The Cover Magnet Phenomenon And Why It’s Bad

I turned the knob and gently nudged the door. It must have been installed a bit crooked because the door easily swung inward, all the way open, giving me a full view of the studio apartment and the open bathroom door that lay straight ahead. There he was, seated on the toilet with a black pump-action shotgun propped up under his chin.

I drew my handgun and told him to drop it. He mechanically set the shotgun to the side and marched toward me slinging expletives before slamming the door in my face. Let the barricade begin.

After retreating to my cruiser which was parked at a 45 degree angle not far from his front door I grabbed my patrol rifle while simultaneously committing a comedy of errors. Behind the front wheels and engine block of my cruiser became my spot to wait for the cavalry. Over the next four hours fatigue set in and I continued batting a thousand with my tactical errors.

The Phenomenon

From there I crowded my cover in every way imaginable — lying across the hood, leaning against the wheel well and fender, and kneeling on the ground against the bumper. I was so drawn to my cruiser that I was setting myself up for certain failure should bullets fly my way. I was experiencing what many of us have: the phenomenon of the cover magnet.

From my personal experience, observations, and mistakes over the years I have noticed several things that seem to cause this phenomenon:

I. The Perception Of Safety

I’m no psychologist by any stretch, but it seems to me that there is something innate in all of us that drives us to increase our distance from danger and decrease our distance from safety. In other words, we want to be as close as possible to the thing that makes us feel safe. Much like a toddler grabs at their parent’s legs and wants to be picked up so they can be as close to them as possible and as far from the perceived threat as they can get, we do the same thing with our cover. We are drawn like a magnet to our cover to the point we are pressed up against it. Seeking cover is a good thing, of course, but it must be utilized properly. More on that a little later.

II. Fatigue

Guns are heavy, especially when held up in some sort of firing position. Our vests, duty belts, uniforms, and other gear like shields, bags, and less lethal options are just as heavy — and they all get heavier as the call wears on. Couple that with long shifts, extreme weather or temperature, and mental expenditure and you get fatigue. When fatigue sets in we all do what we can to save energy and relieve the pain of being physically uncomfortable; which usually means we cut corners. That’s when we start lying across the hoods of our cruisers, leaning against trees, walls, or doorways, or doffing important gear. All of these shortcuts undermine our tactics and increase our exposure to injury from incoming gunfire.

III. Training Scars

We all have training scars. I could write a book on all of mine, one of which I wear on my face. A training scar is just a bad experience we had or bad tactic we were taught during training that causes us to do or not do something, or that causes us undue fear or trepidation because of that past experience. If you had a training officer that was a Sadist and tried to break one of your appendages during defensive tactics, you probably experience an elevated heart rate at the very mention of DT’s. That’s a training scar.

Sometimes the way training is set up simply due to the limitations of the range, a state mandated qualification course, or just basic safety considerations can actually create training scars. How we treat cover is definitely one of them. For example, if your qualification course requires you to shoot from behind cover — and since most of us live by the adage that if you’re not cheating you’re not trying — we’ll use the barricade to support our muzzle or reach as far forward of the yard line as we can to get our hits. We crowd our cover because that’s how the range is set up and to make sure we pass.  What we do in training will most likely manifest itself in what we do on the street.

IV. Bad Examples

I’m not blaming Hollywood, and I hate to even mention it, but we watch tac-sexy operators on TV and in the movies do tactically stupid things. But we only see the sexy and not the stupid, so we emulate it because we want to be sexy. This also goes for YouTubers and social media influencers who just want to look high-speed and low-drag, whose aim is entertainment, not enlightenment. We copy them for the wrong reasons without giving it much thought.

We are all influenced by what we see and hear, one way or the other. When we’re new we watch what other cops do. If they hug their cover or lay on the hood of their cruiser with gun in hand and arms outstretched, we’ll do the same. Why? Because we’ve never been in that situation before so we monkey-see-monkey-do it. In reality, that officer we are copying has no idea what he’s doing. He is either making it up as he goes along or he himself has fallen prey to one of the four causes of crowding cover outlined here.

