Survival Arts

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.

One from my "WTF?" archives

How do I even begin to explain this one...?

A Chinatown sword stand

I picked up a decent sword stand in San Francisco's Chinatown yesterday. It's 23 inches high, $25 (apparently non-negotiable in the store from which I bought it) and comes in four matt-lacquered wood pieces with a set of wood screws. Power screwdriver in hand, I assembled it in a couple of minutes. Here it is with my Bugei Samurai Koshirae Katana:

The base is indented to hold the end of the saya in place, and seems fairly sturdy. They're available in most of the tourist gift shops in San Francisco's Chinatown. Not as common as the conventional over-the-mantlepiece (or in the tokonoma) horizontal stand, but has a nice "shotgun ready rack" aspect to it.

Day 1, Arnaud Cousergue seminar in Sacramento

I'm just about to crash soon, having come back from the first of a multi-day Bujinkan training seminar by Arnaud Cousergue of Paris (Vincennes, actually) at the Bujinkan Martial Arts Center in Sacramento, a couple of hours' drive from here.

That's Dr. Pete Lohstroh, a UC Davis reproductive biologist, and myself. Pete's interested in medical nanotechology too, by the way, but that's deliberately off topic. I really do meet cool people in this art.

The shiner I acquired Thursday night is even more pronounced in this photo, but it doesn't hurt at all anymore. On a related note, Arnaud ended the day insisting on the use of padded training weapons through the end of the year, for various reasons with which I entirely agree. To that end, on the way back from Sack-of-Tomatoes to Saint Jose, I stopped at the Home Despot near the Sacto dojo and acquired the requisite materials:

- a $1.97 bag of thin 6' bamboo rods from the Garden section
- a $1.97 6' section of 5/8" inside diameter foam copper pipe insulation

I then duct taped 3 pinky-width lengths of the bamboo together at 9-inch intervals, put that inside the foam, and placed styrofoam caps at the ends, duct taping those. I finished by taping the entire thing lengthwise.

Looks surprisingly good, and not at all like a late-night vodka fueled project. I took photos of every step of the project which I will be posting in a few days.

Time to crash now.

A padded training rokushaku-bo is a good idea

A gift from my training partner last night, and proof that padded training weapons are a good idea for some types of waza:

That's from the end of a 6-foot hickory pole, received during a sword evasion drill (sword in my hand, bo in his.) I was fortunate: my training partner had enough sensitivity to have placed the tip of the hickory right down across that eyelid into the left zygomatic arch. Pretty cool, actually.

Just returned from a 4-day tactical shotgun course

I'm rested now and recovered from last weekend's attendance at the 4-day tactical shotgun course at Front Sight Firearms Training Institute near Las Vegas, Nevada. I surprised myself by making Distinguished Graduate, so I'm now qualified to come back to attend the 4 Day Advanced Tactical Shotgun course. On the second day of training, Greg Carroll snapped this pic of me after the two of us had done our respective runs through the outdoor canyon "clean the hostage takers out" simulator exercise:

The (visible) firearm is my Benelli M1 Super 90, with a nylon tactical sling and a GG&G M3 Tactical Illuminator mounting rail in the 2 o'clock position on the foreend, not the 10 o'clock position GG&G recommends on their website (experience in a previous course having shown me that, as a right-handed longgunner, the 10 o'clock position allows the light to bump on.)

I'd last done a tactical shotgun course about 4 years ago, and so I was quite interested to see how training doctrine had changed in respect of that weapon at Front Sight. The men in the evolution I attended - those 13 in the class who were there for the full 4 days - were all at least previous attendees at another weapon systems class (e.g. defensive handgun, practical rifle) so the class was run at a slightly accelerated pace befitting the audience. Attendees were about evenly divided between cops, active duty military (a Marine heading back to Iraq soon) and private citizens, all of whom were treated exactly the same by the instructional staff, the excellent Chuck Burnett and John Pierson.

One difference I noticed was the much heavier emphasis on incorporating movement, keeping the fight dynamic, and training that way to the limited extent allowed in the "square range environment." I was particularly pleased that, after the Monday (4th day) afternoon skills test, and the "load and go" indoor tactical simulator, I was allowed to do several rounds of 2-man team shooting on the move, with my new friend David L. Loads of fun, and I was pleased to find that a walking skill I'd been cultivating the last few years, walking fast with very short tank-tread heel/toe action to keep the hips and shoulders on level planes, allowed me to get good hits moving both forward and backward, without muzzle bob.

