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Posts Tagged ‘Alias Training and Security Services’

Gunfighter Moment – Mike Pannone

Saturday, April 30th, 2016

The lost art of the question

What is it about the internet that has made asking questions something that has become all too rare in the training and firearms world? I have seen far too many instances of it and most especially in forums. Often there, questions are posed in an adversarial way that is actually an accusation which the one posing the question wants you to defend, deny or admit. It seems many are not looking for an answer but to validate an answer they already hold. Anyone that has trained with me knows I am all too glad to answer questions and that I won’t give one that is not well thought out … so why not just ask me something? Why does it have to be in reference to something someone else said? I often tell folks in my classes “I don’t care what anyone else said” and there are good reasons for that. It is because I have thought out, researched and validated my ideas and have already taken those of others into account. I also was not present when the named individual said whatever it was that he or she said and so I really don’t know what the response was EXACTLY. One word in a sentence can make something sound completely different than the original statement and so if I didn’t hear it, who am I to assume I know what was said? If I see a video I feel completely free to comment on it because I watched it. I see many comments that say “context is important here” but then fail to comment on the context that they think has been misconstrued even though you watched the video. If you want to make a point feel free but don’t say someone is misunderstanding something and then not say why.

The point here is very simple to articulate. One should ask questions to find new knowledge and not to stir up controversy for the sake of it. You need only to present a question in an inquiring manner and then evaluate the answer for yourself. Making blanket statements or asking scenario based questions in order to try and lead someone into a rhetorical position where you can find some perceived intellectual flaw is a waste of everyone’s time and ends up branding you as a zealot or a fan-boy. One final note, if you are unwilling to put your real name out in public then why should someone who uses their real name answer you, especially if the questions are argumentative or adversarial?

The effects of the internet on personal and respectful decorum have been terrible. People are far more willing to be antagonistic and disrespectful behind a keyboard than in person and in the end we all lose out.

Ask questions because you seek knowledge, not to argue a position you don’t seek to clarify. Don’t mention your perception of another instructors’ comments unless the author can reference a transcript or was present during the statement.

Finally, don’t ascribe any desired intent or target of the article other than what the author stated. Some people say exactly what they mean and mean exactly what they say. I happen to be one of those people.

– Mike Pannone

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Mike Pannone retired from the Army’s premier assault force (1st SFOD-D) after an explosive breaching injury. A year after his retirement America was attacked on 9/11 and he returned to help serve his country as the head marksmanship instructor at the Federal Air Marshals training course and then moved to help stand up the FAMS Seattle field office. In 2003 he left the FAMS to serve as a PSD detail member and then a detail leader for the State Department during 2003 and 2004 in Baghdad and Tikrit.

In 2005 he served as a ground combat advisor of the Joint Counter IED Task Force and participated on combat operations with various units in Al Anbar province. Upon returning he gave IED awareness briefings to departing units and helped stand up a pre-Iraq surge rifle course with the Asymmetric Warfare Group as a lead instructor. With that experience as well as a career of special operations service in Marine Reconnaissance, Army Special Forces and JSOC to draw from he moved to the private sector teaching planning, leadership, marksmanship and tactics as well as authoring and co-authoring several books such as The M4 Handbook, AK Handbook and Tactical Pistol shooting. Mike also consults for several major rifle and accessory manufacturers to help them field the best possible equipment to the warfighter, law enforcement officer and upstanding civilian end user. He is considered a subject matter expert on the AR based Stoner platform in all its derivatives.

CTT Solutions

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.

Kyle Raisbeck Joins Alias Training & Security Services

Thursday, April 28th, 2016

Alias Training is proud to announce Kyle Raisbeck as our newest instructor. Kyle will be teaching all our Medical courses from now on. Kyle has a tremendous amount of teaching experience and an impeccable resume. Already well known and highly regarded throughout the Special Operations community his experience and teaching ability will now be readily available for all our customers. We could not be more proud to add Kyle to our team.

Kyle’s Bio;

Kyle Raisbeck is a former operational member of the 75th Ranger Regiment and 1st Special Forces Regiment. He has served multiple combat tours including the forced entry parachute assault into Rio Hato Panama during Operation Just Cause and combat operations in Iraq during the surge with a specialized assault element. He is school trained as an airborne infantryman (Ranger) and Special Forces medic to include Paramedic and diving medical technician. His final assignment was as a marksmanship and tactics instructor at the Army Special Forces premier training facility for advanced skills in Ft Bragg.

