Alliance PD Range- Alliance, OH

March 12-13, 2011

This is a mix of class notes and AAR jumbled in to one long post, I didn’t take any notes or pictures during the class so this is reconstructed from memory and any errors or omissions are mine alone.

Class was designed to give students an understanding of how to use NV specific equipment on a square range.  It was an opportunity not just to use the equipment but also how to integrate it in to the overall matrix of how to fight with it.

Students were a mix of LE and civilians with a heavy Lightfighter contingent.  Class size was capped at 8 as this was the first time this class was run for civilians.

My background:  My limited experience with night vision was over 10 years ago while running around in the woods as OPFOR at JRTC.   We had PVS-7B’s which we usually just wore over our necks and brought up to look through with our hands.  Since we wore boonies in the field we didn’t have helmets to mount it to and the issued head mount sucked.  As far as targeting, some guys might tape a red laser pointer from Staples to the hand guards or to the carrying handle but since we were using MILES we could just use that to “walk” the laser in to the target.  I previously took a 3 day class out in AZ for a night fighting course and that was my first exposure to using IR lasers.

Since I have the equipment I figured I might as well develop the capability to properly use it.

My equipment:

LMT 14.5” upper with perm attached DNTC comp and Knight’s MRE rail:  upper worked well and it was nice to get through a class without any gun issues.

Aimpoint M2 in a Larue mount

Surefire 6P with Malkoff bulb and M1 IR Illuminator in Larue double stack mount: the 200+ lumen on the

Surefire/Malkoff combo worked well and I had no problems seeing anything at 50 yards.  Didn’t get to use the illuminator much but I didn’t have any problems with it.

Insight MUM monocular:  I got this in a trade a few years ago and only recently started using it, it worked well for the class and I had no issues with it.

Insight MUM mounted on USGI rhino mount and plate on MICH helmet with NRL

MICH with USGI mounting plate and swing arm:  Picked up the MICH off eBay from a seller located outside a large army base in Texas   Standard chin strap harness and only downside was that I got a medium which fits my head fine but does not allow an easy fit with ear pro.  In hindsight, should’ve gotten a large so I can wear my Sordins.  With the medium I end up having to use Peltor 6S which is still a pain to get fitted (almost) comfortably.

I also had a Downrangegear NOD’s retention lanyard mounted behind the MICH plate.  I bought 2 from 2 different vendors thinking I could just use the NVG interchangeably between my MICH and PASGT helmet but I received a Gen 2 and Gen 3 which aren’t compatible as the buckles are different.

Down Range Gear NOD Retention Lanyards, Gen 3 on left (male buckle) and Gen 2 (female buckle) on right.

I had no issues with the NRL itself and Chappy explained that he recommends retention if using NVG’s operationally since mounts can fail.

Laser Devices Class 1 OTAL laser:

I bought this over the internet with no hands-on prior to the purchase and understanding that a Class 1 laser is not as powerful as a mil-spec laser there were a few instances where it was underwhelming.  When I first received it I took it outside the house for an informal evaluation and due to the winter fog I could not penetrate through the mist.  Using a friend’s PAQ4 it easily went right through.  The only times I had any real issues with it on the range was on TN2 we began shooting right at dusk and there was enough ambient light to wash out the laser.  Once it got darker I had no issues.  Note:  when working with a partner with a PEQ2a, the “splash” on his laser was bright enough to overpower mine when engaging the same target.  It fills a niche and I’m grateful that Laser Devices has made this available to the public but I think I would still want a more powerful mil-spec laser if it were available.

LCW Lower with Entry stock and single point sling:  One of the things I learned at a previous class was that a 2 point sling does clutter up the workspace so I wanted to use a single point. Based on this class, running a single point made it much easier for me for weapons manipulations such as reloads and malfunction clearances.

VTAC Brokos Belt with 215 Gear Cobra Belt, ITW Fast Mags x 3,  EAG Dump Pouch, Eagle Industries double pistol mag pouch and HK USP with UTL in Safariland ALS holster.

Round count was about 800 rounds of Wolf 55 gr HP with Zero malfunctions and about 20 rounds of Privi Partisan 9mm which I did have problems with.

Both weapons were lubed with Slip EWL

Confirm Zero with optics

Zero IR lasers:

If unit has a visible laser then co-witness that with RDS, if it has dual laser then IR laser is normally slaved to a visible laser.

If only running IR laser:

1.            Shooter gets in to a stable shooting position with NOD over non-firing eye and alternates looking through RDS with firing eye and then closing the firing eye to look through the NOD to see where the IR laser is splashing.  Continue to alternate until red dot and IR laser are coincident.

2.            Or….mount the monocular behind the RDS and line them up that way.

IR laser placement:

If concerned about IR laser illuminating anything on the gun, e.g., flashlights, FSB, etc. then mount it as far forward toward the muzzle as possible.  If not then mount as far away from the muzzle so that the laser is as parallel to barrel as possible.  The farther back the laser, the less deviation.

Switches:

Military laser units have a push-button activation on the unit as well as plug in for tape switches.  Switch placement will be dependent on gear, ergonomics and TTP’s.  Depending on how you transition your carbine, meaning when the gun lays against your body after you release it to go to your pistol, you want the white light switching away from the body to avoid a white light ND and the IR switching to be against the body so that if there is an ND for the IR it won’t be visible to the naked eye.

I ran my IR tape switch on the 9 o’clock rail in a Tango Down panel with tape switch cut out, Surefire light at 11 o’clock and Surefire IR Illuminator at 9 o’clock because that’s how Pat Rogers does it so why reinvent the wheel?    :slap:

It worked well and I did not have any issues with this except when switching shoulders I had to take an overhand grip to activate the switch (shooting from the left side of vehicle in reverse kneeling).

Class I OTAL mounted forward of FSB, Lights mounted in Larue double stack mount on 9 o'clock rail along with Tango Down rail panel with tape switch cut out

Drills:

“Up” drills with IR lasers from various distances out to 50 yards

Shooting from different positions including standing, kneeling, sitting and SBU prone.

Using visible laser as back up sighting device in case of RDS failure

Using RDS as a ghost ring in case of RDS failure

Pivots and turns: look, turn and engage

High/Low: High takes a stance over Low so that Low can’t get up without bumping in to High.  Low doesn’t get up until High picks Low up 

Movement drills: Walking up range or down range come up and engage target (turning if necessary)

Partner drills: with 360 degree coverage, 1 shooter faces down range and 2nd shooter faces up

range or both shooters facing same direction of travel.

Bounding overwatch going downrange and uprange.  Verbiage: Moving, Move, Set

Bounding overwatch going range left, add physical tap when passing partner

Shoot from around vehicle using different positions with partner

Weapons manipulations:

Reloads:  Emergency, Speed and Tactical

Key point is to be able to do it without looking at weapon, breaking carbine down in to workspace with buttstock under firing side armpit- do it consistently to build neuro-muscular memory.

Tactical reload: try not to have 2 things in the same hand, stow the old magazine before bringing up new magazine.

Malfunction clearances: Simple, Complex, Catastrophic

We worked on simple and complex which covers Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3.

Simple: push-pull, rack.

Complex: drop the magazine, lock the bolt to rear, finger sweep with fingers toward ejection port, drop the bolt, insert magazine, push-pull, rack.

Working with NV, or more specifically working in no/low light is a holistic system.

NOD’s are just a piece of the puzzle, along with the aiming device (IR laser), the NVG interface (e.g., helmet, mounting plates) as well as the weapon system.  Chappy used a great analogy for Submariner which was that NV is very similar to undersea warfare, you have passive and active detection system as well as passive and active targeting.

Separate observation from aiming: in daylight your eyes are the primary observer with ambient light and your RDS/irons/vis laser are your primary targeting.  In low light your white light will take over some of the observer duties and your RDS/irons/vis laser will still be used for targeting.  With NVG’s they become the observer and your IR laser becomes the targeting system.  Each has pros and cons and NV has its own limitations and advantages.

Shooting with NV also forces you to make adjustments as well.   Whereas you normally get 4 points of contact with the carbine (support hand grip, firing grip, stock weld and cheek weld) you may only get 3 out of 4, or you end up having to get a “chin weld” similar to shooting with a pro mask.  Shooting from a classic prone position is almost out of the question due to the extreme angle you’d have to look up to get the NV tube parallel to the ground.

What it reinforced for me is that you need to have your fundamentals down, meaning if you’re a bad shooter without NV, the NV won’t make up for that.  If anything, it will only make it worse.  Having a consistent firing platform and subconscious weapons handling skills without NV will minimize the adjustments needed when you add the NV capability.

