June 18, 2006
Tactical Response's High Risk Civilian Contractor Course (Shooting Package) 16-20 Jan. 2006, review by Mark Quon
Tonight is The Night of the Long Blog for me, and I'm catching up on a lot of work I'd been meaning to do, such as publishing my friend Mark Quon's (lower right in photo below) review of a course he attended in January. - Russell
Tactical Response's High Risk Civilian Contractor Course (Shooting Package) 16-20 Jan. 2006, a review by Mark Quon
I had first became aware of Tactical Response back in April of last year when TR's head instructor/founder
James Yeager had posted a thread at Warrior Talk advertising the release of his new High Risk Civilian Contractor DVD.
As someone who is interested in the possibility of getting into this line of work I sent off for a copy ASAP. Since Yeager (who's a highly regarded tactical firearms trainer as well as a LEO with over a decade of experience -often in a SRT capacity) had just returned from a contractor gig in Iraq's combat zones prior to filming this DVD I figured it would have lots of current and up to date information for someone who is completely new to this stuff.
Ironically, a week later - before the DVD had arrived - while attending Gabe Suarez's Close Range Gunfighting 2 class in L.A., I ended up meeting Yancey Harrington who as luck would have it, turned out to be an instructor for Tactical Response. By the end of that course, we had become fast friends and were keeping in touch on a more or less regular basis.
Fast forward to December while in the midst of making plans with Yancey to buddy up for a Two Man Team Tactics Course, he mentions to my surprise that their HRCC was going to be held in SoCal. Yancey had attended this course back in late June and had nothing but unqualified praise for it and had even written a comprehensive review of it on quite a few message boards. However, since to date all of the HRCC had been held in Camden (TN) I had resigned myself to the fact that it would probably be awhile before I would ever be able to take this (or any other) TR course since the distances involved made it financially and logistically problematic for me to attend.
After getting off the phone with Yancey I immediately emailed Yeager and a down payment later I was all set for Tactical Response's first HRCC here on the West Coast.
Day One
Arriving an half hour early, I had only minutes to wait in front of the locked gates of Burro Canyon before Yeager, assistant instructor John ("Chappy") Chapman and all of my fellow classmates showed up. After a round of introductions and an half hour of getting geared up and rendering all our weapons hot, day one began in earnest.
First order of business before the day's live fire drill (and every other day for the entire duration of the course) was a rundown of the Four Safety Rules which we were to consistently abide by. Considering the advanced nature of the course along with the high intensity and tempo of the drills, this was the most critical and important lecture to internalize
before the start of each day's shooting regimen.
Following the safety lecture, Chappy briefed us on the outline
of the course objective which was to instill in us the tools and ability
to operate as a team. One of the recurring themes throughout the week
was that our goals as individuals was to provide mutual cover for one
another in areas of danger, to be aware of both our own areas of responsibility
as well as those of our team mates and, when necessary, establishing and
maintaining continuity of fire superiority on the opposition.
And the single most important factor in accomplishing that is clear
and concise communications between all the team's members in order
to accurately ascertain one another's intentions as well as define our
individual roles while filling in any gaps and act in concert so as to
maximize our ability as a force multiplier whether we are working as a pair,
a fire team or a squad.
Then it was off to the firing line for the first shooting drill
of the day which consisted of a series of individual firing exercises
with our rifles in which we shot a predetermined number of rounds into
designated numbered dots. This was done in various sequences which were
determined by the instructors.
Following the individual drills we were paired off to start this
exercise all over again. Only this time we were to coodinate our fire
with our team mates in such a fashion as to maximize our output of fire
while eliminating or minimizing any gaps caused by firing our weapons
dry. How this worked was basically a two man "peel" where the team member
up front would fire a predetermined number of rounds on the specified targets
and move behind his cover man who was stacked at his six once he completed
his string. But if the shooter up front were to shoot dry or if his weapon
malfed, he was to immediately fall back and the cover man would take over.
This was where we began learning to communicate with one another,
to request cover when our weapons went dry or malfunctioned, to let our
partners know which target needed covering (and how many rounds to shoot
in order to complete our drill) and to let them know when we were back
in the fight. This was also where we were taught target discrimination as
well as thinking and making correct decisions while reflexively applying
the fundamentals of shooting.
Once the instructors were satisfied that we had the two man peels
down, we were organized into two fire teams (being possessed of a sick
sense of humor --- a trait which I can totally relate to--- later in the
week, the instructors named our fire teams respectively Team Bowel Movement
and Team Urethra with Your's Truly in the latter group) and began drilling
our peels again.