See Kyle’s Training Class Schedule at
aliastraining.com.

Thank you,

Alias Staff

Gunfighter Moment – Larry Vickers

Saturday, April 16th, 2016

Larry Vickers released this video of his BCM carbine yesterday, and we thought it would be great to share as a Gunfighter Moment for those who haven’t seen it yet.

www.bravocompanyusa.com

Gunfighter Moment – Pat McNamara

Saturday, April 2nd, 2016

Training with insight and keen intellect is important. On the topic of ‘Train like you fight’, which I’ve ranted on this forum I the past, it isn’t so much about what you wear during training. But, since I’ve noticed a recurring theme, I will address a few sticking points.

Many of you live in a tactical world, so it is necessary to kit up during training, at times, to insure you can work out of your kit, wear it comfortably, maneuver in it without leaving a yard sale behind you.

Too many of us civilians, who do not live in the tactical world, are kitted up during training like we are going on a raid.

A drop down leg holster, plate carrier and chest rig with a hundred MOLLE attachments are probably not necessary components to your range gear unless your job involves high risk warrants or assaulting on an HVT’s strong hold.

I am a minimalist on the range because, I am a civilian. A good holster that retains my side arm without flopping around, a single mag pouch and an extra mag in my pocket are typically what I run with during training.

Additionally, a Wal-Mart bought, leather thumb break holster is not the way to go either. I am not saying that we should not own a good plate carrier and chest rig, I certainly do, but I do not run day to day operations in it. My range setup closely mimics my day to day wear with a few exceptions to make it easier for me to teach on the line.

Patrick McNamara
SGM, US Army (Ret)

Pat McNamara

Patrick McNamara spent twenty-two years in the United States Army in a myriad of special operations units. When he worked in the premier Special Missions Unit, he became an impeccable marksman, shooting with accurate, lethal results and tactical effectiveness. McNamara has trained tactical applications of shooting to people of all levels of marksmanship, from varsity level soldiers, and police officers who work the streets to civilians with little to no time behind the trigger.

His military experience quickly taught him that there is more to tactical marksmanship than merely squeezing the trigger. Utilizing his years of experience, McNamara developed a training methodology that is safe, effective and combat relevant and encourages a continuous thought process. This methodology teaches how to maintain safety at all times and choose targets that force accountability, as well as provides courses covering several categories, including individual, collective, on line and standards.

While serving as his Unit’s Marksmanship NCO, he developed his own marksmanship club with NRA, CMP, and USPSA affiliations. Mac ran monthly IPSC matches and ran semi annual military marksmanship championships to encourage marksmanship fundamentals and competitiveness throughout the Army.He retired from the Army’s premier hostage rescue unit as a Sergeant Major and is the author of T.A.P.S. (Tactical Application of Practical Shooting). He also served as the Principle of TMACS Inc.

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.

Gunfighter Moment – Larry Vickers

Saturday, March 19th, 2016

I’m gonna make this one short and sweet; when researching combat marksmanship trainers do your research – the industry is jam packed with scam artists. I see training scars and bad habits every class that originated from some ‘wannabe but never was’ instructors who are teaching stuff that is not only stupid but dangerous.

Do your research and if in doubt default to that resume. Nuff said – be safe and keep shooting.

LAV out

-Larry Vickers
Vickers Tactical Inc.
Host of TacTV

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Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical is a retired US Army 1st SFOD-Delta combat veteran with years of experience in the firearms industry as a combat marksmanship instructor and industry consultant. In recent years he has hosted tactical firearms related TV shows on the Sportsman Channel with the latest being TacTV of which Bravo Company is a presenting sponsor. Larry Vickers special operations background is one of the most unique in the industry today; he has been directly or indirectly involved in the some of the most significant special operations missions of the last quarter century. During Operation Just Cause he participated in Operation Acid Gambit – the rescue of Kurt Muse from Modelo Prison in Panama City, Panama. As a tactics and marksmanship instructor on active duty he helped train special operations personnel that later captured Saddam Hussein and eliminated his sons Uday and Qusay Hussein. In addition he was directly involved in the design and development of the HK416 for Tier One SOF use which was used by Naval Special Warfare personnel to kill Osama Bin Laden. Larry Vickers has developed various small arms accessories with the most notable being his signature sling manufactured by Blue Force Gear and Glock accessories made by Tangodown. In addition he has maintained strong relationships with premium companies within the tactical firearms industry such as BCM, Aimpoint, Black Hills Ammunition, Wilson Combat and Schmidt & Bender.

