Here are some new Army publications regarding range ops available from Army Publications Directorate:
TC 25-8, 11/2/2021, Training Ranges
ATP 5-19, 11/9/2021, Risk Management
ATP 4-35.1, 11/8/2021, Ammunition and Explosives Handler Safety Techniques
Archive for the ‘Training’ Category
New Army Range Pubs
Thursday, December 2nd, 2021VSS and Centre Firearms Co Team-Up to Provide IED Familiarization Training
Thursday, December 2nd, 2021
A three-day familiarization-level course which teaches the basic knowledge needed to identify possible Improvised Explosive Device (IED) threat situations and the skills to address the threat safely and effectively. Topics covered in the course:
• History, overview, and evolution of explosives
• Detection, identification, and sample variations
• Awareness and countermeasure tactics
This course presented by a top-level subject matter expert with relevant operational experience spanning from the 1970’s until 2013.
2022 courses: January 14-16, April 11-13, July 25-27, October 3-5
Location: Henderson, NV
Minimum students: 5
*Restricted to US Government Agencies, DoD & qualified Law Enforcement officers
For more information visit www.centresupport.com/ied-familiarization
Infinadeck Experience Platform
Wednesday, November 24th, 2021
I first saw Infinadeck at Warrior West over the summer where I only hit a few minutes to discuss the possibilities. Fortunately, it was also at Warrior East and I was even more impressed. Having some limited experience with Virtual Reality training systems, one of the limitations is that you eventually run out of space and into a wall or other obstacle. But Infinadeck alleviates this problem via their omnidirectional treadmill which provides an infinite walking surface. The Infinadeck Experience Platform is a 360-degree floor that allows for true and natural movement in VR without the introduction of VR motion sickness. Users can walk, jog or run as they do on solid ground for as long as they need to train.
Unlike other systems which offer “infinity” training, there are no harnesses, shoes or other contraptions with Infinadeck. Instead, an active wireless control system reacts to movements.
Multiple systems can be networked for collective training.
Units and agencies can purchase the Infinadeck Experience Platform from ADS Inc.
NY Guard Uses NYC to Understand Urban Operations
Monday, November 22nd, 2021
NEW YORK — New York Army National Guard officers and senior sergeants used New York City to explore the challenges of military operations in big cities during a five-day class that ended Nov. 6.
The 18 officers and senior noncommissioned officers walked through the city’s neighborhoods, flew over them and toured the waterfront to gain an appreciation of the complexity of urban warfare. They also learned from New York City officials who deal with those urban challenges every day.
“This class was critical in terms of bridging a knowledge gap between military operations and working with our civilian counterparts,” said Lt. Col. Jason Secrest, commander of the 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry Regiment.
“The course was helpful for whether we’re involved in large-scale combat operations or if tasked with stability operations, like humanitarian assistance disaster relief at home,” Secrest said.
The New York National Guard is hoping to create a two-week Dense Urban Leaders Operation Course — DULOC for short — that would draw officers and NCOs from across the Army to New York City to get a first-hand look at the challenges of combat operations surrounded by high-rise buildings, tight city streets and hundreds of thousands of civilians.
“Here, in New York City, we were able to learn from our civilian counterparts about how these megacities and trends of urbanization affect operations, planning and troop movement,” said Lt. Col. Matthias Greene, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 142nd Assault Helicopter Battalion.
Some things Greene said he had to consider during the course were the complexities of the airspace, dense buildings, and population bases, all of which affect aviation operations.
Lt. Col. Brian Higgins, the class leader and a New York City Police Department detective, spent two and a half years on active duty as the officer-in-charge of the Dense Urban Terrain Detachment of the Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group at Fort Meade, Maryland.
His job there, Higgins said, was to take the expertise he’d honed as a cop in one of the world’s densest cities — New York City’s population is 8.2 million and the metro area population is 20.3 million — and help the Army figure out how to fight in those places.
“The problem has to do with globalization trends,” Higgins explained. “The world is becoming more populated. The majority of people are living in cities for a variety of reasons.”
These cities include very tall buildings and subterranean geography of subways and service tunnels and are incredibly interconnected, Higgins said.
