Had an interesting weekend in Waco...
Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 3:53 pm
What? Um no, not that interesting.
I was at the CTCTG 6th Annual Force-on-Force Training Meetup last Saturday.
We had four separate training events: First aid in an active shooter situation (airsoft FoF), improvised weapons, robbery where one gets asked questions by the police after the robbery (more airsoft FoF), and a room clearing exercise (yet more airsoft FoF).
It was quite interesting.
I think my favorite was the first aid under fire. We had a brief sit-down session on first aid, direct pressure, tourniquets, etc., then donned airsoft masks and pistols and entered a scenario where we are trying to make our way through the building and come upon an injured person while an active shooter is roaming the place. The first aid instruction was necessarily brief due to time constraints - most of the time was spent in the scenario.
This was good for me -- I am an EMT-B and have a handle on the first aid part, but conducting that in a hostile environment and keeping an eye out for the threat(s) was excellent practice. Lots of good questions to consider: Can I treat this person safely? Do I even want to try, or is it too dangerous to stop? How do I know the person is not one of the active shooters that has been wounded? Obvious questions, but it working them out under the threat of airsoft put some pressure on.
One person would play the "wounded person", one the "good guy" making his way through the building, and a third was the "spotter", giving the good guy an idea of what he was working with. At some point in the process the active shooter makes his entrance. In one scenario where I was the spotter, the good guy knelt to check on a victim -- but had his back to all three doors that entered the (big) room. Sure enough the active shooter was in the room and shot him before he could react.
When my turn came, the wounded person raised a pistol and pointed at me, saying not entirely rational things. I moved laterally as fast and far as I could shouting to drop the gun, but he didn't so I shot him before he shot me. Was he a wounded armed bad guy or a wounded armed good guy? Hmm. Dunno, but he kept pointing a gun at me and did not respond to my commands. For various reason I ended up in the middle of a large room with him before I realized he was there; if I had a do-over, I would spend a moment clearing the room from the doorway as much as I could before entering (unless I had a bad guy hot on my heels).
The rest of it was pretty interesting as well, well worth the time and money ($50) spent. We are always happy to have new members, if you want a chance to learn and practice defensive skills with handguns, empty hands, knives, rifles, in various scenarios, please come join us. There are at least three other members of TexasCHLforum in the group already, and a lot of other good people as well. This past Saturday we had about 16 guys and five gals, and finished off the event with some good BBQ.
I was at the CTCTG 6th Annual Force-on-Force Training Meetup last Saturday.
We had four separate training events: First aid in an active shooter situation (airsoft FoF), improvised weapons, robbery where one gets asked questions by the police after the robbery (more airsoft FoF), and a room clearing exercise (yet more airsoft FoF).
It was quite interesting.
I think my favorite was the first aid under fire. We had a brief sit-down session on first aid, direct pressure, tourniquets, etc., then donned airsoft masks and pistols and entered a scenario where we are trying to make our way through the building and come upon an injured person while an active shooter is roaming the place. The first aid instruction was necessarily brief due to time constraints - most of the time was spent in the scenario.
This was good for me -- I am an EMT-B and have a handle on the first aid part, but conducting that in a hostile environment and keeping an eye out for the threat(s) was excellent practice. Lots of good questions to consider: Can I treat this person safely? Do I even want to try, or is it too dangerous to stop? How do I know the person is not one of the active shooters that has been wounded? Obvious questions, but it working them out under the threat of airsoft put some pressure on.
One person would play the "wounded person", one the "good guy" making his way through the building, and a third was the "spotter", giving the good guy an idea of what he was working with. At some point in the process the active shooter makes his entrance. In one scenario where I was the spotter, the good guy knelt to check on a victim -- but had his back to all three doors that entered the (big) room. Sure enough the active shooter was in the room and shot him before he could react.
When my turn came, the wounded person raised a pistol and pointed at me, saying not entirely rational things. I moved laterally as fast and far as I could shouting to drop the gun, but he didn't so I shot him before he shot me. Was he a wounded armed bad guy or a wounded armed good guy? Hmm. Dunno, but he kept pointing a gun at me and did not respond to my commands. For various reason I ended up in the middle of a large room with him before I realized he was there; if I had a do-over, I would spend a moment clearing the room from the doorway as much as I could before entering (unless I had a bad guy hot on my heels).
The rest of it was pretty interesting as well, well worth the time and money ($50) spent. We are always happy to have new members, if you want a chance to learn and practice defensive skills with handguns, empty hands, knives, rifles, in various scenarios, please come join us. There are at least three other members of TexasCHLforum in the group already, and a lot of other good people as well. This past Saturday we had about 16 guys and five gals, and finished off the event with some good BBQ.
Different day, different venue.