Chappy finished the class with a lecture on night vision and laser equipment which was informative and a big help when deciding what to buy and from where.  He covered the differences between Class 1 and Class 3 lasers and some of the FDA regulations that govern them.  Along those lines, as a civilian the aftermarket support can be almost non-existent for Class 3 lasers, something to consider when deciding what to purchase.

He also briefly discussed white lights (recommended minimum is 120 lumens IIRC).  White light rule of thumb: 1 lumen per yard to observe and 2 lumens per yard to identify.

Other random notes:

For LE, the most likely use for NV is for surveillance or stealth approaches.

Not much use for IR specific lights such as the Surefire M1 but IR Nav lights have a place.

Buy the best NV you can afford, Gen 3 tubes from reputable dealers.  For a PVS-14 you should expect to pay about $3400, anything less and the quality may be questionable.

Various Gen 3 tubes abound, Chappy laid out the specs for a mil-spec tube.  Quality less than that would be considered commercial grade which may be fine depending on your mission/requirements.

If working in a team environment, it would be beneficial for team members to have an SOP for where switches are located.  Doesn’t have to be super specific but at least have general idea of where switch would be, e.g. 12  o’clock rail.

Be able to operate your weapon and other equipment without looking, including changing settings on the MFAL lasers as well as radios.

In low light, noise is also a target indicator- exercise noise discipline just as you would light discipline to include taping or tying down gear.

Transition range for pistol is dependent on shooter’s skill level.

Chappy is a great instructor, throughout the class he was constantly checking up on students to see where they were at mentally.  Partially due to the cold weather and partially due to the late hours where most of us were out of cycle as far as sleep.  Despite the lack of light he was still able to observe students and pick up things for students to improve on.

My only previous experience with him was at the EAG Shoot House class here at the same facility last year and at one point during one of the runs when he felt like I was over running my head lights he told me to stop and breath and think about what I was doing..  My initial reaction was “WTF? I’m fine” but fortunately I kept my mouth shut, stopped, took some deep breaths and continued mission.  It was a good lesson learned for me and reinforces the value of having a professional instructor observe you and provide constructive feedback.

Thanks to Chappy and John Ray for coming out to teach the class, to the Alliance PD folks for being great hosts as usual and providing civilians with the opportunity to do training that is otherwise unavailable.  It was great to meet so many people in person that I’ve only seen on the internet over the years.  I look forward to making the LMS Defense No Light Operations class in May.

Some other notes:

If using a monocular, place over non-firing eye so that shooter can transition to white light efficiently if necessary.

Students will also have a tendency to attempt to look through the RDS even with NV on.

The latest HT mounts from Laser Devices are excellent, Larue mounts may actually be too good for their own good as they are so rigid they actually pass the recoil along to the unit rather than flex a little bit to dissipate it.

2 of the MARS RDS sights Alliance PD picked up from DRMO failed about during the zeroing phase.  Unique battery conservation feature has unit turning off during recoil   :rolleyes:

1 other shooter had issues with his AR, don’t remember the circumstances but it may have been lack of lube.

An IR Laser (ATPIAL?) fell off the gun during a string of fire, may have been an issue with lack of loctite.

Lasers in plastic housings are less durable than those in metal housings.

To clarify one of the shooting drills:

Bounding/Overwatch

2 lanes set up with steel targets, points of fire at the 25 and 50 yard lines as well as a barrel placed in the middle.  25 yards is point 1, barrel is point 2 and 50 yard line is point 3.

Shooters would engage steel, call “moving”- partner calls out “move” and once shooter was in place call “set”

We did this forward and backward alternating between shooters.

Other drills had similar 3 points at closer ranges with 2 paper targets, A and B.  Shooters would move toward any of the 3 points called out by instructors and on the command of “A” or “B” or “A-B” would engage one or both targets while maintaining follow through and situational awareness (360 scan including having 1 shooter face uprange to cover the 6 o’clock sector)

Fundamentals; shooters have a tendency to jerk the trigger when using lasers.  Be comfortable with the wobble zone rather than trying to force the laser to stop and squeeze the trigger.  Shooters also have a tendency to slack on the recoil management which can be diagnosed with the IR laser.

As far as the “Improve” aspect of the AAR.  I think it would be beneficial to start shooting a bit earlier during daylight for a quick refresher on some of the weapons manipulations.  This could help, especially to reinforce certain points like being able to reload or clear malfunctions without looking at the gun and maintaining visual contact on the target as well as the finer points of different shooting positions.

More steel targets would be nice as it would allow more shooters on the line at once.

I spoke to Chappy during the class when he asked for feedback but I’ll reiterate it here as well.

Talking about the different types of NV and lasers is probably more significant to LE and civilians who may have to pay out of pocket.

The opportunity to use loaners or being able to see and handle some of the equipment prior to purchase would be immensely beneficial.

Along those lines it would be helpful to see/try some of the support equipment such as different types of helmets and mounts.

www.lmsdefense.com

www.downrangegear.com

www.laserdevices.com

Surprise, AZ

October 15-17, 2010

I saw this course posted on several forums and was intrigued enough to find out more.  It was advertised as a Night Fighting Course and while I’m pretty comfortable on the square range on bright days with blue skies it may not be challenging enough to prepare for the real world.

I confess I didn’t know who “Frogman” was despite his collaboration with C&S on the Trident pistol and his role as a moderator on another internet forum.  He is a retired Senior Chief with over 20 years in NSW and multiple combat deployments.  When I learned his real name it clicked that I’d only heard it once before and that was from Kyle Defoor.  Something along the lines of “anybody who knows ______ knows he’s a good dude.”  That was enough for me to make the trip out to AZ for this class.

Shooters at night using lasers- chemlights worn for safety

TD1 started a little after 1400.  The Surprise Police range is a bit of a stretch outside of town and is literally a dump, or city waste management facility.  It is flat, barren and dusty with no shade.

Class was a mix of LEO’s and civilians along with some overseas security contractors and industry professionals.  It was good to meet some new people as well as catch up with some old friends.

Frogman broke us down to 2 relays, a red relay and a green relay identified by the color specific chemlights we’d be wearing once it got dark.  In addition to the safety lecture we also had a briefing on the medical plan and we did a walk through rehearsal of that before we started.  We started with some basic zeroing and carbine assessment drills starting at the 3 yard line and going back to the 100 yard line before breaking for a catered dinner which was extremely good.  Having the food brought out does make it easier to manage the herd and keep a tighter schedule as well as giving students a chance to mingle.

The night time portion began with a lecture on the difference between shooting at night and fighting at night.  Frogman shared his real world experiences and talked about the physiological changes your body will feel under stress and how that can affect your abilities.  TNVC generously provided some loaner NOD’s and IR lasers for those students that needed any.  Although a good portion of the class had NOD’s not everyone had lasers and we ended up swapping out between the 2 relays.   Frogman recommends a 100 yard zero for the laser co-witnessed with your RDS as being the most practical.

We shot the same course of fire we did during the day using white light and then again with NOD’s and Iasers.

I don’t remember the course of fire exactly but we shot at the 3,5,7,10,15,25,50,75 and 100 yard lines in various positions including standing, kneeling and prone depending on distance.  This was an illuminating exercise…

2nd relay watches as 1st relay shoots

For the white light portion, some folks ran 3v lights which work great indoors or out to about 50 yards but after that it becomes almost useless for acquiring the target and actually becomes a liability as far as being a target indicator.  The 6v lights also started to falter at about the same distances and many of the pistol lights such as the X300 actually did OK.

Remember the flat, barren, dusty range?  Well once you start shooting you get smoke from all the gunfire coupled with dust kicked up from muzzle blast.  Add a slight breeze you get it from everybody else shooting leaving a brownout condition preventing you from acquiring and engaging your targets.  Frogman allowed us to figure this out for ourselves before sharing some of the techniques for overcoming these obstacles.  First, move- this gives you a different angle on the target as well as forcing you to displace from your last firing position.  In his experience, the bad guys will shoot at muzzle flashes so better that they shoot at where you were rather than where you are.  Second, you can use other sources of light including from other shooters to give you the window to fire before displacing.  Obviously this is more of a team tactics type of technique but works well.  Frogman also deployed some chemlights and road flares in front of the targets, behind the targets as well as off to the side to show us the effects different lighting sources can have your target acquisition and engagement.

