AAR

After-action reports from firearms courses, tactical training, professional instruction, events, and practical learning experiences.

Writing an AAR, the How and Why: Enabling Continual Learning

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Philosopher George Santayana once stated, “…When experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual.  Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” Taking professional training classes, or even just going to the range to perform drills, provides an opportunity to learn and evolve.  A great way to ensure that lessons, … Read more

Project Appleseed AAR

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I stepped outside my comfort zone last weekend and attended an Appleseed event. For those not familiar with Project Appleseed, the organization’s website states: “Project Appleseed™ isn’t a gun club or a militia, nor is it a historical society. Instead, we are a non-partisan group of men and women (known as the Revolutionary War Veterans … Read more

Semper Paratus Arms AR-15 Armorer Course AAR

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Semper Paratus Arms 2 Day Armorer Course www.semperparatusarms.com May 16/17, 2017 Greater Seattle, WA area Instructor: William Larson   I had seen the announcement for this course by watching Will Larson’s company’s posts on Facebook.   https://www.facebook.com/SemperParatusArms/   I was paying attention to this and was in the process of fitting it into my schedule … Read more

Citizens Defense Research’s The Armed Parent/Guardian AAR

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So my friend John Johnston of Ballistic Radio called me out on a recent Primary and Secondary modcast to check out his class Contextual Handgun: The Armed Parent/Guardian.  Since the class was only about 90 minutes away and hosted by the Sentinel of Freedom John Murphy at FPF Training, in Culpeper, Virginia, how could I resist? Later … Read more

AAR’s for Scenario Based Training: How to and Why

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AAR. What is it? After Action Review is the short answer. Why do we do them? Because we have to. Because we’re supposed to. First Sergeant said to. Because I like to hear myself talk. The correct answer should be to give the students (soldiers, cops, whoever) feedback on their performance, to facilitate learning and … Read more

Sucked Down the Tube: A Failure in Training

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Much, if not all training and practice is conducted on flat ranges under calm conditions with no surprises. We shoot steel and paper that we purposely place and identify. We have lanes and all sorts of safety considerations that make a day at the range a pleasant experience.  This is fine for most of us but can lead to some critical failures if you are in a line of work that may not look the same as the flat range.  For those that form either the thin Blue or Green Lines targets will probably appear in from unknown positions and ranges. Many people preach situational awareness but fail to account for it in our training. COL Boyd gave us the OODA loop, which on the surface, is a rapidly trainable flow of Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. It is a loop because as soon as you act you start over.

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Follow Up on TC 3-22.9

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A year ago, we finished the last edits on the TC 3-22.9 that published in May of 2016. For those that have taken the time to read this book, you know it’s very different than the books we have used since the 1970’s.  For those that haven’t, this post will hold less value because you … Read more

LMS Defense Night Vision Fundamentals Course with Daniel Bales: AAR

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After Action Report Course: LMS Defense Night Vision Fundamentals Course Instructor: Daniel Bales Host facility: LMS Defense Combat Development Center Location: Fernley, Nevada Course length: 1 day *In the interest of complete transparency: I am a part time employee of LMS Defense and have worked for them as an RSO on several occasions. In addition … Read more

SHOT Show 2017 Part One

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SHOT show 2017 kicked off like every other show I’ve attended…  chaos thinly disguised as enthusiasm in multicam.

Notable products part one:

BE Meyers MAWL:

Got hands on with the MAWL for the first time. It’s all it’s been made out to be and more. The IR designator/illuminator market just got turned on its head and the future is very clearly a departure from the traditional rail mounted box.

BFG MARCO (aka tactical pez dispenser):

The crew at BFG, thanks to help from our very own Roland and Raven concealment, have made a dispenser for chemlites that no one knew they needed until they saw it.  The concept is simply a box that holds 30+ 2″ chemlites with a footprint smaller than an M4 30 rounder.  The design incorporates mounting holes that will allow attachment to just about any system you’re currently using.  The beauty of the MARCO is that in the space of 4 standard chemlites you can now carry enough to handle clearing an industrial complex.

Nightops tactical DTNVG:

Nightops tactical is providing a dual tube solution that incorporates the ability to lift an individual tube out of your line of sight without folding the entire unit up.  This also means that the unit sits almost completely flat against the helmet when not in use, no more tactical antlers.  Expect more info on these soon.

Outdoor Research Infiltrator:

Outdoor research debuted the then unnamed Infiltrator jacket last year at SHOT.  Think of this as the 21st century version of the hard shell jacket.  It incorporates goretex stretch panels in key articulation areas of the jacket including the underarms, rear shoulder yoke and base of the hood.  The jacket promises to be 100% rain proof and still provide the mobility you demand from soft shell solutions.  Prices are not set in stone but expect to see these hit the market for $400 good guy pricing.

Foursevens sentinel WC1:

Foursevens debuted their 600 lumen XC1 killer.  The unit is both smaller and lighter than XC1 and the output appears to be on par with their claims. The switchology is similar to what we have seen from the inforce offerings and would take some adaptation before becoming intuitive, but hey Surefire didn’t exactly do any favors by changing the status quo with the XC1.

Trijicon 1-8x accupower:

Trijicon seems to have gotten the message about the importance of daytime brightness, the green reticle I looked at has 11 power settings the brightest of which is noticeable brighter than previous accupower models.  Didn’t get any specs on weight but this thing doesn’t feel or look any bigger than the VCOG 1-6 or other industry standard 1-6 offerings.