FirstSpear TV

Archive for the ‘Training’ Category

Canipe Correspondence – Behind the Scenes at Tac TV

Saturday, August 11th, 2012

Most shooters are familiar with Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical. In addition to being a retired Army Special Forces soldier and member of our Nation’s most elite Special Operations unit for over 15 years, Larry is an extremely successful tactical trainer, industry consultant, product designer, firearms expert, and gunsmith.

Some readers may not be familiar with Larry’s latest project, Tac TV. Following the success of his previous show Tactical Arms, Tac TV is a 30-minute weekly show on The Sportsman Channel highlighting various weapons, tactics, and products relevant to the tactical professional or enthusiast. Recently, SSD was lucky enough to attend filming of a new episode of Tac TV in Apex, NC. LAV and guest host Clint Lynch were doing a special on the .300 AAC Blackout cartridge. With this round’s explosion in popularity (for good reason), Tac TV puts the .300BLK through it’s paces along side the venerable M4 and AK47. Look for this episode in October or November, just in time to decide on that new .300BLK rifle for Christmas.

Obviously LAV is the host and star of the show, but he is supported by a full production staff and special guest SMEs who come from varied backgrounds within the Special Operations community and tactical industry. On this season you can see decorated Navy SEAL and Centurion Arms founder Monty LeClaire, LAV’s fellow IDPA founders Ken Hackathorn and Bill Wilson, “Super” Dave Harrington, and numerous other experts passing their experience and expertise with viewers around the country.

Tac TV isn’t your usual YouTube firearms show in front of a webcam, it’s a fully staffed and supported television production for network TV. Filmed in HD on the same state-of-the-art equipment as major Hollywood titles, Silent R Productions its tremendous effort and skill into every scene, and it shows on screen. Tac TV makes full use of high-speed cameras, hi-tech audio capturing equipment, and Silent R’s tremendous production expertise to bring the best firearms show on TV.

If you have DISH network check out The Sportsman Channel, but if not, don’t fear. Tac TV recently went live with a fully featured web site allowing you to view all of Tac TV’s televised content as well. In addition to the televised episodes steaming on-demand, the web site offer additional content that is exclusive to the web site and opportunities to win thousands of dollars in prizes to include a custom Larry Vickers-built 1911 pistol. While you’re there, check out the Tac TV web store and Larry’s shooting challenge.

If you’re tired of watching shows about hacks building spray-painted AKs or shows about catty menopausal rich girls with your wife, check out Tac TV. You’ll be getting the best info out there from one of the most qualified experts in the industry. Special thanks to LAV, Eric, Cameron, Matt, and Jordan for having us out to check out the filming, and to Daniel Defense for providing all the ammo and rifles I burned up on the set.

www.tac-tv.com
www.vickerstactical.com
www.silentr.com

Jon Canipe served on Active Duty with the US Army as a Special Forces Weapons Sergeant at 5th SFG(A) and was a Senior Instructor at the JFKSWCS, training SFQC students in planning, unconventional warfare, small unit tactics, CQB, and advanced marksmanship. He is a veteran of multiple combat tours, and still serves in the Army National Guard’s 20th SFG(A) in addition to working as an industry consultant and small arms instructor.

Gunfighter Moment – John McPhee

Saturday, August 11th, 2012

SGM (ret) John McPhee served a distinguished career in U.S. Army Special Operations for over 20 years, retiring in 2011.

John has spent his adult life in Special Operations and Special Mission Units. He is a Master Instructor in all aspects of special activities, missions and operations. He has over 6 years of private special activities consulting and is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in: Special Activities, Operational Preparations, Limited Signature Operations, Reconnaissance, Singleton Operations, High Threat Dignitary Protective Services, Extreme Long Range, Designated Marksman, Advanced Precision Rifle Marksmanship, Combat Marksmanship, Live Fire CQB/CQC, Advanced Pistol Marksmanship, Advanced Carbine Marksmanship, Ariel Gunnery (Rifles, Shotguns, Ariel Personnel and Vehicle Interdictions, Mechanical, Ballistic and Explosive Breaching, Freefall Instructor Programs, Infiltration/ Exfiltration Techniques, Ground Mobility, Unit Pre-Deployment Training, and Research and Development of; Soldier Systems, Weapons, Ammunition, Thermal and Night Optics.

Qualifications;
Special Forces Target Interdiction Course
US Army Sniper School
NRA Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun, Instructor
NRA Range Safety Officer
Advanced Mountain Sniper Course, Instructor
Advanced Freefall, Instructor (Ratings Current)
Freefall Coach (Ratings Current)
California Personal/ Executive Body Guard Certification (Rating Current)
2005 Budweiser World Cup Super Heavyweight Jiu-Jitsu Champion
2004 Presidential Security Detail (Ariel Heavy) Cartagena, Colombia

He has trained countless U.S. Special Operations forces, thousands of International Tier 1 Operators and Special Forces around the world. He is one of the handful of operators with over a decade of combat having served in multiple theaters from Bosnia and South America to recent war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer some words of wisdom.

New Sonny Puzikas Video from Panteao Productions

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

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Panteao Productions introduces the latest instructional video in the Make Ready series. They’ve teamed up with Sonny Puzikas to bring you a look at the AK from a Soviet perspective. As a
former member of a Soviet military special purpose unit Saulius “Sonny” Puzikas served during tumultuous times from the late 1980s through the early 1990s, and has participated in operations in numerous “hot spots” of the former Soviet Union. For the past 10 years Sonny has been teaching and instructing multi-national military special operations units, law enforcement officers and civilian clients on topics of CQB, team tactics, personal protection and combatives, as well as more specialized courses for specific audiences.

