Here are takeaways from our training. These after action reports are references for the students who took a given course. They contain summaries of training conducted, explanations of concepts, feedback on performance, and suggestions for future practice of the skills we worked on. Many of the classes we’ve taught are documented elsewhere and in different ways, but when appropriate we post training summaries here for ease of student access. With rare exceptions, almost all of these are password protected.
This was just a practice session to knock some of the rust off. But range time is too precious to waste simply converting cartridges into empty cases. Every drill and role-playing scenario we did reinforced an important skill or tactical concept. I document those skills and drills here so the participants can replicate them, should they desire, in future practice.
The staff of the Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter have some obligation to protect their felines, in addition to their staff and volunteers. ICSAVE provided them with a half-day of Violence Avoidance and Survival training, with an emphasis on Spree Violence Response.
This was an introduction to pepper spray for security teams guarding houses of worship. We progressed from didactic training about OC, the Law, and Use-of-Force, to drills and guided scenarios training retention, use, storage, contraindications, decontamination, and fallback plans should OC fail to induce subject compliance.
This day and night scenario-based training allowed students who already had a strong foundation in firearms safety, marksmanship, and manipulations to hone their skills with weapon mounted lights, handheld flashlights, NODs, and other gear, in simulations replicating real-world incidents.
This class focused on specific applications for methods that are sometimes needed but rarely practiced.
This report summarizes training conducted during the Friday elective periods of a Montessori middle school.
This three-hour Bleeding Control class was taught by volunteers of Integrated Community Solutions to Active Violence Events. Our emphasis was on stopping the killing before stopping the dying. Afterward, we taught some blocks on how not to be taken hostage, and off-lining handguns.
This was the third class Heloderm did for a British television company needing training for their crews doing ride-alongs with a sheriff’s department in the American Southwest.
A TV production company from the UK was in Tucson to film a documentary with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Before they could “ride along” with the deputies, the production company insisted they have some form of Care Under Fire / Tactical Survival training. This summarizes what we taught them, and why.
If you ask educators what their worst case scenario would be, most would respond “active shooter.” But there is something worse: a school siege, like at Beslan or West Nickel Mines School. This bonus material to biennial Pediatric First Aid training for educators included case studies of hostage situations and some practice in how to escape from, survive, and / or resist a school siege.
This class was for female summer employees of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
To reduce the dreadful number of MMIW, Missing / Murdered Indigenous Women, several volunteers taught ladies of the San Xavier District, Tohono O’odham Nation, how to protect themselves.
Our emphasis in this semester’s First Aid elective was Fire Safety. Students learned how to put out fires and how to escape from burning structures without dying of smoke inhalation later. Most importantly, we established guidelines for quickly determining when a fire is getting too big to fight.
This class was conducted in three parts: The first was indoor dry runs, learning the hows (and more importantly, whys) of clearing structures. The second was outdoor dry and live-fire practice emphasizing teamwork in flanking and movement by bounds. The last part of the class was back indoors, integrating flashlights into our methods for clearing structures in low light situations.
This in-home course for a single mom and her son was parts I – III of Heloderm’s May / Can / Should curriculum, along with some demonstrations and a site survey with suggestions and practice for defending the mom’s home.
Parents and educators requested a self-defense type elective for middle schoolers at a Montessori school, in the Fall semester of 2024. We sent out a tentative outline of the subjects we thought to address, and several students enrolled. This document summarizes what we covered in class, and why.
This refresher training was part of continuing education for volunteer security teams guarding houses of worship in the Phoenix metro area. The training took place at Gunsite Academy. After doing “dry” room clearing with SIRT pistols in the Playhouse, live fire in the Pit shoot house, and live fire on the Urban Scrambler, students rotated to the TacMed skills station on the Shotquad range. This article details what medical skills were trained and why.
In this live-fire class we trained handgun in the am, and carbine in the afternoon.
Periodically over the last few years, Heloderm has worked with a preschool to train their personnel, harden their facilities, and develop practical action plans for the event of violence and other emergencies. This time, we reviewed Run Hide Fight principles (about a third of the students had not been in previous sessions) before EXERCISING their plans. Simulations included stimulus (blank fire) and the actual communications systems they have to use. This post summarizes what was trained on 05 Aug 2024, and why.
This advanced Bleeding Control, Pediatric First Aid, and All Ages (Infant, Child and Adult) CPR / AED program was for educators at a Montessori school, most of whom had previously trained to a basic proficiency level, and were looking for more challenges.
This class for a mother and daughter focused on empty hands techniques and strategies to stay safe while jogging and dating. We also touched on Active Violence survival, bomb threats, and resisting carjack / abduction attempts.
Hermosa Montessori school offers the Health and Safety Institute (HSI) Pediatric First Aid with Child, Infant, and Adult CPR & AED course for their older students. HSI is also known as the American Safety & Health Institute, or ASHI. Spring Semester 2024 …
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Teachers at a Lutheran pre-school spent an hour learning how to off-line various pistols, as continuing education in support of their school’s emergency action plan. There was also some exposure to countering edged weapons attacks. Although we did not expect anyone to achieve mastery in the limited time available, we hoped that this brief exposure at least convinced them they can defend their kids if necessary, even if unarmed and facing kinetic threats. This training summary outlines what was taught and why on February 5, 2024.