I'm at a level of membership at Front Sight that allows me to take any firearms course free for the rest of my life, much like some golf club memberships. So, I get to take these courses again and again, which allows me not only to revisit, revive, and refine my skills, but also to work out equipment issues. I've discovered I really don't like the Lyman TacStar SideSaddle mounted on the left side of the receiver: it catches on my clothing, when loaded it dampens recoil (and hence reliability) on this recoil-operated weapon, and with the standard provided cross-receiver screw, was coming loose even though I'd installed it properly and Lock-Tited it. I guess a couple of thousand rounds will do that to the Lock-Tite. That, and I'm leery of over-tightening that screw for fear of impeding bolt travel. Oh, and there's the issue of potentially "egging out" the screw holes on the aluminum receiver. My friend David assures me that, should I care to keep the SideSaddle, I can send the weapon to a gunsmith who specializes in Class 3 firearms with aluminum receivers, experienced in setting up weapons to resist receiver failure, but I'm going to switch to keeping my slug rounds on a belt carrier anyway.

Nor am I going to solve the "problem" of having extra ammo by changing out the tube magazine from a 5 to an 8 round capacity. This is my home invasion repellant device... if I can't solve The Problem with what's available in that weapon, then I'm in a very serious situation indeed. I'm more and more preferring lighter, more maneuverable weapons the more I train, with as few bells and whistles as I can get away with. I've heard more than one long arms instructor over the years comment on how students will arrive at a course with their all-singing, all-dancing Space Gun rigs, everything mounted everywhere, only to find themselves quickly shedding equipment after the first day... especially when training in the 105 F degree desert heat. Heh.

Recommendation: check out Estate Cartridge's low-recoil 12-gauge 9-pellet 00 SWAT loads. I've used this buckshot at a previous shotgun course, and had made the decision to attend this most recent course with too little lead time to order more of the same for this class. So, I had a mere few dozen of them to use at various times during this course, instead using a mix of Winchester and Federal buckshot for most exercises. No comparison. At half the price of Federal, the Estate-branded cartridges gave outstandingly tight and nicely distributed (e.g. no annular "donuts of death") patterns, turning heads on the firing line and eliciting a number of "what are you shooting, man?" enquiries.

I had the pleasure of remaking the acquaintance of at least one old friend, who was taking a course on an adjacent range. Additionally, I was happy to have a couple of libertarian friends, longtime (but previously untrained) gunowners, take the full 4 Day Defensive Handgun course on the same weekend. Both men, Alan and Chris, came away from the experience very much more competent than when they arrived.

Quote of the Day

In my opinion, ninjutsu is not a spiritual system (outside the confines of martial training) or a religion. Some may disagree.

Asking for ninjutsu without the martial aspects would be akin to asking some Navy SEAL "I want the spiritual strength and tenacity of a Navy SEAL but I don't want to do any hard physical training."

Jeff Sherwin

A quiet moment in Beihai Park

One afternoon last week I rented an electric boat and plied around the north lake in Beihai Park. After returning the craft to the boathouse, I came across this guy doing taijiquan near the shore, practicing a jian form:

When he'd finished several iterations of the same form, he walked over to the bench where a couple of older women had been watching intently. He then started pushing the tip of the jian into the bench near them! What the hell?

Ah... it was a collapsing practice piece, neatly converting into an 8-inch assembly, which he then slipped into the carry pouch his wife held out for him. Neat! I wanted one of those jian then and there, but didn't have time left in the trip to shop for one. Rest assured it's on my shopping list for my next Beijing visit.

"The Costs of Training with the Best"

Speaking of good martial arts training, which I just mentioned I undertook last weekend with Don Angier (and the weekend before with great teachers from my own art), I just stumbled across this Jan 2005 article by Peter Boylan, "The Costs of Training with the Best" author of "Angry White Pyjamas: A Scrawny Oxford Poet Takes Lessons From The Tokyo Riot Police" (which I've read and recommend).

Boylan has some good points to make, and some sad observations to share.

Don Angier aikijiujitsu seminar, 19-20 March 2005, at Aikido of Diablo Valley

I mentioned here a couple of years ago that I attended a seminar given by Don Angier of Yanagi Ryu Aiki Jiu Jitsu. I missed last year's event in northern Californa, but I managed to make this year's event last weekend. I attended both days (as did another Bujinkan practicioner), and met one other Bujinkan student during the Sunday session at Aikido of Diablo Valley.

As has always been the case with Don's seminars, I enjoyed it immensely. Both days were Yanagi-style taijutsu training, no weapons this time (e.g. the jojutsu we did in April 2003.)