The Army’s traditional approach to cities in the past was to bypass them, isolate them, and avoid getting bogged down in a punishing fight, Higgins said. That may have worked when cities were smaller and more compact, he said. But with the rise of the megacity — those with populations of more than 10 million — it doesn’t work anymore. The city is too big to go around.
There’s nothing new about Soldiers using New York for exercises, Higgins said. Military teams continually visit to learn about cities.
Task Force 46, a National Guard team designed to react to chemical, nuclear, and biological attacks, trained there in August. The New York National Guard trains with the police and fire department regularly, focusing on civil support operations.
Lt. Col. Dan Colomb, commander of the 24th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team (CST) based out of Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, volunteered to participate in the course with his deputy commander and operations officer to offer their expertise in urban operations but to also take new concepts back to their team.
“Every day we work in New York City and the metro area,” said Colomb. “We’re those sensors that are out in the environment and these streets every day, so I’d like to take some of these methodologies, apply them and see if they work better,” he said.
The course focused on getting Soldiers in command and key staff positions, who all have different specialties, to understand how a big city works and how that can affect military operations.
The Soldiers walked through downtown Manhattan, where the streets are narrow and irregular, explored Harlem, where the streets are in a grid, and visited the world-famous subway system.
Secrest said it was the first time in his 22 years in the National Guard that he’d been part of a military course tailored to urban operations.
“We talk about liaison operations with other state and city agencies, but this is the first time we’ve sat down and say, ‘OK, how do we operate in an urban environment?’ ” Secrest said.
Instructors included experts from the Modern War Institute at the U.S. Military Academy and the National Center of Urban Operations, a think-tank that focuses on military operations in megacities. New York City fire officials, transit staff and emergency managers also took part.
Greene noted the collaboration of the course with civilian counterparts as well as having the opportunity to walk the terrain were critical.
“There’s practical knowledge by going onto the grounds, having subject matter experts, and collaborating with classmates who offer perspectives in their areas of expertise as well,” Greene said. “Learning from the perspective of our civilian counterparts is important because we’re able to gauge what they have to offer, what their limitations are, and how we can integrate ourselves into the solution.”
Every morning the class heard from the subject matter experts on military doctrine, military estimates and the “Five Is” of city fighting — infrastructure, interoperability, information operations, interagency, intensity. In the afternoons, they went out and looked around as part of terrain walks.
Higgins and New York National Guard leaders would like to create a two-week course exploring urban operations in more detail. But the week-long class was an excellent start, Higgins said.
Story by By Eric Durr and SPC Marla Ogden, New York National Guard
UF PRO Presents – Firearms Instructor Series: E1 Shooter Deficiencies
Sunday, November 14th, 2021Please join former LE/SWAT team member Mike Levy as he goes over shooter deficiencies in episode 1 of UF PRO’s new Firearms Instructor Series.
BCM Training Tip – How To Field Strip An AK
Saturday, November 13th, 2021Larry Vickers goes over how to field strip an AK in this Training Tip from Bravo Company.
Improving the Service Member’s Human Performance
Thursday, November 11th, 2021Every year thousands of Reserve and National Guard service members from across all forces of Department of Defense (DoD), come to Fort Bliss before deploying. While service members are at Fort Bliss, they execute different levels of training based on individual and unit proficiency, naturally a unit does not execute URM training if they have not qualified with the individual weapon; we, at Task Force Stallion, under 5th AR BDE, see qualification as a pre-requisite for any advanced training. Observer-Coach/Trainers play a crucial role in the units training, as we observe first, then coach and train to give them honest feedback through After-Action Reviews. One of the training events that service members go through at Fort Bliss is the Gunfighter Gymnasium (GfG).
5th AR BDE GfG, OC-Ts, Instructor Trainer Course, Nov 2020: (left to right) SSG Pleinis, SGT Barton, SSG Gomez, SSG Ziegler, SSG Beavers.
5th Brigade has made an Investment in the Service Member and the effect is Revolutionizing Readiness across the Brigade through what is being called the Gunfighter Gym (GfG). This investment is not a material solution, but rather a wholistic Soldier investment in eyes, mind, central nervous system, and body. The gym’s focus is to rapidly guide service members to reach their Peak Human Potential (PHP) in a very short time. By, investing in the service members cognitive decision making under stress, while fighting in a 360-degree environment, we are witnessing, measuring, and analyzing data across multiple units, as our great men and women, are going from Zeroing their rifle in Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM), into Urban Rifle Marksmanship (URM) in the GfG, culminating out at the live-fire range; and reaching new personal bests across all qualifications. Thus, creating and confirming a more lethal, faster thinking and reacting service member. The same effect is happening in pistol and automatic weapons training.
