This course is geared towards those who already have a basic foundation in operating a handgun, and want to learn more about how to use one in a fight. The main emphasis of this class is the close range fight, …
Camp Fury is an opportunity for adolescent girls to learn more about public safety careers, by practicing skills they would pick up at a fire or law enforcement academy. This after action report documents CPR training they received during Tucson’s Camp Fury 2022.
Students from a Tucson Junior High school learned principles of patient movement, both hand-carried and via improvised and purpose-built litters. This series of outdoor exercises, conducted over two days, developed teamwork, communication, and personal responsibility. But the main lesson was that we don’t NEED to be helpless in an emergency; we can be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.
Students in this live-fire course practiced moving safely with and around one another in teams, while engaging targets through 360 degrees, while avoiding line of fire issues with bystanders around and behind threats.
This article is about the best moment of my law enforcement career. To understand why it was the best, you also have to know a little about the worst day of my career.
Students in this dynamic course practiced how to safely conduct force-on-force exercises, while learning various concepts of interpersonal confrontation.
Threats may choose to take you in the open. Here are some field expedient things you can substitute for cover if you are bushwhacked in a “cover deficit.”
The family who requested this course practiced how to save severely injured persons under less than ideal, extended care conditions.
Our lead instructor is an NRA trained Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, and Law Enforcement Submachine Gun instructor. Several of our adjunct instructors are NRA certified as well. If you request an NRA specific course, such as a Women on Target instructional …
One of the trainers for this in-home class was a World Taekwondo Federation 4th degree Black Belt, but the course was only half about edged weapons. We also covered the advantages and weaknesses of other interpersonal weapons, and numerous other defensive concepts.
Weapons and tactics being mutually dependent, this article addresses both the Byrna pepperball launcher and the Use of Force contexts in which one might be useful–as well as when it probably wouldn’t.
This AAR documents two classes: an in-home introduction to defensive concepts in general and firearms in particular, as well as a live fire intro to firearms safety and handling.
This posting, partially from notes I took during the Thunder Ranch Old Rifle course, briefly addresses the development of bayonets, my limited experience with them, the sad demise of bayonet training, and attempts to use the pistol as a substitute close quarters tool.
Here are takeaways I got from Old Rifle, my first course at Clint and Heidi Smith’s Thunder Ranch.
A small “tactical” flashlight can be a useful force multiplier for personal defense. It’s quicker to use and brighter than a cell phone light. It also hurts more when used for striking. Some flashlights come with crenelated bezels, essentially making them edged weapons. This article explores different use of force options, examining landmark court cases relating to the use of impact tools, and flashlights as impact tools. It also addresses some aspects of race relations as they pertain to the optics of using force.
This article shares lessons I’ve learned about night sights in the field. Do you need them? What are some of your options? Advantages and disadvantages of the different kinds? Read this to learn more.
Iron Sights have been with us since there were firearms. Now, an entire generation has come up using reflex optics as a primary rifle sight. At the same time, police academies that used to require some pistol shooting at 50 …
Students in this pro bono course ranged in age from mid-teens to 80. We covered a wide range of interpersonal confrontation scenarios, and practiced various means of deterring, preventing, and responding to assaults.
This article explains and gives examples of why it’s vitally important to learn tactical skills right from the git-go, rather than starting with marksmanship-based, square flat range training and then trying to make a slow fire bullseye shooter into a fighter. We also tell you how to unlearn bad habits, if it’s too late for you to start the right way.
In this practice session was a series of close quarters, live fire exercises, including pistol as an impact tool, movement off the X, different types of reloads, supine fire, and Detective John Hobbs drills.
This op-ed, written in the dark days of the early 2020s, clarifies a misleading statement by the media. Students of force application can learn from its breakdown and analysis of the Fleeing Felon doctrine, especially Tennessee v. Garner. It wraps with some advice for responsibly armed citizens.
This article explains the whys and wherefores of everyone’s favorite part of the Kalashnikov series: the right side mounted mode-of-fire selector lever.
