Patrol rifle courses, tactical shooting classes, SWAT and room entries, offensive/defensive driving, ballistic shield work, grappling and defensive tactics…just a few of the things the Women’s Tactical Association has been doing over the last couple of years. Though there are the usual haters and nay-sayers (as always), given the quality and caliber of some of their instructors it’s pretty clear how serious they are. Any doubters are welcome to show up to a training event and see for themselves. One of the WTA staffers, Kim Heath, is an NPRC competitor and a contributor over with our friends at BOLO Reportand the WTA President Karen Bartuch is apparently going to start writing there as well.
We bring up the WTA here because they are trying to get the word out to military females. Whether you’re a female K9 Security Forces airman who just PCSed to Andrews from Altus or a seasoned gunnery sergeant out at Pendleton (shout out to Bunch and Byer there), they’d like to get you involved. Initially they were thinking mostly of Security Forces and Military Police females, but as the organization has grown they’ve made a place for women of a number of backgrounds (OSI, CID, engineers, you name it). You may recall Tactical Fanboy ran an article on them previously; three of these tough ladies were at SHOT – Kim and Karen and another veteran officer named Jessica. We had time to catch up with them briefly despite the demands many of the larger companies were making on their time.
Karen conducted an impromptu interview with the NRA, which you’ll find below. If you’re interested in joining the WTA (they also have male members, FYI, many of whom you right recognize), check them out on line, on their Facebook page or just e-mail them at womenstactical(at)sbcglobal.net. Oh, and they’ve got a new YouTube Channel as well.
Here’s an interview with Karen at SHOT:
-DR