runningwolf
Member
I was given to opportunity recently to attend a tactical rappelling course hosted by Tuscaloosa County SO, Al and taught by the instructors at Randall's Adventure Training (ESEE knives). The following will be my attempt to relay the general over view of the course and lessons learned. The AAR will be organized in a format of: The hosts and facility, the instructors, gear used, days 1, 2, and 3, and lessons learned/ ways to improve. Also to note, ESEE offers this course as well as a few others free to LEO. I highly recommend this course..
Tuscaloosa County SO:
This was my first time having any contact with Tuscaloosa SO (from here on shortened to TSO) and to say I was impressed would be a huge understatement. The staff I dealt with were just awesome, I can't put it to into words how cool it was to hang out with these guys over those 3 days. Now, on to describing Shangri la.
TSO's training compound is impressive, I had literally thought I had died on the drive up and landed heaven. From the moment you drive in the first thing you see is a live fire shoot house, followed by a small square range with 5-6 old vehicles of different makes to include a couple patrol cars set to the side to be used for vehicle tactics. The rifle range was around 150-200 yard and features a multi stage rappelling tower that at it's highest was 40-50 feet. There is a bay set up for all manner of breaching training.
Next is the massive building they have which features: bunk rooms, a kitchen, weapons cleaning room, two classrooms, a rec room, a grappling room, showers and latrines, a room akin to the FATS machines the military uses, a small gym out back and numerous other amenities. To note, while space is limited they allowed those of us that wished to stay at no cost. The only thing more awesome then the facility was the guys that ran it.
Instructors
The instructors for this class were Jeff Randall, Patrick Rollins, Mark Armstrong, Lee Smith, and Mark Senf. I titled this section "Instructors" but to be accurate, these guys are teachers with experience ranging from the tactical side to rescue work, to canyoneering to my brain can't process the amount of knowledge of rope work present here. I could go on about them but I think this would get the point across best- These guys are just good dudes.
Gear
The harness used for this class was a Yates Rappel belt with the Cobra waist and leg buckles, this was my first time using it and I really like this harness, the legs could be stowed in the attached pouch up from or when the legs loops are in use the pouch makes a very convenient place to store your carabiner and figure 8 that keeps it from swinging around hitting things or making noise. For gloves I used a pair of Petzl rappel gloves.
Rifle was a BCM EAG with a BFG VCAS attached at the stock and far forward on the 3 o'clock rail (IE the sling was hard mounted for a lefty, no push buttons)
Glock 19 in an OTG concepts duty holster with the blade tech hood.
Plate carrier was a APC
Day 1
First day of the class started with introductions, the class was a mix of SRT guys from various agencies and one random cop from about 5 hours away (me). Experience ranged from having never rappelled to guys that have done rescue work for 20 years. The age range was from young to old but surprisingly there was no little groups formed here and there, everyone got along real well from the start.
After introductions we began the classroom portion where the instructors went over basic knots used in rope work as well as rigging fundamentals and methods. On the subject of knots, each student was given a length of cordage to practice with but also had to demonstrate there ability to tie each given knot, and for several of the knots you would have to demonstrate by tying it behind your back.
Once the classroom portion was over we went out to the rappel tower and were split up into 3 groups, and began rotating through 3 different stations. One on the high wall, one on the low wall for learning and practicing the different types of rappels (Normal, Aussie, and Rock Marine) and one station for anchor building.
My first station was anchor building and this was a good basic over view. I learned several methods of not only building but also strengthening a anchor and using multiple anchors to redirect a rope around an obstacle.
Second station was the low wall. The rappel station was basically three shipping containers welded on top of each other and two more stacked on top of each other right next to it and one welded shut standing on it's end setting on top of the three stacked on. The low station was on the inside of the 3rd floor of the containers. Here we went over and practiced the different methods of rappel. I started with just a normal rappel, which was easy enough. Next was Rock Marine, this is where you would start off like a normal rappel but instead of getting your feet at 90 degree to the wall and going, you would lower your self down to your feet were above your head and your butt was setting on the wall. At this point you would all at once lean back, move your brake hand above your head and wrap your legs around the rope, then descend. The final method at this station was Aussie, this is basically descending where you are facing away from the anchor, your brake hand goes over your head with your arm fully extended. Being "Warrior" sized, this sucked for me as I don't have much weight and the Figure 8 along with the 1/2 inch rope was putting on a ton of friction, it was a very slow process and felt about like being a sandbag carried over someone's shoulder. Not my favorite method.
