Not really, but Tier 1 Group has recreated a 30 acre Afghani village at their facility near Memphis, Tenn. The training site is extensive yet has few of the restrictions found on government facilities. Can you imagine no night restrictions? Training scenarios can include Tagging Tracking & Locating as well as Sensitive Site Exploitation with OPFOR, or civilian role players. Additionally, the outer compound walls, doors and gates can all be explosively breached. Obviously, great pains have been taken to prepare an accurate setting. Make sure to take a look at the extensive photos on the web site.
Archive for the ‘Training’ Category
The Taliban Come to Memphis
Friday, March 12th, 2010New Magpul Dynamics Videos Coming
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010Magpul’s in-house production company Randori has put together two new videos featuring the Magpul Dynamics crew. The “Art of the Dynamic Handgun” is a natural progression from their earlier titles but they have also introduced something new, “Aerial Platform Operations” which will help the viewer develop an appreciation of the helicopter as a shooting platform.
They will be available for pre-order this week from www.magpul.com with delivery in February. See the entire new line of Magpul products at SHOT Show booth #14073.
LBT Purchases HIGH GEAR™ Brand
Monday, January 11th, 2010London Bridge Trading Company, Ltd just announced that it has purchased the HIGH GEAR™ brand from Blauer Tactical Systems USA LLC.
London Bridge will produce and distribute HIGH GEAR™ training suits including the Close Quarter Combat Chest Guard, Marking Cartridge Ready Suit, Decon Zone sanitizing system, as well as training gun and knife. Additionally, LBT plans to expand the line in the future. Blauer Tactical Systems will continue to provide training services.
Look for the full line of HIGH GEAR™ at www.londonbridgetrading.com. Be sure to visit LBT at Booth #14872 at SHOT Show.
3D Tactical Terrain Models
Sunday, January 10th, 2010During my military career, I spent a great deal of time working with various Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy (MC&G) products and I can tell you that I am impressed with this. 3D Models have been available for years, but at a premium price and to a select customer base. Additionally, they were fragile. 3D-TTM has alleviated these issues.
Manufactured from foam, the 3D Terrain Maps are durable and can be written on with dry erase markers. Each tile is 2′ x 2′ and can be combines with adjacent maps to create as large a 3D model as needed.
The map is reproduced including all marking such as gridlines, but terrain features are “brought to life” and rendered in full 3D. This gives the use a real appreciation for contour lines found on a flat map. Check out the example below of the infamous “Tenino” map used for basic map reading training throughout the Army.
In addition for the obvious use by NCO academies, ROTC detachments, and Advanced Individual Training courses they are perfect for training locations that are used regularly such as NTC, JRTC, and even local ranges. Another interesting idea is to also have terrain maps produced for areas where a unit is constantly operating to allow small unit leaders to conduct detailed sand table briefings. I can also see these coming in handy for Law Enforcement as well as public safety professionals.
Check out www.3dtacticalterrainmodels.com for more info.
High Caliber Training
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Our friends over at EOTAC gave a us a heads up about the new Tier 1 Group offshoot High Caliber Training. They both share the same 780+ acre training facility located near Memphis. They also share many instructors but T1G maintains a military and law enforcement focus while the HCT concentrates more on civilian training. However, it isn’t all that HCT does, as they run several LE courses as well.
Neither T1G nor HCT are part of the Freedom Group as often reported but rather are owned by Cerberus who also owns the Freedom Group. You can definitely see that they are sister companies when you take a look at the course catalog which caters to the Remington, DPMS and Bushmaster brands.
Zombie Targets
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
One of our readers clued us in on these new targets featuring zombie silhouettes. Billed as “The only target that will eat your brain”, many will find these entertaining and a nice diversion from standard targets. In addition to the four different black and white figures offered by the manufacturer, Law Enforcement Targets has six different color versions including the dreaded Frans - Nazi Zombie. Each target is 25″ x 35″ and printed on 60 lbs paper. Competition-style target zones are included on the torso and brain but cannot be seen from a distance.
They are available, aptly enough, from www.zombietargets.net.
03 Modular Split Front Chest Harness
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009The 03 Modular Split Front Chest Harness was developed by serving Law Enforcement Officer Jeff Carpenter in order to satisfy his needs for a tailored load carrying solution. He prefers a two piece design but felt that most two piece chest rigs were either too large and/or too cumbersome for his needs. Additionally, many available designs are geared toward military users while he participates in a great deal of tactical training in addition to his LE duties.
