Training Day One
The schedule for the day was to begin at 0800 in the CSAT classroom, break for lunch, then hit the range to work on some fundamentals and a few CQB techniques. The class did indeed have 16 or 17 students, and such was the caliber of students that all but two were seated in the classroom and ready to roll by about 7:30 (two guys had a long drive and arrived right at 8 AM). I was happy to see 3 students who had been in my AIT course in November, and Dave, the assistant instructor from AIT, was also there, along with two other assistant instructors I’d never met before: Cheston and Simon. Paul was the lead instructor.
Paul started us out with a few handouts and a CD of all the PowerPoints he would be using in the course. Basic pocket folders were also provided to put everything in. He put a rough outline on the board so we could see where we were headed, and then we did introductions where we said our names, where we were from, and what firearms we would be using in the course. Some students also included their professions. I believe there were at least three full time law enforcement officers in the class (including the one I had given my extra 9mm ammo to 6 months before. Son of a gun still had all three boxes and gave them back to me, saying that he was obviously meant to do so! What a great guy!....even more on that later), a few reserve law enforcement officers, a few medical professionals, and everyone else from varied backgrounds. All were men, and ALL had trained with Paul on prior occasions. Everyone seemed particularly interested in me not just because I traveled the furthest, but also because I live just outside of Baltimore and work as a teacher in the eastern part of Baltimore, which was quite serendipitous when one considers the subject matter to be covered.
Paul then explained that his goal was to take 35 years of military and law enforcement experience and force it through a funnel and into our heads. We would be given the tools and skills needed to succeed in a variety of situations, from how to prepare our neighborhood for defense, set up road blocks/vehicle check points, negotiate vehicle check points, “thin the herd” of mass attacks, blend into the chaos, rescue loved ones from hostile situations, etc. In the end, he said, we’d have all the answers to “the test”. The only thing he could not teach us would be when each “answer” would need to be given.
Topics covered in the classroom on this first day included a review (for those of us who had been in any of his AIT or Home Defense courses) how to clear/pie a room from the outside in order to clear as much of it as possible before entry, and how to take a T intersection when operating alone. The PowerPoints included diagrams and videos to illustrate all major points. New information included how to set up a vehicle check point (Paul used satellite imagery of his own street to show how/where he would set up a VCP, where he would set up the cover for the VCP, where a fall-back position would be located, how to arm the members of the VCP, etc.), how to organize a neighborhood for defense (including communications, command post, identifying people with special skills, etc.), how to travel into town during periods of unrest in order to secure supplies, and how to negotiate the various types of VCPs one might encounter on the road.
For this block of instruction, Paul drew heavily upon his experiences in Special Operations in places like Liberia, El Salvador, and also, to some degree, Somalia. He also drew upon his experiences in Eastern Texas in the post-Hurricane Katrina mess. Nacogdoches sits about a gas tank away from Houston, so as 4 million people traveled inland, many ended up using up the resources of the small towns they traveled through, straining these smaller communities. This effect was something I hadn’t thought about before.
One interesting tidbit that came up during this block was AR vs. AK. Paul is definitely a fan of the AK and of the 7.62x39 round. However, if patrolling a neighborhood during a period of civil unrest, the fact that an AK is, like it or not, a “bad guy’s gun”, should preclude its use for such activities. He felt it was best used for home defense, for cover for a VCP (“a MAK 90 will open up a bad guy’s car like a can opener”), or some other static situation where it can be employed without everyone seeing it. The AR, being more of a “good guy’s gun”, would be better for patrolling a neighborhood or other “overt” activities.
We broke for lunch around 11:15 and were told to report to the range at 12:30 with our guns, magazines loaded, etc., in order to check zeros, and then we would be doing training modules involving room-clearing, T intersections, and corner clears.
I will note here the equipment I brought with me. Unlike AIT, this class involved both pistol and carbine. For pistol, I brought my tried and true Gen 3 Glock 19. It has Defoor sights, a Vickers Slide Stop, and a smooth Glock 17 trigger, but is otherwise stock. It has about 3500 rounds through it, and I just replaced the recoil spring assembly prior to heading to Texas. I used a mix of Fiocchi and Sellior and Belliot 115 gr 9mm FMJ ammo.
I chose to bring two carbines, one of which was my Spikes Tactical AR15. I built the lower myself using a PSA lower build kit on a Spikes lower, and the upper I bought complete. It has a 16 inch barrel and mid-length gas system, all Foliage Green MOE furniture, with a Surefire G2 mounted in an IWC Mount N Slot at 11:00, a Blue Force Gear VCAS sling, and is equipped with a Leupold VXR Patrol 1.25 x 4 variable optic in a Larue QD mount. I am a huge fan of this optic, which has a permanent black cross hair reticle with daylight visible red dot that can be switched on as well. Over the course of the weekend I fired perhaps 35 rounds from this rifle.
I fired my AR so little because I primarily used my second rifle for this class. That second rifle was my Sig Sauer 556 SBR. Yes, I dared to be different. I was the only guy NOT using an AR. I would have used my AR more, but the SBR out-performed my hopes. My Sig is equipped with a rear diopter sight from Sig, an MFI folding front sight, an Aimpoint T-1 2moa RDS on an ADM low mount, a VTAC sling, and a PWS muzzle brake (neither myself nor Paul are fans of brakes, but I never wanted to take any chances with Maryland law by having a folding stock AND a flash hider. Since the folding stock was ½ of the reason why I got this gun in the first place, I went with the brake and made those around me suffer the consequences. In hindsight, I should have traveled with the brake affixed but then switched out to a Vortex flash hider I have on another gun in my safe for class, and then just switched back upon my return to Merryland. Oh well. My belated apologies to my classmates and instructors). I had only put about 140 rounds through it before attending this class, and never shot it at more than 100 yards. I was concerned about its durability, accuracy, and range. In class I exlusively shot Federal M193 55 grain ball ammo. I used Gen 3 PMags in both the Sig and the AR.
