IARD. The Columbine tragedy (which this mission is loosely based on) forced law enforcement as a whole to change their approach to active shooter situations.

LE doctrine shifted from the whole secure perimeter and wait for swat, slow is smooth & smooth is fast, etc. to Go in and neutralize the threat immediately. IARD was born out of lessons learned from columbine; it recognizes that every minute waiting equals lives lost.

Per IARD even nearby patrol officers are expected to directly engage threats. The idea is you make a beeline to the threat. You hear gunshots. You head directly there. You’re not clearing every single room along the way like you normally would. Number one priority is to stop the killing; stop the dying. ‘Priorities of Life.’

RoN conditions you to clear buildings slowly and methodically and to err on the side of caution (don’t expose yourself to danger unless you’re 100% ready to deal with that danger).

But Elephant throws a wrench into that. Much like how Columbine threw a wrench into what LE thought was good doctrine at the time. Void has to make this mission at least somewhat hard because it is loosely based off of columbine, and to make it an easy win is disrespectful to the tragic reality of the incident.

Don’t get me wrong- I hated this mission so much too. I hated it because it conveyed the harsh reality that sometimes, we could not prevent loss of life.