(Reprinted from "The Law Enforcement Trainer"
magazine of the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers)

“I Just Want To See Them Come Home”

  Commander Alan Morris (Ret).
Former Director of Training At Naval Special Warfare Center

                                       Gives Keynote Presentation in Anchorage

     Commander Alan Morris, who has trained thousands of military and civilian personnel, believes that the core of national security and professional safety can be summed up in one word: teamwork. That is the critical component to any successful operation, whether it involves the military, law enforcement, or public and private sector personnel.
     “We can increase national security and public safety through a greater effort to work together,” he states. “We need to anticipate, communicate, and coordinate.” Those capabilities have been key throughout his distinguished military career; he retired as Director of Training at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado , California. A decorated combat veteran, he supervised more than 125 SEAL instructors and commanded more than 200 operational SEALS and support personnel. He served as a classroom and field instructor at the prestigious Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at the Naval Air Station in Fallon, Nevada.
     Commander Morris presented the keynote address at the ASLET International Conference. The title was “Components of the Team: Public Safety/Security—a Navy SEALS Perspective.”  He also participated with other world renowned experts on terrorism during a panel discusssion.
      He weaves the theme of teamwork throughout his discussion and talks of the consequences of successes and failures recorded in our nation’s history. He relates the story of General John Joseph Pershing who, in World War I, took his troops to Europe to find that the French and British commanders expected them to serve as individual replacements in their armies. General Pershing refused and insisted his men would fight as a unit since they had trained as a unit. The American First Army, under his command, opened the way for the Argonne offensive, ranked by many as one of the hardest fought battles undertaken by American forces on foreign soil. They proved their valor and the merit of their leader’s conviction during the confrontation.
     Morris ’ grandfather served in the military, as did his father, who served as a gunner’s mate in World War II. Several of his uncles also served.
     “I learned that freedom isn’t free,” he states, “and was raised with the idea that I had an obligation to do my military duty.”
     That belief led to his turning down offers for college scholarships for football and wrestling. He enlisted in the Navy instead, and served aboard the U.S.S. Princeton and as an automatic weapons man on a SEAL Team platoon. As a commissioned officer, Morris served as the Executive Officer and Platoon Commander with SEAL Team Three, and was Combat Craft Detachment Commander with Special Boat Unit Twelve. He served in various other leadership and training assignments.
     Commander Morris attributes his insight to “a kind of osmotic situation,” and explains that “basically you become an observer of your environment.” Beginning with his days in the Navy, he was attuned to what worked and what didn’t. A humorous anecdote helps define who he was at that time in his life.
     Having completed his tour of duty, he enrolled at the University of Oregon. It was a turbulent time when burning draft cards and bras was popular among college students. One of the first things required was participation in an “ice-breaker activity” where 100 values were listed. Each student was asked to select the 10 most important and 10 least important. After careful consideration, Morris wrote down “national security” as the most important.
     “I was the only one who had that, and I was shocked,” he recalls. Not only his peers, but also a professor, considered his choice to be odd. The professor chastised him and offered the opinion that his problem was he didn’t know the real world.
      But knowing the real world was critical when he trained the elite combat units of the Naval Special Warfare Center who are deployed worldwide. Platoons are organized, trained and equipped to conduct special operations and unconventional warfare in support of fleet and national operations. Free-fall parachuting at 10,000 feet, conducting a mission and heading 30 miles out to sea to rendezvous with a submarine is a typical mission for members of the Navy SEALS. Communication and teamwork-thinking as one mind- are key to effective performance.
     These same elements are an absolute necessity for law enforcement officers, and Morris is on a mission of enhanced training for greater safety and security.
     “They sacrifice so much. I just want to see them come home,” he comments. “Similar to the military’s Special Forces, the success of a law enforcement operation depends on individual resourcefulness with the ability to work as a team.”
     He recently read about a number of firefighters who were killed fighting a forest fire. In an analysis of what happened, it was reported that the 10 rules of fire fighting were not followed.
     “Basically, the team broke down,” he concludes, “and someone needs to examine why that happened.”
     He draws a parallel between a class of 120 guys who enter Navy SEALS training and law enforcement officers. Both want to be there, he says.
     “Individually, the SEALS are some of the strongest individuals, physically and emotionally, that you’ll ever meet,” he continues, “but they have to have a team mentality to pull together and function as a team.” The attrition rate is 70 percent after 26 weeks of training.
     The process evolves through four steps: search, screen, filter and train. Those who complete the training are still in a six-month probationary period to further assess if they possess the team mentality. Those who are deemed a good match and perceived to complement their team are awarded the trident and assigned a platoon.
     Proximity is important to teamwork and helps to decrease inefficiencies, one reason that SEALS work and train together. They gather intelligence, plan, brief, rehearse and conduct their missions together. This proximity is conducive to developing a sense of intuition, when communication can often take place with no words spoken. Morris cites the family structure or a baseball team as two other examples of where this theory holds true. He is amazed, he says, when he hears of specialized law enforcement teams who practice together only two to four hours a month.
     An accident scene often poses unique communication problems, with responders arriving from various safety sectors with separate radio frequencies.
     “People can’t effectively talk to each other. Time is lost,” he says. That fact is one reason that he has collaborated with Retired Senior Trooper Bob Dent to develop the Silent Universal Signal system.
     Morris donates his time as an Executive Board member of the Constable Public Safety Memorial Foundation, founded by Dent to help families of public safety officers killed in the line of duty. He is also involved with other charitable work.
     Commander Morris applies his training skills to a younger cadre of “field troops” these days, and coaches a baseball team comprised of home-schooled kids. While he maintains that the most important thing is for them to have fun, he also helps them learn basic skills... “take the easy out first and make the double play.”
     He enjoys farming (including a small fish farm), having lived in urban settings most of his life. He also values the chance to adapt the “proximity concept” to his family, and enjoys activities with his wife, Esta, and their two children, Sara and Brian.

For more information go to:  www.Silent.Signals.com

 Article written by Gwen McEntire for ASLET
For Reprint permission, e-mail Gwen McEntire at:     gmcentire@erols.com