The Breath of Life: Can the Way You Breathe
Increase Your Chances of Survival?

1999 Duane Wolfe

"Things have gone bad in a heartbeat. The domestic abuse suspect who was
sitting peacefully on the couch just seconds ago suddenly stood up and ran
for the bedroom locking the door behind him. Inside you hear the
unmistakable sound of the slide of a handgun being racked as the man
screams, 'You got thirty seconds to get out of my house or I'll kill you!'

"As your heart beats so fast you can feel the pounding in your chest, your
vision narrows. Through the tunnel vision you are focused on the bedroom
door from behind the wall you're using as concealment. You can hear the
woman screaming but she sounds far away in the distance, even though she's
right next to you where you shoved her to keep her safe. You see your
partner calling on the radio but you can't hear him even though he's only
across the hall.
"Suddenly you're startled by the sound of the door unlocking. You see the
doorknob turn and the door starts to open and everything goes into slow
motion.

"The first thing that appears in the doorway is a semi-automatic pistol
that must be a least a .50 caliber. As it raises you realize it's pointed
in your direction. As you try and focus on the shaking front sight of
your pistol that has suddenly appeared in view, one thought stands out in
the flood of thoughts and emotions in your mind: 'If I have to shoot, I
hope I hit him.'

"The hit ratio of police officers involved in gunfights varies. The U.S.
Department of Justice study 'In the Line of Fire' quotes 41%. A method of
improving those ratios might be very simple...as simple as breathing.

"In 1998 as a law enforcement instructor at the Alexandria Technical
College in Alexandria, Minnesota I was assigned the task of developing a
new Officer Safety and Survival class. At the same time I had also
enrolled in a Masters Degree in Education program and decided to use the
Officer Safety class as a basis for my required class project. These two situations allowed me to research, develop and implement specific drills
to try and improve police officer safety and survival for my students once they were employed as law enforcement officers.

"During that time I had the opportunity to read and use three books as my
sources for these drills and the class itself. Those books were, 'On
Killing' by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, 'Sharpening the Warriors Edge: The
Psychology & Science of Training' by Bruce Siddle and 'Deadly Force
Encounters' by Alexis Artwohl and Loren Christensen. Essentially each of
the authors' ideas mirrors the others in their ideas about training police
officers.

"In a presentation at the 1998 International Association of Law
Enforcement Firearms Instructors Annual Training Conference I had the
opportunity to hear Lt. Col. Dave Grossman speak. During his 'The
Bulletproof Mind' presentation he listed three approaches to controlling
combat stress. He listed Combat Breathing: Before, During and After
Combat; 'Stress Inoculation' in Training; and Conditioned Responses in
Combat from Training.

"This article will focus on the results of the introduction of 'Combat
Breathing' into a Simunition scenario and its effect on student
performance. Before going into the testing procedures a brief explanation
behind the need for Combat Breathing:

"Siddle states in his book, 'Sharpening the Warriors Edge' that research
shows that fine motor skills start to deteriorate when the heart rate
reaches 115 beats per minute (bpm).

"He defines a fine motor skill as 'skills performed by small muscle mass
or groups, such as hands and fingers, and frequently involve hand-eye
coordination. In a survival skill category, a fine motor skill would include...shooting a firearm.' Siddle goes on to explain that the higher
the heart's rate the lower the ability to perform fine motor skills. In
other words, as our heart rate goes up our ability to accurately fire a
weapon goes down.

"In order to achieve a lower heart rate and increase shooting performance
Siddle and Grossman advocate 'belly breathing' or 'combat breathing.'
'Belly Breathing' is described by Siddle as, 'slow deep breaths expanding
the belly and controlling the respiration cycle. The respiration cycle
technique advocates inhaling for a specific count (normally three
seconds), holding the breath for three seconds and controlling the exhale
for three seconds. After repeating the technique for three cycles stomach
push the hand out each time they inhale and to go in each time they
exhale. Once the student understands the proper technique they are
encouraged to use it during stressful situations. The use of Combat
Breathing allows for more air to be drawn into the lungs resulting in more
oxygen available to the bloodstream. The body, having more oxygen
available to it, lowers the demand for blood and this lowers the heart
rate.

"The author having seen the effects of this type of breathing in the
martial arts wanted to see its results for police trainees during a
stressful situation -- a Simunition scenario. A total of 66 students took
part in the scenario. The author has named this scenario the
Ring-Around-the-Car drill. In it a student is placed in the driver's seat
of a squad car. A suspect's vehicle is parked in front of it in a typical
traffic stop position. After the officer exits the squad and before the
officer reaches the rear window of the suspect vehicle the suspect driver
may exit the car and approach the officer. Sometime during the scenario
the suspect produces a weapon and fires at the officer.<BR>

"Prior to this scenario the students have been instructed in the use of
cover and concealment, shooting from behind cover, and have practiced
moving to points of cover during a traffic stop. The drill had already
been practiced several times with dummy guns used by both the suspect and
the officer. Additionally, the officers had done the drill with a dummy
gun while the suspect was armed with a Simunition pistol to practice
tactical movement.

"In this particular scenario the student was armed with a Simunition Glock pistol and given one round of ammunition. Only one round is used to
promote accuracy and to emphasize the importance of making the first shot
count. Later drills allowed for the use of more rounds but never more
than three rounds. This is done in order to try and reduce the tendency
to 'spray and pray' (rapid fire without proper aiming in hopes of hitting
the target) and to keep the scenarios from degenerating into a
free-for-all firefight.

