Wayneard3413
10-07-2014, 09:13 AM
EAG Tactical Shoot House
Date: 19-22 May 2014
Location: Alliance Police Department Range
Instructors: Pat Rogers, John Spears, Steve Fisher, John Chapman, Mike S
I have been extremely fortunate in being able to attend a great number of training courses with some of the best instructors in the business over the years. That said, I was looking forward to this course for months like a kid waiting on Christmas. I was not disappointed.
I have always looked at training in a tiered approach. We can use the square range to burn in the fundamentals of marksmanship and weapons manipulations, but that is only a very small part of the puzzle. The next step up is scenario based drills. Those that incorporate varying targets, movement, cover, and an overall task or mission that is more involved than shooting a prescribed number of rounds into a particular target.
Then comes the big jump… The shoot house. We no longer know what to expect. We are in a 360 degree environment, targets hidden in rooms and it is up to use to properly uncovering them using angles and tactics to our advantage (or not). The targets are now reactive and it is up to use to engage them effectively until we reach our desired outcome (read: They are on the ground with holes where they need to be).
Until we get into Force on Force training this is as real as we can make it. This is not a shooting course, it is a problem solving course. And we would certainly have our fair share of problems to work out.
TD1 started out with student and instructor introductions. The class was populated with LE, .mil types, and some very switched on civilians. It was also very heavy with folks from the firearms and training community. This would prove useful as the course progressed and we not only learned from the instructors, but also one another.
After a short lecture and safety brief we teamed up with our partners and started working dry runs through cones. It was explained that we would find three shapes inside the house. They are L, T, and 4 ways. This was present in training back in my Army days but it was limited to hallways. We would soon learn that it could be put to use in the layout of rooms, furniture, and outdoors as well. When it finally clicked, it truly changes the way you look at the world around you.
Following a little more discussion and demonstrations of the intricacies of auctioning doors, identifying dead zones, and a quick primer on communicating with your partner, we went live. I won’t go into detail of each run. Instead I will say that each run got a little more complex and were used as building blocks incorporating the lessons from the previous.
The house at Alliance is simply amazing. It is 40x25 yards with multiple hallways, several entry points, furniture, and 5 large rooms that can be broken down into smaller rooms. I have been in this house numerous times over the years and it never gets less challenging.
Some of us came with our own partner; others were teamed up on arrival. I had planned to work with fellow PFT instructor Rob Tackett and I strongly feel this was a big advantage. We have worked with each other for several years now and it helped us get past that “handshake stage” and get to business. That is certainly not to say that we didn’t have issues. We both utilized some TTP’s from our previous backgrounds that were not suited for the task at hand. More on that later.
Another advantage was equipment. I utilized an AR pistol for the course that was configured out of an LMT 10.5” upper with an Aimpoint Micro, DBAL, and 500 lumen Surefire Scout, on top of a Midwest PX lower with a Sig Arm Brace. Since the stamp for my can wasn’t back in time, Scott Wilson of Surefire allowed me to run a loaner 7.62 Mini for the class and it was appreciated by all hands. I will be honest, I thought the idea was rather goofy when I first saw the arm brace, I was wrong. I fed the “long” gun with PMC ammo through Pmags and kept it liberally lubricated with Slip 2000. I suffered two malfunctions (including a rather nasty one in the middle of a night run) that I was able to trace back to the same magazine that has since been shit canned. For a blaster I used my M&P CORE with a Trijicon RMR, Surefire X300U with a XS glass breaker and DG switch. It ran perfectly for the entire 3 rounds that I needed to fire through it.
For load carriage I used an Eagle LE carrier with Blue Force Gear Ten Speed Pouches, RSKTKR Medical kit, and Ceradyne plates. My first line was the same Ares Gear Aegis belt and Raven Concealment mag pouch that I wore to the range. I used a Blue Force Gear VCAS sling for the AR and Raven Phantom for the M&P. I switched back and forth between a TruSpec combat shirt and a Velocity rugby shirt that is the freaking heat.
As with anything, equipment will not carry you. We did have some recurring issues on opposite side of the spectrum. I have noticed in running Marines through our house that there is a strong tendency to advance towards the target and Rob caught himself doing this a couple of times. This is a problem because it now takes me out of the fight. He has to deal with the problem on his own instead of getting two guns in the fight.
