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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 For fans of espionage this is a major coup as basic tradecraft skills go out fashion long before they go out of date.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.

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High Gear Applications Coach Certification

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Blauer 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-Fightsâ„¢ & HIGH GEARâ„¢ 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:
â€¢ Personal defense confrontations
â€¢ Situational confrontations (using the BTS Fight House)
â€¢ MMA isolation drills (Cage)
â€¢ Basic contact striking & grappling skills
â€¢ 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.

Tags: Blauer High Gear
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Special Ops 1939 – 1945

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

New from Zenith publishing comes “Special Ops, 1939 – 1945: A Manual of Covert Warfare and Training”. A reprint of several British Special Operations Executive and US Office of Strategic Services texts from WW II, the work features a forward by author Dr Stephen Bull giving an abbreviated history of the SOE and OSS. It is more than sufficient to prepare the reader for the information contained in the book.

Topics include tactics, hand-to-hand fighting, propaganda, disguise, and sabotage. In fact, the book gives quite a bit of insight into what lengths the allies went to help workers in Axis nations subvert their oppressors. Special products were sent behind the lines detailing ways innovative to malinger including a means to fake an injured arm. The work is excellent and goes to show that the west at one time was very adept at conducting insurgency.

To order visit Zenith Press.

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Kyle Defoor Offers Training

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Kyle Defoor, co-host of TV’s Tactical Impact and Tactical Arms has branched out on his own and is offering several new training courses. Decorated Navy SEAL and long-time Blackwater trainer, Kyle brings a great deal of real-world experience to his courses. For his law enforcement curriculum he is joined by two sworn officers with over 20 years of on-the-job expertise. In addition to firearms and tactics courses, Kyle also offers tactical medical training.

Visit www.kyledefoor.com for more info.

Tags: Kyle Defoor
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Thanks to Tactical Impact and Tactical Arms Sponsors

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Last week I was offered the chance to join the cast and crew of “Tactical Impact” and “Tactical Arms” on the set at US Training Center in Moyock, North Carolina.

The US Training Center facilities are fantastic and provide the team a variety of backgrounds to accommodate filming. Viewers who have attended training sessions at the Xe campus will recognize the range complex and if it has been awhile since you last visited some of the additions would surprise you. In addition to ranges and various backdrops, US Training Center also features an on-site dining facility and hotel-like accommodations.

While I was there they were filming an intro sequence that will be featured on an episode of “Tactical Impact” focused on Special Forces. As the cast and crews are the same for both shows, segments are shot in overlapping schedules. Very little of the work is conducted indoors so it can lead to some long days in weather extremes from the North Carolina heat to cold rainy days that hover just above freezing. Cold and wet describes my time on set perfectly.

It is on days like this that the material provided by sponsors goes beyond the “This will look great on screen” to “Man, good thing this product performs as advertised”. And perform they do. Early this year as production for this season was ramping up, show co-host Larry Vickers called me and asked if I could recommend some equipment to be used on the show. After speaking with producer Eric Sherertz and soliciting input from co-hosts Jason Falla and Kyle Defoor, I contacted several companies to see if they would be interested in providing products for use on the show. The response from industry was fantastic, so keep your eyes peeled while watching both series for some of the newest products in the tactical market.

EOTAC provided a variety of clothing items from their Operator Grade line including specially embroidered shirts for the cast and crew. Additionally, Propper provided embroidered TAC.U uniforms as well as several items from the Adventure Tech line. Under Armour donated jackets, hats, and gloves. Additionally, several cast members use Vickers Tactical gloves. Arc’teryx LEAF was well represented through their US distributor Uber Group.

Footwear companies who have participated include OTB Boots, Tactical Research, and Salomon. Both Smith Optics and Revision Eyewear provided several styles of eyewear for use during the season and SOG Knives provided their popular SOG tool as well as pocket knives.

Bulldog Equipment also produced variants of their Mirage Camouflage uniforms for the show. As you can see from the photos Mirage does a great job of blending in with the environment used on the set. Additionally, Daniel Defense provides the DDM4 for use in many of the tactical scenarios depicted on the shows.

Despite the inclement weather, it was a great day and both cast and crew were able to get the film in the can thanks to the support of these sponsors.

Tags: Larry Vickers, Tactical Arms, Tactical Impact
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SureFire ShotTimer

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Not very often you can say you get something for free and even rarer for it to be from SureFire. The ShotTimer is exactly what the name implies. Designed as an iPhone app, it displays elapsed time and split time for every shot fired and even allows you to email results for later analysis. It also offers a start delay mode for training on your own and has a Par Time mode so you can try to beat the clock.

The ShotTimer app is available on iTunes for free (for a short time) and an FAQ is available on at www.SureFire.com.

Tags: Surefire
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TNVC and Magpul Dynamics Announce Night Fighting Course

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Tactical Night Vision Company and Magpul Dynamics have teamed up to offer a new Dynamic Night Operators curriculum to be added to the Magpul Dynamics course offerings.

This new Night Operators course will leverage the extensive experience of the training team to provide students with the skills, tactics, and mentality necessary to conduct successful nighttime operations and survive under fire. Victor Di Cosola, President of TNVC, Travis Haley, and Chris Costa, Founders of Magpul Dynamics, approach night vision training by focusing on practical application of real word skills, disciplined mindset, and a thorough understanding of the equipment and tactics needed to survive a no-light gun fight. Very much a hands on course, the instructors encourage students to find their own way by constantly evolving, changing, and improving their skills.

The decision by TNVC and Magpul Dynamics to join forces was made because of the realization that the threats presented to Warfighters, Law Enforcement professionals, and private sector clients often occur at night. The ability to engage threats in low/no light while deploying night vision devices is a critical skill and presents a distinct advantage to the good guys. Victor Di Cosola, Travis Haley, and Chris Costa, along with the Magpul Dynamics Training Team, will give students a thorough introduction to night vision gear; the good, the bad, and the ugly, while presenting a solid and unique system for threat engagement in the dark. By combining the minds of these two innovative companies, a better product can be developed in conjunction with the latest training techniques, tactics, and a firsthand knowledge of the modern battlefield.

Also, be sure to check out TNVC’s newly updated website www.tnvc.com.

Tags: Magpul Dynamics, TNVC
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Tactical Pistol Shooting 2nd Edition

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

A new, expanded edition of “Tactical Pistol Shooting” was just released. Just like the first edition it is a solid work and is filled time tested pistol handling techniques. Written by special operations veterans Erik Lawrence and Mike Pannone, two guys who know their stuff. Major improvements over the first edition include full color photos and an improved section on shooting while wounded. Speaking with the author on the new photographs he said that working with Mike Pannone and the photographer was a joy. Mike knows all of the drills cold allowing Erik to work with the photographer and see each shot from his perspective. They wrapped up the entire book’s worth of photos in two hours! I still find it amazing that “Tactical Pistol Shooting” contains over 350 color photos in a trade paperback for under $25. It is worth the cover price and is an excellent reference.

Order it at BHIgear.com. You can even include an autograph and message.

Tags: Blackheart International, Erik Lawrence, Mike Pannone
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