The first day, we did 3-man training involving breaking from 2-attacker both-arm wrist grabs (morote in aikido parlance). The second day, we did 2-man Yanagi "kiri dori" with reversals. Both days ended with recap training.

As usual, the training was incredibly useful: the principles of Angier's art are shared with our own, with an interestingly different emphasis on how to convey them. I didn't attend with the intent of "learning their art" - that really only happens with core Yanagi students, in their dojo environment, as is the case with us and our art - but what I do expect, as I've experienced in previous years' training with the Yanagi folks, is that I'll be able to see aspects of our own art from an outside perspective.

One solid claim I can make for training with these guys is that I'm forced to re-examine all the "unclean" (or sloppy) elements in my own movement.

Really, I can't recommend highly enough that Bujinkan students take the time to attend a seminar by this incredible 73 year old practicioner of a rare Japanese family art.

I should also add that the people I trained with, mostly aikidoka, were very good training partners, and incredibly welcoming, which made the experience all the more rewarding.

A recent attempt at training in armor

Last Tuesday night, I had the interesting, frustrating, enlightening experience of training in a few pieces of modern armor. My teacher, Dale Seago, had some observations which he wrote up on MartialTalk.com. The pics of him in armor were taken by me with my Olympus E-1; the other pics were taken by someone else with their camera.

I'd love to find an affordable set of well-constructed, wearable, Warring States Period yoroi I could train in, but the most popular set of modern-made gear, Hanwei's "Nobunaga" style armor, has gotten reviews which pretty much sum up to "good basic craftsmanship, very poorly conceived & ahistorical design." Still looking.

Quote of the Day

For a martial art to be a martial art, rather than some other form of physical expression (some other "art" entirely), its focus must remain on fighting. A truly accomplished warrior may renounce violence -- but only his or her mastery of violence makes this possible. If the style or system you study leaves you unable to defend yourself in a realistic self-defense scenario, it may indeed be an art -- but it is not martial at all. Its practitioners delude themselves if they believe that it is.

In the same vein, a martial art or martial artist whose attitude towards weapons is one of contempt, mistrust, fear, or condescension tells you volumes about its, his, or her "martialism." Weapons are force multipliers -- tools that perform the same function as hammers, levers, and pliers in that they make it easier to accomplish a specific task. As the purpose of a martial art is to deliver force against another human or group of humans, only the most ignorant of martial artists would dismiss or reject tools that make performing this task more efficient and less risky. There is no such thing as an immoral tool. There are only immoral tool users.

Phil Elmore

Excellent resource on historical Japanese armor

My Bujinkan teacher Dale Seago mentioned this a few days ago:

Some VERY good pages on Japanese armor which give a clearer understanding of why armored fighting methods are the way they are; also sections on historic Japanese clothing & accessories, the design and layout of Japanese estates during the Heian period, etc.

For those with a bent toward Humphreyesque "cultural detective work", there's an essay on "Rape as the First Act of Romance in Heian Japan" which makes it pretty clear that the feudal Japanese viewed some things quite differently from the way we do in our society today... (Whaddaya mean I should wait 'til the 3rd date?!?)

Speaking of armor... I just got back from the dojo tonight, after having had my first experience training with around 60 pounds of it (2 vests, helmet, a ruck loaded with books and a medicine ball, and ankle weights), and my lungs hurt: what an ordeal! This year's training emphasis is going to take some getting used to.

Monica White on Bujinkan training in London

Yesterday, I attended Dale Seago's "Return from Japan" seminar in San Francisco. I'm reminded that my friend Monica attended a Bujinkan seminar in London, and had some good things to say about her training experience.

A shot I didn't expect

By the title, I mean I didn't expect that my friend Andy would be taking a picture of me at this moment:

It was pretty dark in the shade of the shooting stall, in stark contrast with the sunny range, and no fill flash was used. I managed to extract a bit more information using the GIMP.

Firearm was a full-frame H&K USP in .45ACP, firing on a "hostage rescue" metal silhouette at 15 meters. Hard shot, wouldn't want to have to do that for a living. I would never seek to be in such a horrifying predicament, and certainly wouldn't want to have to use a pistol, at relative long range, unsupported, to try pulling it off. Still, one should always train for the unthinkable.

Quote of the Day

I do not believe that fighting is the primary goal of martial arts in contemporary times. I believe that it has far greater potential. Hatsumi Sensei [says] that it is to produce higher human beings and create peace. Although these may sound like lofty ideals, we have all witnessed the personal evolution of practitioners and seen the spirit of friendship flourish between countries. In many cases, the Bujinkan has created friendships between students even when their home countries were still hostile.