One of my takeaways from this exercise was to have enough light for your worst case scenario, in this case an 8 inch steel plate at 100 yards on a flat range with nothing more than dust and muzzle blast to diminish my field of view.  I’m personally a believer in having 2 lights on the gun and I will probably start running my second light with a higher lumen (200+).

TNVC wasn’t able to send a rep which was unfortunate since they probably would have sold a bunch of gear.  There were a few folks in the class who would’ve bought the higher output Surefire drop in LED’s on the spot.

Frogman speaks with students in a "school circle"

Next we moved on to the NOD’s and lasers, lasers work well but also have their limitations.  Depending on the intensity setting it can “splash” enough to wash out your target similar to having the brightness setting on an RDS too high.  At longer ranges it does show how trigger control can affect your shot when you don’t have a traditional sight picture and you’re dependent on the laser to keep you on target.

TD1 ran long at about 14 hours with the class leaving the range at about 0400.

TD2 would end up being a short day comparatively with some folks showing up to confirm their zeros prior to another delicious catered dinner.   After dinner we moved on to some more shooting drills incorporating movement and pistol transitions.  We left the range at about 2200 hrs.

TD3 started at 0900 and went to about 1800. We started with a basic diagnostic of shooting a 1 hole group at 5 yards two handed.  Once you were able to shoot that you did it strong hand only and then support hand only.  I was able to get the 2 handed on the 2^nd try, never quite got the strong hand only as I kept getting fliers that although they were close- they weren’t touching.  I never made it to the support hand only.  One of my takeaways from this drill was that I had just added a pistol mounted light and even though it wasn’t very noticeable on the 2 handed shooting I felt every ounce of it on the strong hand only.  I dry fire on a semi-regular basis but it was apparent that I hadn’t put in enough reps with the light on since I could feel my arms trembling by the time I would get to the 4^th or 5^th shot

We spent quite a bit of time on that and moved on to weapons manipulations such as reloads and other shooting drills.  We shot some dot drills and Frogman introduced some remediation exercises so that if your accuracy wasn’t up to par you had to run to the 100 yard line and back for every round missed.  He worships at the altar of accuracy and explained that in his experience the bad guys may only present a partial target as they peek out behind cover so if the accuracy hasn’t been trained you’ll never be able to make that shot no matter how many rounds you fire or how fast you do it.

At lunch we were on our own with no caterer and a few of us ended up doing a friendly walk back drill on the steel plate out to about the 105 yard line.

Jeff H. from Crimson Trace was kind enough to spend some time explaining the science of green lasers, how and why CT grips are designed the way they are, upcoming products that include visible and IR lasers on a pistol grip as well as changes to the Crimson Trace VFG light/laser.

Frogman also discussed his experiences with pistol mounted lasers.  Regarding the much maligned H&K Mk23 SOCOM pistol- his experience and those within a very specific part of the SOCOM community found it to be an almost perfect tool for a very specific application.  Having a suppressed .45 caliber pistol with IR laser is a nice tool in the toolbox if you need it.

We shot some more after lunch and switched over to carbine shooting photo targets.  He added shooting the pelvic girdle as well as engaging multiple targets while not over-sweeping your sector of fire.  Frogman explained that the pelvic girdle shot is more important if you have a fast moving situation with multiple targets its easier to hit the girdle, break some of the structure down so that you can deliver follow on shots to finish the fight.  In other words, instead of taking a low percentage shot, e.g. head, at a moving target; take a high percentage shot to immobilize him and then another high percentage shot to finish.

Class ended with brass call and schwag given out.  Thanks to Zushwa of Grey Group, Scottsdale Gun Club/US Palm, TNVC and Tyr Tactical for providing all the freebies.  Thanks to Mike D for being a great host.

This was not my first experience in a shoot house (including the EAG Tactical 5 Day shoot house class in WV a few years ago) but possibly the best.  I am a civilian and not a door kicker by profession.  Most of my previous training was for 1 man room clears geared toward the proverbial “bump in the night” scenarios.

Pat Rogers in the shoot house

Cliché as it is- we don’t’ rise to the occasion, we default to our level of training.

I was fortunate to be partnered up with Drake O., a law enforcement academy instructor and part time gunsmith who was able to carry me through some of our runs.  He is a rock solid professional and I am glad to have met him.

He brought up a point during Pat’s debrief of our first run which really hit home for me; we weren’t working as a team but as 2 individuals- over the next 3 days we were able to get in tune with each other and by the time we got to our last exercise I can say we were working as a team.

I came to this class unprepared.  I was behind schedule on several things prior to class and ended up rushing to try and get ready for class so I repeated mistakes that I should’ve known better.

Examples?  Showing up with an unfired, unzeroed carbine.  Not having spare bulbs, batteries for the lights and sights.  Not having a pistol mounted light despite knowing that I would be shooting in low light.

Class started with introductions and most of the 14 shooters in the class had previous training with Pat so the atmosphere was one of familiarity.  The Alliance PD guys were a riot throughout the class and excellent hosts.

Alliance, OH PD Training Facility

Pat Rogers

I spoke to a few of them and one point I brought up was that many classes will charge a range fee even if the “range” is a stretch of flat land with a berm at the end of it.  Det. J stated that even with the square range and shoot house they would never ask for a range fee- all they ask is that if you’re going to use the range to bring something that adds training value, be it targets or extra furniture for the rooms.  These guys are good people and I look forward to coming back to Alliance for future classes.

TD1- began with zeroing and square range drills for Pat & Mike to assess everybody and give folks a chance to tune up before going in to the shoot house.  For those that have trained with Pat before, it was like a very compressed version of what is normally taught on TD2 and TD3 of the 3 Day COC with MEU/SOC type drills, pivots & turns, shooting on the move, transitions to pistol.  We also shot a pistol qual course although not for score.

This was the only day that rained and though it was only a light drizzle it was enough to affect the paper targets so Pat moved everybody in to the shoot house for lecture and walk through of basic room clearing before taking us back out to the range once the rain let up.

Chappy and str8tshootr demoed a run through the house dry and it was impressive to watch two professionals do it right.

Mike Heuser of EAG Tactical and John Chapman of LMS Defense

TD2- Partnered up with Pat or Mike for 1 run before teaming up with our shooting buddy for the week.  Daylight and low light room clears.

TD3- Daylight and low light room clears

TD4- Daylight room clears

Without going in to the TTP’s too much here were some of my learning points:
Acquire, Identify and Engage target engagement sequence in daylight and low light.
Differences in incandescent vice LED lights
Placement of lights (more specifically- light activation switches)

Working in pairs:
Clearing corners (way beyond the basic pie-ing the corner for 1 man room clearing that I’ve previously been taught)
Clearing T-intersections and 4 way intersections
Moving down hallways
Who opens the door?  Where to position yourself before opening the door and how deep do you penetrate the room once you’re through the door?

Movement inside of a room; dead checks, interacting with unknowns and hostages, clearing the room and how to set up for clearing/entering another hallway or room.

2 Man team in the shoot house moving toward danger area

After the first run with my partner Pat had brought some points for me and I mentioned to my partner that I was probably over running my headlights a little bit and needed to slow down and be more deliberate on our next run.  It helped and we continued to improve on each run as Pat, Mike and Chappy gave us feedback.

The untested upper with never before used ammunition created enough issues that I transitioned a lot including the instance of me using the tiny flashlight attached to the big carbine in order to fire my pistol.  While I was able to make it work it did take more rounds to drop the first target and then having to swing over to the second target.  That pistol now has a Surefire hanging off of it.

As Pat has stated this class gives students an opportunity to go outside their comfort zone.  While I had no issues with shooting or running the gun (besides malfunctions) I did have some learning points regarding the targets.

Pat used drop targets that require you to shoot out a balloon (or two) in the thoracic or head zones for the target to fall.  He also used red shirts or spray paint to identify the shoot targets.

This was my first exposure to the drop targets and I found that although I could “visualize” where in the target I wanted to hit, the red background made it hard for me to place the dot/reticle of my RDS for the correct holdover with the result of me firing a lot of NSR’s to the chest and head- sometimes with no effect.

Engaging red drop target

Pat understands that in the real world 5 or 6 shots to the chin will have an effect on target but for training purposes this is the best compromise since we don’t have targets that can react to “partial” hits.

This also reinforced the value of tac-speed reloads, while 2 to the body and 1 to the head drills will work with flat targets, once you have to actually hit the balloon for the target to fall the round count goes up quickly.  So instead of planning for 4 or 5 targets per 28 round magazine you may end up servicing 2-3 targets per 28 rounds.

