"Crowding Cover" with William Petty

This Article was published by Mr. Petty in a private training forum. With his permission, I share it here for others. -Whiskey Delta Gulf

Let's talk about "crowding cover". It's a subject that is brought up by students on a pretty regular basis in the VCQB* courses. There are times when crowding cover (working extremely close to whatever barricade you find yourself against, as opposed to having "stand off room" to work) is advantageous or a necessity.

Photo provided by William Petty

Here are 3 reasons to crowd cover from an application standpoint:

1) When the environment dictates you must. Think gun fighting in a parking lot between vehicles and other landscapes (urban or natural) that force us into close quarters.

2) When the threat has the high ground. High ground can be as extreme as an ***hole with gun on the second story of an apartment or several feet above you in a lifted truck. At this point like all things "tactics" it simply becomes an angle and movement game.

3) When working in low light conditions and want / need to push your light past a barricade. I joking talk about wanting "all the lumens" out of a flashlight and this is often interpreted as wanting a brighter flashlight (which is true). It also refers to wanting all the available lumens in that given moment on the threat. The further I am away from a barricade the more splash I have on my cover and less on said ***hole. Crowding cover to push your light past the barricade is one of several ways to compensate for lumens not actively on the threat.

Hope this helps as it's one that seems bother lots of dudes. Bottom line: learn to work from the position you find yourself in, not the one you want to be.

-William Petty


*VCQB - Vehicle Close Quarter Battle