Justin Dyal Technical Force on Force , JTF at Blue Force Gear Savannah, GA 6-7 Feb 21
The Missing Link - Technical Force on Force AAR 6-7 Feb 2021
I participated in this excellent training opportunity last weekend and it helped to open my eyes to the reality of close range gunfights in ways that had not occurred yet, and I have been in actual gunfights before, though with rifles and machineguns, but still...I am also no stranger to shoot house and other force on force training both in a military /LE and civilian training context. Having trained with Pat Rogers through his entire repertoire of CQB classes to include CQC and the continuing education class as well as training with Forge Tactical multiple times. I have both participated in .mil shoot house training and sims training evolutions and ran them as lead trainer as a company GySgt for my guys as well. All this is to say that the two days I spent with seven other guys under Justin's tutelage was mind opening in a civilian CCW context, along with exposing me to the reality of close opposed force gunfighting, when two living thinking beings are trying their best, within the training guidance provided, to prevail in a fight. Not to say that the previous training was not excellent, this was just something very different and enlightening.
We started off the class, as is usual, with introductions and a safety brief. These introductions were different however in that Justin knew all of the participants in the class from previous interactions either through the industry or training with them previously, thus instead of us introducing ourselves, Justin introduced each of us to the rest of the class. It was good to know that he thought highly of all of us and helped to confirm to each other that all present were decent shooters and students. This being a good thing because shortly we would be launching UTM's and FX rounds at each other....
We talked about what we each hoped to get out of the class. Many of us wanted the same general things from the class. Mine were a Stress Inoculation booster. Being able to bring training ideas and techniques back to work. As well as also transitioning to the reality of a CCW fight vice the .mil/.swat context of a gunfight which is the paradox that I had almost always previously trained in when conducting force on force. All my previous force on force was full kit with rifles and secondary's oriented, while this was conducted by me entirely AIWB with pistols that I regularly carry.
In my case this was LTT Beretta 92's, equipped with a FX barrels, one had a SFX300U on it, one was slick. I also had a handheld SF light clipped inside my weak hand pocket. Both holsters used were JM customs. The only consideration given to training vice reality was with spare magazine carriage, I used a ESSTAC single pouch OWB as my typical spare mag is carried in my weak side front pants pocket next to the normal carry light.... paintball mask, and gloves completed the gear list.... Marking rounds were available from Blue Force Gear at their facility for a very reasonable price, in some cases cheaper than regular 9mm ball currently.... both UTM and FX rounds were available and students utilized both systems in class depending on gun being trained with. Myself and another shooter were running LTT Berettas, while the rest of the class were running Glocks in both the 19 and 17 sizes.
Roughly half the class was running concealed while the other half were running off of duty rigs.
Marksmanship tends to degrade dramatically when conducting force on force. Justin had noted this phenomenon while serving on active duty in the Marine Corps as both a commanding officer of CQB oriented shooters and while involved in training others within the organization. Thus many of the drills we conducted were designed to help us overcome these issues while fighting a live target... He also spoke on self efficacy- which can be described simply as the belief that you can actually do what you need to do or the ability to produce a desired or intended result. If your only context with shooting is with zero opposition then you are going to have a bad time in a gunfight should you find yourself in one. No matter how good you are on the square range a fight is different. Imagine yourself standing at the bottom of a cliff looking up at a sheer wall to the top. Where you are standing is the square range, the fight is at the top of the cliff. You might be able to drag yourself up the wall without any extra assistance but you are going to arrive to the fight tired and worn out, and you might fall off on the way. A good training program involving force on force is like putting handholds into the sheer wall prior to the fight. You are still going to have to climb the wall but you can make it up safer and less tired. Justin's technical force on force class was exactly this installation of handholds, by pressure testing your already trained and some newly developed, square range skills against other skilled shooters in a safe training environment.
I don't want to do a hour by hour rehash of the class, partly because this AAR would become a novel and partly because Justin spent a lot of time developing his coursework over the last thirty five years of shooting, competing and instructing and he can teach it to you way better than I can describe it here... However I will give you some highlights. His methodology in the class is pain + reflection = progress. What this means is that we learn from our mistake's and that we will only improve by reflecting on what and how we did or performed. Course objectives included proper targeting, engaging mobile targets, performance on demand, functional accuracy at situational tempo, friendlies/ unknowns, and competitive scale identification. We also addressed the three fields of a gunfight, attacking, being attacked and joining.... We talked about speed and accuracy standards, what's good, what's good right now, and why certain organizations have picked the standards that they have, as well as what is actually realistically effective.
We also discussed how splits are not reaction time and chasing splits for time sake, while fun and useful for competition, might have diminishing returns after reaching the .25 second point, noting that .13 splits are a programmed response, not a reaction to outside stimuli.
We trained speed techniques and how they can change in the 3-5 yard range vice the 5 to 7 yard range and past 7 yards. Along with this both irons and dots were covered, trigger techniques and step in dry fire practice. We trained movement drills. We worked strong hand only and weak hand only to include draws along with reloads, grounded positions and low light techniques. We discussed and experimented with using trigger pressure to make slight sight adjustments under speed.
All of this was being done while another student was doing his best to engage you, at times with other students moving in and around the two shooters in order to create no shoots or force you to move to a more advantageous position in order to get your shots.
Each time we completed a exercise Justin provided a AAR sheet to each student to fill out and diagram what they did and their performance. It was incredibly useful and the easiest way to describe the sheet is it was like a dope book for long range shooting but oriented toward pistol performance. I will continue to use them in order to get the most reflection out of every shot a take on the range in training now.
Takeaways and improvements that I intend to continue working on from the course include but are not limited to the following.
- Movement and step in drills, both in live fire and dry fire.
- Use of smaller targets, both steel and paper, to force holding tighter accuracy standards.
- Walk backs working the trigger shift drills
- Shooting from more positions than just the standing with pistols
- SHO and WHO shooting
- The trigger is the boss, using trigger pressure to clean up sights for the shot
The last thing I want to cover is the training venue. Blue Force Gear has a awesome facility down in Pooler GA, and Chris Sizelove, their director of training, is a great student , instructor and dude who is seriously dedicated to the industry and bringing in the best that is available for training opportunities, If you have a chance to take a class there, don't miss it.