Why It’s Bad

Crowding cover is bad. Our instinct to get as close as possible provides nothing more than a false sense of security. Here’s why:

I. Limited Field Of View

Crowding your cover gives you a limited field of view. The pillar, tree, corner of the building, or even your cruiser looms large in your field of vision in relation to the environment around you. Being so close forces exaggerated movements of your head or body in order to see around it or to notice threats in your peripheral vision, which is already diminished by stress. You can’t shoot what you can’t see.

II. Limited Mobility

Weapon manipulation, like reloading or clearing a stoppage, becomes more difficult the less space you have to work in, especially with rifles. Having a wall or cruiser fender up against you changes the way you handle your weapons. You also limit your own mobility, including alternate shooting positions, when you are pressed against your cover. Your proximity alone will dictate how much you can or cannot move, limiting your options.

III. Funneling

When bullets strike other objects, like walls or the hoods of cars, they can ricochet, deflect, or tumble creating a sort of funneling effect. It’s almost like skipping a flat rock across the surface of a pond. The rock doesn’t just bounce off at an angle, but continues to skim or tumble forward. When you crowd your cruiser incoming rounds that strike the hood of the car will tend to deflect or tumble at a low angle. And if your face is near the top of the hood, they can tumble right into it. Staying back off of the cruiser will provide the space necessary for the bullet to travel up, over, and past you. Interior walls cause a similar effect which is why you never want to be up against a wall, but rather stay arms length off of it so you don’t get hit by a tumbling round. Bullets can skip across the drywall just like a stone on water.

Here’s what we can do about it:

I. Adopt and use the double-arms length rule

This is the simple rule that’s easy to remember and apply. In general, always be double your arm’s length behind or away from your cover. Just like a goalie in hockey or in soccer comes out of the net to make himself appear larger and the net appear smaller, staying behind and away from your cover makes your cover larger and yourself smaller to your opponent. Staying double arms length away also gives you space for manipulating your weapon system, more freedom of movement, using alternative shooting positions, increasing your field of view, and avoiding deflected or tumbling bullets.

II. Adjust training

If current policies, training regimens, or range restrictions reinforce crowding cover, it’s time to change it. Maybe your qualification course requires you to shoot from behind cover at the 15 yard line and the barricade is always positioned right on the 15 yard line. What if you take that barricade, move it forward of the line five or six feet, and still stand at the 15 yard line? That keeps all the shooters on line and gives them the visual reference of where they should be in relation to their cover. The course of fire hasn’t changed, just the way it’s set up. Small changes like that can help reduce and eliminate training scars like crowding cover.

III. Use different ready positions to prevent fatigue

Learn and practice a variety of ready positions. Just because you are on a perimeter or holding a doorway doesn’t mean you have to have your pistol or rifle up and on target, even though technically you don’t have a target yet. This for some reason has become common practice even though it violates the cardinal firearms safety rule of never pointing your muzzle at something unless you’ve decided to destroy it.

Having your gun up on target is the fastest way to tire yourself out. Other ready positions like the low ready, inside ready, the tucked position, and the high ready are much more comfortable, give you a better field of view, and will allow you to stave off fatigue and last a lot longer. Low ready will eventually cause wrist pain, though the high ready for the most part will not. The high ready and tucked position are also better for reducing lower back strain. You can also alternate between ready positions to further extend your effectiveness. Reducing fatigue reduces the temptation to pursue comfort at the expense of tactics.

In Spite Of Our Scars

Understanding cover and your proximity to it is crucial to your safety. We all get tired and we all get scared, that’s normal, but hopefully grasping these concepts ahead of time will help us make better decisions in spite of our scars.

__________________________

• What training scars do you carry?
• What examples have influenced your tactics?
• Does your training address the proper use of cover?
• How can you better utilize it in the future?

__________________________

Thanks for reading! Do you have a story that you think we could learn from and that you’d like to share with Johnny Tactical nation? Fill out the contact form and include your name, rank, and department, or email it to [email protected] and follow these guidelines:

– It must be a firsthand account
– True
– Have a lesson, principle, or tactic to apply
– Cleaned of names, dates, and places
– Include your call sign

If your story is selected and published in our blog you’ll get the credit using your call sign and we’ll send you a free Johnny Tactical morale patch.