Martial arts provide a model of life. They teach us to be positive and resolved in the face of adversity. They teach us to seek truth (albeit at first through technique), they teach us to seek harmony rather than accord, they teach us cooperation (which is necessary during practice) and they teach us the humility to know that we must act as part of nature not contrary to it. If we must fight, then we should do so with a pure heart. To harm an opponent more than is necessary is savagery and is unbecoming of an artist. It is better that we are judged on our dignity and humanity, rather than by how fearsome we are.

In Japanese martial arts, there is a saying, ‘The sword that kills and the sword that spares’. This is usually taken to mean that the swordsman would have such skill that he could choose whether to kill or spare an opponent. Hatsumi Sensei said that there is another meaning, that one action may have included both. An example of this may have been when faced with no other choice, a samurai would have killed an attacker to prevent him from taking innocent lives. Although regretting the taking of life, his one sword cut would have killed and spared life at the same time. To make such a judgement for the correct reasons, the swordsman needed to have had a highly developed sense of humanity and justice. Taking life cannot be compared with giving life. Hurting cannot be compared to healing and destruction cannot be compared to creativity. We are not just martial practitioners, we are martial artists and we should create beauty through the movements of our bodies and hearts.

Peter King, on "Fighting"

"Fighting," by Peter King

On our dojo mailing list today, sometimes-training-buddy (and all around good guy) Irishman Stephen Ewart forwards this excellent essay, "Fighting," written by the U.K's Peter King, a superb Bujinkan practicioner and teacher with whom my friend Monica White has the privilege of training in London. An excerpt:

Hatsumi Sensei criticised martial artists who act like they are dangerous animals. He said that man has been able to use his intelligence to be able to kill dangerous animals in the world. Such people will be defeated – in a way that they had not expected, because they were outwitted by brain and not muscle. When Takamatsu Sensei was in China he was known as the Mongolian Tiger because of his martial prowess. However on his return to Japan, a friend said that he was more like a Japanese cat. Takamatsu Sensei was happy to agree. He said that, in China, it was necessary for him to be fierce like a tiger, but that now that he was back in Japan it was not. He added that women like cats and would often stroke them. Although said in humour, it illustrates the need to be hard only when needed, and then be able to return to gentleness.

Interesting bit of castle trivia

Steve Pegram passes this on:

Note the name of the castle first build specifically to protect against firearms.

The first castle in Britain to be designed specifically for defense by guns was Ravenscraig Castle located in Scotland. Built in 1460.

Steve is referring indirectly to insider trivia involving the symbol of Gunsite Academy and the interesting design of the house of its founder Col. Jeff Cooper. I'll leave the humor to insiders.

Maybe twitch games *do* help some new shooters

Today's the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. I'm reminded that a couple of weeks ago, a couple of friends of mine and I went shooting at a rifle range in northern California, taking a number of weapons including an M1 Garand rifle which probably saw action in WWII. Here, my friend Andy Chen, a brand new shooter (and 18 y/o college classmate), fires my other friend's Garand:

This was Andy's first time out shooting... and on steel reactive targets set out at 100 meters - after having been briefed on safety and weapon operation - he kept up with us two trained, experienced shooters, at least on the sandbag rests. He's spent his high school years reading military history, and knows an incredible amount of factual data on weapons history. He's also used to playing first-person shooter games - in which I've never been interested, thinking them useless for training - causing me to start to re-think my opinions of twitch games.

An older gentleman at an adjacent shooting stall took some time to discuss the Garand with Andy, pointing out that he had ordered his own Garand (which he was also shooting) from the U.S. federal government's Civilian Marksmanship Program, which I've heard about over the years, though I'd bought my own past two Garands from commercial sources.

I'm encouraging Andy to join a local CMP-affiliated club and shoot a match this summer, so that he can be eligible to buy at least a "rack grade" rifle for as low as $350... shipped Fedex directly to his door (yes, they do that)! I don't see Garands selling at gun shows for less than around $800 nowadays. Here's a very detailed and interesting account, with photos, of the experiences of two CMP participants in the purchase and shooting of their own CMP Garands.

It's especially worth noting, for California residents, that a Garand is "Kalifornia legal", making it an excellent rifle to keep locked in the trunk of one's car... just in case. Also note that a number of companies (such as Smith Enterprises) do "tanker conversions" to shorten the overall length, and one can convert the weapon to .308 caliber.

Quote of the Day

...when I saw Vlad in Carlsbad he patted my stomach and said big (fat) men make great fighters, then smiled and said they can't run away like everyone else so they have to be...

