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November 28, 2007, 08:40 PM | #1 |
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AAR - Active Shooter Response Class DCT/LMS - Albuquerque, NM
Active Shooter Response Class
Conducted by Jeff Hogan, Owner of Defensive Combat Tactics November 10/11, 2007, Albuquerque, New Mexico Sunsets are a cool thing to watch. Generally you take them in after a hard day of work, beer in hand, sometimes, if you're lucky, with a friend or seven. I had the pleasure of taking in just such ending, Defensive Combat Tactics quietly closed shop and was reborn as part of another training company. This sunset was titled 'Active Shooter Response' and was a hard, fulfilling 2 days of learn, plan, move, shoot, survive. I had a lot of unanswered questions about active shooter scenarios since my TEMS training with Tactical Solutions Group in August. Several hastily conducted exercises left me feeling somewhat lost about how to take other gun knowledgeable but otherwise untrained civilians and quickly enlist them into helping to stop an active shooter. The SWAT methodology I'd learned left me butting heads with a reserve police officers over dynamic entry versus slower methods such as fully pieing a room. Not to worry though, Jeff and DCT provided me the answer to that question and so much more. DAY ONE We started the day in the classroom going over what a lot of basic terminology of what and who an active shooter is, their general goals and levels of planning. They can stretch from basic active shooters (that rarely make the news), to intermediate level, such as Columbine, to advanced, such as the Beslan massacre. We also covered the details that separate a traditional 'barricaded gunman' from what we now term an 'active shooter'. Also we discussed a myriad of details such as how an active shooter is considered active or inactive and how a responder must adapt as the situation dynamically changes. We then covered a great deal of LE only planning that I'll not cover in depth publicly due to OPSEC issues, and the need for Tactical Emergency Medical Training at all levels, civilian, patrol and advanced teams such as SWAT. We covered chain of command and reasons why the highest ranking person may not be the 'go to guy' for immediate action teams. There was ample discussion on the three largest topics, neutralization, containment and perimeter. One of the most interesting protocols we discussed was that any 'additional resource' (read civilians offering assistance) had to recognize LE/SWAT chain of command and understand that they were to remain at a assumed post until relieved or reassigned by LE authorities. This seems rather far fetched, but in an area like Valencia County, NM where there are only 4 deputies on duty at any given time for over 2000 square miles. Relief might be a long time coming. We also covered longer range protocols such as the mostly standardized 'Incident Command System Operations', LE SOPS, Response Guidelines, Active Shooter Site Surveys, the 7 Incident Command Critical Tasks. We talked a bit about diamond stack movement, traditional stack movement, 2 man stack movement and single man room clearing on paper for the civilians and the advantages/disadvantages of each one. The final subject was personal preparedness, training, sympathetic nervous system, reaction times, mindset, running mental scenarios, ooda loop, environmental conditions (low light, cover, terrain), gross motor skills etc. After a lunch break (which wasn't nearly as bad as someone will have you believe) we headed to the range and geared up for the day. After a long morning in the class room, we were ready to stretch and learn. It's been said, this is NOT a beginners class. You should know your weapon and be able at the minimum transition between rifle and pistol smoothly, reload and repair weapons malfunctions without pause, to shoot consistent and competent failure to stop drills with both pistol and rifle, while moving both advancing and withdrawing. Sounds easy 'til ya have to do it for real. Once we all practiced this for a while we ran the New Mexico Department of Public Safety (NMDPS) 'Shoot on the Move Qualification' which is a requirement for being allowed to work in the shoothouse. Full Size Full Size Full Size Full Size Full Size Full Size After the qualification, (egoboo: I was the only one to score 100% but I had an advantage in that I've shot that particular qual several hundred times both under Jeff's instruction and I also practice it on my own), we went over and discussed shoothouse entry and exit protocol so as not to get shot. After performing an initial walk-thru we broke for the evening. One a personal note, many of us attended the wedding party of Jeff and his HH6 (they eloped to Vegas last week without telling anyone), so we went to dinner at Jeff's in-laws with many in tow and much merriment was had. I should apologize for making a practice run and cramming wedding cake icing up Hawke's nose. ? (cont) |
November 28, 2007, 08:41 PM | #2 |
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DAY TWO