My issue was the exact opposite. I was failing to properly read some of the long rooms and move away from my partner when needed. There is a strong tendency to stay nearly side by side when moving down a skinny room. This prevented me from getting a workable angle on targets that I would have seen if I would have simply went back to running down a wall.
We both stumbled on our communications at first. We were saying things that didn’t need to be said. We also had a tendency to talk over one another which causes you to miss information. By the second day we found our groove and started moving more fluidly without as much verbal communication.
On another run I performed a reload with retention instead of tactical reload. As Pat “commented” on my choice I attempted to hurry through my reload and failed to perform a push/pull…. You can guess what happened after my first shot in the next room.
TD2-TD4 started off right out of the gate. Pat bumped back our start time so we could work in more night runs, it was much appreciated. Before our first night run, Pat presented a lecture on various TTP’s in relation to white lights. Scott Wilson then discussed the various Surefire lights and the pros and cons of each. He also allowed students to borrow various lights to see how they performed. I see the new 600 lumen Scout with the Fury head showing up in my shopping cart at some point…..
Rob had previously been running a 200 lumen Mini Scout on his rifle. He swapped it out for the Fury/Scout and the amount of light we could bring into a room was simply amazing.
Once again however, equipment can only help if you are using it properly. On one of the first night runs I learned this lesson hard. I entered a room and prosecuted a two threat targets. As I stood there admiring my work for a few second and scanning for more targets I got that empty feeling in the pit of stomach that only comes when Pat sees you messing up. Due to my position in the room and “lack of height”, I was unable to see an unknown target on the other side of an obstacle. I needed to move myself as well as the light to see past the shadows presented by objects in the room. Learning once again occurred.
There were many, many, other learning opportunities. I will attempt to go through my notes and review my helmet cam videos and update this weekend. For now I will just thank Pat and his AI’s for an awesome class. The varied background of each of them came into play and their eye for detail ensured we would have some solid feedback after each run.
As always, thanks to Mike Jones and Joe Weyer for all of their support and their Chief for putting the right guys in the right place to ensure this training goes off without a hitch.
And thanks to Tango Down, Larue Tactical, Bravo Company, Slip 2000, Magpul, Surefire, , Camelbak, TacStrike, and Peters Custom Holsters for supporting the class.
Date: 19-22 May 2014
Location: Alliance Police Department Range
Instructors: Pat Rogers, John Spears, Steve Fisher, John Chapman, Mike S
I have been extremely fortunate in being able to attend a great number of training courses with some of the best instructors in the business over the years. That said, I was looking forward to this course for months like a kid waiting on Christmas. I was not disappointed.
I have always looked at training in a tiered approach. We can use the square range to burn in the fundamentals of marksmanship and weapons manipulations, but that is only a very small part of the puzzle. The next step up is scenario based drills. Those that incorporate varying targets, movement, cover, and an overall task or mission that is more involved than shooting a prescribed number of rounds into a particular target.
Then comes the big jump… The shoot house. We no longer know what to expect. We are in a 360 degree environment, targets hidden in rooms and it is up to use to properly uncovering them using angles and tactics to our advantage (or not). The targets are now reactive and it is up to use to engage them effectively until we reach our desired outcome (read: They are on the ground with holes where they need to be).
Until we get into Force on Force training this is as real as we can make it. This is not a shooting course, it is a problem solving course. And we would certainly have our fair share of problems to work out.
TD1 started out with student and instructor introductions. The class was populated with LE, .mil types, and some very switched on civilians. It was also very heavy with folks from the firearms and training community. This would prove useful as the course progressed and we not only learned from the instructors, but also one another.
After a short lecture and safety brief we teamed up with our partners and started working dry runs through cones. It was explained that we would find three shapes inside the house. They are L, T, and 4 ways. This was present in training back in my Army days but it was limited to hallways. We would soon learn that it could be put to use in the layout of rooms, furniture, and outdoors as well. When it finally clicked, it truly changes the way you look at the world around you.
Following a little more discussion and demonstrations of the intricacies of auctioning doors, identifying dead zones, and a quick primer on communicating with your partner, we went live. I won’t go into detail of each run. Instead I will say that each run got a little more complex and were used as building blocks incorporating the lessons from the previous.
The house at Alliance is simply amazing. It is 40x25 yards with multiple hallways, several entry points, furniture, and 5 large rooms that can be broken down into smaller rooms. I have been in this house numerous times over the years and it never gets less challenging.