Clayton

Quote of the Day

BTW, do you know what you say to a person that walks into a gun store where you work, asks to see a "9mm Automatic" and then, when it is handed to him/her, slide back, promptly lets the slide slam jarringly shut on an empty chamber and then ejects the magazine onto the floor?

"How are you today, officer?"

Forrest Halford

Russian Systema Seminar in San Francisco, Saturday 8 May 2004

Last night in the dojo, our teacher Dale Seago inquired as to who might be attending this coming Saturday's Systema seminar to be given by Kwan Lee at Mountain Lake Park from 10am - 3pm. I'd missed the announcement from a couple of weeks ago:

I'm not in the habit of recommending other martial arts' seminars: to date, the only exception has been for those taught by Donald Angier, Soke of Yanagi ryu.

Russian Systema, however, is worth checking out. It's the closest thing I've yet seen outside "the Booj" in terms of movement, concepts, "feeling", and philosophy to what Hatsumi sensei has been trying to get across to us. To get a better sense of what I'm talking about, check out some of the discussions [here].

I'm going to be at this one myself, and I hope to see some of you there as well.

-- Dale

If I'm recovered from a hip bruise I somehow picked up in training last night, I might consider attending myself.

It was one of those nights

Last night in the dojo I was stuck. Truly, brain-locked stuck. I was the proverbial soup sandwich. It was one of the most frustrating experiences of the last several years for me. We all (those of us who strive, at least) have these occasional tests of resolve, the desire to push on. However, as I was telling myself on the ride alone home last night, I was very happy I kept going: even a bad night training is better than not having trained at all. Must keep going...

Serenity: A diary of our family's experience in moving to the country

Apologies for Bob Tipton for not having gotten back to him in email, but I'd like to take the time to announce here that he's launched an interesting new blog, "Serenity: A diary of our family's experience in moving to the country." Included is a review of handgun training at Storm Mountain and other interesting material. Oh, and he does post photos; I'm a sucker for eyecandy, so I like that.

Michael Janich Martial Blade Craft Course Review

I just got back from attending Michael Janich's Martial Blade Craft Course Levels 1&2 (MBC) this past weekend (Nov.8/9th). The class itself was hosted by Suarez International and was held at the Angeles Shooting Range just northeast of Los Angeles.

In addition to being an instructor renowned among students of edged weapons, Mr. Janich is also the author of numerous survival/self-defense books and videos published by Paladin Press.

Day/Level 1 started off with the usual (and necessary) mission statement as well as the defining of the overall goals of the classes followed by a short but informative lecture. Soon afterward, we were taught the basics which the rest of the course would build upon i.e. grip, stance, different methods of deploying a folder, Five Angles of Attack, Zones of Defense, and Defensive Responses. Afterward, we pretty much spent the rest of the day drilling on the various aspects of attack and defensive responses. We were also introduced to various drills taken from the Filipino Arts e.g. Largo Mano Flow Drill, Six-Count Flow Drill etc. in order to sharpen our technique, teach us to chain our responses and help develop an appreciation for the ability to perceive an attack and responding in a smooth and instantaneous fashion. In between all this, we were given a lecture on things to look for when choosing a folder and the numerous pros and cons of the various carry locations/positions. Later in the day, we were also given a demo on lethality and effectiveness of the fighting knife against flesh and blood targets as Mike slashed and ripped away at a pork roast (tied around a wooden dowel and wrapped in saran which was in turn sheathed by layers of denim) which was meant to simulate a human limb. The results were quite grisly but impressive.

Day/Level Two began with a brief review of Day/Level One before proceeding onto more advanced concepts/drills such as retraction cutting, Crossadas, Sumbradas, varying your range, etc. In between these comprehensive drills we were taught and given the time to practice both targetting and application for all the techniques we had spent the better part of a day and a half practicing. Towards the end of Day Two, we were also shown how the concepts and techniques that we were taught could also be applied to other contact weapons (canes, sticks, chains, belts) or in some cases, empty handed fighting.

Overall, I found the two day course to be a very gratifying experience. Mr. Janich is a top notch instructor who is not only intimately familiar with the subjects at hand but he also able to present the subjects in such a way that was easily understood and the fact that he had a sense of humor sure didn't detract from the experience.

As for the curriculum itself, I found it to be quite practical and thought provoking. The techniques taught were easy to learn and more importantly easy to apply in a real world situation. I think one of the best things about the concepts-based system of MBC is that by attaining familiarity with just a few basic concepts plus mastery over a few techniques the student is prepared for the entire spectrum of conflict involving contact weapons (or even empty hands) and this aspect of it should be very attractive to those of us who are seeking a simple, direct and highly adaptable fighting system to add to our Combative Skills Composite.