After we had gotten comfortable working as a fire team both teams
were then formed into a squad which then repeated the same drill until
we were able to lay down a non-stop string of fire while smoothly transitioning
when we our weapons ran empty or when we had a stoppage.
The final drills of the day involved a series of Bounding Overwatch
exercises moving both laterally and fore/aft. Like the building block approach
we had been using all day (and would use for the rest of week) at first
we would be moving as a two man team then worked our way up to bounding
as a four man team with two men at each base of fire.
How this would work was when one shooter was bringing fire to bear
on the enemy the other team member(s) would bound forward and take up
a position before opening fire. The whole thing was pretty contingent
on loud, clear and non stop communications between the various team members.
The entire sequence of the drills went something like this. Using
a two man team as an example, upon immediate contact with a hostile force
both members would engage with gunfire (preferably from cover). When Shooter
"A" is about to switch positions he would yell out "Moving!!" which
would be a signal for Shooter "B" to cover him. At this point, it would
probably be wise for Shooter "B" to do a proactive (tactical) reload to top
off his magazine so that he does not run dry during Shooter "A"'s movement
which would leave the bounding member's ass in a sling big time. Once Shooter"B"
is topped off he would signal to "A" that he is ready to provide covering
fire by responding "Move!" upon which "A" would switch positions
under the covering fire of "B." Once, he has reached his next position "A"
would begin firing on the enemy while "B" tac reloads and announces his intention
to his shift his base of fire by yelling "Move"! whereupon
"A" would now momentarily take sole responsibilty for maintaining fire on
the opposition while acknowledging his readiness by replying "Move!"
which would communicate to "B" that he can move.
And thus this sequence would repeat itself until the team has either
overrun the enemy, outflanked him, or egressed from an untenable engagement.
Some Key Points from Day One
*As someone who has trained almost exclusively as a lone individual
operator, one of the most difficult things to remember initially was to
keep communicating my intentions to my team mate(s) as well as listening
for their replies or their intended course of action and coordinating myself
so as to be able to cover any gaps which may present themselves.
*Whether as part of a team in a single file stack or a two man team
base of fire, when one experiences a weapons malfunction (contrary to one's
previous and deeply ingrained training as a lone combatant) your Immediate
Action Drill (IAD) should not be Tap-Rack-Flip or transitioning
to a sidearm. Rather it should be to signal to you team mates that you are
momentarily out of the fight ("Cover!"). Once you have cleared
the stoppage, you must also inform your team mates of being back in the
fight ("Up!")
Day Two
The second day began at 0700 hrs with entire class rallying at the
Comfort Inn in Monrovia (CA) where the instructors and most of the class
were staying.
First order of business was having one of us deliver the Op(erations)
Order which consisted of:
*Situation
*Mission
*Execution
*Logistics/Admin
*Command & Control
In short, the Op Order served as a template for the team to outline
and specify it's present situation (as it relates to the overall picture),
define the objective and the methods/means to accomplish it, determine
any logistical requirements needed to achieve said objectives, and the establishment
of the chain of command as well as the assignment of roles to the individual
members.
That done we consolidated all gear and personnel into a four vehicle
convoy and headed to breakfast.
Like all movements by vehicles during the rest of the week (whether
it was driving to breakfast and the range at the start of the day, heading
into town for lunch or coming back from Burro Canyon at day's end), we
used these drives a basic intro to the nuts and bolts of travelling in a
Protective Security Detail (PSD) vehicle convoy.
Since this was a completely new experience for me I decided to ride
shotgun in the rear vehicle of the convoy which was commandeered by Yeager
so I could pick his brain as questions arose during the course of these drives
as well as pick up all sorts of useful tips and relevant info based on his
casual observations.
One of the constant tasks for those of us riding shotgun was to maintain
continuous communications between all the vehicles so that we would be
able to alert all the other teams of any approaching danger areas up ahead
as well as any vehicles overtaking the convoy from the rear (though I'm
given to understand that in many cases, allowing a vehicle to overtake your
convoy is an unacceptably dangerous practice and that the proper response
is to fire a warning shot at any vehicles approaching from the rear followed
by a more lethal response should the initial warning shots fail to deter
them.......). Usually that meant the bulk of the info would be coming from
either the lead or rear vehicles.
Another responsibility of the drivers in each vehicle of the convoy
was to maintain a close enough interval to prevent any other traffic from
cutting in between them.
For those of us in the rear vehicle our role was keeping abreast of
the intentions of the point vehicle as well as serving as a blocking element
whenever a lane change or a turn is required by the leading teams.
Despite having more than a half dozen opportunities to roll around
in a tactical procession I still feel like there is a hell of a lot more
to learn about this aspect of the PSD trade. I 'll probably need way more
practice as well as more exposure to the varied conditions likely to be
faced by a PSD team in transit before I'm confident that I have grasped
the basics.
