What a C.I.A. Black Ops Officer Taught Me About Copywriting

When I was in the Air Force, I had the opportunity to attend a very 'special' training course taught by very 'special' instructors.

One of my instructors was a former Navy S.E.A.L. who had left the Navy to join the C.I.A. as a special operations officer. This guy had seen combat in several different theaters of operation, during many public (and some not so public) conflicts.

One of the things he taught us during this 'advanced' training course was a highly specialized shooting technique called the "Mozambique" (also known as the double tap failure drill.)

This is the primary handgun shooting technique used by all elite U.S. military units, such as the Navy SEALS, Army DELTA Force, C.I.A. Black Ops and a few others I won??t mention by name?­

The basic technique is to fire two rapid shots (called a double tap) to the targets center of mass (middle of the chest) and then raise your weapon up in a straight line, just a hair and put another round in the center of the head.

Two in the heart?­ One in the head?­

In a real life scenario, this technique is devised to provide a guarantee of eliminating your target even if the bad guy is wearing body armor (and thus the two rounds in the chest are ineffective.)

We trained on this technique for days. Against stationary targets, moving targets, simultaneous engagement of multiple targets, from prone position, crouching position, behind barricades, single handed firing, firing with our weaker hand (to simulate an injury to your primary shooting arm), under low light conditions?­ Every scenario you (or some sadistic ex-SEAL, C.I.A. spook) could imagine.

The entire time our instructor is yelling:­ "Two in the heart, one in the head! ­Two in the heart, one in the head! Two in the heart, one in the head!" Over and over and over?..

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