[worth]

I don't have any training in storming busses, and I’m glad I don't because that is probably the worst situation to go into. Basically no element of surprise because the area you are advancing on is so small, the defender will always know you are coming unless it's loud for some reason or they can't see out (blinds in the windows).

I suppose storming a bus has similarities to FIBUA such as stacking up, forced entry and room clearing, but the sheer number of civilians on board just make it a lot more difficult than clearing a room.

I don't see why they couldn't have tied a winch cable through the bus door quickly and had an APC back up to pull the door down. This is common practice. If you've ever seen any of those SWAT reality shows on TV, they do it often. In any event they need to breach the door quickly. It's all about speed and throwing the defender off. If you sorta kinda hit the door and then think about it for a while and then stand around, you've sent the signal that yeah, we want to kill you, but we're not toally sure what were doing, which gives the terrorist time to think about what he's going to do.

Also, sledgehammers are not the ideal weapons for breaking tempered glass. I can't see why they wouldn't use a halligan tool like firefighters use. Maybe because their a little bit stabby, but they could have been used to tear the curtains out whilst they were forcing entry through the windows, if that was their plan. I don't see the point of smashing windows with curtains in the way other than to be used as a diversion for a second team entering the bus. Couple that with the fact all of these guys are like 5'2" tall and the bus windows are 6'. No ladders in the Phillipines?

Either way, their number one mistake is hesitation. When you make the decision to go, you have to go. These guys hesitated and people died. Yeah, their scared, you can see that from the video. But I am assuming that is their job. I'm assuming that the police/commandoes assaulting the bus have been trained for this and they should be following through with the assault.

When the defender sees police stacking up outside the bus, he knows it's game over. When it reaches that point you need to act fast to minimize the damage the defender does.

So you can do it like the Americans (diversionary explosion, immediate assault):


You can do it like the Russians (blow the living hell out of it):


Or you can do it like the Filipinos, and hesitate.