After our first couple of rounds me and my partner made it a habit of tac-reloading every time before we left a room.
My gear issues outside of the malfunctioning upper/ammo and pistol light were minimal.  I ran an Eagle plate carrier with a 2 cell BFG ten speed mag pouch that worked really well.  I alternated between my Eagle duty belt with FB AR and Glock mag pouches and the new VTAC Brokos Belt.

I used an old CVC helmet since my previous experience trying to use the PASGT with Sordins didn’t work out too well.  I liked it and the only modification I may do is to add some sort of aftermarket suspension to it.

Pat and Chappy gave a great lecture on armor and helmet selection and particularly useful for several in the class that were planning on buying those items in the future.  Shooting in armor and helmet changes how your gun and gear “fit” and that by itself was a learning experience.

It was good to catch up with old friends and to make some new ones.  I’d never met Chappy before but having seen him work I will definitely plan on taking one of his classes in Alliance next year.

Thanks to Larue, BCM, Slip 2000, Magpul and Mike G. of Austere Provisions for the support.

Schwag from training day 1

Thanks again to the Alliance PD for bringing these classes to the area and being such generous hosts, it is much appreciated.

And of course, thanks to Pat for continuing to pass along his knowledge and experience as well as Mike H. and Donna for keeping the trains running on time.

www.eagtactical.com
www.austereprovisions.com
www.lmsdefense.com

Bennie Cooley demonstrating barricade kneeling position

This was my 5th course with Bennie over the last 3 years and I continue to learn and get better.  This class was a bit unusual in that all the shooters came with solid skill sets and great attitudes.  Background for the students ran the gamut of PMC, Millitary, LE and Civilians.

Half the guys were local to North Carolina and the rest came from as far away as Hawaii and Seattle to attend the class.  Due to some last minute range changes the first day involved a bit of adaptation.  Trigger Time was able to bring out enough steel targets for the class and Sgt Chris P. of the Holly Springs PD was able to get his personal VTAC barricades out for Day 2.

Sgt Chri P. of Holly Spring, NC PD shoots support side from barricade

We started with confirming zeros and Bennie emphasized to the class how important is to start your training sessions with this since it’s an opportunity to check your equipment (mounts, rails, optics) before you start shooting.  Otherwise you can psyche yourself out by trying to figure out why you’re not hitting when it could be something as simple as your zero being off.

I experienced this first hand halfway through TD1; my gas piston upper died (more on this later) so I swapped carbines and I also switched ammo so I was shooting consistently high over the target. I didn’t think it would have that much effect since we were shooting A/C Zone steel targets but I started second guessing myself, the optic (Eotech) and the gun/ammo.  I was able to shoot a lot better on TD2 once I figured out my hold on the target.

Shooters working through different positions on the VTAC Barricade

Bennie runs a lot of drills requiring the shooter to fire one round and then switch positions and fire another round.  Lots of transitions between right and left shoulders, lots of repetitions involving elevation changes, e.g., support side standing to right side kneeling to support side kneeling to strong side standing.

He does this because to shoot a target a second time once your sights are already on target, safety is off and finger is on the trigger is too easy. He’s already seen the shooters hit steel at 80 yds with no pressure so the area for improvement is not to shoot faster but to get to the shot faster by being efficient with movement and fluid with acquiring sight picture, working the safety and prepping the trigger.

That took up most of TD1 along with carbine disarmament techniques; the key is to know that it can be done to you and Bennie would later cover ways to defeat disarm attempts. Some man vs. man and team vs. team competition drills were also introduced since the way to test how ingrained your skills are is to put the shooters under some pressure to see what you revert to. TD2 allowed us to work the barricades and Bennie demonstrated how to make the most use of the barricade for support and how to manipulate the weapon to transition from position to position.

Shooting from "Brokeback Prone"

He’s not a fan of SBR’s because he doesn’t think the tradeoff in ballistics is worth it to have a shorter gun, his preference is to have barrels 14.5” or longer and to spend more time training to negate the perceived advantages of having a shorter barrel in close quarters.

Mixed in between the shooting there were lectures on malfunctions, equipment selection and mindset. The overhead cover was much appreciated especially when the rain started pouring down.  Grey Group usually had 2 folks on site to attend to any needs as well as bringing out a couple of coolers. TD2 had us shooting multiple targets, shooting on the move forward and laterally and working the Buttstock Shoulder Roll.

We finished the class with a man vs. man drill on the barricades with the last man standing getting a $100 coupon from Tango Down/Grey Group.

Equipment issues: Many shooters had either the JP/VTAC forend or the newer Troy/VTAC forend with most of the guns being built for tactical purposes rather than for competition. Optics were generally newer Aimpoint Micros or Eotechs. One shooter did use about 5 different SBR uppers in 2 days…

A couple of Georgia cops were in class to learn as much about the AR as possible since their dept. is making the switch from Sig 552 Commandos in the near future. No issues other than the C-Products mags they had caused them numerous problems over 2 days. Another shooter had his receiver extension shoot loose, John (18B) from Grey Group got him squared away and he was able to continue training.

There were at least 2 piston uppers in class (not sure if the guy with 5 had any that were piston) one from Osprey that worked fine and mine which had the carrier key screws shear. It manifested itself as a Type I so executed an IA and got another click.  Ended up taking the upper apart and having a bunch of pieces fall out I emailed the manufacturer yesterday and am waiting to hear back.

PWS bolt carrier group after carrier keys sheared

Round count for both days was about 900 rounds and no pistol. Thanks to all the hard work from Bennie, Grey Group (Paul, John, Ryan) , Trigger Time and my fellow students. It was great to meet you and hope to shoot with you guys again. Thanks to Tango Down for providing the certificate.

www.benniecooley.com

www.greygrouptraining.com

www.tangodown.com

Thanks to Jason Falla and VA_Dinger and Sarah B. of Grey Group for bringing world class firearms instruction to Long Island.

Jason Falla engaging targets

As most of the students commented, trying to attend quality training without having to drive 4 hours each way is almost unheard of.  That the class was completely full shows that there is a demand for this type of training in the area.  All the students were from the local area with a few exceptions from New Jersey and Westchester.  Students were mostly civilians with about a quarter of the class being LEO’s.  A few had attended training with other instructors but for most of the students this was their first formal training.

Jason Falla’s bio can be found on the Redback One website: www.redbackone.com

Jason Falla addressing class on the range

1^st half of TD1 was all classroom.  He introduced himself and his AI (Big Tony- a longtime NYPD Detective) as did a quick poll to try and gauge the experience level of the class.

We talked briefly about the range and the local gun law, both of which create challenges for this type of training but Jason was confident we could work around it as he had recently completed a course in California where the students faced similar issues.

He discussed how the fundamentals of shooting apply to combat marksmanship and the 3 elements to accuracy.

Other areas of discussion were:

Safety- Individual and Collective Safety

Cycle of Operation of the AR family of weapons and how they relate to clearing malfunctions

Stripping, cleaning and re-assembly of the AR- many (but not all) of the students were familiar but Jason stated that for a basic carbine class it is important to cover it.

Brief discussion of mindset and how it differs from some of our enemies overseas.   Key point is to “train to win rather than train to survive”

Conscious vs. subconscious

Different ready positions:

• Alert Ready
• Low Ready
• High Ready
• High Port

Recoil management based on support hand grip of the carbine and body positioning.  Jason teaches a squared up stance with the support arm elbow parallel to the ground.

Jason Falla demonstrating support arm position

Zeroing is usually one of the slowest parts of a shooting course and this was particularly true given that we had 21 shooters and a range that was set up more for target rather than “tactical” shooting.  Jason had us (trying) to shoot 1” groups at 25 yds to start.  If your gun is a 2 moa and your ammo is 2 moa then you should have a 4 moa group at 100 yd.

He prefers a 200m zero so it should be 1” groups that are low at 25, 2 inch groups POA/POI  at 50 and 4” groups about 2” high at 100 yards.

Jason Falla helping a student zero his ACR; note Aimpoint is too forward and rear MBUS is too far back

We also shot dot drills using one of the 4 different Redback One targets that Jason designed.  What this allows is to have big circles (7”) as well as smaller circles (2”?) on the same target so drills can be done with what he calls “low percentage” and “high percentage” shots.  A high percentage shot is one that’s easier to make and requires more speed than accuracy while a low percentage shot can be anything that requires the shooter to slow down to apply all the shooting fundamentals such as a small target or moving target.