Quote of the Day

I laugh when some trainer advertises his class as “for police only,” as if that phrase somehow makes the class more advanced or the topics more "deadly." Rubbish. The state of the art resides in the private sector salles d'armes, the unofficial shooting schools.

Gabe Suarez

Course Review: Underwater Aircraft Escape with LTR

Survival Arts welcomes back old friend and contributor from the early days of this blog, Eric Cartman. - Russell

In September 1999 I had the opportunity to attend the 20th Annual SOF Convention. Part of my reason for going was to take advantage of the various training seminars offered which included jump, medical and underwater airframe escape. As it turned out most of the classes were canceled for various reasons, but the underwater airframe escape, given by Learn to Return Training Systems of Anchorage Alaska was not. Being a pilot, I this would be an interesting opportunity to expose myself to something new. Even though I had been flying for some time, I had never considered such training on my own, even though I regularly attend various training courses. The thought of what might happen if I ditched a plane or helicopter into water seemed simple enough. Emergency checklist, radio calls, open the doors or windows to keep water pressure from sealing you in, crash and exit the craft when/if you can. Seemed simple enough. Well, not really, as I was about to find out.

The Class

Training consisted of 4 hours of classroom time followed by hands-on simulator training in the hotel swimming pool. Although large facilities exist with mechanical “dunkers” which include complete sections of various airframes, LTR has also designed man-portable devices that they can bring to any facility that has a reasonably sized swimming pool.

The class consisted of about 8 people from various backgrounds from the military, law enforcement and civilian worlds. Everyone was treated pretty much the same. The class was taught by Brian Horner, the President of LTR, and John Evans. Both have extensive military and rescue experience as well as numerous other credentials. Their rescue experience became immediately evident during the initial slide show, which included a large number of photos from actual rescues. The slide presentation included some great images of helicopter ditches in progress, as well as some “rescue faux pas” such as a rescue boat getting caught up in the rotor of a sinking Sikorsky helicopter!

LTR does a lot of training of oil platform workers and others who routinely travel significant distances over water in rotorcraft. Unlike fixed wing aircraft, which tend to float even if flipped over during a water landing, helicopters have a high center of gravity and are often operated with no doors. This combination tends to lead to almost instant submersion upon completion of autorotation or, if the helicopter is well sealed, a roll-over followed by a slower inverted submersion. Many over-water rotorcraft are therefore fitted with inflatable pontoons that can be deployed in an emergency, thus allowing the craft to float upright... but even those systems can fail, as was evidenced by the picture of the sinking Sikorsky (its right pontoon developed a leak, leading to an eventual roll-over after everyone was evacuated).

The lecture covered basics such as the characteristics of survivors, heat loss and heat loss prevention. Various protective equipment and crash positions were explained, as were pre-crash techniques that one can use to reduce injuries once you get into the “ground phase” of your flight. Several generally useful tips for crash positions were provided, e.g. being certain that one’s lap belt buckle is accessible even if you are in the standard bent-over crash position. This allows you to get free of your seat even if injured or otherwise unable to sit up. There have been actual instances of people being trapped by their seatbelt. Also, the standard inflatable life vests provided on commercial jet aircraft can be worn and partially inflated to act as a cushion for the upper body upon impact.

The next segment of the lecture covered various impediments to exit after the crash, such as fire, smoke, lack of visibility due to water depth or turbidity and running out of air. This was followed by an explanation of the significance of knowing where the nearest exists are when boarding aircraft, understanding how to operate the window/door jettisons, and a technique that uses a pre-defined reference point to allow you to re-orient yourself after the crash even if you’ve had your brains well scrambled.

The final segment covered miscellaneous tidbits like the fact that fixed wing aircraft tend to sink nose first, which often results in panicked passengers and crew swimming up to the aft section where the last air bubble is and then becoming trapped due to lack of an exit point. Rescue procedures were also touched upon, including less known items such as the fact that helicopter rotors can create significant static charge on the flying craft. A rescue basket or line that is being lowered to you can give a strong shock if one reaches out to it before it touches the ground. This can also lead to ignition of spilled fuel floating on the water or ground.