We started today at 8am sharp, after gearing up we started with dry examples of one person, two person and three+ team movement. After a bit we moved immediately to live fire exercises, to which I objected. After the careful evolutions during the SWAT basic skills course, I personally felt that the class was nowhere near cohesive enough for live fire. But it turned out that there was a method to Jeff's madness. After allowing a student to shoot a hostage target, he used the mistake as a training opportunity to show that sometimes people aren't as good as they might feel that they are (no it wasn't me) and that going in with people you hadn't worked with was harder than it seems. So we ran dry fire for a while, cycling thru teams of various sizes. One of the answers I'd been looking for presented itself regarding clearing alone. Going into a room dynamically alone was too dangerous, pieing was too slow. So Jeff showed us how to pie half the room, then quick peek the last half dynamically then all while keeping one eye down the hall. Hard, yes, but do-able. Full Size Full Size Full Size Full Size Full Size Full Size After an hour or more of dry runs we resumed live fire practice. There were some bobbles, some hostages accidentally shot (mostly by LE personnel for what its worth), so those teams got to run (stimulates blood flow to the brain Jeff explained). One of the other civilian did a partial mag dump on a target and got to run for that. Jeff explained that if the wound channels of 'standard defensive response' (two rounds, COM) failed to stop the shooter, then you had to 'unplug' them accurately with aimed fire to the head. This is where the shoot on the move quals paid off. This is something I really agree with, throwing lead downrange is fun, no question, but precise shooting while on the move stops the threat, minimizes collateral injuries, conserves ammo for longer engagements and reduces liability, which plays into all of our mental game plans whether we admit it or not. |
November 28, 2007, 08:42 PM | #3 |
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Full Size Full Size Full Size Full Size Full Size Full Size One of the SWAT team members volunteered to go pick up lunch for everyone and while we waited for him to come back, four students, two civilians and two LEOs opted to try to make it thru the SWAT obstacle course. One of the civilians injured his knee and DNF'd, the other got thru the course, but didn't make the time cut, both of the deputies finished, but not in the required time. After lunch, we broke for a bit and took turns for a while shooting from the tower. We engaged steel targets at 78, 217 to 420+ meters with 223 and 9mm fire from both pistols and rifles. I couldn't get to the 400+ meter target with the 9mm AR I was running, but Tim managed to ring it several times with his Meopta scoped 10.5" SBR. After the lunch break we moved back to the shoothouse and resumed our team drills. Various sized teams, various partners, various targets (standing, prone, proper up) provided 'bodies' we had to step over, move around, fire around and get past. During breaks gunfire would randomly start in the shoothouse and we had to organize hasty teams and immediately move to the sound, find and neutralize the threat. Woe to anyone that doffed their gear during a break or had a gear failure. You went in, with who was ready and suited up. As the light grew dim on day two, we massed up for the final graded exercise. Discussed team leaders, checked, and rechecked gear and weapons, the gun fire started, the stack moved in, over the targets moving hard towards the sound of fire. A diversionary flashbang rang out, dust, smoke, confusion, yells of 'keep going to the gunfire' all playing as we ran the stack down the hall, alternating students peeling off, crossing over, buttonhooking and pieing closets as if they'd done it al their lives. I ended up covering the hall we'd come down, watching incase we had someone trying to flank us or hidden in a room we'd blitzed past. I could hear everyone calling out clear from the three big rooms with their nooks, desks, crannies and stacking back up to clear the rooms as we moved back to the main entrance. Everyone had moved hard and most important, correctly. 5 LE and 3 civilians moved, worked and covered eachother like few teams I've ever seen. It was a bit after 5 and finished clearing out the rooms and walked out, tired and sweaty onto the darkening range. And yeah, sunsets are cool to watch. |
November 28, 2007, 08:43 PM | #4 |
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Full Size Full Size Full Size (The guys that shot the hostage targets ) EPILOGUE After the LE personnel left, Dan, Heather, Tim and I spent about and hour and a half working on low light techniques on the darkening range. We were tired, but that didn't stop us from being information sponges. We went over pistol and rifle techniques with handheld and weapon mounted lights, and then incorporated those techniques into our shooting on the move. But all good things end. Finally, cleared our weapons, stripped off our armor, and began to pack. I admit, I hated to see it end. I learned a LOT. I got spend some time with some truly great teachers and fellow students. If you have the chance to train with Jeff Hogan I highly recommend it, my paragraphs don't even begin to communicate what a gifted instructor this man is. Full Size Full Size |
November 28, 2007, 08:44 PM | #5 |
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Join Date: November 28, 2007
Location: Denver CO
Posts: 123
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(Missing Pics from Day 1)
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