Station 3 was the big wall, it's about 40 to 50 feet and set up with multiple rigging options from high anchor to low anchors. This was an easy station, it's been a while since I've been up that high, it gave me a good reminder, that I'm terrified of heights. I got over easy and went down, thus ending this station.
Once I had finished going through my stations myself and a few others gathered up at the bottom of the big tower and started practicing locking off the figure 8s. I got to talking to Jeff about caving and canyoneering and such and he was kind enough to show me some of his personal gear including two different type of descent devices, a rack and a Sterling ATS. The rack is more of a caving thing but Jeff has been using the ATS for canyoneering and after playing with it I see why. It is a much lighter and easier to use system and so much easier to lock off.
After everyone had finished up we gathered around and had a small AAR before breaking for the day. I was staying at the range along with the instructors thus I got to pick there brains a little more followed by taking a short run before showering and going out to eat. To note, the mattresses at this facility are a little firm for my liking and they had told me I could just crash on the couch in the rec room if I wanted, having slept in the racks the night before I gave it a try, much more comfortable.
Day 2
Day two was fun, with much to get done. We did our safety checks and began practicing what we were taught the day before, only this time in gear. We also went of some more knots and self rescue procedures. When rappelling with kit, you are more top heavy and thus constantly being pulled backwards, this was very apparent during the self rescue portion where the instructors would jack up your figure 8 basically making it impossible for your to descend, leaving you dangling there.
Self rescue was done by adding a prusik above the device to put your foot in and stand up thus relieving pressure on the device and allowing you to fix what ever the issue is. Sounds easy enough, until you are doing it in kit. When you stand up on the foot loop you have to wrap one arm around the rope to keep you from falling back, thus leaving you only 1 hand to untangle the device. A couple of the guys were attaching a carabiner to their shoulder straps and once they stood up they would hook it into the rope, thus keeping the armor from pulling them backward and helping a little with being able to use both hands to fix the device.
Once the device is untangled you would grab the tail end of the rope and put the break back on before lowering your self back down and taking the weight off the prusik putting it back on the figure 8. This exercise demonstrated not only the importance of having a prusik sized for you at the ready but also leg strength and flexibility, you are basically doing a very deep one legged squat in full kit while spinning and swinging. If your small and flexible enough, you may can get both legs in that loop (lucky me), if not start practicing your one leg squats. Most of the guys in the class were realizing how important PT was at this point.
We next went over and practiced rappelling on low mount anchors. Up until this point the anchors had been up high, usually above our heads making rappelling easier, low anchors have a little more difficulty but in a real world event you are more likely to use thus practice was necessary. We went over three methods, the first was basically the normal rappel but with the anchor low going over the edge was a little rougher then normal. The second method was rolling off, you would lay on your stomach on the edge with the brake on and roll off then rappel as normal. The third was the sit off, this is where you sit on the edge lock your break and jump off and pray. Realistically your only gonna fall a few inches, the break is on and your just falling that little bit of slack, but when your terrified of heights a few inches and a few 1000 feet aren't that different.
The last station for the morning was on the high wall were you were doing either one of two things, building your own anchor then rappelling it, or setting up a lowering device where someone else would lower you down. These were awesome confidence builders that make sure your know what your doing when building an anchor.
At Noon we broke for lunch till 1300 and I managed to find a nice little restaurant about 15 minutes away (TSO's facility is in the middle of no where, and this is coming from a guy that lives in the boonies.) I got back early and begun getting my weapons out and making sure everything was good to go before heading to the tower.
From 1300 to 1500 was the live fire portion, not going to go to into detail as it's meant to be a test but I did learn a valuable lesson about being a lefty and sling setup.
Once the live fire portion was over we took a break till 1900 where we met up at in Tuscaloosa at the fire departments training complex. I won't ruin the scenario put it was a good test of everything we had learned up to this point, in kit, at night....with sims. It was awesome.
I got back to the TSO facility and got to sleep at about 0030. I had mentioned the beds were like rocks earlier, I feel into one and slept like a kitten the rest of the night, waking up only the alarm clock the next morning with droll on my face.
Day 3
Day three was a short day that was also like the night of day two a culmination exercise. I'm not going to blow this one either but it was also fun. We wrapped up around Noon and did our AAR, took some class photos and exchanged some numbers. All in all this was a great class with a great group of people.