In Fighting with the AK, Sonny teaches you about the AK like no one else can. He reviews myths about the AK, balancing marksmanship with speed and mobility, transitions, reloading, components of speed, marksmanship, low platform basics, and more. In this special 2 DVD set, you also get Realities of a Gunfight where Sonny talks about the inverted pyramid of firearms training and the art of mobility.

Panteao is accepting pre-orders for the DVD and expects it to be released in August.

www.panteaoproductions.com

Gunfighter Moment – Larry Vickers

Sunday, August 5th, 2012

“In your firearms training always have realistic accuracy standards. Remember that accuracy will generally suffer in the real world for reasons beyond your control as well as the unpredictable nature of most encounters. If you train for minimum accuracy standards on the range expect even less when bullets start going both ways.”

-Larry Vickers
MSG, US Army (Ret)

Larry Vickers is a decorated US Army Special Forces veteran and national pistol champion. Mr. Vickers has nearly two decades of special operations experience (1st SFOD-D), much of which was spent as his unit’s Primary Firearms Instructor. In addition to his special operations accomplishments, his competitive shooting has yielded a 10th and 9th place finish in the 1993 and 1994 USPSA Limited Nationals as well as a 1st place finish in CDP class at the 2001 IDPA Mid-Winter Nationals at Smith & Wesson. Mr. Vickers is a founding member of IDPA. In addition to being a highly experienced operator and national pistol champion, Mr. Vickers is also one of the premier 1911 pistolsmiths in the country and his work has been featured in several firearms publications and on the cover of American Handgunner. In addition to all this, Mr. Vickers has served as a consultant and technical expert to the firearms industry. Mr. Vickers is featured on two new firearms, tactics, and accessories focused T.V. shows called Tactical Impact and Tactical Arms.

www.VickersTactical.com

Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer some words of wisdom.

OR – Waterford Press

Saturday, August 4th, 2012

Waterford Press produces a wide variety of pocket guides to science, travel, nature and other wilderness pursuits. Additionally, they’ve developed a few that are targeted at the military market. Their Combat First Aid and Middle East Wildlife titles are easy to use and give you a down and dirty look at the subject matter. Additionally, proceeds from the sale of both of these guides goes to the Sierra Club’s Veteran & Military Family Initiative.

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Additionally, at Outdoor Retailer Waterford Press launched a new series called, “Pathfinder Outdoor Survival Guide” produced in connection with Dave Canterbury of The Pathfinder School. These waterproof guides are straightforward. I spoke briefly with Dave and he reminded me t hat in a pinch, they could be used as a survival tool. While they aren’t as large or, quite as robust as the issue Evasion Chart (EVC), he’s right. I could carry water with one of these guides, need be.

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The other thing that Dave mentioned is that he probably wouldn’t take all of the guides with him, but rather, pretrain with them as guides and carry the ones that are more technical in nature or that you need more help with. They are very lightweight and packed with great info but I don’t know if I’d carry all of them.

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One such title that is great for pretraining is ‘Building a Survival Kit’ which covers the 10 essentials for survival. At $6.95 each they are a great value, particularly as an introduction to the basics of various survival skills.

Check them out at www.waterfordpress.com

OR – Teva

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

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Teva is introducing their new Teva Sphere line of performance footwear.

Registration Opens for Elzetta’s Low Light Tactical Training & Zombie Shoot

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

Just $89! Register now for a day of shooting, learning, and fun.

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The event will be held October 27th in Cave City, Kentucky. Zombies are just the foil. The event is really about low light shooting. Classes include pistol, rifle/carbine and shotgun training.

Register here ELZETTA.com/EventRegistration

John McPhee Aerial Marksmanship Training

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

John McPhee Aerial Marksmanship Training is now available from Alias Training & Security Services. These classes are open to interested military units, law enforcement, government agencies, and private classes are available to vetted hunters/civilians. That’s right, you can learn to engage targets from a helicopter.

Ariel Heavy Carbine Marksmanship course was designed to teach you to be “quick to shoot”, make the SHOT from a helicopter. Being accurate is final, but being accurate on the fly is better.

You will learn helicopter basics and safety considerations, the DOs and DON’Ts around helos. You will rehearse many shooting positions and techniques for making the SHOT. You will fly several courses of fire in progressive learning patterns to be as accurate and safe as possible as you become “quick to shoot”. Bring what you have; we will make you good with it. Learn to use your rifle, scope, reticle and any accessories for them. On the fly use hold offs, hold unders, and holdovers to increase your time to rapidly and accurately hit your target. You will shoot for score, for time and against your own skill to make the SHOT. Learn from your misses, where the shot went, why and correct for a hit in seconds or less. Teach you to correctly and rapidly reload, correct malfunctions and stoppages to get back in the fight on the fly.

Do these things while applying the Perfect Fundamentals of Marksmanship. Practice doesn’t make perfect, Perfect Practice Makes Perfect.

Topics covered:
Basics of the Heavy Carbine rifle
Weapon manipulation
Helicopter Safety
Weapons Safety
Load/ unload clear weapon
Scopes/Reticles
Zeroing
Ammo, overview
Ballistics
Fundamentals of Marksmanship;
Malfunctions
Hold offs;
Holds
Land-marking
Reloads
Mounting accessories

**This class is open to; AR-10 platform guns of any caliber, AR-15 platform guns of any caliber**

Instructor: John McPhee & other SOF instructors
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