A Training Exercise Dream - 11.07.2023 - UK

 A Training Drill Dream - 11.07.2023 - UK

I'm sat in a car with two men, one I do not know and the other was Tim Ballard. The driver was the man I didn't recognise and Tim was sat in the passengers seat up front. I was sat in the back leaning forward between both of them. I am holding an MP5 rifle and I have a pistol in it's holster. We are doing a training exercise. We are running the training drill 7 times.

The drill was we would drive in the car from one end of a road (the road looked like a underground, shopping mall road or a tunnel road) to the other end. We are looking for a bad guy and we would always have to be looking for him and be ready to apprehend him or take him down. We had to be alert and ready ("Guns at the ready" has just come up in my spirit now).

I had my weapon pointed at the front windscreen in case I needed to shoot through it while the driver and Tim were tasked to get out of the car and apprehend or engage the target.

On the sixth time we went up to one end of the road and were expecting him to be there as he had always appeared there before, every time. He wasn't there this time. When we went back and was near the end of the road I realise I'm no longer carrying my MP5 but instead I only have my pistol.

Suddenly the man appears ahead through the windscreen but this time he looks different. He is wearing a long black leather jacket with a black hoodie on. His face was hidden due to the hoodie being up and so long. He looked and felt evil. I knew he had heavy automatic weapons under his hoodie and jacket. We drive past him and turn around to go back. By the time we turn around and continue driving to see him again we get to the opposite end of the road. He is there and looks incredibly menacing. I lean to my left ready to exit the car and apprehend the target or engage him when I realise my pistol I have would be insufficient to deal with him. 

We pull over and I go back to my middle seat position, first pointing my weapon at the target through the windscreen. The driver and Tim exit the car and engage him. I then get out of the car. The man has his hands raised in a submissive posture. I notice we are outside a very large set of electronic, wide, double doors, like an elevator door. 

At this moment the man lifts his hoodie down and it is Tim Ballard. He wanted to give us feedback, constructive but direct and passionate about how we did during the training.

He asked me what went wrong? What were the mistakes I noticed we made? I said, "we dropped the ball. I messed up. I knew there was a threat and I knew it was coming at some point but I got complacent and let my guard down. The threat turned up when I wasn't paying attention and unprepared. I brought my pistol to a rifle fight."

Tim looks at me with this real brightness coming from his blue eyes and agrees with me and says, "you are right and this is unacceptable so what are we going to do about it to make it right?" I respond with a few ideas then said, " I feel like this world is weak. It's being taught and continues to be so, that we are not meant to attack with the ferocity, authority and aggression needed to take out the enemy." 

Tim responds and says, "That is exactly what is wrong!"