Not every human problem has a ballistic solution. But some situations that don’t still require some level of force application. Heloderm will teach you how to use your pepper spray, walking stick, expandable baton, Taser, bike lock on a chain, …
Intermediate Force: OC, Batons, and Improvised Weapons Read more »
This tribute to my Olympic Arena coach details lessons learned during three 6-month seasons of daily force on force competition, and beyond. It also explains some lesser understood aspects of nuclear deterrence and security, particularly during the second half of the 1980s, the climax of the Cold War.
Here are definitions of some concepts we teach you about in our classes. Sometimes different trainers use different words to mean the same things; this glossary will hopefully help you clarify some of the “tacticool” words that get bandied about …
The tragic shooting of 07 May 2019 has several lessons you should learn, paid for in blood. Here are some of them.
In addition to the HSI Pediatric First Aid, CPR, and AED course, and the ACS Stop the Bleed 2.0 curriculum, this course included a still water rescue component taught in a pool by certified lifeguards.
This live-fire, day and night course covered a variety of defensive concepts, including close quarters battle drills, safe movement around one another with pistols out, bent elbow fire, shooting while moving, flashlight technique, and decision shooting. Half the students were instructors, learning how to teach these drills and concepts.
This pro bono class at a church young ladies retreat was taught in two age-appropriate sessions: one for young girls and one for adolescents. We practiced a wide range of defensive concepts, including avoidance, deterrence, escape, and use of force.
This class for a young coed en route to college for the first time covered lawful use of force (in the home state as well as at the out of state destination), empty hands control techniques, advantages and drawbacks of different types of OC dispensers, retention, moral and ethical considerations, decontamination, transport, and storage. In addition to various role playing exercises with role players and inert dispensers, our capstone involved shooting real pepper spray and indirect exposure.
This in-home session covered a wide array of defensive concepts and drills, culminating in marksmanship practice with Airsoft pellets vs a photographic bad guy target. These included one handed firing, Center Axis Relock, and supine.
Something like 16 out of 17 times, when an armed citizen draws a gun in self defense, NO shots are fired. But the mere presence of a firearm, without relevant, practical, realistic training, will not ward off evil spirits like some magic talisman. Here are some dos and don’ts of how to tell a crook to go assault someone else.
This live fire session included close order battle drills with partners, as well as force-on-force demonstrations, holster work, challenging a suspect, Tom & Jerry drills, ricochet demos, shooting while moving, V to L, Center Axis Relock, close contact fire, and Wyatt protocols.
Most Americans believe we won the Revolutionary war by sniping at the Redcoats from behind trees and boulders. Not true. Our troops did a lot of that, especially in the opening days of the war, when we were losing. Such …
Baron von Steuben and Well Regulated American Volley Fire Read more »
Butch Rupert was a an expert marksman, an exemplary shooting coach, and a wise mentor. Here are some things I learned from him.
John Fox was ALL IN. He gave what little he had, and everything he was ever going to have, to save the lives of his fellow American GIs, and to liberate not only his own people, but all of Europe and the entire world, from the yoke of Nazi fascism.
Call it what you want. Some call them PDWs, personal defense weapons, after a unique brand of firearms initially considered for downed aircrew survival. Some call them “AR pistols” and “AK pistols.” Those are legal terms for getting around silly …
In this era of rifle-caliber pistols and SBRs, AKS-74U clones such as the Draco are popular as personal defense weapons. They are certainly more handy inside an automobile and easier to fit into a backpack or briefcase than longer carbines and rifles. If you own one, this article may help you appreciate the history and lore of your chosen system. It offers some lesser known details about the development and Western discovery of the AKS-74U, which we erroneously called a “Krinkov” for years.
Most people get guns for “GPs,” general purposes. But, like golf clubs, different guns have different niches in your battle plan. Before you get a gun (or another gun), you should have some idea what you plan to accomplish with …
This live fire class focused on AK-specific handling and marksmanship skills, although there was one CZ Scorpion in attendance. We learned off-lines and disarms as a vehicle leading us to retention: how to keep your AK when someone close is trying to take it away. We practiced means, such as “junkyard prone” for clearing cover with the muzzle while exposing as little of the sight line as possible, as well as hold over to compensate for mechanical offset at close range.