Lessons learned/ Ways to Improve
Probably the biggest thing I learned as far as gear goes. Long rifles and holsters that stick out suck. During the live fire portion when I would try to lock off I had too much weight on me with my gear to do it normally so I would wrap the rope around behind me before bringing it up to lock off the device, the problem it it would first get hung up on my rifle, then get stuck behind my holster, and I'm doing this all 1 handed as I have to keep the break on. The issue of locking off can be solved by using a different descent device, either something like a Sterling ATS that is much easier to lock off or a mechanical device that is self locking when you let go of it, both I am very interested in getting. Don't get me wrong, the figure 8 is still very useable, but it's not the best and there are easier more effective to use products out there that are surprisingly cheaper. As far as the rifle and holster issue. I have been wanting a short barrel for a while, this just justifies the need even more. I am also looking at a Safariland holster.
My next and probably the biggest gear issue, was the sling set up. I can transition from left to right handed with this sling easy, it's never been a problem with a two point sling...until I got on a rope. The course of fire was set up for right handed shooters, thus I tried to transition the my right side to shoot, but was unable to keep the sling on while doing so, and when working on rope anything not to secured to you finds it's was to the ground quick. I ended up just having to peek around the tower and shoot left handed but this left a lot more of myself exposed then I wanted. Pistol could be shot right handed easy enough. I think a way to fix this would be to use the push button attachments on my sling so the I can move it between left or right handed on the fly. Possible even configure it as a single point with a bungee retention to keep it out of the way?
Next up is the gloves. These were Thick Petzl rappel gloves and while they work great for rappelling, they suck for shooting. One of the instructors was using a pair of yates gloves that are built for rappelling and shooting, I really like those and will probably be getting a pair of my own. The Petzl gloves were just so thick I couldn't get any feel for the trigger.
That's it for gear short coming now a couple little tricks. One trick we came up with for dealing with armor in the Rock Marine rappel was to tie a piece of webbing to your belt, bring it up and behind your front plate then down and tie it to your belt on the other side. By doing so your plate won't go over your head when you are inverted.
Next is a couple of methods for adding friction for our heavier set individuals. There is a couple ways we found to do this, several involving an extra carabiner. One involved wrapping the rope around the body and clipping it into another carabiner on your belay loop and pulling back, basically turning the opposite hand into the break hand.
I have always been taught to use my right hand as my break hand, thus being left handed, I am able to get to my pistol easy. Most of the guys I've seen though were not taught like this thus they were using their shooting hand as there break hand. I think I was taught this way simply because the guy thought I was a righty.
Self-Rescue, the tools required for this are simple to carry and light weight for what they do but it's a technique that needs to be practiced and it is a ton more helpful to have a prusik set up and sized for you before hand then trying to use your 550 shoe laces to do it. The loop I was using fit pretty easy in my calf pocket.
Please forgive any grammar errors and the poor organization of this AAR.
Tuscaloosa County SO:
This was my first time having any contact with Tuscaloosa SO (from here on shortened to TSO) and to say I was impressed would be a huge understatement. The staff I dealt with were just awesome, I can't put it to into words how cool it was to hang out with these guys over those 3 days. Now, on to describing Shangri la.
TSO's training compound is impressive, I had literally thought I had died on the drive up and landed heaven. From the moment you drive in the first thing you see is a live fire shoot house, followed by a small square range with 5-6 old vehicles of different makes to include a couple patrol cars set to the side to be used for vehicle tactics. The rifle range was around 150-200 yard and features a multi stage rappelling tower that at it's highest was 40-50 feet. There is a bay set up for all manner of breaching training.
Next is the massive building they have which features: bunk rooms, a kitchen, weapons cleaning room, two classrooms, a rec room, a grappling room, showers and latrines, a room akin to the FATS machines the military uses, a small gym out back and numerous other amenities. To note, while space is limited they allowed those of us that wished to stay at no cost. The only thing more awesome then the facility was the guys that ran it.
Instructors
The instructors for this class were Jeff Randall, Patrick Rollins, Mark Armstrong, Lee Smith, and Mark Senf. I titled this section "Instructors" but to be accurate, these guys are teachers with experience ranging from the tactical side to rescue work, to canyoneering to my brain can't process the amount of knowledge of rope work present here. I could go on about them but I think this would get the point across best- These guys are just good dudes.
Gear
The harness used for this class was a Yates Rappel belt with the Cobra waist and leg buckles, this was my first time using it and I really like this harness, the legs could be stowed in the attached pouch up from or when the legs loops are in use the pouch makes a very convenient place to store your carabiner and figure 8 that keeps it from swinging around hitting things or making noise. For gloves I used a pair of Petzl rappel gloves.
Rifle was a BCM EAG with a BFG VCAS attached at the stock and far forward on the 3 o'clock rail (IE the sling was hard mounted for a lefty, no push buttons)
Glock 19 in an OTG concepts duty holster with the blade tech hood.