To that end I hope to be able to attend both Tactical Response's
Contractor
EP(Executive Protection)/Bodyguard Package as well as their
Contractor Driving Package whenever time, money, and opportunity
allows.
Key Points On Radio Communications
*The tendency for newbies is to yell into the radio instead of speaking in a normal tone.
*Another mistake made by novices is speaking before the talk button is fully depressed which reults in the initial part of your transmission being cut off.
*A corollary to speaking clearly while transmitting is to make damned
certain that the other teams also do likewise even if you have to ask them
to "Say Again" as many times as it takes for them to slow down and
convey the info so that it is understood by all.
*Keep the nomenclature used to describe the needed info (danger areas,
suspect vehicles, directions in relation to convoy) as simple and short
as possible. In the event of a hostile contact things will be confusing enough
without incomprehensible communications fucking things up even more.
With the morning's convoy exercise completed we loaded up and proceeded
with the first drill of the day which was presenting our holstered sidearms
and firing on the numbered dots. Basically, this was the same drill we
had performed with rifles on Day One except it was with handguns. In addition
to serving as a warm up (shot at a casual unhurried pace) it also gave
Yeager and Chappy a chance to gauge our grasp of HGN shooting fundamentals
as well as correct any flaws they detected.
Once the instructors were convinced that we were sufficiently warmed
up we moved on to transitioning back and forth from rifle to pistol and pistol
to rifle and back again.
Just before lunch were were buddied up into two man teams and shot
the same drills as above except upon completion of our firing string(which
were determined in advance by Chappy and Yeager) we were to peel back and
let our partner step up and take over. As per usual, if we had a stoppage
or shot dry we were to fall back while communicating which target(s) need
to be covered, number of times they needed to be shot in order for our drill
to be finished (which the shooter would have to do in addition to being responsible
for completing his own firing string) and we had to do this even as we were
reloading or clearing a malf. Yet one more drill to inculcate reflexive
gun handling while the mind is occupied with the tactical problem at hand
and communications with the covering man.
The rest of the afternoon was spent performing numerous reps in moving
fore and aft in stacks and with the point man firing on the move and peeling
back to allow the next team member take up the firing. Like all the other
class exercises this one started off with us being paired off in two man
teams and eventually we worked our way up to fire team and squad in both bounding and peeling drills moving both in line and laterally in relation to downrange.
We wrapped up Day Two with a lecture by Yeager on the basic characteristics
and dynamics of low light confrontations and continued with a number of low
light shooting drills starting with individual deployment of the pistol
and rifle (since only part of the class had weapons mounted white lights
while the rest of us were using hand held flashlights we were taught various
techniques to suit the gear we had available to us.......) and concluded with
an all out attempt to take out a cyalume stick mounted on a metallic target
roughly 80-90 yards away in the pitch dark which , IIRC, we all failed to
accomplish.
(For those of us relying solely on iron sights, it was an exercise
in futility since in near complete darkness our sights were all but impossible
to visually access. Also, the clumsiness of trying to coordinate a
hand held light with a long gun became pretty apparent even in a stress free
skill building environment. For any sustained action in low light I think
that both weapons mounted lights as well as tritium iron sights are indispensable
and the addition of optical sights with illuminated reticle would even be
better.)
But just before the final act of the night, the entire class was directed
to assault downrange then egress by utilizing the Bounding Overwatch movement
by fire teams. Because it was near the end of a very long, eventful, fatiguing
and productive day some of us were in less than top form and we had to practice
this in dry run mode quite a few times before we felt comfortable enough
doing it live fire. Each fire team was to move in a stack towards (then
away) from downrange. In the interest of safety and ease of control we were
instructed to fire to downrange from the inside angle created by a series
of barricades/firing positions while we were to advance and fall back towards
the outside of these emplacements.
The proper sequence for the above maneuver went something like this.
Upon hearing the instructors' commands to engage, both team's point men
begin shooting from their respective firing positions. The moment one team
decides to take the initiative to advance they would announce their intentions
to the other team and wait for their verbal acknowledgement before breaking
cover. Once his team begins to move the point man would stop firing and stand
fast while his team mates bound forward--with the man immediately behind him
taking over at point---while he waits until he gets a signal from the rear
most member who taps him and verbally communicates ("last man") as
he walks past which would signal for him to break from his position and fall
in behind the rest of the team and take over as rear security.
Once the bounding team has reached their next firing position and their
point man opens up it serves as a signal for the other team to quit their
position and begin bounding forward in the same manner as the first team.