These were a good idea long before ammunition became scarce. For those new to defensive pistolcraft, we give you a sound foundation on what goes on in fights, and what the limitations and advantages of firearms are, in solving human …
Ever been issued a rifle or SMG that had a 3-round burst? You were probably told it was there to keep you from spraying and praying. Poppycock. Three-round burst was created to disburse bullets, not to improve accuracy or controllability. …
On March 1 – 2, 2021, ICSAVE taught Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) to LEOs and military personnel. The majority of the students were BorSTAR and BorTAC. Most of the remainder were from the 162nd Fighter Wing of the Arizona …
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Second only to the USAAF crews who climbed into lumbering, bomb- and fuel-laden B-17s and B-24s and flew to places like Schweinfurt and Ploesti, the Tunnel Rats of Vietnam may have been some of the most courageous warriors who ever lived.
“Is George home yet?” It was our friend Ronnie, who was married to one of my fellow agents. It was mid-morning. I had gone to work at ten the previous evening, and had not yet come back. But that was …
This tale of two Melissas is really about two different types of courage, both admirable.
In this practice session we reviewed Safety, Basic Marksmanship, Impeded Slide Movement, Non-diagnostic Stoppage Reduction, Center Axis Relock, One Handed Pistol Firing, Stoppage Reduction, Projectile Launchers as Impact Tools, Movement off the Line of Attack, Holdover, the Two-Shot Rule for Distant Targets, Zones of Stoppage Reduction, and Transitions.
Traditionally, training on improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has focused on how to recognize one, or how to differentiate a “suspicious” package from any other object in your environment. We might discuss how different IEDs are constructed, or what they are …
One of the most profound turning points in my education as a rifleman occurred with an Enfield Jungle Carbine, under the tutelage of a Marine I’ll call Ray. Ray is one of my oldest and closest friends. We’d been team …
This article outlines the history of long guns in police service during the past century or so, especially the last 50 years, comparing and contrasting the different types. Although there are some important lessons for the long gun armed citizen throughout, the article concludes with information specifically for rifle armed citizens (or those who are wondering if they ought to be). Originally published in February, 2021, this article was significantly revised in September 2021.
This post outlines the whys and wherefores of various firearms handling safety systems.
We often hear those in the know referring to ARs as “carbines.” But doesn’t AR stand for Armalite Rifle? What’s the difference? Carbines were originally short rifles issued to cavalry troopers. Troopers generally fought from the saddle with a …
We used the foundational “Antelope Principle” and two-person teams as building blocks teaching the students how to conduct advanced live fire tactical training safely and productively. Topics included Safety, Antelope Drills (with increasing complexity, culminating in night evasion scenarios), the Ginger Rogers Principle, Negotiating Obstacles, Hasty Slings, How to Maximize Training Time, Role Transitions, Close Order Battle drills, and various aspects of Hostage Rescue.
On Saturday, 28 Nov 2020, Warlizard Tactical and Heloderm LLC hosted an “industry day” at our favorite firing range. We try to do that periodically, to give our wonderful volunteer range safety officers (RSOs), adjunct instructors, their friends, and family …
“Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.” I grew up on Air Force fighter bases. During my first Thunderbirds airshow, …
This was private, in-home coaching on Walther PPQ Manipulations, Marksmanship, and Defensive Mindset for a family in Oracle, Arizona.
This course addressed various aspects of fighting in and around vehicles. Topics we practiced included safety, avoidance of roadblocks, how to back out of trouble (we practiced this on a former FLETC EVO track), carjacking, look down / shoot down for passenger safety, pushing around crowds without hurting pedestrians, and engaging through 360 degrees from inside a car,
What’s the difference, when they matter, when they don’t, and why you must have several in your repertoire. Some of this was written for the training summary of our 10 Oct 2020 Pistol fundamentals class, specifically addressing aspects of grip, …
On 26 Jan 2008, Officer Jared Reston chased a shoplifting suspect out of the Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville, Florida. The suspect shot him in the chin with a .45, knocking him down. Reston said he kept trying to …
This training was for intermediate skill level shooters at a Pistol Fundamentals clinic. Topics included Safety, Ricochet and Cover demos, limitations of Car Doors as Cover, Step Over drills, Urban Prone, Recovery, Whys and Hows of Ground Fighting, Stoppage Reduction, Hooded drills, and various aspects of Concealed Carry.