With the classroom portion over, we were instructed to arrive at the hotel pool later that evening, fully clothed and with a towel…

Witch Dunking

I arrived 1900 at the hotel pool to a surreal scene. The SOF convention had a knife fighting contest that evening, so a platform was set up at one end of the pool and various “contestants” were getting ready. There was also a bar set up, and numerous people were milling around getting boozed up. Wannabes in their brand new BDUs, bikers, old Vets with beer guts, cleancut law enforcement types, manufacturer reps from the likes of Colt and H&K, press photographers and probably more than a few locals that just decided to see what was going on. The pool itself had dunking machines in the process of being set up, with an array of glaring halogen lights trained on it. It could have been the set of a James Bond movie, with the bad guys assembling their latest doomsday device. And the paramedics. Seems that the hotel insisted that an ambulance was on standby during the class lest they be held liable for something. Brian and John seemed annoyed at this last part, given that they had never had a serious injury during years of conducting such classes... not to mention that John was a Pararescueman and Brian is an EMT.

Over the next few minutes the rest of the class arrived and the first dunking machine was installed in the shallow end of the pool. The machine consisted of two aluminum crew type seats attached back-to-back on a long pole that was supported at both ends by an A-frame. This allowed the seats to sit at just above water level. The bottom of the A-frames were connected on the pool floor by a square frame which had a small vertically mounted door attached to the perimeter. If you dived under the water right next to the seats, the door looked like a cargo hatch you might find on the side of a small to medium aircraft. Two bright yellow grab handles were mounted on the frame next to each side of the door, one for each dunkee.

The infernal part of the apparatus was this: the pole to which the two seats were mounted on could rotate, thus taking both passengers from a comfortable, belted-in, upright position to being held upside down and under water in under a second. Not all that much different from the contrivances used to encourage “witches” to confess during the Inquisition. The only difference was that you got to go dual vs. solo. The following links shows the apparatus in use:

Preparing for the crash
Glug, glug...

Drowning in 4 feet of water

As it turned out, I was the last person to go through this. Not that I’m chicken or anything, it just worked out that way. Yeah. Before the simulator, we were instructed on the exact sequence of actions we should perform to get from being underwater, belted into the chair, to exiting through the make-believe aircraft hatch. The first step is to sit still until all motion stops: no point in popping your belt to get tossed around and lost in the water as it floods in. Next, you bring one of your hands to a predetermined spot on your body, such as your thigh and then, using touch, walk your fingers over to a known point that you can grab solidly, such as a door handle, arm rest or structural member. Once you have a solid grasp on this point, you pop your restraint system and pull yourself over to the hold point by contracting your arm muscles towards the torso. The purpose of this is to have a guaranteed known orientation before starting any movement towards an exit. It’s surprisingly easy to become disoriented when underwater, even when you have light and decent visibility... much less in pitch-black conditions.

I figured this was going to be easy. I had spent a lot of time in and under the water. I’d been caught and pounded into the sand by strong ocean surfs, stuck in rip tides and rivers that were so fast you couldn’t stay on your feet, and I could swim almost 50 meters under water. Now I was in the shallow end of a hotel pool, what could go wrong?

The dunker was turned over and I immediately got a snoot full of water. No nose plugs were allowed, as you don’t travel with them in the real world. Sure you can hold your nose, but at some point you need your free hand to release the seatbelt. We were told to expect this and just deal with it. Wanting to get my head upright and clear the water out of my nose, I immediately popped my belt, to hell with finding a reference point. As I fell out of the seat onto the pool bottom, I blew some air out of my nose to clear the water. Next step was to find the damn door and get topside. Hmmm, now where is the door? I was starting to notice that my air situation was getting a little uncomfortable. Yet even with my eyes open in a clear, lit pool I couldn’t seem to find that door. I knew it was only an arm's reach away, but still, no matter where I looked, no door. Ouch! My face scraped the concrete pool bottom as I was looking around. “What the hell is the pool bottom doing over there?” I thought to myself. At that point I realized that I was pretty much out of air and didn’t even know which way was up. OK, time to give it up, surface and take the well deserved barbs that will be coming. Now, which way is up? Damn, got to get some air. Since we wore clothing into the pool, the extra weight made me just about perfectly neutral in buoyancy, so there was no “floating to the top”. I then noticed the leg of one of the instructors in my peripheral vision as he approached. Probably wondering what the hell I was doing just lying on the bottom of the pool like an idiot. My orientation instantly returned and I saw the door, a few feet away. I surfaced, gasping for breath.

Once I got some air back into my lungs, the instructor explained to me what I had done wrong (dropping my restraint before having a grasp on my orientation point). I went through the simulation again, making damn sure I did exactly as I was told. No problem the second time around. Wait for the roll to stop, walk my hand out to the grab handle, drop the belt, pull myself to the handle. Once I’m at the handle I know which way is up and exactly where the door is. I’m out in 15 seconds with plenty of air left. This exercise was repeated a few times until everyone had it down.