And once this team has reached a position where it establishes a base
of fire, the first team's point man ceases firing and allows his team to
advance. This cycle would be repeated until both teams had reached the
furthermost firing position downrange during which the instructors would
order us to reverse out which meant that one team would once again take
the initiative and begin falling back with the rear security (generally)
taking over at point since he would probably be the first to reach the pre
designated firing base. Once the fall back team has started firing it would
signal the other team to begin egressing towards a firing position further
back and this would continue until both teams have withdrawn from a tactically
untenable engagement.
Key Points on Bounding Overwatch Drills
*In order to maintain continuity of fire anytime the point man/
shooter's weapons runs dry or malfs, he should immediately fall back and
let the man behind him take over while he inserts himself into the middle
of the stack to fix his weapon.
*The important thing to bear in mind is that while we have designated
individual roles which are supposed to be played out in an agreed upon
sequence, if things go to shit it is more important to fill in and cover
any gaps which present themselves rather than trying to pigeonhole yourself
into a role that is no longer feasible or relevant. Example: though the point
man of the egresssing element should end up as rear guard once the
team reaches their next position, if for some reason he is the first one
there then he should immediately take up the "point" and begin providing
fire.
*If one experiences a stoppage while at the point of a stack the
proper IAD is to peel back and allow the person behind you to deliver instantaneous fire while you move towards the back of the stack. But let the tail gunner
back there to know you are out of the fight ("Cover"). So rather
than the general SOP of having the peeling point man take his place at
the six he will be shifted to the middle of the stack where he can clear
his malf while being covered. The reason for this is so the man with the
empty or malfed rifle will be not be at the places in the stack most likely
to encounter contact where his (however briefly)inoperative weapon
will put him at a deadly disadvantage.
*With the Bounding Overwatch drills, a well trained team in which
all the members are initimately familiar with the each other's roles the
team can often dispense with calling out before moving. The manuevering
element can start moving once the static element starts shooting but it's
best to wait for the second shot to ensure that the covering fire will be
continuous before breaking cover since the most common stoppages result
from an inproperly seated magazine and it would be most potentially tragic
(as well as a catalyst for a major pucker factor ) for the bounders if the
covering fire suddenly falls silent while they stand fully exposed with
nothing between them and hostile incoming fire but their dicks flapping in
the wind.
Day Three
The range exercises on the third day began at the designated shoot house
(which was intentionally designed to be a tactical nightmare) with a lecture
on the basics of CQB entry before we were individually drilled in the fine
points of entry and tactical movements in compressed environs.
Once the instructors were satisfied that we had the basic movements down
we were, again, formed up in teams (starting with the two man and working
our way up) and run repeatedly through the shoot house starting from several
entry points to add variety to the tactical problems we would be encountering.
All the drills started with us doing one or more dry runs until we had
things down pat before adding in the live fire and we concluded the day time
portion of the CQB curriculum with the whole class performing a dynamic entry
of the entire structure.
Following lunch, Yeager turned the class over to one of the students
who had extensive experience as a paramedic for the emergency first aid
segment of the class. Upon reviewing the six plus pages of notes I took
during the lecture, I find that some of the information presented to be
in direct contrast with the stuff I was taught during the combat medic portion
of another contractor class I had attended but since the sum total of my
knowledge about emergency first aid would barely fit onto the head of a
pin and the dude giving the lecture was both extremely knowledgeable and
had abundant experience as an EMT I took down as many notes as I could. Notes which I hope he can help me straighten out and unfuck since they are far
from either complete or concise.
After the first aid lecture was given a closing by Yeager's show
& tell and evaluation of some of the latest (and most indispensable)
combat first aid gear that we should all have in our personal LBE kit
(Israeli Pressure Bandages, various types of Combat Application Tourniquets,
hemostatic agents such as Quik Clot and TraumaDex) as well as directions
in their use, we headed back down range to practice evacuating casualties
while under fire.
How this next exercise worked was once a fire team is hit with an
ambush and it incurs a casualty, it's immediate action drill is to move
off the "X" (read: killing zone) and return fire from a position of whatever
available cover. Once a base of fire is established part of the team goes
out to retrieve any members who might have been hit but before the retrieval
element breaks cover , the element remaining should top off their mags
with a tac reload in order to be able to provide uninterrrupted covering
fire. Of course, this required both groups to communicate their intentions
so as to be able to minimize the vulnerability and exposure of the recovery
personnel.
For the record, I found the techniques that Yeager and Chappy taught
for carrying the injured off the "X" to be far quicker and easier to use
under duress than some of the clumsy, back breaking, ass dragging stuff
taught at other schools since it relies solely on leverage and the utilization
of naturally solid body mechanics rather than sheer strength or muscular
exertion. This is even more crucial since both the recovery team as well
as the immobilized casualty will be likely weighed down with shitloads of
cumbersome gear.