The GfG provides service members with opportunities that they rarely see at home station training. Some examples are the new Army Weapons Qualification for the M4 carbine, where service members complete their virtual marksmanship qualification tables (Table II), as outlined in TC 3-20.40, “I attempted this qualification standard once and got 18 or so 3 times, this time, at the range I got 35 out of 40, first time and it seemed so much easier” (SSG, 864th Theater Support Group, Feb 2021). Others are the execution of training packages which include Urban Rifle Marksmanship (URM), Close Quarters Battle (CQB), Team/Squad Battle Drills (with their assigned weapon or Conflict Kinetics Synthetic Weapons) and this Gym can easily add support by fire, call for fire and crew served weapons. The ability to change the environment in the GfG is limitless, which has allowed us to truly focus on the servicemembers needs based on their area of deployment.
During the first 6 months of throughput in the GfG, while under COVID restrictions, exceeded 1 million shots fired, over 3.5 million decisions made, and over 4108 Servicemembers from U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy having been trained and mobilized. Our gym is being run 24/7 and there have been zero down training hours/days due to equipment malfunctions. The GfG is leveraging video-based roll players, with further capabilities to bring VR/MR and shoot-back capabilities for full mission profiles. They are capturing big data on cognitive, emotional, and physical performance for the life of the service member, that further down the road, we could leverage in the unfortunate event of a TBI or MTBI incident. The ability that the GfG gives us, knowing what a service members PHP was prior to suffering the trauma, can more rapidly map them back to full operational capacity. It is great for the service member and great for the United States of America.
The GfG provides much more realistic training and scenarios, than a live-fire range ever could. In one day, service members can fire over ten times the number of rounds than they would at a live-fire range. Not only that, but they can also switch up scenarios in a matter of minutes and train in different situations and environments. Using the Conflict Kinetics (CK) training methodology is less costly, gives service members more time to sharpen their marksmanship skills, lets them have more repetitions, gives service members more time training because they do not have to worry about how much ammo they are allotted, or how much time they have left on the range based on scheduling or daylight. As stated by a member of the 864th Theater Support Group, “Being scheduled for the gym on the training calendar, allowed us to focus on only this task for the first time in years” (1LT, 864th Theater Support Group, Feb 2021).
After going through the Instructor Training Course provided by CK, having served over 18 years of service to my country and the Army, I improved my lethality, cognitive skills, speed, and accuracy in 5 days of training. With my years of experience, I have not seen a better system, that truly helps the individual service member and units collective training that CK provides through Human Performance. There are over 3200 drills that Soldiers can train on, so the ability to game the system is impossible. With varying scenario’s, Soldiers are trained to react to threats rapidly and in a more lethal manner. All drills have lethality zones built into the target, which takes the shooters actions into account as well as the drills actions, and provide a lethality score per shooter. Another unique advantage to this system that I have seen, is the ability to create a Unit Identifier (UID) that can follow the service member anywhere there is a GfG. This is an area I have not seen before with simulators. My personal UID, if I were to PCS to the 173rd in Italy, as an example, I could see the site tech at the 173rd, give him/her my UID, and in no more than 1 week time frame, my profile and everything I have shot will be in the system at my new duty station. Potentially, if this system were across the Army, we could track a Soldiers shooting career from Basic Training until they exit the Army, what I could have done with that data as a 1SG, would have been limitless! PVT X goes to shoot in the GfG, he is a lethal shooter but that day shoots horribly, this lets me know his mind is somewhere else, and provide focused attention to care for the Soldier through his leaders.
The GfG has been certified to Army Doctrine standard by DOTD, Maneuver Center of Excellence and has created a training path called the “Principal Path” that has been proven to be more efficient and effective than taking the troops to the live fire range. In a recently published Marine Corps MCOTEA study the GfG was shown to be a “viable substitute for live fire.” As we see it here at 5th Brigade, if we continue to invest in the wholistic training of the service member, how they see, think, react and more, we are delivering highly trained, problem solving, lethal service members in the shortest amount of time for Combatant Commanders within their Theaters of Operation.
