counterattack immediately. Then, after you've reacquired control of your environment, you can move to cover. Sometimes, however, the gunfire may come from an unknown area or from such a long distance that it precludes an instant counterattack from you. At such times, you must move to cover first. A good rule of thumb is that if you do not have a target to shoot at when you come under fire, get behind cover.
Realize that many things most people consider to be cover are really only concealment. When I conduct tactical courses, I often place a hostile target directly behind a couch with only his gun and eyes showing. Many students take valuable extra time to place that precise brain shot on the exposed target area when they could simply fire through the couch (concealment not cover) and drill him in a third of the time… twice! Similarly, most of the things people tend to hide behind, thinking they are taking cover, can easily he penetrated by gunfire.
The same goes for corners, doors, and walls inside buildings. Most modern cartridges will penetrate directly through these light wood and stucco structures. Therefore, if an adversary fires at you from a doorway, you can shoot him right through the wall. Even buckshot will work in such situations.
Automobiles, on the other hand, make relatively good cover against most small-arms fire except for centerfire rifle fire. The exception here is the side glass, which is as resistant to gunfire as a piece of paper.
You want to seek as hard a point of cover as possible, but realize that such hard cover will tend to cause projectiles to ricochet. Bullets often ricochet along an axis parallel to the cover they've struck and angled slightly away from it. If you are too close to your cover, they'll ricochet right into you. The magic distance seems to be at least six feet. If you stay at least six feet from your cover, the angle of departure of the ricochet will have grown enough to bypass you completely. If you crowd your cover, you run the risk of getting hit with one of these ricochets.