Larry Vickers travels the country conducting combat marksmanship classes for law abiding civilians, law enforcement and military and has partnered with Alias Training to coordinate classes to best meet the needs of the students attending the class.

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 us some words of wisdom.

Gunfighter Moment – Jeff Gonzales

Saturday, March 5th, 2016

By now most of us are probably sick of hearing or seeing posts about the recent negligent discharge. Surprised or not, safety is the top priority in any high risk training evolution.

It’s high risk for a reason

I don’t feel the need to regurgitate the incident, suffice it to say it was pretty stupid and I’m glad no one was hurt. The other day I was catching up with my good friend Pat Rogers and we were discussing the subject of negligent discharges. It is a very real possibility in firearms training classes and as instructors we have an obligation to ensure the safest training environment possible. Incidents like the one mentioned above are preventable by avoiding stupid behavior. The hard part is when your instructor is exhibiting the stupid behavior…ugh. My sincere hope is folks can look at this incident and see it for what it is, reckless and unnecessary. Learn from it and move on, focus on proper behavior during high risk training.

Set expectations early and often

Let’s pretend we live in a world where stupid shit like this doesn’t happen, or at least too often. As an instructor I set the tone early on for the expectations I have for our students while in class. It is clear and consistent from class to class because it is part of our programming and I hope it becomes a part of theirs once they leave. I truly believe if you hold your students to a higher standard, they will work tirelessly to meet the standard. From there we evaluate all training to determine it’s level of risk as well as ways to mitigate those risks. Sometimes, it means eliminating the risk completely as the best course of action. Next, we try to use redundant safety features where possible to minimize the known risks and even mitigate unknown risks that may pop up at times.

Begin with the end in mind

Safety briefing should be conducted and questions asked to ensure everyone knows their responsibility and what to do if the worse case should happen along with appropriate medical gear readily available. This type of training has inherent risks so creating a pre-mishap plan will help to expedite things should they go sideways. When a safety violation is committed it is important to deal with it at that moment and as a class. I can promise you, there are probably more of the same safety violations being committed and you are just not seeing them. So, it benefits explaining and addressing the situation as a group. If the same safety violation is committed by multiple students you need to evaluate your methods and your delivery of expectations as they are probably being overlooked.

Model behavior

As a student the best thing you can do is pay attention, pay attention to the details. I will be brutally honest; you cannot multi-task. If the instructor is briefing, listen! Don’t be loading magazines, trying to replicate the movements or wondering what’s for dinner. Stay focused during those moments and if you are unsure of what is expected ask for clarification. The worse possible thing you can do is try to argue over safety. The fastest way to be shown the door is when you try to save face or deny any wrong doing so own up to it if you make a mistake. The last thing I would add is look out for one another, don’t let someone do something dumb on the range because they are not paying attention or had a brain fart. Each class has the opportunity for failures, but also successes because we are helping one another. These are but a few considerations regarding safety, but it seems with the current incidents we have had it might be a good time to review them.

Safety is free; pay attention, know what you are doing and ask questions when unclear.

– Jeff Gonzales
Trident Concepts, LLC

Jeff Gonzales of Trident Concepts, LLC is a decorated and respected U.S. Navy SEAL who has worked in a variety of environments and capacities throughout the globe. He specializes in personal protection tactics and training for armed and unarmed conflicts. His motto is “Concepts that meet reality”. Jeff’s goal is not simply to train you, but to better prepare you for the worst-case scenario.

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.

Gunfighter Moment – Pat McNamara

Saturday, February 20th, 2016

Plateaus in training suck. I write often here on ways to bridge gaps and come off of plateaus but I do not always follow my own advice.

