Class- Ballistic Shield Instructor Course
Instructor- Keith Forsythe (Safariland Group)
Location- Westchester, IL
Date- May16-18 (half day on 18th)
Course cost- $295
Equipment;
Protech Titan Armor
HSGI battle belt
Roland Special
Blackhawk Omnivore holster
United Shield Delta helmet
Silynx pro hearing comms
Day 1
Started with an intro from the instructor who was a full time police officer near New Orleans. He stated that he had just returned home from teaching and that he didn’t want to head back out again but that they needed someone to teach. Paperwork was completed and as he looked through what Safariland had sent, commented that they had sent shield hooks to be used during class then found that they didn’t actually send them despite them being on the packing list. We got a hat and a safariland group chip. He then said that he hoped that everyone brought more than the 200 rounds that were noted on the training sheet for the shooting that we would be doing in a few hours and said that they were supposed to have updated that (some hadn’t). We then started on the powerpoint that was from 2014 that he was surprised they were still using because there’s a newer version. He then asked if anyone had a facility we could use for the next day for shield movement. I was not the host agency but work in the area so I secured two houses only to find out later in the afternoon that we were going to go somewhere else. Whether the hose agency dropped the call or Safariland did, I don’t know but it was dropped.
We went over ballistics of which there was no real info other than the slides as there was no safariland rep on sight and the instructor didn’t have the data. Went over a few considerations with the shield and then relocated to the range.
Range consisted of how to hold the shield and sighting considerations. Demo was done by the instructor with a live weapon facing the range wall so we could all see the manipulations. We then did some dry runs with the shield and proceeded to live fire. Live fire consisted of the following and target was a piece of copy paper;
3rds 3yds
2 reload 2 3yds
Malfunction clears 7yds
Transitioning sides 3x3x3 5yds with transition occurring between the knees during which I identified an issue with my extended mag release and hitting it if I squeezed my weapon between my knees
Close quarters shooting from side of shield
Move and shoot forward
Move and shoot back
Move and shoot forward support hand
Move and shoot backward support hand
Practice qual
Less than 200 rounds fired
For all shooting I used a Protech Intruder IIIA shield
Day was closed out with a review
Day 2
Day two began with powerpoint on the different shield positions and team movement to include moving to a building, officer rescue, two shield use, and stairs.
We moved into an open area in the classroom building and conducted runs of officer rescue with the shield and using a 2 shield front. Using the shield to move a person “bunker redirect” out of the way was discussed.
We then moved to a different building and did more movements as a team and discussed quick peaks, lipping, port and cover and stairs. Teams got multiple reps with each. Went over vehicle assaults with the shield.
On this day since we have one coming I used the big boy and used a Nato 2 Enhanced level III shield and found no issue when using a shield hook on my vest with bearing the weight and doing manipulations all day.
Day 3
Qualified
From 5 yards shot at a paper plate
6 rounds strong hand reload
6 rounds strong hand transfer
3 rounds support hand reload
3 rounds support hand transfer
Simulate malfunction clear, 2 rounds
You could miss 5…everyone passed. I did end up winning a holster.
Did our “teachbacks” on the range since this was an instructor course then went upstairs to take the written test. Did a review of the test then took the test and received our certificate.
Overall
I don’t know what falls on Safariland for lack of preparation, what falls on the instructor and what falls on the host agency. I expected more from Safariland
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Instructor- Keith Forsythe (Safariland Group)
Location- Westchester, IL
Date- May16-18 (half day on 18th)
Course cost- $295
Equipment;
Protech Titan Armor
HSGI battle belt
Roland Special
Blackhawk Omnivore holster
United Shield Delta helmet
Silynx pro hearing comms
Day 1
Started with an intro from the instructor who was a full time police officer near New Orleans. He stated that he had just returned home from teaching and that he didn’t want to head back out again but that they needed someone to teach. Paperwork was completed and as he looked through what Safariland had sent, commented that they had sent shield hooks to be used during class then found that they didn’t actually send them despite them being on the packing list. We got a hat and a safariland group chip. He then said that he hoped that everyone brought more than the 200 rounds that were noted on the training sheet for the shooting that we would be doing in a few hours and said that they were supposed to have updated that (some hadn’t). We then started on the powerpoint that was from 2014 that he was surprised they were still using because there’s a newer version. He then asked if anyone had a facility we could use for the next day for shield movement. I was not the host agency but work in the area so I secured two houses only to find out later in the afternoon that we were going to go somewhere else. Whether the hose agency dropped the call or Safariland did, I don’t know but it was dropped.
We went over ballistics of which there was no real info other than the slides as there was no safariland rep on sight and the instructor didn’t have the data. Went over a few considerations with the shield and then relocated to the range.
Range consisted of how to hold the shield and sighting considerations. Demo was done by the instructor with a live weapon facing the range wall so we could all see the manipulations. We then did some dry runs with the shield and proceeded to live fire. Live fire consisted of the following and target was a piece of copy paper;
3rds 3yds
2 reload 2 3yds
Malfunction clears 7yds
Transitioning sides 3x3x3 5yds with transition occurring between the knees during which I identified an issue with my extended mag release and hitting it if I squeezed my weapon between my knees
Close quarters shooting from side of shield
Move and shoot forward
Move and shoot back
Move and shoot forward support hand
Move and shoot backward support hand
Practice qual
Less than 200 rounds fired
For all shooting I used a Protech Intruder IIIA shield
Day was closed out with a review
Day 2
Day two began with powerpoint on the different shield positions and team movement to include moving to a building, officer rescue, two shield use, and stairs.
We moved into an open area in the classroom building and conducted runs of officer rescue with the shield and using a 2 shield front. Using the shield to move a person “bunker redirect” out of the way was discussed.
We then moved to a different building and did more movements as a team and discussed quick peaks, lipping, port and cover and stairs. Teams got multiple reps with each. Went over vehicle assaults with the shield.
On this day since we have one coming I used the big boy and used a Nato 2 Enhanced level III shield and found no issue when using a shield hook on my vest with bearing the weight and doing manipulations all day.
Day 3
Qualified
From 5 yards shot at a paper plate
6 rounds strong hand reload
6 rounds strong hand transfer
3 rounds support hand reload
3 rounds support hand transfer
Simulate malfunction clear, 2 rounds
You could miss 5…everyone passed. I did end up winning a holster.
Did our “teachbacks” on the range since this was an instructor course then went upstairs to take the written test. Did a review of the test then took the test and received our certificate.
Overall
I don’t know what falls on Safariland for lack of preparation, what falls on the instructor and what falls on the host agency. I expected more from Safariland
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