Choosing a “carry condition” that fits your lifestyle and risk assessment well requires a thorough understanding of your options. What carry condition you chose will affect your safety and level of readiness, as well as how you should train for …
These two classes, which took place over two days, were Heloderm’s take on Active Violence avoidance and amelioration, although we did address Carjacking and Kidnapping on Day 2. We covered Dynamics of Confrontation, Forward Obliques with Changes of Direction, Movement of the Line of Assault, Flow of Doors, Leadership in Crisis Management (especially delegation), OpSec / ComSec, Timing, Weapons Theory, Off-lines, Disarms, Limb Pins, Fire Extinguishers as APers Tools, Beating the Killer to Secondaries, and Riding / Killing the Dragon.
A travelogue of a very cold trip to Colorado, and some limited testing we did with the Trijicon Ruggedized Miniature Reflex pistol sight under semi-arctic conditions.
Here are some salient points from the Warlizard Pistol Fundamentals clinic’s “not beginner group” (NBGs) who split off and trained on the North Range. This document also discusses training conducted before and after the split. Training Summary Pistol Fundamentals …
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This intermediate level live fire class was for previous Defensive Handgun students who had already been through didactic and close-quarters retention training in a classroom. Topics included 720 degree safety, movement in response to ambush, dealing with unknown street contacts, revolvers, Lumberjack drills, manipulations, impeded slide movement, lateral peels, shooting while moving laterally, Center Axis Relock, one handed fire, trading up to long guns or downed partner’s pistol in CQB, panning doors (clearing rooms from the outside), taking thresholds, clearing the fatal funnel, and biceps indexed retention shooting.
Not too long ago, in the Walmart parking lot at Speedway and Kolb in Tucson, three gang bangers attempted a carjacking. That being in Arizona, not Massachusetts or California, the owner of the car shot the one who threatened …
In addition to the usual flashlight techniques and other standard night fighting fare, this class included role-playing experience fragment escape and evasion scenarios with blanks. We practiced periodic blinding methods and integrating flashlight IFF with lateral movement to the left and right. Students practiced “flash & smash”” close-quarters defensive techniques, working corners with lights, and incorporating flashlights into retention fire. We also practiced night fire without flashlights, for those rare occasions when the bad guy makes his badness and intentions known. IFF and teamwork were the main themes.
Although taking cover may save you from a sniper, it won’t stop his murderous rampage. If you are fortunate enough to have an accurate scoped rifle nearby, and more importantly YOUR ABILITY TO USE IT APPROACHES YOUR RIFLE’S CAPABLITY, you may be able to save lives. This after action fleshes out several counter-sniper concepts we touched upon in this range session.
This intro to defensive use of the handgun was more than just didactic. We practiced a great many skills (“dry” but hands-on), using barrel inserts. Subjects included solving line of fire problems (what to do about bystanders); grip, hold, and stance; weapons theory; Jennifer Fulford drills; Adam Miller drills; panning thresholds; switching hands; off lines and disarms; supine and standing weapon retention; Riding and Killing the Dragon; jamming the opponent’s draw; and situational awareness. This report explains what we covered and why.