Day Three concluded with a low light CQB exercise that simulated a likely
PSD scenario which, in this case, necessitated the rescue of a friendly warlord's
daughter from a known drug house. The rules of engagement we were handed
was that all the occupants of house (which were signified by white targets
positioned at various locations throughout the house) were considered hostile
and we, therefore, were given the green light to shoot them on contact. However,
since this was , first and foremost, a rescue mission (the "daughter" was
the sole brown colored traget in the structure) we also had to be damned discriminating.
Most of the teams managed to sucessfully effect the rescue though one of
the teams ended up killing the subject (ooops).
Actually, this last exercise felt more like a coached walk through with
Chappy giving us tips and suggestions along each step of the way than an
actual exercise. Also, seeing as it was the first time I had to run through
an actual low light indoor tactical scenario involving a team at moments
it felt like I had no fucking idea what I was doing.
In fact, I found the entire CQB/MOUT segment of the curriculum to be
a bit rushed and too little explanation given to the particulars with not
nearly enough time given to inculcating into us the nuts and bolts of this
extremely challenging and multifaceted subject.
I guess I will also have to sign up for the HRCC-CQB
Package when it's offered out here.
Key Points from Day Three
*Several times during the team entry drills, the lead man charged through
the door before his team mate(s) were ready and, as a result, was without
support during those initial split seconds which could spell the difference
between life or death. Prior to entry be sure that everyone is on the same
page. The method we used was having the lead man tap the man behind him
to signal his intent to make the entry and wait for a response in the form
of a squeeze on the shoulder (to signal the backup's readiness to
follow on his heels) before acting. If there are more than two members doing
the entry, the second man would tap the man behind him and this would be
repeated in turn by successive members towards the back of the line until
the tailgunner receives the tap. In short, the tap towards the man behind
you means "Get ready" while the squeeze on the shoulder of the man
immediately to your front means "Ready to provide back up".
*Minimize your exposure in the "fatal funnel" of the doorway. Get the
hell out of the doorway ASAP since (like hallways and staircases) it restricts
and channels your movements while allowing the hostiles inside to shoot
you at will. To illustrate this point, Yeager and Chappy pointed out the
fact that the height and width of doorways conform roughly to the same dimensions
of a coffin. An unforgettable and instructive mental image, to be certain.
*When entering the room to be cleared go in only far enough to get out
of the doorway (moving parallel to the nearest wall adjoining the doorway)
but avoid going any further than about a third of the way --all the while
being taking care to avoid being directly in front of any other doors
or windows once inside-- lest you wander into (and thus restrict) your partner's
arc of supporting fire.
*Once inside and scanning (and shooting, if necessary) , both you and
your partner's zones of responsiblities (read: arcs covered by your muzzles)
should slightly overlap so that there is no gap or dead space.
*If the door swings inward using the criss cross method (where one or
more members are poised on either side of the door) is probably the optimum
choice. The man on the hinge side generally enters first since he is able
to gain the most immediate visibility into the room as door swings open.
*The corollary to this is with doors which swing outward, it is probably
best to utilize a single stack formation from the knob side with the second
man button hooking in.
*Your lead man is "always right." Even if he moves before you are ready
or he does something which is completely tactically unsound, tough shit.
You still need to follow on his heels and cover whatever gaps are present.
*Making do with hand held white light sucks when trying to clear
a structure potentially full of bad guys. A dedicated/mounted light for
your long gun is a must if you are going to see any sort of sustained action
in low light. End of story.
Day Four
This would be the only day that was not spent at the range.
The first order of business for the day was doing a dry run of a scenario
where we were simulating the planning stages of a security detail for a VIP
escort. What this entailed , first and foremost, was a map recon (during
which the primary, secondary and emergency E&E routes were chosen) followed by an advance recon where we established a series of rally points as well took the opportunity to scout the routes and objective primary areas for
likely ambush spots and other hazards as well as routes to the nearest hospitals
in the event the principal or team members become casualties.
After the recon had been completed and a report given to James and Chappy
who met us back at the hotel's conference room we wrapped up this mental exercise by assigning all of the individual team members their roles like
we would if this were the real deal and we were following up on this with
an actual protection detail for a VIP.
Following a late lunch in Burbank we headed on over to NBC Studios for the
live taping of Jay Leno's show for that night. One of Tactical Response's
alumni apparently works for NBC and had provided the entire class with tickets
to this event so we used this as an opportunity for aa easy paced walk through
of how we would go about escorting a VIP to a high profile/ high visibility
event. All in all, a pretty fun night which allowed all of us---both instructors
and students--to decompress from the high tempo of the previous three days
and allowing us to recharge for the next day's balls out finale.