Jason Falla explains zeroing target to class

We went over transitions to the pistol as well as coming back up on to the carbine as part of the post engagement sequence.  For those shooters who didn’t bring pistols Jason had them doing combat reloads instead.

Jason also briefly discussed gear selection and placement, all the kit you have should be working for you and not against you.  He uses a single point sling since it lets him run the gun more efficiently.  There is no perfect sling and every system, whether single or two point is a “weigh off”.  A good sling is one that lets the weapon hang flat against your body when you let go of it, a bad sling is any sling that prevents you from running the gun…

Jason times student on a drill, note SBR with FSB mounted light

Timed drills were introduced as Jason has seen many shooters fall apart on their fundamentals as soon as the buzzer was used.  As a shooter its important because it gives you a way to measure your capabilities.  We shot as a group as well as individually while Jason came around to observe and critique you.  We did rhythm/bill drills with 1 sec, .5 sec and .25 sec splits.  This gives you an idea of your limits, shoot and be 100% accurate, then shoot and be 100% fast and then dial the speed back so you can get 100% accuracy as fast as you can, you’re not competing against the other shooters on the line- you’re competing against yourself.

We covered malfunctions and post engagement sequences with scan and assess.

Jason Falla demonstrates clearing bolt override malfunction

Multiple target engagement and pivots and turns with Jason’s unique shooting stance which uses the hips to drive the upper body to the target.

We also did a little bit of shooting on the move which Jason explains is more of an indoor technique, if outside you’ll most likely move to cover unless a target presents itself while you’re moving.

Jason Falla and AI watch as students shoot on the move

Last drill of the day is a 60 rd/300 pt shooting assessment, par score is 250 which a few shooters managed to achieve.

We wrapped up class and handed out certificates- hopefully Redback One/Jason Falla will be coming back to the area on a regular basis as there is most definitely a demand for this type of training and for those who can’t make the time to travel to NC or Ohio this is a great opportunity.  Jason stated in the beginning of the class that 2 day classes are much more difficult than a 4 or 5 day class because there’s so much info to try and put out and so little time to do it.

NJ EMT-P fires on targets

Only bad parts of the course was that the range is not set up for tactical shooting but Jason and the AI spoke to the range manager about what things they can do to improve, not just for classes but for their normal clientele.  During the course we fired on 3 different ranges, part of it was there was no local POC who could do a site survey so this was part of the learning curve and Jason was able to adjust as necessary.

There were several weapons that had “stoppages” which could be traced back to magazines (C-products), ammo- or at least ammo/gun combinations (steel cased ammo in stainless barrel) or user error (riding the charging handle forward).

We had one Magpul sling that spontaneously broke apart at the clasp, cause unknown.  An Eotech that fell off, when the AI directed the shooter to switch to irons he noticed that the rear sight was wobbling, loctite is your friend!  Another shooter showed up with a castle nut on backwards after installing the receiver extension at home.

Castle nut installed backwards on student gun

Almost the entire class had AR’s with one each of the ACR, SOCOM 16 and AK.  I was running a PWS upper, another shooter had a POF16 and I believe there was one LWRC piston AR.  Of the 3 the only one that had issues was the POF, although that could’ve been the magazines or operator error for some of those stoppages.

Shooter with SOCOM 16

I learned a lot despite it being labeled a “basic carbine” course and Jason Falla is a true professional who brings a lot to the table with his unique background.  I look forward to training with him again in the future.

www.redbackone.com

www.greygrouptraining.com

Round count for the class was less than advertised, I don’t think I shot so much as 1,000 rounds of carbine for all 3 days.  I didn’t keep track of pistol ammo.  Fortunately, many of the students are planning on coming back for the open enrollment Night Fighter class in November so they were able to leave the ammo for the next class.

Shooting targets after exiting the vehicle

We covered different shooting positions and Kyle explained the advantages and disadvantages of each one.  Instead of just using barricades the class had 3 vehicles for us to shoot out of, in to and around which helped bridge the gap between square range training and reality.

Kyle emphasizes that because of his background and experiences, everything he teaches has been validated in real world gunfights.

Triple Threat Drill

Because of that experience he also spends a lot of time teaching things that most students don’t train enough such as shooting carbine one handed.  He’s had friends and team mates who’ve been shot and only had the use of their dominant or support hand to continue the fight.

As others have stated there was quite a bit of lecturing and demonstrations on the effects of different types of bullets on different parts of the car.  Everything from the tires to the hood, to the C-pillars and glass were specifically shot to show the students what may happen once the bullets start flying.

Kyle Lamb skipping rounds off the hood of vehicle

Kyle places a strong emphasis on being able to make the best of your position so he has students go through various drills where they won’t have an “easy” shot.  On TD3 we shot our carbines strong hand only, to include a mandatory reload, the strong hand only included not just weapons manipulations but also things like opening the car door.  Then we had to do it all again using support hand only.

His adherence to realism and thorough training also carries over to clearing malfunctions one handed.  By running students through drills from inside the vehicle the class also gets a self correcting lesson on what type of gear works and what doesn’t.

We did several drills with multiple targets at both longer ranges (steel)a nd shorter (cardboard) ranges using different types of targets.

AI Dan Brokos watching student shoot around vehicle

I look forward to training with Viking Tactics again in the future.

Thanks to Jeff and Jack for hosting, to Kyle and Dan for the excellent instruction and to Melynda for setting up the dinner and warehouse tour.  Each student who attended the BBQ dinner also got a free VTAC t-shirt.

Thanks to 5.11 for the free schwag- each student also received a coupon code for 30% off of an order from 5.11.

Bear in mind all these notes were written at end of day in the hotel room so it may be out of sequence or missing certain key points.

I realized after my last class with Pat that quite a bit of information goes over my head so I made a point of taking better notes.

In the spirit of Col. Bob Young’s (USMC Ret.) directive to “take something back to the Lance Corporals” after a class I figured the best way is to actually try and understand the POI in addition to being able to execute it.

It was an awesome class, I got to do a lot of things that I normally don’t. Working with a partner adds a different element to things and changes your perspective on how to solve the problem.

Thanks to Pat, Mike H., Pat Goodale for letting us use his facility, Johnnie Hurst and Mike M. for keeping the water running.

I also had some excellent partners when running the 2 man house- J. and HT, thanks to you both.

Day 1

Lecture:

• Fighting Stance
• Point in
• Low ready
• Indoor ready
• Prone- Military and Competition
• Range commands (make ready, up/kill, assault)
• Loading- running charging handle (claw & knife edge of hand)
• Tac reload, speed reload

Discussion of different manufacturers:

Magazines

Optics

Slings

50 yard zeroing: 5 shot groups from prone

Intermediate positions:

Braced kneeling

Unsupported kneeling

Speed kneeling aka Monica

5 shots brain- braced kneeling 25 yards

Unsupported kneeling to the body: 2 neutral 2 high 2 low 2 strong side 2 support side

Speed kneeling: same as above

Trigger press drill: point of aim with 3 rounds, aim, press, ease to reset, press emphasis on second sight picture and trigger control

• Controlled pairs to body (1 sight picture per shot)
• Hammers to body (1 sight picture per 2 shots)
• Failure drills 2 to body + 1 to brain
• Roadhouse rules: 1 to body A, 2 to body B, 1 to brain B, 1 to brain A
• Box drill: hammer A, hammer B, brain B, brain A
• NSR’s (7 rounds) to body

Transitions: Load 1 round to carbine and failure drill with pistol

Target engagement sequence: acquire, identify, engage

Lecture in shoot house:

• Pieing
• Typical doors in US: residential open in, commercial open out
• Typical room size in US: 10 x 12 ft.
• Typical construction: corner doors to maximize space long side (wall) vs. short side primary danger area, secondary danger area, tertiary danger area
• Hinge side vs. striker (knob) side Knobs open with clockwise or counter- clockwise turns?
• Light swictch locations
• Search areas- closets, sinks, refrigerators

Movement in house, pieing, clearing rooms, hallways, corners

Day 2

Confirm zero

Shooting with speed reloads 2 shots standing, speed reload, 2 shots intermediate position Same; to prone Reloading from different positions

Turns, failure drill NSR

Dyanmic turns Turn to shooting on the move

Pistol work Breakdown of drawstroke/presentation 5 count:

1. remove rentention device and acquire firing grip
2. pistol comes straight out of holster
3. muzzle comes up and is indexed against body
4. pistol comes forward and meets with support hand
5. pistol all the way out and sights on target On paper On steel silhouettes On plate rack

• Two handed Strong hand only
• Support hand only draw
• Support hand only pairs

Shooting from retention (positon 3 on drawstroke) strong hand only

Shooting from rentention 2 handed

From contact distance: palm stike, step back, draw and shoot target

From contact distance: hand stays out (holding target) and shoot from retention position

Longer range carbine on steel

More drills with reloads while transitioning to different positions

Re-emphasis on assessing before coming up from prone or intermediate positions

More square range work 50 prone, 5 shots to body 25 standing, shots to brain 15 standing, shots to body

Re-emphasis on proper follow through after shots fired (calling left or right target during post shot assessment).