Plate carrier was a APC
Day 1
First day of the class started with introductions, the class was a mix of SRT guys from various agencies and one random cop from about 5 hours away (me). Experience ranged from having never rappelled to guys that have done rescue work for 20 years. The age range was from young to old but surprisingly there was no little groups formed here and there, everyone got along real well from the start.
After introductions we began the classroom portion where the instructors went over basic knots used in rope work as well as rigging fundamentals and methods. On the subject of knots, each student was given a length of cordage to practice with but also had to demonstrate there ability to tie each given knot, and for several of the knots you would have to demonstrate by tying it behind your back.
Once the classroom portion was over we went out to the rappel tower and were split up into 3 groups, and began rotating through 3 different stations. One on the high wall, one on the low wall for learning and practicing the different types of rappels (Normal, Aussie, and Rock Marine) and one station for anchor building.
My first station was anchor building and this was a good basic over view. I learned several methods of not only building but also strengthening a anchor and using multiple anchors to redirect a rope around an obstacle.
Second station was the low wall. The rappel station was basically three shipping containers welded on top of each other and two more stacked on top of each other right next to it and one welded shut standing on it's end setting on top of the three stacked on. The low station was on the inside of the 3rd floor of the containers. Here we went over and practiced the different methods of rappel. I started with just a normal rappel, which was easy enough. Next was Rock Marine, this is where you would start off like a normal rappel but instead of getting your feet at 90 degree to the wall and going, you would lower your self down to your feet were above your head and your butt was setting on the wall. At this point you would all at once lean back, move your brake hand above your head and wrap your legs around the rope, then descend. The final method at this station was Aussie, this is basically descending where you are facing away from the anchor, your brake hand goes over your head with your arm fully extended. Being "Warrior" sized, this sucked for me as I don't have much weight and the Figure 8 along with the 1/2 inch rope was putting on a ton of friction, it was a very slow process and felt about like being a sandbag carried over someone's shoulder. Not my favorite method.
Station 3 was the big wall, it's about 40 to 50 feet and set up with multiple rigging options from high anchor to low anchors. This was an easy station, it's been a while since I've been up that high, it gave me a good reminder, that I'm terrified of heights. I got over easy and went down, thus ending this station.
Once I had finished going through my stations myself and a few others gathered up at the bottom of the big tower and started practicing locking off the figure 8s. I got to talking to Jeff about caving and canyoneering and such and he was kind enough to show me some of his personal gear including two different type of descent devices, a rack and a Sterling ATS. The rack is more of a caving thing but Jeff has been using the ATS for canyoneering and after playing with it I see why. It is a much lighter and easier to use system and so much easier to lock off.
After everyone had finished up we gathered around and had a small AAR before breaking for the day. I was staying at the range along with the instructors thus I got to pick there brains a little more followed by taking a short run before showering and going out to eat. To note, the mattresses at this facility are a little firm for my liking and they had told me I could just crash on the couch in the rec room if I wanted, having slept in the racks the night before I gave it a try, much more comfortable.
Day 2
Day two was fun, with much to get done. We did our safety checks and began practicing what we were taught the day before, only this time in gear. We also went of some more knots and self rescue procedures. When rappelling with kit, you are more top heavy and thus constantly being pulled backwards, this was very apparent during the self rescue portion where the instructors would jack up your figure 8 basically making it impossible for your to descend, leaving you dangling there.
Self rescue was done by adding a prusik above the device to put your foot in and stand up thus relieving pressure on the device and allowing you to fix what ever the issue is. Sounds easy enough, until you are doing it in kit. When you stand up on the foot loop you have to wrap one arm around the rope to keep you from falling back, thus leaving you only 1 hand to untangle the device. A couple of the guys were attaching a carabiner to their shoulder straps and once they stood up they would hook it into the rope, thus keeping the armor from pulling them backward and helping a little with being able to use both hands to fix the device.
Once the device is untangled you would grab the tail end of the rope and put the break back on before lowering your self back down and taking the weight off the prusik putting it back on the figure 8. This exercise demonstrated not only the importance of having a prusik sized for you at the ready but also leg strength and flexibility, you are basically doing a very deep one legged squat in full kit while spinning and swinging. If your small and flexible enough, you may can get both legs in that loop (lucky me), if not start practicing your one leg squats. Most of the guys in the class were realizing how important PT was at this point.
