TERRORISTS JUST AREN'T WHAT THEY USED TO BE

I spent the afternoon at the Sheriff's training location. Known as Laser Village, they no longer use lasers and M.I.L.E.S. gear. These days they use paint cartridges. They sting. I played the bomb-vested terrorist-on-a-bus. My job was to scare the assault team into shooting me. I did a good job. Got shot in the bomb vest which I didn't feel. Got shot in both arms, which I did.

If you've seen the movie S.W.A.T. it was something like the airplane assault in training. Training like this is something like playing Army as a kid, but much more stressful when you know that even sim-munitions sting like the devil.

Good training. The assault teams had to think on their feet and discriminate between legitimate targets and bystanders. This makes good sense and trains our law enforcement people to think and not develop a "target practice" mentality. I am pleased to have been of use. Full disclosure; I volunteered to be a person-most-likely-to-be-shot. Here are my "Red Badges of Courage."