More shooting on the move- failure drill, NSR

More turns

Emphasis on correct holdover as distances change

Shoot house:

Singleton room clearing- Not MOUT 101, Not SWAT101, not Hostage Rescue

Shoot/No shoot targets; default is a failure drill

Emphasis on making use of all your resources

Emphasis on being controlled and safe

Emphasis on thinking through the clearing as a single:

• Where are you?
• Where is/are the bad guy(s)?
• What happens if they come out right now?
• Where would you retreat to?
• What are your danger areas? Primary? Secondary?
• How would you search that area?
• How would you open that door?

Notes: Pat doesn’t say you did something wrong, everything you do is the right way

Once you commit- you are committed all the way.   He’ll ask questions for you to think about your options or demonstrates a different way you could do something.

First target confusing- did not shoot until Pat pretty much said that’s a bad guy while holding his knife out.

Had target through 2-3 inch (length of a door knob) sliver missed during initial pie of sliver

Pat: “could you shoot him from here?”

Me: “yes”

Pat: “Would you?”

Me: I wouldn’t- and didn’t, I prefer to be aggressive and in the room if shooting- if I can move so can the bad guy.  I don’t have enough knowledge or experience to know if I can defeat wooden doorjamb and still hit target 20 feet away if I miss sliver.

I used white light in the last room (covered by roof and dimmer)- maybe I  should have used white light in all rooms to blind targets?

Debrief on house run

• Sustain: aggressive, shooting on the move
• Improve: tighten shot groups, maybe a little more deliberate when entering

Previous shooter follows (along w/Pat) as observer for next shooter

From my previous (minimal) training in room clearing, the instructors would correct everything you did “wrong” as you did it- which slowed everything down to a frustrating level.   Pat will let you do it so long as you’re not doing anything unsafe and will occasionally stop you to emphasize a teaching point but everything moves along quickly.

Notes: on next shooter- Marine Officer- much more deliberate, prefers to plant before shooting, very good shot groups, used white light on all targets, same house, same targets but he approached it differently- interesting to watch and a good learning experience.

Day 3

Still working with split relays:

Warm ups:

Pistol- shooting on the move failure drills, NSR, single shots to brain, hammers, multiple target engagement

Carbine warm up: review of previous drills shooting from prone and kneeling positions

House run:  2 person team w/Pat as partner (“I feel serendipitous!”- Pat Rogers)

Emphasis on: communication sequence of movement roles of #1 man and #2 man moving to point of domination/controlling corners fields of fire dead checks keeping the gun running

More carbine and pistol work

Low light lecture:

Different techniques for hand held lights

• Harries- back of hand to back of hand with light hand on outside of shooting hand.
• Neck index- light wrapped in fist with either knuckles or fingers pressed against neck or face.
• FBI- support hand all the way extended away from body

Maintain light discipline until contact- from there lights stay on

Brief discussion on pros and cons- e.g. turning light off and moving, using one person to hold light on target while partner maneuvers to different position, strobing.

What not to do with lights: firefly tracing up to target tracing back from target

Low light pistol drills

Same as daylight drills

Use of other person’s light to illuminate your target (half of relay uses light, other half doesn’t, whole relay shoots)

Low light carbine drills- Same as above

Day 4

Pistol warm up Carbine warm up

Engaging all odd # targets (out of 10) while moving diagonally toward right side Two man teams with 1st shooter engaging all even # targets and 2nd shooter engaging odd # targets. Two man teams starting in middle shooting while moving, splitting targets left/right 4 man teams starting in middle and shooting while moving Carbine drills:

Move up from 50-25, stop and engage

Move up from 25 to 10, stop and engage

Line walks forward while engaging once “threat” is called:

First done from distance marker to distance marker then continuouos movement from 25 to 3 with multiple threats called by instructor.

2 man house runs:

Move smoothly and efficiently together communicate #1 man is always right signaling covering sectors not going too deep in to the room- partner may not be able to support you if you block the shot 1 meter rule commit- once you decide to do something (e.g. open a door), do it all the way don’t over-communicate- no meetings in the house all gestures should be done with support hand not necessary to look at each other while talking 2 man team can do 90% of what a 3 man team can do when clearing a room

At night:

Different environment

• White lights cause shadowing which affects perception
• Need to be more thorough while scanning/searching due to low light
• Once lights get turned on- they stay on tendency is to move too fast
• Wagon wheel for dealing with corners

Approaching the structure from the outside could be its own block of instruction

Day 5

Shoot COF based on MEU(SOC) Qual course.

100 rounds pistol 100 rounds carbine

Once for practice Once for record

LA Drill on steel: Single file moves forward, shot fired, first shooter stops and engages, following shooters break left or right and come on line to first shooter and begin engaging until all shooters are on line and cease fire is called.

Peel Drill on steel: Single file moves forward,first shooter engages with five round string (in reality it would be a whole magazine on select fire), takes a deep step to left, pivots and moves to end of the stack while next shooter comes up and does the same.

Key points:

• Muzzle and trigger discipline
• Proximity to target dictates precision/rate of fire
• Maintain continuity of fire
• If malfunction occurs immediately turn and pivot out of the way and allow following shooter to engage.
• If carbine is down (malfunction or out of ammo) get out of the file and start directing traffic.

Equipment issues:

There was one LEO with a Colt Commando that had problems- Pat referenced a bad recoil spring but old leftover ammo may have been a contributing factor as well.

Steve Sheldon’s T&E Eotech went down almost immediately and required Mike H.’s technical wizardry to salvage it (there is definitely a market for an “Eotech enhanced reliability kit”).

I tried using an Aimpoint 3x magnifier; all the way from the 50 to the 3 yard line.  I think it has potential but running it in a Larue LT-602 mount was awkward. Another shooter had one mounted on his backup carbine, a 16″ middy with an Eotech and a Samson flip mount- I think that mount may be a more viable system.

My CMT/Stag ran fine but for a minor problem on the last day with the bolt locking up on me when I switched from 62 grain green tip to XM193 ball. Suspect a dirty chamber was preventing the ball ammo from cycling properly. That was the diagnosis from Mike M.

The only gear issues that I know of are a few people had a hard time accessing their holsters when doing the support hand only pistol drills. This was either because of their holster design or their chest rigs were in the way. De-conflicting gear is a never ending issue.

Admin issues:

Fairfield Inn in Beckley, WV is nice. $60 at the Gov Rate along with Hi Speed Internet and Nextel service. Only downside is the extra 30 minutes of driving each way. On the plus side there are a lot more dining options and Wal Mart is 24 hours. Security may be a bit lax as someone set off a fire extinguisher and pulled the fire alarm at 0400 on Friday which caused everyone to be evacuated while the men in the BRT’s cleared the hotel. Nothing like being out in the parking lot full of people in their PJ’s while lugging a pelican case…

Training thoughts:

I asked Pat about shooting the carbine from the support side and although he thinks it may be worth it if you train it he does not teach it. I may take one of his 3 day classes next year as a lefty to see if it’s viable.

I’d also be curious to see how Pat teaches use of cover from behind barricades, vehicles, etc.   The PFT range is set up for it and I think it could help work out issues with the intermediate shooting positions regarding stability vs. mobility (I shot all but one of my targets in the shoot house from standing- the one target underneath a table I defaulted to unsupported kneeling while leaning to strong side).

I left with a lot more skills and an appreciation of some of the things I need to get better at.  Lot of reps and Pat will move things along as fast as the class can process it.

Looking forward to the next one.

Eagle's Nest- Angeles National Forest

Not a complete AAR by any stretch but I was able to remember enough to write some notes down.

A mix of civilians, LE and military folks came out for Jeff Gonzales’ 2 day open enrollment Combative Pistol 1 and 1 day Shooting on the Move module. Students were an interesting mix, to include a local ER doc and a neurosurgeon who flew in from FL as well as a Surefire sales rep and a Navy Reservist who completed BUD/S in 1973!

Held at Eagle’s Nest, part of the Angeles shooting range.

