How do I get involved?

[Airborne Cadet]

First, a little info about myself. I'm a senior criminal justice major in college and about to be commissioned as a 2lt. in the Army through ROTC, hopefully i'll get branched infantry. I'm new to TFL and was hoping you all could answer a few questions for me.
My first question is how do i get involved in the tactical arena? I am going to pursue a career in LE after i get out of the Army, and I want to learn as much as possible to make myself a better soldier/LE officer. There are a couple of ranges around here that i try to get to. Hopefully i can get my own pistol in the next few months so that I won't have to pay to shoot someone elses. BTW, can anyone suggest a good general purpose semi-auto pistol? I'm looking for something for personal defense and idpa use. So far i've fired the .40 P226 and the USP45. I liked the USP, but don't like the .45 round. I'd prefer something smaller than .45 but bigger than 9mm. This would suggest something in .40 S&W or .357SIG. Is there much difference between the USP45and 40? Anyways, back to my original query. I try to read as much material as possible about everything involving firearms, "non-lethal", weapon manipulation, self defense, gear, and so on and so forth. I realize the fact that just reading about it won't make me better, it's something that i have to get some hands-on experience. I was wondering how a 21 year old college student with limited time and finances can get more involved in this stuff, or is it something i have to wait to do when i get more involved in my Army/LE career?
Okay, last question, can anyone suggest any careers other than LE for someone with with tactical training?
Thanks in advance for your help

All the Way!

[Blackhawk]

Welcome to TFL!

Since you like to read, TFL is your library, and the search feature is your index.

If what you want to know isn't already satisfactorily covered, post questions. You'll get a bunch of answers and advice. Some of the answers will be correct and some of the advice good, but everything will be sincere.

Good luck!

[Demi Barbito]

Look here:

http://www.demibarbito.com

There is a lot of info regarding what you ask...

Demi

[Navy joe]

Get the USP40 compact, really nice gun.

[Norman Bates]

Get the USP.40C!

I'm an HK handgun fan and started with a .40F, my perfect fit. My curiosity only started there and now i own a few HKs, all handguns (.40F, .45F SS, Mark 23, .40C, P7M13 and P9S).

They're all great but, just like you, i found that the .45 somehow is not my round.

Where i live there's no capacity ban so i only lost a round trading the .40F for the .40C as a carry gun but the gun is noticeably more conceabable.

I'll also advise you to check the P7 line, i really do not like the 9mm as a defense round but, by God, those babies really let you tight squeeze your rounds where you want. The USP do tend to raise a lot in between shots.

0-0

[Airborne Cadet]

Thanks for taking the time to respond guys, i really appreciate your input and advice.

When in doubt, empty the magazine

[Soujurn]

Welcome Airborne Cadet.
I think for someone who is deeply interested in a career as a tacticle operator, the best course is to stay in the Army for as long as they'll have you.
Go Airborne, Rangers and Special Forces.
After 25 or so years of this, you will have so many choices to choose from, to speculate at this distance is foolish.
It is nice to have a general plan, but chance and circumstance will play their part too.
Perhaps after a career as a special ops guy, you will want to train others like Suarez, Stafford or Hackathorn do. Running around the country teaching, or operating from a academy somewhere like Thunder Ranch. Or maybe law enforcement will still look good.
It will be nice to have the choices.
As to a gun. Shoot everything in the calibers you mentioned.
Some guns will stand out, so trust how you shoot them and how they feel in your hand.
9mm is perfectly fine for IDPA and other shooting competitions since the amount of practice you need to stay sharp can get expensive if you are shooting something like 357sig or 45acp.
Assuming you dont reload that is.

[igor]

Since we're on the AF/CQC forum, I'd suggest you to get involved in some serious martial arts immediately. Some guidelines to make a life-long story concise :

- choose a proven path and stick to it; i.e. see to that you become proficient in one art
- not to say that you should avoid exposure to other arts, just see to that you don't just nibble bits of this and that and become "proficient" in everything, a jack of all trades...
- do not confuse competition sports with martial arts
- your main art should be something readily available anywhere, without major adjustments; because you should be able to train continuously and receive adequate teaching anywhere, your chosen career could move you around a bit, couldn't it?
- read and learn everything you can
- avoid injury the best you can
- train, train, train

My training started with a traditional karate style 17 years ago. I've also taken various stints in other arts, from some seminars to years of intensive training: judo, jujutsu, krav maga, aikido, boxing, kick boxing, kali, kyushojitsu, tuite, kempo, tai chi, kobujutsu, practical shooting and the one-year obligatory military training. I still shoot, train kobujutsu and stick to the old school karate.

Everything else I've gotten into exists within karate as well and doing those things from another point of view has helped me find and understand the content. The same thing applies to any serious, proven art with a lineage/history/established system: they're all the same candy bar in a different wrapper. You'll do fine with any widely known karate style, aikido, jujutsu (Japanese, Brazilian, German, whichever), judo, tai chi, wing chun, you name it. As long as it doesn't emphasize sports (or goes beyond the sports part, e.g. judo with atemi-waza, goshin-judo...) and employs the whole spectrum of technique (you won't get that in Western boxing or Greco-Roman wrestling alone).

I've worked private security for seven years with these tools. Now I develop business models and systems in the branch and am no longer in the field. It's a virtually firearms-free society but plenty of edged weapons to find. All thru my encounters at work I've never hit anyone with a fist or kicked anybody: good movement, positioning and grappling/manipulation skills seem to make that possible. As well as close quarters striking/tackling/off-balancing automatics.

Now, what you're going to be doing will go a bit deeper in the tactical end. You'll be able to find that content this way too: you'll need to emphasize the firearms part more than I've done (no CCW here either) but you'll find the MA all over again in movement, tactics and retention.

Good luck and keep TFLing. These people share.

[igor]

Posted double...

[Gomez]

Airborne Cadet:

Since you're going into the Army, you might want to consider looking at POWs that correspond to issue systems. The Beretta 92F/M9 and the Sig P228/M11 are completely servicable designs. You'll be able to get maximize your training time by concentrating on as few weapon platforms as possible. Also look at purchasing an AR/M4 platform. General military firearms training is quite basic and you'll want to go well beyond it in your studies. Once you know your duty station, start looking around to find out what is available. Put it on the board and someone probably knows more about the training ops in that area than you could find out without a lot of brainsweat, simply because it's their backyard.

To be well-rounded, you absolutley must develop unarmed skills to augment and compliment you weapon skills. Simple, aggressive, techniques work much better, and are internalized much quicker than long, drawn out progressions. However, time and budget allowing, there is a place for both. I'd suggest you invest in some short format/weekend courses to jumpstart your skill development and find a style/system/whatever that you'd like to train longterm. Hopefully, that way, you can continue training in a single style even when you are changing duty assignments.

11-series is the way to go, IMHO. Obviously, the Ranger Bats would be the premier 11-posting, followed by the 82nd and 101st, and then the Light Divisions (25th,10th, etc). After four years or more of basic grunt work, you will have a better understanding than most of core tactics and principals, particularly if you consciously attempt to integrate the ideas inherent in small unit tactics with the personal defense arena. If you stay in, going 18-series is the logical progression. But an 18-series without solid 11-series skills is definitely lacking.

Just some thoughts from a former 11B, 11H, 12B, 13F, 95B,

Gomez