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The Mozambique Drill, also known as the Failure to Stop Drill, Failure Drill, or the Djibouti Shooty, is a close-quarter shooting technique in which the shooter fires twice into the torso of a target (known as a double tap to the center of mass), momentarily assesses the hits, then follows them up with a carefully aimed shot to the head of the target. The third shot should be aimed to destroy the brain or brain stem, killing the target and preventing the target from retaliating.

It is important to note that in the heat of such an encounter, all but those who train and practice this technique often will be unlikely to score such a precise head-shot. For the vast majority of people the point of aim should remain the torso.

History [edit]

Rhodesian Mike Rousseau was serving as a mercenary in the Mozambican War of Independence. While engaged in fighting at the airport of Lourenço Marques (modern-day Maputo), Rousseau was armed with only a Browning HP35 pistol. As he turned a corner, he bumped into a FRELIMO guerrilla armed with an AK-47. Rousseau immediately performed a "double tap" maneuver, a controlled shooting technique in which the shooter makes two quick shots at the target's torso. Rousseau hit the target on either side of the sternum, usually enough to incapacitate or kill a target outright. Seeing that the guerrilla was still advancing, Rousseau made an attempt at a head shot that hit the guerrilla through the base of his neck, severing the spinal cord.

Rousseau later related the story to an acquaintance, shootist Jeff Cooper. Cooper later incorporated the "triple tap" maneuver (two quick shots to the torso and one quick-aimed shot to the head) into his practical shooting technique. Rousseau was later killed in action in the Rhodesian War.

Fictional portrayals [edit]

• The technique is used as director Michael Mann's trademark, appearing in the films Heat and Collateral.
• In the season 2 finale of Andromeda, Captain Dylan Hunt (played by Kevin Sorbo) executes an extra-dimensional alien with the technique after hand to hand combat.
• It is referenced briefly in the movie Planet Terror, when Lt. Muldoon (played by Bruce Willis) describes that he killed Osama bin Laden by putting "two in his heart, one in his computer".
• The drill is referenced in the movie Black Hawk Down, in which a soldier is asked to "put two in his chest and one in his head".
• The technique is mentioned in the television series Dexter, in which an ex-ranger uses it to murder his wife. Sergeant Doakes, himself an ex-ranger, remarks that the victim was "Mozambiqued".
• The Djibouti Shooty is a method often utilized and referenced by Danny Archer (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) in the film Blood Diamond.
• The television series Southland has two episodes titled Mozambique and Failure Drill. The technique is explained in both, however, in "Failure Drill" Detective Lydia Adams is taught the method on the firing range and uses it later in the episode to successfully stop an active shooter.
• The computer game Daryl F. Gates' Police Quest: SWAT teaches the technique during the training missions at the shooting range.
• The technique was used in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 mission, "Takedown", where an arms dealer's assistant uses it in the beginning of the mission.
• It is also repeated in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 during the mission "Dust to Dust", in which Makarov kills Yuri with this maneuver.
• It is used in the movie "Killers" by Tom Selleck.
• Jim Zubiena,^[1] appeared in the episode "Calderone's Return Part 1" of the television program Miami Vice where his character employed the Mozambique Drill.
• The shot pattern is also mentioned in the epilogue to the novel "The Cobra" by Frederick Forsythe
• The technique has been used and mentioned in Tom Clancy novels. One character describes the technique as "Two to the chest, one to the head, leaves anybody dead".
• The shot pattern is seen on the TV show Magnum PI, season 2, episode 8 (Mad Buck Gibson) when Buck (Darren McGavin) shot the pattern on Magnums' (Tom Selleck) bathroom wall.
• In the Puscifer song Conditions of My Parole the main character describes killing a woman. He says he "took her ass to Mozambique" referring to the Mozambique drill.
• It is briefly referenced in the book 'Halo: Contact Harvest' in which a protagonist executes it against enemies.

See also [edit]

• Practical shooting
• Stopping power

External links [edit]

• Handgun Wounding Factors and Effectiveness
• Origins of the Mozambique Drill
• Mozambique Drill in action
• Jim Zubiena on Miami Vice

References [edit]

4. USMC manual CMC-37R of 8 Feb 2006: METHOD OF TARGET ENGAGEMENTS 5. http://practicalfirearmstraining.com/reading/HandgunDrillsPDF.pdf 6. http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/failure-drill/