Advertised at about 750 rounds per day and I finished right in the area of 2100 rounds at the end of the course.

Topics covered:

Mindset- Treat each shot with the idea that you are 100% accountable for every round you fire.   Jeff emphasized that this was not a shooting class; it is a gun fighting class with the expectation that you will learn and apply marksmanship skills to winning the fight.  It is a square range where the targets don’t shoot back but think of the class as a prolonged 3-day gunfight.

Jeff Gonzales watching students during Box Drill

Skills:

Being able to shoot at 25 yards; despite statistics about the average distance of a gunfight the ability to shoot well past average distances is still a critical skill.   Shooter errors that can be masked at the 7-yard line will start to show up on the 10 and 15-yard line, by the time you get to 25 it will become readily apparent.

Engaging multiple targets, being able to prioritize based on distance(s) to threat, visible weapons of threats.

Training program is designed based on Jeff’s experience in gunfights as well as though who continue to go in to harm’s way.   They research what works in a gunfight and reverse engineer it to develop the training drills to prepare student for what they may face in a real world confrontation.

Terminology:

Optimum- Good

Sub-optimum- Bad

Immediate action:

1. Tap, roll, rack. Jeff explained some of the different ways that the magazine you thought was perfectly seated could have worked itself free. Reminded us that we were on a square range and knew what the malfunction was so it’s easy to skip the Tap portion but we would be cheating ourselves out of the training.

2. The roll: so that we can take advantage of gravity when clearing the chamber by rolling the pistol over to allow any thing to fall out.

3. The rack: reaching over the slide with the support hand to grasp the back of the slide and pull all the way to the firing side shoulder to forcefully eject anything out of the pistol and to allow the slide to go fully in to battery.

Reloads:

Course host Bruce reloading during drill

1. Combat reload- essentially shooting until slide lock. Broken down by Jeff as while bullets are still flying in both directions.

Start off with Tap, Roll, and Rack- once you realize slide is locked back on empty magazine strip out empty mag while depressing mag release.

Grasp and insert fresh magazine in to pistol and reach over with support hand to release slide.

2. Speed reload- Bullets are flying outbound but not inbound.  Same as Combat reload minus the slide lock.

3. Tactical reload- No bullets flying, preferably behind cover.  Release and stow old magazine before grasping and inserting new one.

Processing through magazine pouches.  Work from the center line toward the support side hip (industry standard of keeping magazine pouches on support side).  Train to process through magazine pouches rather than always back filling the go-to pouch.

Clear and safe: Remove magazine, aggressively rack slide to expel round from chamber- look for round being expelled and rack slide again. Lock slide back before inspecting mag well and chamber, twice. Release slide (engage safety) and holster.

Power stroke- Brief discussion on the number of repetitions necessary to develop a gross motor skill, settled on the number of 2500 for argument’s sake. So, if performing a physical action such as releasing the slide after firing the last round in the pistol you would normally depress the slide stop with your firing hand thumb (fine motor skill) then you would have to rep that 2500+ times.

Or, you could rack the slide with your support hand which is a motion that you would already have repped 2500+ times while working on your malfunction clearances. In addition the slide doesn’t always lock back after you fire the last round, which would compel you to rack the slide anyway since the stimulus would suggest that you have a Type 1 malfunction. The idea is to maintain a commonality of training so that you can perform as well when you’re tired and under stress, the power stroke keeps things simpler.

Draw stroke- 3 count process

1. Simultaneously acquire a firing grip on pistol (defeating retention device if necessary) while bringing support hand to chest.
2. Bring pistol up and out of holster so that pistol is tucked in close to side of firing side, muzzle pointed toward threat/target
3. Punch out with pistol while bringing support hand out to meet firing hand. As sight moves in to eye line, change focus from target to front sight, align for first, best sight picture. Touch the trigger during count, taking slack out until arms are at max extension and touch the frame. Shot should break almost at the exact moment of the max extension.

Training modifiers to take students out of the bubble:

1. Increasing distance to target

2. Decreasing size of target

3. Tell them they’re being tested

4. Place them under time constraints

5. Remediation

6. Physical Training to induce elevated heart rate (>150 bpm)

Shooting while moving- not very practical beyond 15 yards max. Separate the upper body (turret) from the lower body (tracks) actions.  Walk as you would walk rather than trying to change lower body movements (e.g., groucho or duck walking).

During lateral movements step with leading foot (direction of travel) and bring trailing foot over without cross stepping. I believe Jeff stated there were 8 basic directions you can move, although 7 may be more realistic.

Cold skills test to start Day 1 starting at 25 yards and finishing with single head shot from the holster at 3 yards. Finish Day 2 with the same test. 25 round course of fire that is also timed. Any shots in the white (off target) are dis-qualifiers.

Failure drill: 2 to center mass and 1 to head

Neutralize the threat: shooting until the threat stops, for training purposes this would be 2-7 rounds.

Keep the pistol in your workspace during weapons manipulations, defined as high enough in your visual plane so that you can maintain visibility on the threat. Bad habit to fall in to of bringing your pistol down to the belt line as your eyes will naturally follow.

Aim small, miss small. Strive for 100% accuracy while shooting 2-inch dots, in combat that may result in keeping shots in 4-inch circle. Center mass target area of Jeff’s targets is an 8-inch circle.

Box Drill: 4 targets, 4 corners for shooter to move in.

Student starting Box Drill

Clockwise: start at rear left corner and advance toward front left corner, fire 4 shots- single target.

Move lateral right to front right target firing one shot at each target after each side step.

Move backwards toward rear right corner while facing and engaging single target with 4 rounds.

Finish by moving lateral left to start corner engaging each target with single round after each side step. Include at least one mandatory reload during drill.

Progression: start at rear right and move counter-clockwise. Same drill but fire two rounds at each single target during lateral movement.

Logistics: Course was fast paced and due to the weather we stayed in the sun for most of the training day. Jeff runs a fast paced course with a single relay so breaks were few and far between. There were times I wished there was a tent or sunshade behind the 25 yard line since I think that would’ve made it easier for folks to stay in the bubble. Definitely times when standing in the sun for a 15-minute lecture portion caused me to start spacing out. As Jeff noted during his safety brief, most range accidents/incidents can be traced back to the shooter not staying focused.

The range itself was easy to get to, I stayed in Van Nuys, which is about 20 minutes away. No AT&T cell phone service for me at the top of the hill. On Saturday and Sunday there was a hot dog stand set up which was OK. Nearest place to eat besides that would’ve been a cafe next to a 7-eleven about 20 minutes away. I think just about everybody brought something out with him.

I picked up 2500 rounds of 9mm (reloads) from Ammo Bros in Cerritos on very short notice, which functioned fine, I had one Type 2 malfunction which may have been caused by the ammo. Tim Lau from 10-8 forums had posted his positive experiences with it and I would recommend it based on my one experience with them.

Improvements?

The range has very little shade and with Jeff’s admonition early on that any student who was “late” coming up to the line would be barred from continuing training until the next drill probably kept some folks from seeking out the shade and hydration during the short breaks we had.

Jeff was teaching solo with Bruce occasionally doing range/admin duties and I thought that this would have have been a better class if there had been a dedicated Assistant Instructor (AI).  With a full class its tough to watch 24 shooters for 8 hours and be able to give them the individual attention that they may need.  An AI also could have picked up on any  students who may have needed to be encouraged to take rest or hydration breaks earlier.

One person went down at the end of TD2 during the debrief as a heat casualty, fortunately he had two docs on him and another Fire Dept. guy (?) with an IV set.   Another student started feeling faint at the beginning of TD2 who wisely took himself off the line to re-hydrate and get something to eat before coming back on about an hour later.   Thanks to Stuart who hooked me up with a partially frozen 64 oz. Gatorade on the afternoon of TD2 when I caught myself getting dehydrated.

I was also warned by  a friend of mine that Jeff runs a high round count class and at some point you may feel like you’re just wasting rounds.  I certainly felt that way at the end of TD2 when I was at the 25 yd line and missing more than I was hitting.  The frustration definitely got inside of my “bubble” and I began to question whether my sights were off.  Jeff assured me that it wasn’t the sights and after watching me fire off a couple of magazines with no improvement he asked me for the gun before firing a nice tight group center mass to prove it wasn’t the gun.

If you’re able to keep up with the accuracy standards the high round count can be very beneficial as you are burning in the muscle memory but if you struggled at any point in the class you may as well have stepped off the line.  Jeff teaches to push through the sub-optimal performance in order to improve, overcoming frustration is part of the combat mindset.

