[Jan_Sobieski]

Yes, fired both. Texas cops are well trained. I just find it hard to believe that the presumably untrained PFC was alone...

[familyop]

Here's another difference between combat "heavies" (actually construction engineers) and the lighter kind (combat engineers who mostly do infantry combat work). Combat engineers who specialize in combat are processed through an extensive, expensive background check and go through a rather brutal 13-week one-station unit initial training. They are more often trained around the clock for combat fatigue simulation. Many are weeded out early on through their own suicide attempts and stress fractures. Graduates of that initial training are far less likely to go crazy under stress than nearly anyone else in any kind of security duty, military or civilian.

Combat heavies (construction engineers, various MOSes including Johnson's MOS) train mostly to do construction-related jobs. Although they go through the fairly rigorous 8 weeks of basic training that most Army recruits attend, it's not nearly as mentally or physically difficult as the training for the MOS of combat engineer (combat type--sappers).

[familyop]

"Yes, fired both. Texas cops are well trained. I just find it hard to believe that the presumably untrained PFC was alone..."

I'm older and am not interested in matters of young men's work except as a bystander and concerned citizen, but here's a little advice from past training experiences both military and civilian. Emphasize mobility and cover more.

Police training is good for emphasis where a police officer is facing someone who might be dangerous (car stop, in a room or otherwise, remember "close, dark, fast"). Do close range night fire on a range at night--very important.

But where a member of a police agency is walking down a street or otherwise publicly visible without facing anyone in particular and comes under fire, he should move to good cover first. Do so very quickly. Use a masonry structure (column, masonry plant box, whatever), corner of a building, wheels of a vehicle, a light post, a low spot on the ground or slight mound if necessary. The movement can greatly lessen the odds of being hit, and cover is better. Train to do so, and with enough repetitions to make the move to cover second nature.

More training is the answer to increasing survivability odds. As for danger, it's always there. Anything can happen. No one is indestructible. It's not news to someone with good training, but it's a good reminder for all. More restrictive laws might have an effect opposite of what we're trying to achieve.

The only way to decrease the frequency of murders in general would be to go back to emphasizing traditional morality more, but our lawmakers and their most influential constituents have been taking us in the other direction for decades (laws and policies conducive to more divorce, cohabitation, fatherlessness, bad employment policies, bad international trade policies, regulations against good private land uses, regulations against other productive activities and much more).

[familyop]

Another thing... ;-)

When escorting a protest or otherwise walking with other police, spread out a little. Don’t walk or stand so close to each other as to present a collective target.

All the best.