Pistol Fudnamentals students: Here is a summary of the training you attended on 08 August 2020. Thanks for braving the heat with us! Training Summary Warlizard Pistol Fundamentals clinic, NBGs (Not-beginner Group) North range, Pinal Airpark, AZ, 08 Aug 2020 …
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Students: This document summarizes the training we conducted in your level 1 Defensive Shotgun class. It’s here for you to use as a reference for future training and practice, as well as to document what was done and how we …
Protected: Basics of Defensive Shotgun, 15 Aug 2020 Read more »
Nick & Sarah: Thank you for all your attentiveness during our didactic Revolver and AR coaching session. This is my lesson plan (“training outline”) for that day, annotated with additional notes you may find useful. I’m already looking forward to …
Home invasions became popular in the 1990s. Now even spree killers are targeting people in their homes; witness the Nova Scotia killer’s arson and shooting rampage. This course is NOT just about Active Shooters. We will give you unarmed skills …
In this era of hijacked protests turned into riots, the old-fashioned “riot gun” is making a comeback. Many people still use shotguns for the bunkering down phase of home defense. But as the carbine has gained popularity, corporate knowledge of …
This session was for less experienced shooters in a Pistol Fundamentals class. Although it’s often considered “advanced,” we started teaching them to shoot from retention positions, as they are more likely to be in a close range fight than a long range one. We also covered stoppage reduction and other aspects of manipulation. This course was followed by a Use of Force lecture for CCW students.
DP1A is the first half of our celebrated introduction to FIGHTING WITH HANDGUNS. We will teach you how to keep your pistol when the bad guy tries to take yours away, even if he’s on top of you. You’ll also …
There is a misconception out there about the so-called “average” gunfight, that is often quoted as if it were Gospel. Sadly, many store clerks who perpetuate this lie, while selling new shooters guns that are hard to hold, hard to manipulate, and hard to hit with, actually believe The Lie.
One way to speed up your response to threatening situations is to reduce doubt. A great way to do that is to know, beforehand, exactly what the law says about what you can and cannot do. “Everything seemed to be …
This course took place the evening after an afternoon Managing Multiple Assailants class. After introducing various hand-held flashlight search techniques, we talked about when and when NOT to use them in practical application. We followed up with several threat identification (decision shooting), use of cover, and movement drills. Importantly, we practiced verbalization and resisting sympathetic fire.
This instructor-level class was conducted with multiple weapons systems. We covered a wide range of advanced gunfighting and teamwork concepts.
This was a joint venture between Heloderm and our partners from Warlizard Tactical. We used multiple methodologies, including simulators, Airsoft, and live fire. A great deal of the class involved movement and use of various types of cover, including Warlizard’s V-Tac type walls. We started with close quarters drills, using an (inert) AR to parry impact weapons following up with dynamic oblique movement and clothes-lining. We practiced different manipulations, including one handed stoppage reduction and fire. One target-discrimination drill involved memorizing the black and white photo of an “active shooter’s” face, sprinting about 50 meters, retrieving the AR and other gear from a car, sprinting to a different range, and finding the “suspect” in a geographically dispersed array of multiple targets with different color photo faces and a host of no-shoot “bystanders.” It culminated in transition to uniformed control of the scene without getting shot by the good guys. We practiced “swimming” in and out of slings, and several other aspects of “tactical slingology.” The last part of the class involved fighting around vehicles. Students shot automobiles to learn what their cartridges will and will not do. We demonstrated shallow-angle ricochet off car hoods. Students shot at targets through laminated windshield glass, learning likely effects upon trajectory.
This Annotated Training Outline (ATO) is the plan for the class, augmented with explanations and commentary. The class this ATO documents started indoors, with the usual into to pistol manipulations and dry practice, such as Accordion / Inch Worm drills, complemented by scenario-based Use of Force / decision shooting exercises. Live fire training included ISM, non-diagnostic stoppage reduction, close contact fire and stoppage reduction, transition to pistol as an impact tool, shooting while moving, Turning the Tide drills, trading up to a pistol dropped by a partner, panning doorways, and taking thresholds.
MMA is one of the offerings that set Heloderm apart from other training organizations from the start. Many practice IPSC-style “target transition” drills like the El Presidente. But few understand that the bad guys aren’t just going to stand there and let you shoot them, no matter how fast you are. This course was based on actual multiple assailant events, and addressed real-world concerns like flanking, and what to do if you’re surrounded.
During a killing spree in Dallas, Texas, on July 7, 2016, an officer took cover behind a large pillar. Taking fire from a suspect who ran at him, the officer ducked back behind his cover, which was very effective at …