Day Five
Though the previous days at the range had been pretty intense it was during
the final day was when all the stops were pulled out. Since Day One there
had been a couple of junked cars staged to one side of the range for the
express purpose of a series of vehicle drills and today was the day they
were finally going to be brought into play.
But before we were able to go balls out we had to spend the first part
of the day warming up with our basic marksmanship skills on the numbered dots
which, by now, had become our morning ritual. Following that we drilled repeatedly
on our Australian Peels. I don't know if it was because the previous day
off had made us mentally lacksadaisical or if the anticipation of shooting
from vehicles had us distracted or what but we all got off to a real clumsy
and awkward start and required a number of repeated tries. After a bit of
coaching and colorful lambasting from Yeager--considering we had only spent
the better part of the week working on this shit, one can't really blame
Uncle Jimmy for being irate-----we were finally executing our movements with
enough competence to proceed with the rest of the day's exercises.
The vehicle tactics phase began with a lecture on the 'whens' and 'whys'
of un-assing a vehicle under fire. Basically, one of the vehicle's greatest
assets is it's mobility and since PSD teams are primarily responsible for
safeguarding the principal(s) rather than sticking around to exterminate
all the bad guys, upon receving enemy fire our primary concern should be
getting the hell out of dodge. Therefore upon contact, immediate action to
be taken runs in this order of preference: driving through, ramming through,
reversing out, and de-bussing only when driving away is not possible.
Also, in order to demonstrate the sheer vulnerability of a vehicle's occupants
to hostile fire, the vehicles were shot through the windshield with both
a .223 round and a .308 round (both of which punched through and went on
to perforate the IPSC target seated in the car to simulate an occupant) but
most telling of all was a "puny" 9mm FMJ round which was shot into the side
of the car's rear quarter. It traversed the interior of the trunk and came
out the far side leaving a gaping, jagged exit hole.
Having attended several other courses with a dedicated vehicle gunfighting
segment in the curriculum, the results of these terminal ballistic demos
held no surprises or revelations for me but, nonetheless, it served to illustrate
just how fully exposed the occupants of an unarmored vehicle are to a hostile
force's small arms fire to say nothing of their RPGs
and belt fed machineguns.
Staying true to the building block approach to learning a new skill which
had been the norm for the past four days we started off the de-bussing
drills with a series of dry runs which eventually culminated in a number
of live fire bounding movements away from the ambush zone.
The entire chronological sequence of the de-bussing exercises were exactly
like those for the bounding drills we had done in Day Two except we started
the maneuver from the cramped interiors of the cars ( we were using some
small assed '80s Honda and BMW compacts for his drill. The logic being that
1)The likelihood of having to ride in these things are great since they are
ubiquitous in the Third World and 2) If we can learn to un-ass from these
claustrophobic, built-for-midgets shit boxes then bailing from large SUVs--which
are also de rigueur in many places--should be a breeze). Upon contact,
those nearest the side of incoming rounds would return fire while those on
the far side would un-ass and take up positions of cover ( or mostly concealment
since very few spots on a car can provide ballistic shielding). Once the
de-bussed members had taken up their shooting positions and were laying down
fire those who were still inside the car would cease firing (upon hearing
their team mates' firing) and beging the arduous task of extricating themselves
from their transportation-cum-bullet magnet which is no easy task when you're
laden with shitloads of gear and a long gun which will snag on the various
projections and protrusions to be found inside a car.
Once the entire team was outside of the soon to be shredded vehicles we
would bound back exactly as we had practiced earlier in the week except that
since we were now on flat open terrain (all the target stands which were
used to simulate cover/barricade had been removed) once we fell back to our
firing positions we had to drop down to prone for protection before laying
down covering fire. And while bounding from point to point we had to reload
our guns on the run so they would be topped off when we began our next string
of fire.
After what seemed like all too brief an afternoon spent on the vehicle ambush
drills which culminated with one of the wise ass instructors chucking a flashbang
next to Your's Truly's head to signal the start of an exercise ( my initial
thought was that one of my team mate's M1A had exploded due to his muzzle
being clogged with dirt and gravel...), we took a quick breather
before commencing with taking turns shooting from a moving SUV at the very
the cars we had just used except now they were simulating hostile vehicles
which we had to engage from our SUVs.
