This brings us back to one of the points first raised in this thread, and in training I’ve had: having to clear a structure by yourself is a shitty thing to be involved in. There are multiple TTPs you can employ but none of them covers every possible scenario or risk. You can try to clear rooms from the threshold, which exposes you to the risk of people shooting you, unseen, through walls or door frames. You can try to enter rooms dynamically and hope that if you run into a deadly force problem, the other guy or guys don’t hit you first. I agree with you in that my understanding of the thought process behind pieing is that it’s partially based on the idea/assumption that people aren’t overly likely to shoot at things they can’t see. I believe the idea of solo dynamic entry is based on the idea/assumption that the other guy isn’t very good with his gun and is going to be unable to put bullets into you before you can put bullets into him.
Back to the “surprise” issue: as usual, I failed to articulate exactly what I meant in a clear manner and the conversation has drifted. What I was trying to convey was better explained by @
HCM when he was discussing cognitive load and overload. I thought I had been more clear in the context of the post in which I initially used the word “surprise” but I obviously was not. I was not using the word in the mindset context you’re using it in. When I wrote “surprise” I didn’t mean finding the contents of the room you just entered to be entirely unexpected because you failed to mentally prepare for conflict. I didn’t mean surprise at actually finding that threats happen to exist inside the room. What I meant was making entry and now having to orient yourself to all of the circumstances inside the room simultaneously in a very compressed timeframe. Pieing from the threshold at least let’s me process a substantial part of the room, let’s say 80%, before I actually get inside. That only requires me to have to process the remaining 20% once I enter. Yes, I’m hoping that no one shoots me through the wall while I’m pieing. Dynamically entering the room requires that I have to process 100% of the room while I cross the threshold, and immediately after entering, and find myself hip deep in whatever ends up being inside.
You don’t like the idea of hoping people decide not to shoot at you through the wall while you clear from a threshold. I don’t like the idea of hoping whoever is inside the room sucks at shooting and ends up missing me as I enter and get my own gun in the fight. Maybe that’s part of the context and circumstances of our experiences. Most of the structures I end up going into at work are pretty small and have corresponding small rooms inside. I don’t want to have to count on someone missing me in a room small enough that you could probably point your gun in the general area in front of you, close your eyes, crank off a bunch of rounds, and practically guarantee hitting someone. As others have already said, it all depends because there isn’t one correct answer.