Some of us came with our own partner; others were teamed up on arrival. I had planned to work with fellow PFT instructor Rob Tackett and I strongly feel this was a big advantage. We have worked with each other for several years now and it helped us get past that “handshake stage” and get to business. That is certainly not to say that we didn’t have issues. We both utilized some TTP’s from our previous backgrounds that were not suited for the task at hand. More on that later.
Another advantage was equipment. I utilized an AR pistol for the course that was configured out of an LMT 10.5” upper with an Aimpoint Micro, DBAL, and 500 lumen Surefire Scout, on top of a Midwest PX lower with a Sig Arm Brace. Since the stamp for my can wasn’t back in time, Scott Wilson of Surefire allowed me to run a loaner 7.62 Mini for the class and it was appreciated by all hands. I will be honest, I thought the idea was rather goofy when I first saw the arm brace, I was wrong. I fed the “long” gun with PMC ammo through Pmags and kept it liberally lubricated with Slip 2000. I suffered two malfunctions (including a rather nasty one in the middle of a night run) that I was able to trace back to the same magazine that has since been shit canned. For a blaster I used my M&P CORE with a Trijicon RMR, Surefire X300U with a XS glass breaker and DG switch. It ran perfectly for the entire 3 rounds that I needed to fire through it.
For load carriage I used an Eagle LE carrier with Blue Force Gear Ten Speed Pouches, RSKTKR Medical kit, and Ceradyne plates. My first line was the same Ares Gear Aegis belt and Raven Concealment mag pouch that I wore to the range. I used a Blue Force Gear VCAS sling for the AR and Raven Phantom for the M&P. I switched back and forth between a TruSpec combat shirt and a Velocity rugby shirt that is the freaking heat.
As with anything, equipment will not carry you. We did have some recurring issues on opposite side of the spectrum. I have noticed in running Marines through our house that there is a strong tendency to advance towards the target and Rob caught himself doing this a couple of times. This is a problem because it now takes me out of the fight. He has to deal with the problem on his own instead of getting two guns in the fight.
My issue was the exact opposite. I was failing to properly read some of the long rooms and move away from my partner when needed. There is a strong tendency to stay nearly side by side when moving down a skinny room. This prevented me from getting a workable angle on targets that I would have seen if I would have simply went back to running down a wall.
We both stumbled on our communications at first. We were saying things that didn’t need to be said. We also had a tendency to talk over one another which causes you to miss information. By the second day we found our groove and started moving more fluidly without as much verbal communication.
On another run I performed a reload with retention instead of tactical reload. As Pat “commented” on my choice I attempted to hurry through my reload and failed to perform a push/pull…. You can guess what happened after my first shot in the next room.
TD2-TD4 started off right out of the gate. Pat bumped back our start time so we could work in more night runs, it was much appreciated. Before our first night run, Pat presented a lecture on various TTP’s in relation to white lights. Scott Wilson then discussed the various Surefire lights and the pros and cons of each. He also allowed students to borrow various lights to see how they performed. I see the new 600 lumen Scout with the Fury head showing up in my shopping cart at some point…..
Rob had previously been running a 200 lumen Mini Scout on his rifle. He swapped it out for the Fury/Scout and the amount of light we could bring into a room was simply amazing.
Once again however, equipment can only help if you are using it properly. On one of the first night runs I learned this lesson hard. I entered a room and prosecuted a two threat targets. As I stood there admiring my work for a few second and scanning for more targets I got that empty feeling in the pit of stomach that only comes when Pat sees you messing up. Due to my position in the room and “lack of height”, I was unable to see an unknown target on the other side of an obstacle. I needed to move myself as well as the light to see past the shadows presented by objects in the room. Learning once again occurred.
There were many, many, other learning opportunities. I will attempt to go through my notes and review my helmet cam videos and update this weekend. For now I will just thank Pat and his AI’s for an awesome class. The varied background of each of them came into play and their eye for detail ensured we would have some solid feedback after each run.
As always, thanks to Mike Jones and Joe Weyer for all of their support and their Chief for putting the right guys in the right place to ensure this training goes off without a hitch.
And thanks to Tango Down, Larue Tactical, Bravo Company, Slip 2000, Magpul, Surefire, , Camelbak, TacStrike, and Peters Custom Holsters for supporting the class.