The Friday before 2023’s annual AZ CSN Defending the Flock conference, we did four hour sessions to get deeper into subjects we could only touch upon during an hour and half breakout session. Two of those dealt with movement, and how it’s not always possible to get off the X. This annotated training outline covers aspects of hostage rescue and how proxemics affect use of force.
This was the second part of a free Firearms Safety class for one first-time gun owner, and a Defensive Handgun class for both students.
This in-home session was a free Firearms Safety course for a first-time gun owner and an intro to Defensive Pistol for both students.
This Intro to Shotgun course exposed the students to various aspects of the shotgun as a defensive tool.
Students took the didactic portions of this Pediatric First Aid with all-ages CPR and AED course via computer; this post explains what was taught in the classroom and why.
These 2 hour and a half breakout sessions at the annual Defending the Flock conference focused on practicing effective upward off-lines. We also did some stress inoculation while practicing movement off the railroad tracks (the Deadly Diamond) and movement to flank. To a lesser extent we practiced disarms and lateral off-lines to protect a third party.
This bended learning class for Jr high school students took place on Fridays over the course of the Fall 2022 semester. This resource for the students documents what was taught and why.
This class for new gun owners focused on how to maintain their recently acquired firearms. We also covered trouble shooting and function checks for both auto pistol & revolver. We practiced field stripping a Glock and demonstrated the proper way to remove a Smith & Wesson side plate without warping it.
This was the second of two classes for educators at a pre-K to 8th grade school. In this session we practiced movement in response to stimulus (blanks from an AK), communication, and response to thrown IEDs. This summary adds additional detail regarding IED searches and recognition. We finished by practicing evacuation, researching useful escape routes from that mostly glass-walled school.
This course included initial familiarization fire for new gun owners. However, we didn’t stop there. We practiced using speed loaders and topping off a partially expended cylinder, as well as slide locked (emergency) reloads, and proactive reloads (topping off) with a Glock. Students practiced shooting while moving laterally, as well as decision fire.
This class, the first of two that summer for educators at a pre-K through 8th grade school, covered preliminary defensive concepts. We practiced getting inside minimum effective range, metsubishi, vertically off lining an assailant’s pistol, and inducing long gun stoppages.
This was an opportunity for people considering purchasing a firearm, or another firearm, or just wanting to practice, to be able to shoot any of several different types of handguns, and some long guns.
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.
Students in this dynamic course practiced how to safely conduct force-on-force exercises, while learning various concepts of interpersonal confrontation.
The family who requested this course practiced how to save severely injured persons under less than ideal, extended care conditions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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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.
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. Â We try to do that periodically, to give our wonderful volunteer range safety officers (RSOs), adjunct instructors, their friends, and family …
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,
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.
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.
 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.
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 …
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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 …
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.
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.
This Annotated Training Outline documents an in-home class for a single mom and her young adult son.
This course had two main goals and a few tertiary ones. Primarily, we aimed to develop safe “real world” gun handling skills the Army Explorers could take with them as they transition to adulthood, in or out of the military. Secondly, actually handling lethal instruments–whether it’s a rifle, a car, or a fork lift, develops personal responsibility in ways they can’t get from computer-based training. Tertiary goals included familiarization and just having fun.
This course included didactic, in-home dry practice manipulations during the early afternoon, and an afternoon / evening live-fire component, for a father / daughter pair. It included hooded (blind) stoppage reduction drills, low light shooting (with and without flashlights), ground-fighting / downed operator drills, impeded slide movement, oblique / lateral movement, retention with and without a flashlight, RMR familiarization, and target discrimination (“shoot / don’t shoot”) drills.
This three-part course started in a home, with discussion of the Arizona state law regarding Use of Force, as well as more universal self defense principles. It also included scenario-based decision shooting drills and rape / abduction prevention in and around cars. Part II was a live fire qualification component from 1.5 to 25 yards. Part III was back at home and included off lines, disarms, retention, defensive tactics, and the use of pepper spray.
These clinics took place in three phases. The daylight and low light pistol phases focused on speed and accuracy while managing competitive stress, matching participant against participant in live-fire steel plate “dueling tree” force on force. The shotgun phase was more scenario driven, but covered a wide range of shotgun manipulations and techniques. The main goal of the shotgun clinic was for each operator to gain an intimate knowledge and feel for what their scattergun will and will not do at different distances and under various operational conditions.
This state licensed armed security guard was trained and qualified by his agency on a Glock auto pistol. Then they issued him a revolver. There is so much more to mastering a wheel gun than “point, pull and pray”–especially if, like this security professional, you might need to bet your life on it. Fortunately, there are still a few of us “Sgt Roger Murtaughs” around.
