Your Armpits Are Your Friends

It was ingrained in me from the very beginning. The first ten pushups I had to do was a result of violating that one rule. Nineteen years later I still have alarm bells go off in my head every time I get careless and break it.

What’s that one rule? We’ll get to it.

Day One

Chaotic was an understatement. There was lots of yelling, picking things up, putting things down, coming here, going there, and all the while I had no idea what I was doing or what I was supposed to be doing. One thing I did know was that I was doing it all wrong — there was no shortage of cadre reminding me of that fact.

Over seventy other recruits and I had just frantically sorted through a pile of duffle bags the size of a Winnebago after they had been tossed into a heap by staff while we were off running around doing something — I can’t remember what. All I know is that when we got back to the parade deck all our bags were in a big mound and we were taking far too long to sort through them and then get our butts inside.

My royal blue duffle bag was neatly packed to its limit with not a cubic inch to spare, and it was heavy. Once it emerged from the pile I picked it up and ran for the doors to enter the Tactical Center of the Academy where I dreaded what was coming next.

My First Ten

I’ll never forget the Academy instructor who was running beside me, barking at me. He was pacing me, but slightly ahead and to my right. In mid stride he turned his head and looked down at me from under the brim of his campaign hat. He shouted a series of questions at me, that I unwittingly answered, and quickly learned that I was right-handed. Since I was carrying my duffle bag in my right hand — my gun hand — he lost his mind. To help aid in my development as a young recruit officer, I had to drop and give him ten.

While I was knocking out my pushups he informed me that I was never to carry anything in my right hand again, except for my gun, and if I did, a various assortment of undesirable things would happen to me. I got up from the pavement, switched my bag over to my left hand, got my assignments, and made my way to my room. Along the way my left arm felt ready to fall off, so at one point I set my bag down, to avoid certain dismemberment. Some random member of the cadre was lurking in the shadows and saw me set it down, earning me more pushups.

The One Rule

It didn’t take me long to learn the rule of keeping my gun hand free, because if I violated it, I paid for it. It got to the point that any time I carried something, anything, in my right hand it just felt wrong and I’d switch. To this day I still have those alarm bells go off in my head even when I’m off duty.

This all begs the question, why is it such a big deal? Because people will try to kill us, we have to be ready. And yet, we still get lazy, or sloppy, or dumb, or all of the above.

I see it happen all the time, especially in low light conditions while officers are using their flashlights. They hold their flashlights in their gun hand, or they switch back and forth, while on a traffic stop or while talking with someone. This is bad. Every time their gun hand is occupied means that if in that moment they had to draw their gun to defend themselves there would be an obstacle in their way. Having that hand occupied would slow them down when fractions of a second count. Before you can draw your gun, it first must be free and empty.

Get Used To Being Uncomfortable

At first, using a flashlight or doing much of anything with your off hand feels weird, uncoordinated, and a bit uncomfortable. With time and practice it will get easier. It’s the initial discomfort that we have to work through. After that, using your off hand and keeping your gun hand free becomes a matter of intentionality, of purposely not reverting to the old ways, or of becoming lazy. That little voice of the comfortable and the familiar will pipe up every now and then and convince us that because nothing bad has happened to us yet that we can get away with senselessly occupying our gun hand one more time. We have to get used to being uncomfortable and smack that voice down immediately.

Use Your Armpits

Sometimes it feels like we need six hands to do all the things we’re expected to do. Drive a cruiser, work the radio, type on the MDT, use the lights and sirens, run radar, and aim our spotlight. It gets cumbersome and there’s a bit of an ugly dance to do it all. God gave us two amazing options to help with multitasking. We call them armpits. It’s like having two extra hands — well, almost.

Get used to the fine art of holding things in your armpits to keep your hands free as much as possible, especially your gun hand. Your armpit is the perfect place for your flashlight while you’re talking or writing. It can also hold your ticket book and clipboard when you’re not using them. Your armpits are your friends, embrace them.

Size Matters

When I became a cop we were issued enormous Maglites that weighed like ten pounds. Those things were big and bulky but honestly, they were pretty easy to hold and manipulate. Flashlights have gotten progressively smaller, lighter, and more powerful over the years which is good and bad. If you carry a teeny tiny flashlight it’s going to be like trying to hold a toothpick in your armpit — very tricky and ineffective. You’re going to have to carry a moderately sized one as your primary light to avoid that problem.

Alternate Light Sources

There are some pretty good alternate light sources out there for administrative purposes. Lights that clip onto your lapel or shirt pocket are handy for filling out forms and reading licenses and registrations. We spend a lot of time doing administrative tasks so freeing our hands up during those times is always a plus. Just don’t try to clear a car or search a building with one — that’s not what they’re for.

Stating The Obvious

You might be thinking, This is all so obvious. Duh. And I agree. However, I would challenge you to audit yourself and pay attention to any time an object enters your gun hand. What is it and why is it there? Is it necessary? Yes, you have to hold a pen to write, but what might you doing? Every time you find yourself violating the rule, you owe yourself some pushups.

Maybe you didn’t go to a Police Academy or have an FTO that hammered the concept of keeping your gun hand free, that’s okay, but now it’s up to you. Don’t get caught in a life and death encounter where you need your gun but first have to drop your flashlight or something else first

Little things matter.

__________________________

• Have you broken the one rule?
• Are alarm bells going off in your head when you do?
• Are you ignoring them?
• Why or why not?

__________________________

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