Another drill we did from the mobile SUV was trying to deck a metal plate
from about 10-15 yards while driving by at various speeds. While I have been
able to score occasional hits with a sidearm (when I did this drill in the
past) trying to acquire a sight picture while attempting to keep the rifle
aligned with the target (which, from inside a moving vehicle is cumbersome
at best) was a royal pain in the ass. Might have been easier to see the goddamned
front sight if I had remembered to flip up the wider CQB/lowlight aperture
on my Sporter ( I normally use the smaller one which is way more precise
but damned difficult to see through when you require a flash sight
picture). In addition, it's been years since I spent any time practicing
shooting from my left side which I was forced to do due to a combination
of body mechanics and being seated on the right side of the rear. I was told
by Yancey that having a red dot system of optics such as the Aimpoints
and EO Techs makes this kind of task a helluva lot easier to accomplish. Guess I'll have to
add red dot optics to my "to buy" list in the near future.
The day at the range came to a close with us emptying mag after mag of ammo
into the two thoroughly used and abused cars until they were little more
than hunks of shredded metal and glass splinters.
At day's end we were given our certificates for the course along with an
offer of a 100% money back refund for anyone who was less than completely
satisfied with the course. For my part, I thought the class provided me with
a wealth of knowledge with respect to small unit tactics. Though this is
a new subject to me owing to Yeager and Chappy's superlative instruction
and guidance these five days have given me a decent foundation of knowledge
to build upon. Not to mention this was quite possibly one of the most enjoyable
and adrenaline peaked courses I have taken to date. Needless to say none
of us took James up on his refund offer.
More photos from our recent sailing trip
I like this one:
More, from our recent weekend sailing, in the shipping lanes outside the Golden Gate Bridge:
Discharge curve of a capacitor
This quarter's physics lab is my favorite, covering topics in classical electrodynamics. Here's a characteristic curve for the charge/discharge of a capacitor:
Baldwin Louie, DDS: Dental Warrior
Seen on an office window in a walk through San Francisco, Dr. Baldwin Louie's "dental warrior" mascot:
Yes, this really did happen...
...yesterday at Vertical Challenge 2006 at San Carlos Airport, California, a car hoisted down the length of a runway, then dropped it:
I'm very happy I had my Olympus E-1 kit in the trunk of my car, since my friend and I stumbled on this airshow quite by accident, seeing all the helicopter activity from the highway whilst driving north intending to watch the jumbos landing at SFO, from the shoreline at Burlingame.
Scott Beiser and L. Neil Smith's "Roswell, Texas"
Scott Beiser and L. Neil Smith's Roswell, Texas is now online, serialized in webcomic fashion. I believe that my dear, recently deceased friend Chris Tame has a cameo somewhere in the comic's future.
Billion Monkeys & a T-Rex
Taken a few minutes ago, on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View, California:
The person in the shot - whom I don't know - ran up to the vehicle when I was composing this shot, and jumped into frame without a care. She is of The Billion Monkey Legion of people with digicams caught by other Monkeys with digicams. One Of Us. The vehicle in the shot is a T-Rex 3-wheel superbike.
L. Neil Smith finally does a real blog
L. Neil Smith finally does a real blog, "L. Neil Smith at Random", with comments enabled. I've long thought that Neil's writing would fit the format, and now I'm sure of it.
"John Cleese's Wine for the Confused" (2004)
One of the pleasures of having a Netflix subsription is being able to add oddball titles to my queue, click-and-forget, and receive it later as a "surprise." One such title is a short wine documentary, "John Cleese's Wine for the Confused":
Wine snobs, beware: Monty Python's witty John Cleese aims to educate the masses with this enlightening, snoot-free wine guide. Cleese guides wine novices through the basics -- finding wines you like, getting the best value, and serving and storing wine at home. His vintner's tour includes lessons in wine vocabulary and identifying subtle flavors. Not a fan of snobbery in the least, Cleese also reveals how to cork up condescending sommeliers.
Cleese has a house on the Central California coast, and decided - on a shoestring budget, which he freely admits on camera - to visit a few of the local wineries, surveying products of the handful of "great grapes" (e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir). I found the tips about finding bargains in a wine seller's shop particularly useful.
Unlike a commentator in the IMDB entry, I'm not surprised Cleese would do such a documentary: in the early 90's, working for a company in London, I found the tedium of mandatory training videos greatly lessened with Cleese as presenter. He has an impressive resume of this type of stuff.
"Casinarcology": you saw it here first
OK, made-up word time: "casinarcology", from "casino" and "arcology". If you've been to Las Vegas, you've seen them, mostly Steve Wynn's properties, e.g. The Bellagio, The Venetian, etc. And unlike Paolo Soleri's Arcosanti (which I've visited), a never-to-be-finished boondoggle staffed by grad students suckered into paying for the experience of "finishing" his vision, a casinarcology works.
