Kevin 149
Newbie
88 Tactical Instructors:
High Threat Vehicle Engagements Kurt Sorys
April 22-23, 2017 Alex Judkins
Tekamah, NE "Navy" Jake Davis
Bottom line up front…excellent instructors, beautiful and clean facility, very relevant course content that really stands on its own. The beds were comfortable, indoor plumbing & heat worked perfectly, and you could have eaten off the floors. Would definitely train with them again.
I was turned on to 88 Tac via my friend Jerry, who had been searching high and low for a vehicle class. There are several out there, but not many which are both open enrollment AND you actually get to shoot through windows/doors/etc…
I was a little apprehensive at first since my search for info regarding the company didn’t reveal much, and most of what I did find was local news media. That apprehensiveness was completely dispelled within about 30 seconds of meeting Kurt on Friday night.
CLASS:
I’ll be intentionally vague here, as 88 Tac put a lot of work into these classes, and they spent a lot of time with the class as a whole. If you want specifics….you’re going to have to pay for them like I did!
17 students, of which, about 5-7 of us were full-time LE, with the rest being lawful armed citizens. Many were repeat customers. 88 Tac offered this class for free to a local officer after hearing that he was involved in a vehicle related OIS recently, and he was in this class as well.
Class started on time at 8:00 am both days, and the pace was very acceptable. We were on the range until 4:30 – 5:00pm each day. Each day ended with a debriefing & review in the Lodge. Due to the nature of the class, many of the drills/scenarios were one-on-one, which makes for a slower pace, but, obviously, gains the advantage of 1-on-1 and 2-on-1 instruction. All drills & scenarios were easily modified to account for lawful CCW or on-duty LE.
Throughout the entire class, safety was #1, with a safety & med brief immediately following introductions first thing Saturday morning. The instructors explained 88 Tac’s philosophy of “Reality-Based, Behaviorally Compliant” training, and explained why they believe a car is just another piece of terrain, much like a hill, tree, door frame, etc….
Dry drills were next. One I had not seen before, was specifically designed to make students aware of other people that will probably be around them, should they get involved in a deadly force incident in the real world. Several other points were explained and shown to us during the dry drills.
After lunch, we ran various positional drills, both dry and live. Relevant to this class was dry draws from a chair, followed by live draws from a chair. Alex then put on a ballistic demo, first explaining, then showing us live, what can happen to bullets after they strike various parts of an auto.
We ran several live fire drills seated, from the inside shooting out, and after bailing out. Each student ran these individually, with one or two instructors per student, per run. It was during this that I witnessed one safety violation. The instructor and several students caught it right away, and it was handled professionally and quietly. Ultimately, no harm was done and most students were never aware it happened. It was mentioned vaguely during the debrief as a learning point and not to embarrass. I absolutely believe it was handled properly.
The last portion of day one was a debrief, followed by dinner, whiskey, and conversation with students and instructors around the fire. I may have said this before, but the convenience of staying on-site in clean, comfortable cabins simply cannot be overstated.
Day two started with a review of yesterday and a preview of what would happen today. Another of 88’s philosophies was brought up and discussed, that being that any class material must be good enough/researched enough that it will stand on its own. The analogy used was that if the class was being taught by a 12-year old….assuming we’re all open-minded enough to listen to a 12-year old…the material alone should be good enough that we learn from it anyways, and it was.
Next, all students went through an individual F-o-F scenario in their own car, which was debriefed individually. This was run with SIRT guns so there was no chance of a student blasting their own car. This was a great learning experience.
The rest of day 2 was spent in individual drills, and a couple of two-student drills. All were conducted safely with one or two instructors always very close by, and individual debriefs followed.
We cleaned up the range, had another de-brief, and received our certificates, and that was that.
No AAR would be fair without both the good and bad, and none of us will ever agree on everything all the time. I had two issues with this class, and both were discussed with the instructors prior to me posting this.
First…2 out of 3 instructors were somewhat light on CONUS LE experience. This was more than made up for by their enthusiasm, experience elsewhere, and passion for teaching. They clearly put a lot of work into the lesson plan.
Second…well, we have respectfully agreed to disagree. 88 Tactical are big believers in point shooting out to about five yards. I spoke to and emailed Kurt about this, and he explained that this was in very specific and limited circumstances, what they refer to as an “OSHIT” scenario, i.e., close-up and unexpected. (I won’t explain what OSHIT means…again it is 88 Tac’s material.) I believe that we MUST see our sights with every single shot we fire, and that with proper training and experience, we will. The only possible exception being literally arms-length distance or less AND caught off-guard, where aligning sights and eyes would simply take too much time. Our disagreement on this was very minute and really splitting hairs, and I debated even mentioning it!
FACILITY:
The Tekamah facility is about 160 acres, situated over a mile from the nearest paved highway. The lodge consists of a full kitchen which is open for students to use, (the convenience of which cannot be overstated,) a seating area with comfortable leather furniture, TV/DVD/stereo and wireless internet. The other half of that seating area was the classroom, with folding tables and chairs; and a projector and screen. All in all, the lodge was convenient and comfortable. Our class used it quite a bit, as a gathering spot before and during breakfast, lunch on the deck, and hanging out after class BS’ing with the instructors and other students.
An unadvertised bonus of this particular class was one of the students is a liquor distributor, and he brought several bottles of very good Bourbon for students to sample Saturday night. Now THAT is convenient!