Specifically, he wanted a two piece chest rig design that was:
-Modular
-Versatile
-Light Weight
-Low Profile
-Well balanced
-Quick and easy to put on
-A design that would not interfere with the gear that he would be wearing no matter if he was wearing a suit, Patrol uniform, plain clothes, or SWAT uniform
The design went through an evolutionary period and finally ended up at Bravo Company with manufacture by our good friends at Blue Force Gear. This Chest Rig is exclusive to Bravo Company and cannot be purchased through BFG.
While it’s a fairly simple affair, the Chest Rig offer a lot of capability and holds four 30 round AR-style magazines internally. Additionally, the hydration carrier is removable and there are 12 channels of PALS webbing on the front of the rig for modularity. The padded shoulder straps attach to the rig via the innovative Adjustable Load Bearing Strap System developed by Stephen Hilliard at BFG.
You can read about the entire development process here. The author goes into great detail and explains why he made the decisions he did. It is a great case study in the evolution of a load carrying solution.
The 03 Modular Split Front Chest Harness is available in MultiCam, Coyote Brown, and Black and is Made in the USA with top quality materials including 500D Cordura. To order visit www.BravoCompanyUSA.com.
Kyle Defoor Joins TigerSwan
Sunday, November 29th, 2009Kyle Defoor has joined the ranks of TigerSwan’s instructor cadre. Kyle brings with him the experience of training more than 5000 students in firearms and tactics, and is the co-host of the popular Sportsman Channel programs “Tactical Arms” and “Tactical Impact”.
Prior to becoming an instructor, Kyle served with Naval Special Warfare Development Group and SEAL Team 8 as a sniper and assaulter, with decorated combat experience in Afghanistan and Bosnia.
“Kyle fits the TigerSwan instructor profile – Special Operations warrior, extensive combat experience, extensive instructor experience, outstanding weapons handling skills, the ability to teach, coach and mentor warfighters, and a passion for the safety and success of our service members”, said TSI COO Brian Searcy.
With Kyle Defoor now on board, TigerSwan becomes one of the few premiere tactical training companies in the world to have instructors with a passion for training from all arenas of Special Operations.
For more information on future civilian training seminars and advanced weapons instruction for law enforcement and members of the military, log on to www.TigerSwan.biz.
The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
Brought to you by authors Wallace and Melton, the same team who brought you “Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA’s Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda “, “The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception” delves into an interesting era in American espionage history. It was 1953, and the flames were just beginning to rise on the Cold War. Looking for any edge, the CIA turned to magician John Mulholland to adapt his techniques of stealth and misdirection to the craft of espionage. He produced two illustrated manuals featuring a range of tricks from placing pills into drinks to stealing documents and avoiding detection. The classified manuals were believed to have been destroyed in 1973, but the authors discovered a copy in 2007 among recently declassified CIA archives. For fans of espionage this is a major coup as basic tradecraft skills go out fashion long before they go out of date.
“The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception” is available from Amazon or your local book seller.
High Gear Applications Coach Certification
Friday, November 27th, 2009Blauer Tactical has some great news for those interested in advanced scenario training, force-on-force drills and role-player programs. They’re launching a brand-new, 2-day WEEKEND instructor certification course. HIGH GEAR Applications Coach is a certification course based on their Ballistic Micro-Fights™ & HIGH GEAR™ programs and will be dove-tailed with their popular Instructor Certification. Make sure you check with Blauer for special rates for those attending both courses.
The new course combines all elements of multi-discipline fight training and combines them with the training goals and objectives of Blauer’s 3 C’s Methodology: Clear, Control & Counter. This course is about enhancing training methods, improving safety, and taking your experience to the next level.
This course is open for all combatives, defensive tactics self-defense, and martial art enthusiasts and covers carefully-selected drills from Blauer’s force-on-force courses gleaned over the last 30 years of contact scenarios with martial artists, MMA superstars, police, and warfighters.
The course includes specific blocks of instruction covering:
• Personal defense confrontations
• Situational confrontations (using the BTS Fight House)
• MMA isolation drills (Cage)
• Basic contact striking & grappling skills
• Check out HIGH GEAR in action
Inspired by CrossFit’s huge success holding certs on the weekend, Blauer decided to follow suit with this course as well. Such weekend courses don’t conflict with most work schedules and travel is generally less expensive. Additionally, they’ve also dove-tailed it with their most popular course, the S.P.E.A.R. System: Instructor Certification. This way trainers can combine their S.P.E.A.R. course to include an advanced scenario instructor cert. However, it is important to remember that any serious trainer from any systems, styles, or programs can take the course.
HIGH GEAR will be available at a special price for those attending the certification (it’ll be part of a package deal). For those of you who already own HIGH GEAR but want/need the certification for your agency, unit, self-defense or martial arts school, there will also be a special price of just ‘tuition only’.
*HIGH GEAR will be on hand for rental & T&E for those that do not already own the gear.
