After Action.net observed the Tactical Response Force on Force class in Tucson, Arizona, on September 2 and 3, 2006. Owning a hammer does not make you a carpenter, and owning a gun does not make you a gunfighter. This class shows how you will actually react.
Course overview
- School: Tactical Response
- Instructors: Shay, Yancey Harrington and Larry
- Length: Two full days, described as more intensive than many military and law enforcement scenario courses
- Cost at the time: about $25 per hour
- Equipment: students used Glock 17 pistols modified for UTM training ammunition, which fires a small wax-tipped projectile that can break skin. It is not paintball, so full protective gear was required. Role players used revolvers with marking ammunition.
Safety
- Every student was patted down twice before entering the training area. Under stress, reflexes take over, and a knife left in a pocket could cause real injuries.
- Training guns were double-checked during loading and before every scenario.
Day one
- First drill: students paired off and tried to shoot an opponent a few yards away. Even experienced, well-trained shooters missed completely; years of conditioning never to point a gun at a person are hard to overcome. That was the point of the drill.
- Movement: next came moving drills. By the end, everyone had been shot and had shot at others, and knew they did not want to be hit again.
- Scenarios: one student at a time, from simple prompts such as leaving a movie theater for your car or meeting a friend. Role players followed rules that set when to shoot and when to let the student go. Armed with a training gun, a spare magazine and a cell phone, each student had to decide what to do.
- Debriefs: after every scenario, the student, instructors and role players reviewed what happened.
Day two
- Questions and answers, then more complex scenarios that were mental puzzles, physical challenges and habit-breakers at once.
- There were no single right answers, but wrong answers got you shot. Nobody kept score; the goal was learning how you react under pressure.
- Every student improved over the two days, and the course ended with a large final scenario and certificates.
Observations
- Marksmanship had little to do with success. What mattered were ingrained basics: movement, clearing malfunctions, scanning after the fight and staying calm.
- Under stress, much of what you know disappears and only your most ingrained habits remain.
- Watching is no substitute; decisions under pressure can only be practiced under pressure.
Takeaways
- Take at least one force on force class; it reveals what your training really built.
- Knowing when not to shoot is as important as shooting well.
- See the March 2012 Force on Force interview with James Yeager.
Originally published on After Action.net on September 13, 2006. Rebuilt from the archived report; the original photos were not preserved. See every class in the Training Log, or share your own training experience.
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)