Lodge kitchen 
Lodge 
Cabin 
Cabin 
Bunkhouse 
Bunkhouse 
Bunkhouse kitchen
The view from the lodge:
High Threat Vehicle Engagements Kurt Sorys
April 22-23, 2017 Alex Judkins
Tekamah, NE "Navy" Jake Davis
Bottom line up front…excellent instructors, beautiful and clean facility, very relevant course content that really stands on its own. The beds were comfortable, indoor plumbing & heat worked perfectly, and you could have eaten off the floors. Would definitely train with them again.
I was turned on to 88 Tac via my friend Jerry, who had been searching high and low for a vehicle class. There are several out there, but not many which are both open enrollment AND you actually get to shoot through windows/doors/etc…
I was a little apprehensive at first since my search for info regarding the company didn’t reveal much, and most of what I did find was local news media. That apprehensiveness was completely dispelled within about 30 seconds of meeting Kurt on Friday night.
CLASS:
I’ll be intentionally vague here, as 88 Tac put a lot of work into these classes, and they spent a lot of time with the class as a whole. If you want specifics….you’re going to have to pay for them like I did!
17 students, of which, about 5-7 of us were full-time LE, with the rest being lawful armed citizens. Many were repeat customers. 88 Tac offered this class for free to a local officer after hearing that he was involved in a vehicle related OIS recently, and he was in this class as well.
Class started on time at 8:00 am both days, and the pace was very acceptable. We were on the range until 4:30 – 5:00pm each day. Each day ended with a debriefing & review in the Lodge. Due to the nature of the class, many of the drills/scenarios were one-on-one, which makes for a slower pace, but, obviously, gains the advantage of 1-on-1 and 2-on-1 instruction. All drills & scenarios were easily modified to account for lawful CCW or on-duty LE.
Throughout the entire class, safety was #1, with a safety & med brief immediately following introductions first thing Saturday morning. The instructors explained 88 Tac’s philosophy of “Reality-Based, Behaviorally Compliant” training, and explained why they believe a car is just another piece of terrain, much like a hill, tree, door frame, etc….
Dry drills were next. One I had not seen before, was specifically designed to make students aware of other people that will probably be around them, should they get involved in a deadly force incident in the real world. Several other points were explained and shown to us during the dry drills.
After lunch, we ran various positional drills, both dry and live. Relevant to this class was dry draws from a chair, followed by live draws from a chair. Alex then put on a ballistic demo, first explaining, then showing us live, what can happen to bullets after they strike various parts of an auto.
We ran several live fire drills seated, from the inside shooting out, and after bailing out. Each student ran these individually, with one or two instructors per student, per run. It was during this that I witnessed one safety violation. The instructor and several students caught it right away, and it was handled professionally and quietly. Ultimately, no harm was done and most students were never aware it happened. It was mentioned vaguely during the debrief as a learning point and not to embarrass. I absolutely believe it was handled properly.
The last portion of day one was a debrief, followed by dinner, whiskey, and conversation with students and instructors around the fire. I may have said this before, but the convenience of staying on-site in clean, comfortable cabins simply cannot be overstated.
Day two started with a review of yesterday and a preview of what would happen today. Another of 88’s philosophies was brought up and discussed, that being that any class material must be good enough/researched enough that it will stand on its own. The analogy used was that if the class was being taught by a 12-year old….assuming we’re all open-minded enough to listen to a 12-year old…the material alone should be good enough that we learn from it anyways, and it was.
Next, all students went through an individual F-o-F scenario in their own car, which was debriefed individually. This was run with SIRT guns so there was no chance of a student blasting their own car. This was a great learning experience.
The rest of day 2 was spent in individual drills, and a couple of two-student drills. All were conducted safely with one or two instructors always very close by, and individual debriefs followed.
We cleaned up the range, had another de-brief, and received our certificates, and that was that.
No AAR would be fair without both the good and bad, and none of us will ever agree on everything all the time. I had two issues with this class, and both were discussed with the instructors prior to me posting this.
First…2 out of 3 instructors were somewhat light on CONUS LE experience. This was more than made up for by their enthusiasm, experience elsewhere, and passion for teaching. They clearly put a lot of work into the lesson plan.
Second…well, we have respectfully agreed to disagree. 88 Tactical are big believers in point shooting out to about five yards. I spoke to and emailed Kurt about this, and he explained that this was in very specific and limited circumstances, what they refer to as an “OSHIT” scenario, i.e., close-up and unexpected. (I won’t explain what OSHIT means…again it is 88 Tac’s material.) I believe that we MUST see our sights with every single shot we fire, and that with proper training and experience, we will. The only possible exception being literally arms-length distance or less AND caught off-guard, where aligning sights and eyes would simply take too much time. Our disagreement on this was very minute and really splitting hairs, and I debated even mentioning it!
FACILITY:
The Tekamah facility is about 160 acres, situated over a mile from the nearest paved highway. The lodge consists of a full kitchen which is open for students to use, (the convenience of which cannot be overstated,) a seating area with comfortable leather furniture, TV/DVD/stereo and wireless internet. The other half of that seating area was the classroom, with folding tables and chairs; and a projector and screen. All in all, the lodge was convenient and comfortable. Our class used it quite a bit, as a gathering spot before and during breakfast, lunch on the deck, and hanging out after class BS’ing with the instructors and other students.
An unadvertised bonus of this particular class was one of the students is a liquor distributor, and he brought several bottles of very good Bourbon for students to sample Saturday night. Now THAT is convenient!
Lodge kitchen Lodge Cabin Cabin Bunkhouse Bunkhouse Bunkhouse kitchenThe view from the lodge:
