Centrifuge Training Vehicle CQB (L/E only)
Name of Company – Centrifuge Training
Instructor – Will Petty
Type of Course – Vehicle CQB, L/E End User
Date of Course - 5/7-8/18
Location of course – Arcata, CA (Way, way northern Cal)
Gear – Safariland / TCI Liberator HP; DBT/CAT Level IIIA soft armor; full-size 9mm M&P 2.0 with thumb safety and X300A-U; Eagle Ind. / HSGI / Safariland / BFG / Blade-Tech teaching belt; Mechanix gloves. As close to my regular patrol set-up as I could get without trashing my work stuff.
Note: Centrifuge does a decent, normal human version of this class as well. However, not having attended it I do not know how it differs.
I have wanted to take Will’s classes for quite a while now. I was signed up to take an instructor class from him back in ’15 or ’16. I got a last-minute subpoena (which was canceled). The company he was with back then NEVER responded to my requests for a refund.
When the class date was announced, I reached out to Centrifuge. While they did not receive any roll-overs, financially or otherwise from the other company, Will’s wife Angela addressed the issue. My thanks to her.
Why this class? Cops do a metric buttload of work, real work, in & around cars. That’s been confirmed in patrol, gang suppression, and narcotics – never mind in reviewing our events. However, sadly, we don’t get to train in that environ near as much as we should.
Secondly, having seen a lot of Will’s material out there, and in talking with students of his who understand the cop world, it was clear he looks at actual domestic L/E data to build his stuff.
Communication with Centrifuge ahead of time was easy. Several of the deputies who work for me or teach at the office took the class as well. Even with typical cop scheduling issues, Centrifuge worked with them to get matters addressed.
Day #1 – After student intros, Will went into his safety / med brief. It is solid, and he went into the Why behind his way of doing it. One of the Why’s was to shift the mindset onto the environment from whatever was going on beforehand and after class. The emphasis was on Safe Shooters rather than safe ranges.
It was made clear this was a class on solving problems in & around vehicles rather than just a shooting class. The shooting was part of how those problems were going to be solved. A significant percentage of domestic L/E shootings occur in or around cars. Those events last about 8-10 seconds max. Time to break contact, find a cinderblock wall, run to it, and then re-engage the Bad Guy doesn’t exist.
The class was warmed up at about 7 yards. Always interesting to see your fellow students’ targets. Then we went into the four positions needed for the class – standing, squatting, kneeling, and urban prone. Since squatting is a decent mix of the ability to best use what ballistic protection a car provides while retaining the ability to move, every day is leg day at a VCQB class. His kneeling involves dropping straight down, no steps forward or back. Also, it isn’t on the bottom of the ; instead it has the inside of the foot, ankle, calf, & knee contacting mother earth.
Reloads and malfunction clearances had to take into account the presence of partners, others, friendlies, and no-shoots. As a result, not everything could be in the “workspace.”
Next was vehicle ballistics. Vehicle construction standards and energy absorption were discussed then demonstrated. Next, the governmental agencies that address vehicles were reviewed. Then we shot the cars – 9mm, .40SW, .45ACP, 12ga 00Buck & slug, .223, and finally .50BMG at went into the poor car. It over two magazines to the B pillar for rounds to punch through & exit the far side of the ride. .50BMG rounds kept deflecting.
Will did not insist a car is impenetrable. He didn't. He addresses better places to work when you are stuck at or right around the car. Petty compared the sizes of the A, B, and C pillars to rifle rated armor plates - that was of interest to me given some of the commentary out there about this material.
In working a live-fire drill after that, a student had one of the more significant safety issues I’d seen in a class. Having run his handgun dry, he turned to move to the rear of the car and muzzled the entire class while trying to reload. Will stopped the drill, addressed the issue, and benched the student. The student was allowed to remain on the range; however, he could not do anything live for the remaining day and a half of the course. I was impressed with how Will handled it.
Individual drills – drills, not scenarios, turned into team runs. They had you work through the positions while taking advantage of the limited protection provided the vehicle’s construction.
There are a gamut of ready positions out there. (As much as I like a doctrinal low ready with a threat area, Spaulding’s arc of ready is the best set-up I’ve seen.) There are also movement positions; whether that movement is rotational or point A to B. If you’ve read what Max Joseph has to say on how Sul came to be, you’ll realize it is a movement position, not a ready position. Will’s temple index is very similar, and it is for moving in or around others in very close proximity where down or sideways isn’t safe either. The thumb goes against the bottom of the ear or ear muffs, and the muzzle goes vertical. Moving a pistol across, around yourself while seated in a car (or kneeling next to it) isn’t viable in SUL.
I was introduced to Holster Index as well – pinning the side of the pistol to the side of the holster when your front isn’t clear, but you still need to run. I like it enough to work with it down the road.
Interesting comparisons were made between cars & rooms, cars in parking lots & buildings.
In short, there is a time & a place for different things.
Around 4 pm, working off a theory I first heard PatMac express that of ‘Train to capability, ability, not to time’ Will called it for the day. He gave us an overview of the next day. Moreover, he gave a caveat not to show up hung-over or thinking about the drive home at the end of the day.
Day #2
We started with a two-man, multiple targets, vehicle engage / bail-out – engage drill. First dry and then live.
Next up was individual and two cop team movement between cars, four of them, each resulting in a different problem, different drill. Four separate drills to problem solve on, not one big scenario. He added medical issues to the mix along with the problems we were already solving.
Will’s alphabet soup drill was run several times, in different ways – solo, team, and solo around multiple cars. That last one was the final run of the day.
Since the real test of someone’s intelligence is how much they agree with you, Will’s belief in tactical reloads is pretty damn smart. He also has a take on scan & assess that addresses tragic deaths in the cop world while translating to non-L/E situations – it mirrors Dave Spaulding’s material.
I did enjoy Will’s commentary on instructors who snag others curriculum without putting in the work or giving credit. Cops are taking free classes from him at conferences and then wanting his POI … doh.
CONTEXT is a word that fortunately seems to be getting much use in the training community of late. Good. While I know Will does an open enrollment version of this class (which is applicable), he emphasizes the domestic police work foundation for the class. I’ve been fortunate to have worked in different L/E assignments and have gotten to train with others over the years. DEA high-risk vehicle stuff in the 90s was "interesting" when contrasted with our tactics; had a chance to work around cars at Howe’s place; and went through classes on both vehicle defense and vehicle takedowns with Reitz and other LAPD (Metro, SIS) guys. I like and truly appreciate the focus on what we do as officers and deputies – not what I experienced as a mounted, heavy weapons squad leader in the current fight – and what is relevant here in the U.S.
Bringing information and material from the governmental entities that regulate our cars made sense and is needed information. Material like that explains why a vehicle's cage gives some protection.
Research on available data about what threats we are indeed facing CONUS was valid. I’ve got a similar project simmering in this area that I’ll get to now that I've almost finished my work on vehicle stops and approaches.
Finally, why indexing the pistol against your holster or the side of your head makes sense within the context of your environment & what is going on was well done.
So, the humorous. I’m a full-size cop. In a team run, Will added a medical component. On my run, my partner was a former collegiate wrestler in the 150-160lb range. I was deemed to have had a heart attack, and he had to move me. When he tried picking me up, we both toppled over, impacting the earth at speed. We ended up putting on TQs instead.