The tunnel

We were given a break and allowed to get out of the water while another section was added to the dunker. It’s cold hanging around in dripping wet clothing, even in Las Vegas during the autumn, but it was nice to have some time to drain the 2-3 quarts of water from my sinuses. The new section added to the dunker was completely under water. A 20 foot ladder section was added to the frame at the pool bottom. The first 2-3 feet were bare and the next 10 were covered by a small tunnel made of nylon stretched over metal hoops. At the end of the tunnel was a frame that had a set of bungee cords stretched across it, and a few feet beyond that there was another aircraft type hatch, but with a more complicated latch setup. To exit the tunnel one had to worm his way through the net made of bungee cords.

We were instructed to get back in the pool two at a time and go through the same dunking routine, except that we had to exit via the tunnel. Except for some extra time and the initial novelty of the tunnel/ bungee combination, it was pretty much the same thing. After we had all been through, the new configuration we were told to gather around the instructor at the dunker side of the tunnel. We were told that our aircraft was about to ditch and we had 15 seconds to figure out what to do. Once the signal was given, everyone had to go under, and stay underwater until they exited via the hatch at the far end of the tunnel. The instructor started the countdown as we tried to organize ourselves in some reasonable fashion. At 15 seconds we all went under. It was nice to not have water up my nose this time around. I went next-to-last since I knew I could stay under for at least a minute if I were prepared. I patiently waited as people disappeared through the tunnel. As the person in front of me started in, I lined myself up and followed close behind. Knowing that there was one more person behind me, I opted to pull myself along without any leg movement. I had learned from previous experience that having people stacked up close with limbs flailing is a bad combination. Unfortunately the guy in front of me didn’t know this, and I got a nice kick in the face as he tried to get through the bungee barrier.

After this exercise we were paired up again, and got to go through the dunking routine, but with blackout goggles on. This part was surprisingly easy, once you got over the psychological aspect of “Oh shit, I can’t see, and I’m in an small enclosed space with only one way out.” The final phase was the group exit exercise again, but this time with everyone wearing blackout goggles. I made sure I was last that time and waited a few seconds after I felt the person in front of me move down the tunnel.

Each exercise was recorded and graded. People who had trouble were encouraged to repeat the exercise as many times as they were willing to go through it.

The cube

The final simulator involved a large man-sized cube built out of PVC pipe. The cube had a helicopter seat mounted inside as well as real cyclic and collective control sticks. The outside was covered with netting except for the left and right sides. The left side had a removable plexiglass window, and the right side had a pull-ring type jettisonable door. The cube was perched on the edge of the deep end of the pool. After the student climbed in, via the door, he was sealed in and then rolled off the edge by fellow students into the pool.

The instructors were always present in the water during any of the simulations, wearing dive masks, snorkels and separate air tanks and regulators ready, if someone got stuck (no one did). They would lend any required assistance, as well as watch for proper technique and cheating. Yes, people do cheat! Not everyone takes this course voluntarily. Many oil company employees are required to be certified in order to keep their jobs.

The instructors followed the sinking cube, and would add additional tumbling and rolling motion to it on the way down. Once the cube settled, the student would exit via the window or door jettison. As the night went on, this activity devolved into various taunts and prods followed by a hasty roll into the pool before the person in the cube could respond. Needless to say, every round of this led to ever more creative paybacks by the last person to be rolled in.

The cube on its way in

During the end of the class we were given the opportunity try on several cold-water survival suits (everyone was pretty well chilled from being in the water and in wet clothing for 3+ hours) as well as additional runs through the simulators. As fun as the course was, it was serious business. If you couldn’t perform the required tasks, you did not get a certificate. Several people opted out before the class was over.

I was offered more pool time in the following day’s class, but weaseled out due to still feeling like an amphibian from all the previous night’s water breathing.

About LTR: Costs & Contact Info

The basic course costs around U.S. $185, depending on where it is given. Included are a very useful information booklet and - if you pass the simulations - a certificate of completion that is good for 2 years. This certificate is required by many insurance carriers for people who routinely fly long distances over water in rotorcraft or small planes.

Although LTR is based in Alaska, they give training sessions all over the world, including cold weather survival, underwater aircraft escape using a HEEDs bottle, jungle survival, disaster & earthquake response and numerous other courses. Courses range from 2 to 96 hours of actual training time.

LTR Training Systems
230 East Potter Drive, Unit One
Anchorage, Alaska 99519
survival@alaska.net

Eric Cartman