By MSG James S. Sharp, TF Stallion 3-362 IN, 5th AR BDE
MSG James S. Sharp is an Infantryman and has served for 18 years. He joined the Army in 2003 and has been on 7 combat tours, 3 to Iraq and 4 to Afghanistan. He has served most of his time at Fort Drum, but was also in Alaska at Fort Richardson, and was a Drill Sergeant at Fort Benning. MSG Sharp is currently at Fort Bliss were he serves as a Senior OC/T for 3-362 IN, TF Stallion 5th AR BDE. He has been an Master Trainer for the Gun Fighter Gym system for over a year. He is 44 years old and has a wife and two sons.
The views of MSG Sharp are his own personal opinions and do not reflect official DoD policy or endorsement.
ITS Tactical – Know How to Apply a Tourniquet?
Friday, October 22nd, 2021
Your belt isn’t an acceptable tourniquet and neither is a bandanna with a stick twisted in it. These are modern times; commercially available tourniquets are ubiquitous and have been proven over and over again to save lives. Don’t plan to improvise, plan to have a real tourniquet ready and available.
The number one goal in treating any extremity hemorrhage (i.e. bleeding out) is to keep the blood in the body. The human body only has so much blood and while there’s no specific quantity that’s agreed upon for how much you can lose before you’re gone, suffice it to say you want to lose the least amount possible.
When it comes to tourniquet selection, we support the CoTCCC recommendations for commercially available tourniquets; the two most widely used and proven being the SOF Tactical Tourniquet (SOFTT) and the Combat Application Tourniquet (C-A-T).
Here’s How to Apply a Tourniquet
Orient the Tourniquet: The direction of pull to tighten the tourniquet should be towards the midline of the body. This is a good rule to remember and will make application easier if you have to apply a tourniquet on yourself one-handed. Picture an imaginary line running vertically up and down the center of the body; that’s your midline.
High as Possible: Always keep the tourniquet as high as possible on a limb; never on a joint.
Grab the Loop and Pull: Don’t get in the habit of grabbing the tail of the tourniquet to tighten it right away. By grabbing the loop and pulling it towards the midline, you’ll keep the tourniquet from spinning and control it better during one-handed application.
Pull the Tail: Take all the slack out of the tourniquet by pulling the tail to tighten it.
Manipulate the Base: If there’s still slack left in the tourniquet, or you can’t tighten it any further because of its position, grab the base and move it. Then take up the rest of the slack.
Tighten the Windlass: Continue turning the windlass until all bleeding stops, or is controllable/manageable. It doesn’t matter what color the blood is, tighten it until it stops.
Anchor the Windlass: Each side of the windlass has a groove that locks into the d-ring, preventing it from coming undone. Lock this in and ensure it’s locked in the windlass groove.
Time and Date: At the end of the tail, the SOFTT has a sewn-in tag for writing in the time and date. A sharpie works great for this, but anything will do. It’s important to note this for higher echelon care, (i.e. hospitals) so that they know how long the tourniquet has been in place.
Practice: You should be able to deploy and apply your tourniquet in 12 seconds, one-handed. Practice until you can meet that goal each time. You’re also not going to ruin your tourniquet by practicing with it, just be sure you’re checking it after each practice session and if you see anything that’s damaged or has the potential to fail, replace your tourniquet.
Get Training: This email shouldn’t be used as a replacement for medical training in the usage of a tourniquet. Seek training for yourself and your loved ones from competent trainers. Remember, a tourniquet is not a last resort!
The last thing to discuss is how to store a tourniquet, we’ve recently developed and patented our TourniQuick® Pouch. It provides not only a fully-enclosed storage method, but more importantly, a revolutionary deployment system that reduces time from deployment to application, saving valuable seconds. Remember, seconds count when you’re bleeding out!™
Whether you purchase from ITS or not, always buy tourniquets from a reputable resource to avoid fakes. A failure to plan is a plan to fail, so keep a tourniquet with you and be prepared to save a life.
Thanks to ITS Tactical for allowing us to share this post.