We next went over and practiced rappelling on low mount anchors. Up until this point the anchors had been up high, usually above our heads making rappelling easier, low anchors have a little more difficulty but in a real world event you are more likely to use thus practice was necessary. We went over three methods, the first was basically the normal rappel but with the anchor low going over the edge was a little rougher then normal. The second method was rolling off, you would lay on your stomach on the edge with the brake on and roll off then rappel as normal. The third was the sit off, this is where you sit on the edge lock your break and jump off and pray. Realistically your only gonna fall a few inches, the break is on and your just falling that little bit of slack, but when your terrified of heights a few inches and a few 1000 feet aren't that different.
The last station for the morning was on the high wall were you were doing either one of two things, building your own anchor then rappelling it, or setting up a lowering device where someone else would lower you down. These were awesome confidence builders that make sure your know what your doing when building an anchor.
At Noon we broke for lunch till 1300 and I managed to find a nice little restaurant about 15 minutes away (TSO's facility is in the middle of no where, and this is coming from a guy that lives in the boonies.) I got back early and begun getting my weapons out and making sure everything was good to go before heading to the tower.
From 1300 to 1500 was the live fire portion, not going to go to into detail as it's meant to be a test but I did learn a valuable lesson about being a lefty and sling setup.
Once the live fire portion was over we took a break till 1900 where we met up at in Tuscaloosa at the fire departments training complex. I won't ruin the scenario put it was a good test of everything we had learned up to this point, in kit, at night....with sims. It was awesome.
I got back to the TSO facility and got to sleep at about 0030. I had mentioned the beds were like rocks earlier, I feel into one and slept like a kitten the rest of the night, waking up only the alarm clock the next morning with droll on my face.
Day 3
Day three was a short day that was also like the night of day two a culmination exercise. I'm not going to blow this one either but it was also fun. We wrapped up around Noon and did our AAR, took some class photos and exchanged some numbers. All in all this was a great class with a great group of people.
Lessons learned/ Ways to Improve
Probably the biggest thing I learned as far as gear goes. Long rifles and holsters that stick out suck. During the live fire portion when I would try to lock off I had too much weight on me with my gear to do it normally so I would wrap the rope around behind me before bringing it up to lock off the device, the problem it it would first get hung up on my rifle, then get stuck behind my holster, and I'm doing this all 1 handed as I have to keep the break on. The issue of locking off can be solved by using a different descent device, either something like a Sterling ATS that is much easier to lock off or a mechanical device that is self locking when you let go of it, both I am very interested in getting. Don't get me wrong, the figure 8 is still very useable, but it's not the best and there are easier more effective to use products out there that are surprisingly cheaper. As far as the rifle and holster issue. I have been wanting a short barrel for a while, this just justifies the need even more. I am also looking at a Safariland holster.
My next and probably the biggest gear issue, was the sling set up. I can transition from left to right handed with this sling easy, it's never been a problem with a two point sling...until I got on a rope. The course of fire was set up for right handed shooters, thus I tried to transition the my right side to shoot, but was unable to keep the sling on while doing so, and when working on rope anything not to secured to you finds it's was to the ground quick. I ended up just having to peek around the tower and shoot left handed but this left a lot more of myself exposed then I wanted. Pistol could be shot right handed easy enough. I think a way to fix this would be to use the push button attachments on my sling so the I can move it between left or right handed on the fly. Possible even configure it as a single point with a bungee retention to keep it out of the way?
Next up is the gloves. These were Thick Petzl rappel gloves and while they work great for rappelling, they suck for shooting. One of the instructors was using a pair of yates gloves that are built for rappelling and shooting, I really like those and will probably be getting a pair of my own. The Petzl gloves were just so thick I couldn't get any feel for the trigger.
That's it for gear short coming now a couple little tricks. One trick we came up with for dealing with armor in the Rock Marine rappel was to tie a piece of webbing to your belt, bring it up and behind your front plate then down and tie it to your belt on the other side. By doing so your plate won't go over your head when you are inverted.
Next is a couple of methods for adding friction for our heavier set individuals. There is a couple ways we found to do this, several involving an extra carabiner. One involved wrapping the rope around the body and clipping it into another carabiner on your belay loop and pulling back, basically turning the opposite hand into the break hand.
I have always been taught to use my right hand as my break hand, thus being left handed, I am able to get to my pistol easy. Most of the guys I've seen though were not taught like this thus they were using their shooting hand as there break hand. I think I was taught this way simply because the guy thought I was a righty.
Self-Rescue, the tools required for this are simple to carry and light weight for what they do but it's a technique that needs to be practiced and it is a ton more helpful to have a prusik set up and sized for you before hand then trying to use your 550 shoe laces to do it. The loop I was using fit pretty easy in my calf pocket.
Please forgive any grammar errors and the poor organization of this AAR.