Conclusion:

Class was good and I certainly left shooting better than I started. Also have a whole new set of self-diagnostic tools to take away with me.   I enjoyed meeting and training with the different students and wish I’d had more time to get to know everyone.

Thanks to Jeff for making the trip out and to Bruce for hosting the course.

The safety is not set up for speed, I had the opportunity to try the Swift safety on Pat’s Arsenal SA7(?) and it is a huge improvement- similar to an MP5 or shooting an AR left handed; a slight shift in firing grip when engaging or disengaging but nothing major. Days 2 and 3 I used the 550 loop and got used to it enough that if felt natural by the time I left. The only issues with the loop are that it has to be the correct length when you set it up initially, the knot may slip causing the loop to lengthen, the knot can get caught inside the receiver and the portion of the loop between the selector and receiver can sometimes bind. Not a show stopper, just have to be aware of it.

Special thanks to Mike for chasing windage with his hammer and punch.   The front sight itself isn’t horrible but the difficulty in making adjustments is what makes it abysmal.

I had no other problems with the ergonomics other than having to tape the driving spring guide on the rear of the receiver to keep it from scratching my eye pro.

The weapon is solid and accurate out to 125 yards on steel plate if the shooter does his part.  I found that holding the magazine with the support hand works well for me when shooting offhand and while on the move.

The only serious problem I had was my Bulgarian SLR95 did not like Yugo M67 (1976 manufacture) ammunition. It was fine for about 2 or 3 magazines on day one before turning the carbine in to a bolt action. Shot would fire and the action would cycle but the bolt would be about a half inch short of closing completely. The round would fail to feed and would be crimped on the neck portion of the case. This happend for almost a whole magazine before I had to be taken off the line. I think Pat has the pictures.

I ran Pat’s loaner for the rest of Day 1 with the same ammo and had no problems. Day 2 and 3 was back to the SLR95 and it ran several hundred rounds of Wolf ammo with zero problems.

As for the training itself:

Day 1 was spent on lecture, zeroing and a lot of the square range drills that Pat uses in his AR class.  Pat also showed the differences in weapons manipulation for an AK such as the tactical and speed reloads.

Day 2 was more square range drills with a lot of shooting on the move until the skies opened up causing the paper targets to get soggy.  So we switched to the plate rack for some strong hand only pistol work.  A challenge for me and a reminder that I need to work on the things that I’m not good at.   Then we went to steel for the carbines- including a man on man shoot off.  This was excellent as we were able to engage at longer distances than normal.  The one shooter with the Aimpoint clearly showed the advantages of an optic (along with an excellent shooter).

Day 3 was perfect weather; clouds went away and the sun came out.  We did some more shooting on the move drills before going to shoot a course of fire based on the Qual Course Pat uses for the Marines.  We did that twice before working on a peel drill.

As for equipment- most of the class ran stock AK type carbines.   One shooter had the Aimpoint mounted on an Ultimak rail and it served him well. Another shooter had a heavily modified Krebs rifle and it was really nice, the rear sight had an aperture which made getting a sight picture much easier, it also had a magazine guide/release riveted to the receiver which helps eliminate some of the fumbling during a mag change.

The announced minimum of 600 rounds may have been too low.  I think we got to the 600 round mark sometime on Day 2. Pat slowed things down a bit and made sure everyone had enough rounds for day 3.  We had 10 students in class so we only ran one relay and I think that upped the tempo of shooting beyond the original planned round count.

The class is best described as a group of experienced shooters who take their training seriously.  I look forward to seeing them again.  All but one had taken classes from either Pat or other instructors.

Some admin notes: Nextel does not work in Covington, Lewisburg or Alderson. At all. Stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Covington and the place was great. Hi speed internet, indoor pool and some super nice folks. A bit of a drive compared to the other hotels but its one exit away from Wal-Mart.

Thanks to Pat Rogers for doing the class, to HT and Mike for all the support work and to Pat Goodale for allowing the use of the facility.  I had a great time and look forward to the next class.

Instructor- Bennie Cooley of CRTC Inc. (Crisis Resolution Training Consultants)- A longtime DOE Special Operations Division member and world-class competitive shooter.

Students- The class was purposely a mix of current and former military, LE, Security Contractors, and a few regular civilian shooters.

Day 1- Bennie started the class off by having everyone introduce themselves and offer a little bit about why they decided to take this class and what they were hoping to get out of it. A few stated that they’d heard of Bennie and just wanted the opportunity to train with him, many of the local students mentioned the opportunity to shoot and move as there are few places in the DC suburbs that allow it. I was drawn to it because it was advertised as a strenuous class and I wanted to push myself.

Briefly covered some range safety before moving right in to it. We started with a hot range, which was nice- big boys rules in effect.

We confirmed zeroes and made any adjustments before going right in to shooting.

-

Stances:

• Offhand
• Kneeling
• Stretched kneeling

Transitioning from firing side to support side.

Shooting while moving.

Moving between the different positions.

We shot mostly steel targets for the 3-day course. Bennie stresses accuracy but most of the training was focused on getting the positions and movement correct.

His philosophy is that due to the limited time the 3-day course is designed to teach the students how to teach themselves and self correct when they train it on their own time.

He strongly believes that by using visualization techniques, dry fire and eventually live fire a student can correctly learn the basics with at least two weeks of practice.

His stretched kneeling platform is worth mentioning because it was probably the most physically taxing portion of the course. Imagine taking a deep step forward with your support side leg so that your firing side leg is stretched out- like a lunge. Then drop your support side elbow on top of your support side knee- this was a very stable position when done correctly with the advantage of being able to quickly getting in to it. The negatives are that its harder (sometimes painful) to get out of, not all body types can do it, and can be difficult if not impossible if completely jocked up with body armor, chest rigs, etc.

This leads to a key point of Bennie’s methodology:

“Don’t injure yourself during training, however, don’t confuse pain and discomfort with injury”

Day 2

Although I tried to train up for what was advertised as a strenuous course I woke up on Tuesday feeling every muscle in my body ache. The only relief in sight was that I’d be doing it all over again and hopefully that would warm up and loosen those muscles. It had snowed overnight and we were to receive intermittent flurries for the morning of Day 2.

We reviewed the drills we did on Day 1 before adding squatting to the mix. Bennie worked with students individually to fine tune them.

He added a few other things as well, starting off with a handgun skills diagnostic to see where the students were in term of skill level. Then added some rhythm drills and multiple targets.

Bennie believes that there is a range (and circumstances) at which collapsing to the target is preferable to transitioning to a pistol so we started with muzzle strikes. Then progressed to disarming techniques and counters to disarming techniques.

Day 3

Spent a lot of time moving between, shooting around and through barricades. Barricades were plywood about 7′ high on the right edge with stair steps on the left side and slots cut out of the center. A lot of time spent transitioning from right side to left side as well as using the other positions we learned on Days 1 & 2. Bennie also taught us his barricade standing and kneeling positions.

We also did some basic team movement/stacks between barricades.

The shooting through the barricades set us up for shooting from vehicles. After a lecture on the how’s and whys of shooting from different positions inside the vehicle we took turns doing it dry before going live.

Equipment- All AR’s with one factory HK416, I was surprised as there’s usually at least one AK in a class like this. Most ran fine although I believe almost everyone had at least a few malfunctions during the class. Some of it may be the weapons themselves but a lot of it may be ammo related as the difficulties in locating quality/affordable continue.

A few students had plate carriers and chest rigs but just as many had sub loads or worked out of of belt pouches.

I think all but one person had some sort of optic with Aimpoints and Eotechs being the most popular although we had at least one compact ACOG and a Leupold CQ/T. I ran an Eotech 552 and it worked fine other than coming loose on the Larue mount ( I went along with the manufacturers’ lit and didn’t put any loctite on the screw)

Bennie is a believer in the VTAC 2 pt. Sling and I can see why. I was running a new Larue/VTAC sling and found the extra padding to get in the way based on these specific techniques. It works fine if running support arm through but if just hanging around the neck and transitioning from shoulder to shoulder I could feel it choking me a few times as well as interfering with my firing grip.

The class was great- it exceeded all my expectations. Bennie is an awesome instructor and while I may not train everything he showed me I left with a lot more things that I will train. Host campbell did an awesome job with coordinating the logistics and vetting all the students for the class. All the guys (and gal) in the class were first rate people and I look forward to training with them again. This AAR is nowhere near complete given the fire hose of information passed out in 3 days but I hope it at least covers the basics of what we went over.