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Originally posted by flop-shank:
Bart, I'm curious about Ed Mireles and how he thinks. Is he a gun guy like us? Perhaps a military vet? Obviosly he has an ample supply of good old all-american guts. Also, why did an obviously bright and disciplined guy like Platt turn into an armed robber? My understanding is that most violent felons don't think in terms of setting long term goals. Obviously Platt didn't fit the stereotype, because a guy doesn't get into Special Forces by being an undisiplined loser. I've got theories, but am curious about what you know. Thanks in advance and sorry for so many questions.
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I'd say that Ed Mireles was a gun guy and "true believer". He was actually a firearms instructor later and assigned to the Firearms Training Unit for a while (not sure how long). I'm not 100% certain, but I believe he gives his talk to every new agent class that goes through Quantico and anybody there from state/local LE that's going through the National Academy can attend as it's really different hearing it from the horse's mouth. I remember him saying that at the very end it was step, step, front sight, trigger press....step, step...front sight trigger press. Someone said they took the empty gun out of his hand and he was still clicking away. I'm not sure if he was military prior to the Bureau...would be interesting to know and I'm sure it would be documented somewhere.
Most of the guys there that I know from FTU (my old boss was there for a long time) are fellow true believers. Not all of them are really gun guys in the sense of owning lots of guns and such, but I'd say they often more of the gunfighter mindset. They take their craft VERY seriously and literally tear every little thing down to the finest point to come up with the best training they can possibly give to new agents. Some are PPC champions, Olympic caliber bullseye shooters, outstanding USPSA/IDPA shooters...you name it.
I don't know if anybody has ever come up with a good reason for why Platt and Matix went bad. There's some good evidence that the two may have actually killed each other's wife shortly before the crime spree. If you look up reports on them you'll see that one of the wives "committed suicide" with a shotgun in her mouth...a little odd to say the least. Platt was actually a Ranger and not SF as far as I know. Matix was an MP.
It really would be interesting to know what caused them to switch gears so radically. I do know that bank robbers don't tend to be the most intellectual of criminals, with the exception of the really complex jobs. Often it seems they're folks pushed to the edge by other factors to the point that it suddenly makes sense. That's probably why there seems to be an uptick in bank hold ups now. Heck, I arrested a female bank robber who didn't even tell the getaway driver that she was going to rob the bank!
Now that I think about it, Dove, Grogan and Hanlon all had Smith 459s. R,