As far as I know, I made this word up recently. It's a bit cumbersome, but it's mine.
Are you one of 26.5 million veterans affected by the latest FedGov screwup?
The same U.S. Federal Government that expects us to "trust" them with personal data extracted by threat of prosecution - the "American Community Survey" - recently announced the theft of sensitive personal data of 26.5 million of us former military who've been discharged since 1976. My friend Dave alerted me to the story a few weeks ago, and yesterday I received a letter from the Department of Veteran Affairs cautioning me to carefully scrutinize activity on bank accounts and credit cards. Way to go, FedGov... you unaccountable fuckups.
Dear Veteran: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has recently learned that an employee took home electronic data from the VA, which he was not authorized to do and was in violation of established policies. The employee’s home was burglarized and this data was stolen. The data contained identifying information including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth for up to 26.5 million veterans and some spouses, as well as some disability ratings. As a result of this incident, information identifiable with you was potentially exposed to others. It is important to note that the affected data did not include any of VA’s electronic health records or any financial information.
Quote of the Day
I'd suggest to you that instead of taking the ACS head on, that we ought to insist on a "mandatory" statement on the ACS form and in all conversations started by Census workers such as,
"Although the ACS is 'mandatory':
1.) This has never been tested in any court. And we aren't interested in having it tested before any court because we very well might lose.
2.) The Census Bureau has no enforcement powers and the Department of Justice has its hands full doing lots of other more important things. They'd probably laugh in our faces if we referred cases to them asking them to try and collect $100 fines.
3.) No one in the history of the US has ever been fined or prosecuted for refusing to complete the Census. So the probability of your being eaten by a man eating tiger that escapes from the zoo is greater than your being fined for not competing this survey."
June 16, 2006
Barracuda for lunch today
The software company where I work has a number of free restaurants on campus. Today, I had barracuda! Nothing spectacular - it was good enough - but that's a checklist item on my To Do list that I hadn't considered. Added and checked off, all in one operation!
Sitting back seat felt weird tonight
I'm not used to sitting back seat in a small plane. Tonight I did sit backseat, during someone else's instrument training (missed approaches, VOR/RNAV/GPS approaches, etc.) and found I learned an incredible amount about instrument flying that is sometimes hard to absorb when you are in the hot seat (as I usually am).
I took the opportunity in the back seat to watch the plane's altimeter over the PIC's shoulder as I correllated it with altitude readings I was taking with the SU-1 barometer modification on my Yaesu VX-5R handheld HT. At 4000 and 5000 feet altitudes in the San Francisco Bay area, over 2 hours of flying with reported surface barometric pressures of between 29.94 and 29.98 inches of mercury, without calibration, I was getting agreement ranging from 0 to 200 feet. It'll be interesting to see how much better the agreement is after I RTFM and do a pre-flight calibration.
June 15, 2006
The "e over m" experiment
Two nights ago, in physics lab, we replicated a version of the famous "e over m" experiment of J.J. Thompson, to experimentally determine the ratio of the charge of an electron to its mass, using a Helmholtz coil apparatus:
I took this grainy shot in relative dark with my Treo 650 cellphone, since the flash on my Sony would have been disruptive. This is a transfixing sight: a beam of electrons fluorescing in a rarified Helium tube, produced by a thermionic emission apparatus, made circular by a nearly uniform B-field.
I am fortunate to have a lab partner - an earnest young Japanese guy - who doesn't mind that we deliberately stick around to the bitter end doing these experiments, while many of our classmates try to finish early and leave. These experiments are things of grace and beauty, and should be savored and appreciated. Oh, and it helps that we generally get very good agreement with theory in our experiments by doing so: we were within 3.12% of the theoretical electron charge to mass ratio. On nights like this, I walk home from lab feeling more content than I can describe.
"Engines of Creation" online has a new home
K. Eric Drexler informs me that his book "Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology" has a new home on his website (migrated from its previous hosting at the Foresight Institute).
Check out the attribution on the entry page... I did the work 10 years ago, but I deeply appreciate the continuing credit.
Quote of the Day
There is no such thing as a nature/nurture debate. It’s something that caught on in the media because it rhymes. You can’t have one without the other. A gene can only work in an environment that triggers it to turn on. An environment can only express its influence through an animal by turning genes on and off. You can’t impose a culture on a rock. You can only impose culture on an animal designed by genes to learn from culture.
June 05, 2006
Another "I'm glad I woke up this morning" weekend
There's nothing like hauling your ass out of bed, making the trip to the airport or marina, and just getting out:
This was a few miles out on the ocean side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Bright sun, great swells. I slept very, very well last night.