"The instructor played the part of the suspect. The rules were that if
the suspect or officer were hit in the arm or leg the scenario would
continue with the 'injured' person stuck acting out the appropriate
injury. If the suspect were struck in the torso or head the scenario would stop. If the officer was struck in the torso they were to continue
with the drill.

"For those not familiar with the Simunition products a brief description
follows:

"The Simunition pistol is either a drop in barrel for a semi-automatic
pistol or in the case of the Glock a specially manufactured pistol. This
product only allows for Simunition ammunition to be fired eliminating the
chance of an accidental introduction of live ammunition into the scenario.
The Simunition round is a specially designed cartridge that propels a
plastic capsule containing a marking paste. The projectile travels at
about 400 feet per second and provides for immediate feedback (pain) when
struck by it. Each of the participants in the scenario wore the
appropriate protective clothing -- facemask, long clothing and gloves.

"Of the 66 participants in this scenario 44 were coached on Combat
Breathing by an instructor several days before the test and just prior to
entering the exercise. 22 students participated in the scenario without
any instruction or coaching on Combat Breathing. The 66 participants were
members of three squads of seniors of the Law Enforcement Program at the
Alexandria Technical College. A comparison of basic marksmanship scores
of the three groups indicated no more than a two-point difference in class
qualification averages (Qual Avg.). The results were as follow:

STUDENTS WHO USED COMBAT BREATHING

Total Students:

Group C: 24
Group D: 20

Shots Fired;
Group C: 17/70%
Group D: 14/70%


Total Hits:

Group C: 14
Group D: 9


Center Mass Hits:

Group C: 9/64%
Group D: 7/77%


Hit Ratio:

Group C: 82%
Group D: 64%


Qual. Avg.:

Group C: 91%
Group D: 93%



STUDENTS WHO DID NOT USE COMBAT BREATHING (Group B)


Total Students: 22

Shots Fired: 13/59%

Total Hits: 4

Center Mass Hits: 1/25%

Hit Ratio: 30%

Qual. Avg.: 92%



"Total Hits/Hit Ratio:

"While the marksmanship abilities of the three groups during firearms
training were almost identical the inclusion of a stress reduction
technique (Combat Breathing) during the Simunition scenario dramatically
increased the hit ratio or the ability to aim and hit a moving human
target.

"Those classes that were coached on the breathing technique had hit ratios
of 64% and 80%.

"Those students who did not use the breathing exercise experienced only a
30% hit ratio.

"This 30% hit ratio during this drill closely echoes the hit ratio of
police officers involved in real gunfights.


"Center Mass Hits:

"Striking a suspect during a gunfight is highly desirable. However, those
shots that have the most immediate effect at stopping a gunfight are those
that strike center mass. Center mass is generally defined as the area of
the torso above the waist and below the neck. The head was not included
as a center mass hit in this study due to its small target area, rounded
surface, and hard skeletal structure that frequently results in rounds
ricocheting off the target.

"The Combat Breathers of the study had a 64% and 77% center mass hit
ratio.

"The non-Combat Breathers had only a 7% center mass hit ratio.

"The use of Combat Breathing showed a dramatic increase in the ability to
hit the area of the body most likely to stop an aggressive deadly force
assault by a suspect. The sooner an attacker is stopped from attacking
the officer or another person the less likely the officer or another will
be injured or killed.

"Shooting Ratios:

"Shooting at a moving target who may shoot at you or already is shooting
at you while you are trying to maintain cover and distance, issuing verbal
commands and making tactical and deadly force decisions requires a lot of
thought in a very short period of time. Combine that with the need to
accurately aim and fire a sidearm at a moving human being in an
ever-changing situation and the number of thought processes going on at
once are staggering.

"Each of the students involved in this scenario had received the same
training up to the time of the scenario. The only addition was the use of
Combat Breathing. Yet the Combat Breathers had a shooting rate of 70%
while the non-Combat Breathers had a shooting ratio of 59%.

"It would appear that the Combat Breathers had an advantage in their
ability to think through the process and fire their weapons. The
non-Combat Breathers showed a lower incident of firing even though in
every scenario the student was faced with a situation that clearly
required the application of deadly force.

"Heart Rates

"In reviewing the heart rates of the classes the results of Combat
Breathing can be clearly seen. Each student checked his or her heart rate
[beats per minute (bpm)] prior to the Simunition Drill. After the drill
was completed the students' heart rates were checked again. The results
of those findings:


HEART RATE AVERAGE


Group B: No Combat Breathing

Avg. Before: 83 bpm
Avg. After: 137 bpm
Avg. Increase: 54 bpm



Group C: Combat Breathing

Avg. Before: 93 bpm
Avg. After: 134 bpm
Avg. Increase: 40 bpm



Group D: Combat Breathing

Avg. Before: 93 bpm
Avg. After: 141 bpm
Avg. Increase: 48 bpm


"The two Combat Breathing classes (C &D) showed a lower average increase
in heart rate. This indicates that the use of Combat Breathing does
reduce heart rate and increase shooting performance. The Combat Breathing
classes had much higher Hit Ratios.

"Conclusion:

"The use of Combat Breathing had a clearly seen effect on the students'
ability to accurately deliver a projectile towards a hostile moving target
while under stress. The results clearly indicate the advantage of using
Combat Breathing during stressful situations. Some have said that the use
of Simunition is the closest thing you can get to a real gunfight. The
author realizes that there is a big difference between shooting at someone
with Simunition and shooting at someone with real bullets. The biggest
factor would be the level of stress brought on by a life and death
struggle.

"Combat Breathing is specifically designed to reduce the effects of that
stress on officer performance. If used during a real deadly force
encounter or other stressful situations the author believes, based on the
results shown, it will increase officer performance and improve officer
survival."