One course of fire I run in nearly all of my courses is a fifty yard, four position rifle shoot on IPSC targets. Five shots are taken from each position of standing, kneeling, sitting and prone. The shoot is timed and penalties are one second added for ‘C’ zone and head, two seconds added for ‘D’ zone shots and five seconds added for misses.

My wheel house, or plateau, was 25. For years! This is usually better than most in my classes but I accepted it as my normal. I knew that if I burned it down in 18 seconds, I would throw six or seven shots into the ‘C’ zone. I was accepting mediocrity in my personal performance because by way of comparison, it was still a rockin score.

Last week in California, nursing a bad knee and elbow, I switched mental strategy. I turned off my analytical mind and switched from thinking mode to trusting mode. One’s body works well enough. It’s our minds that get in the way and distort one’s ability to perform at the next level.

I shot a 19.8 with two seconds penalty for a 21.8. Now the Roger Bannister effect has consumed me. Pretty sure I will break 20 in the next week or so.

If you haven’t shot this before, you should try it. Love to hear some scores. BTW, anything under 35 in total score is pretty good. Sub 30 is bad ass.

Patrick McNamara
SGM, US Army (Ret)

Patrick McNamara spent twenty-two years in the United States Army in a myriad of special operations units. When he worked in the premier Special Missions Unit, he became an impeccable marksman, shooting with accurate, lethal results and tactical effectiveness. McNamara has trained tactical applications of shooting to people of all levels of marksmanship, from varsity level soldiers, and police officers who work the streets to civilians with little to no time behind the trigger.

His military experience quickly taught him that there is more to tactical marksmanship than merely squeezing the trigger. Utilizing his years of experience, McNamara developed a training methodology that is safe, effective and combat relevant and encourages a continuous thought process. This methodology teaches how to maintain safety at all times and choose targets that force accountability, as well as provides courses covering several categories, including individual, collective, on line and standards.

While serving as his Unit’s Marksmanship NCO, he developed his own marksmanship club with NRA, CMP, and USPSA affiliations. Mac ran monthly IPSC matches and ran semi annual military marksmanship championships to encourage marksmanship fundamentals and competitiveness throughout the Army.He retired from the Army’s premier hostage rescue unit as a Sergeant Major and is the author of T.A.P.S. (Tactical Application of Practical Shooting). He also served as the Principle of TMACS Inc.

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.

Gunfighter Moment – Larry Vickers

Saturday, January 30th, 2016

Anyone taking home defense seriously needs to take a serious look at the firearm they plan on using, where they store it, the Ammo they have available for it, and realistic transport and reload scenarios. Take a very hard look at these as well as any other issues that are specific to your situation. This can help you decide what type makes the most sense for you. A perfect example is a home defense shotgun; depending on the weapon reloading it under stress may not be a good option. Think it thru and figure out what works best for you.

-Larry Vickers
Vickers Tactical Inc.
Host of TacTV

IMG_0012

Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical is a retired US Army 1st SFOD-Delta combat veteran with years of experience in the firearms industry as a combat marksmanship instructor and industry consultant. In recent years he has hosted tactical firearms related TV shows on the Sportsman Channel with the latest being TacTV of which Bravo Company is a presenting sponsor. Larry Vickers special operations background is one of the most unique in the industry today; he has been directly or indirectly involved in the some of the most significant special operations missions of the last quarter century. During Operation Just Cause he participated in Operation Acid Gambit – the rescue of Kurt Muse from Modelo Prison in Panama City, Panama. As a tactics and marksmanship instructor on active duty he helped train special operations personnel that later captured Saddam Hussein and eliminated his sons Uday and Qusay Hussein. In addition he was directly involved in the design and development of the HK416 for Tier One SOF use which was used by Naval Special Warfare personnel to kill Osama Bin Laden. Larry Vickers has developed various small arms accessories with the most notable being his signature sling manufactured by Blue Force Gear and Glock accessories made by Tangodown. In addition he has maintained strong relationships with premium companies within the tactical firearms industry such as BCM, Aimpoint, Black Hills Ammunition, Wilson Combat and Schmidt & Bender.

Larry Vickers travels the country conducting combat marksmanship classes for law abiding civilians, law enforcement and military and has partnered with Alias Training to coordinate classes to best meet the needs of the students attending the class.

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 us some words of wisdom.