The aspect of this gun that appealed to me the most, especially for this class, is that we were expected to operate with concealed carry gear and deploy our long guns from bags. This was all spelled out in the course outline. The Sig 556 SBR, with its 10 inch barrel and side-folding stock, seemed ideal for this application. I brought a large black duffel for my AR (all of the other students used ARs, and there were a variety of bags brought along, including soft-sided guitar cases, baseball bat bags, etc.), and a Nike sling bag “liberated” from my in-laws’ house over the Easter holiday for my Sig. With stock folded, it JUST fit inside, even with a 20 or 30 round mag inserted. And yes, I did get back an approved Form 20 to travel with it to Texas.
Ancillary equipment for me included a Blade Tech Nano for my Glock 19 worn appendix style, a Raven Concealment mag pouch for the Glock, a pair of HSGI Rifle Tacos secured to a Raven Concealment Moduloader, all attached to my Wilderness Instructor belt. I did not bother with a chest rig, battle belt, or other “overt” gear, as the point of the course was to be able to operate in a less ostentatious manner. In fact, for much of the course I had the above gear on my belt covered with either a lightweight rain jacket or a photographer’s vest.
(The Main Entrance To The CSAT Range)
gate by
biggsgalassi, on Flickr
Back to class. After lunch, we met at the 100 yard rifle range. We were told to mingle and pick out someone as a “battle buddy” who we would do drills with the rest of the weekend. I teamed up with an older gentleman, Lee, who was a very nice guy (and a pretty good shot!). Since I had a compensator on my SBR, I chose lane 1 so I wouldn’t annoy too many fellow students. Paul reviewed with us his preferred loading procedures, and then we got prone to check zeros. I knew from plenty of reading that Paul prefers a 100 yard zero, and has a CSAT target specially designed to confirm such a zero. It is his standard target but with the entire upper portion of the target, down to the “neck” of the target, in black. The idea is you put the tip of your front sight post, or your red dot, right at the junction of the black and white portions of the target, which is easy to discern at 100 yards without any magnification, and fire. I started with my AR and it grouped nicely into the A zone of the target, but a little lower than that junction of black and white. I wasn’t too concerned, as I felt that as long as I knew my holdovers I’d be fine. We checked targets and students made a few adjustments. I chose at that point, just 5 rounds in, to switch to my SBR. I was not pleased with my zeroing efforts the week before, so figured I’d check it. Again, we all fired five rounds. Mine were a nice tight group (for me) and just below the black/white junction, but a little right. Cheston checked my target, told me to move my dot over 4 clicks. We fired one final group of 5, and I was pretty much dead-on. We were told that, if we still weren’t satisfied, there would be time at the end of the day to further refine our zeroes, but we’d be shooting mostly CQB distances the rest of the day, so it wasn’t that big of a deal for now.
(The 100 Yard Zero Target, With My First 5 Shots)
100yds by
biggsgalassi, on Flickr
While still on the flat range, we moved over to the “barricade” area, which is essentially a set of 4 open “doorways” about 80 yards from some steel that is the size of the A zone on the standard CSAT targets. Here we practiced shooting standing and kneeling from around both sides of cover. I had done this with my Glock in AIT, but it was MUCH easier with a carbine! We had to make 2 hits on steel from each of the four positions. I think I fired 11 rounds to get my hits, which I was pleased with. I should note here that, when asked, Paul said he is not a fan of switching shoulders to fire around cover. Rather, he prefers just stepping out and using his usual technique. Why? We are all better with one side than the other. If you have to make a precision shot from the “wrong side” of cover, would you rather guarantee the hit by exposing yourself a bit more, or maybe miss and create a bigger problem? I couldn’t argue with that logic, and personally I hate switching shoulders. I don’t train to do it enough and, frankly, will never train with it enough to call myself proficient. I would rather devote that same training time to other things.
(The “Barricade Area”, In The Rain)
rain by
biggsgalassi, on Flickr
After the barricade work, we got our pistols and did a few basic drills to check our mechanics, draw techniques, etc., with our pistols. Paul and his assistants walked the line to check out our skills to make sure no one was dangerous and that our pistol skills matched our carbine skills. Also, we had had off and on rain all afternoon, and people were layered in a variety of bits of rain gear, so it was especially important to check drawing and re-holstering techniques.
We then split into two groups and went to the “old shoot house” to work on CQB skills. Having taken AIT only 6 months before, everything was still fresh in my mind. The only difference with this training module was that we did it with carbines instead of pistols. My group started with Cheston at the T intersection where we practiced how to pie both sides of the T as you move down the hallway. Once at the T, a few techniques (none of which are ideal since this was not team oriented, but solo) were demonstrated (stepping out vs. a button-hook, etc.). There were several shoot/don’t shoot targets on both sides of the T, and having taken AIT, I knew the mantra of “Whole person-hand-hand-demeanor-immediate area”. Thus, I did not make the mistake of seeing a handgun on one target and immediately firing on it without first checking “whole body” (and seeing the badge on the belt!). Good stuff. I liked that target discrimination appeared early on in this course; it got everyone thinking. We each got to clear the T intersection with live ammo twice. Doing everything at least twice was standard practice for this course. Cheston was great with positive feedback, and when he had any criticisms, it still sounded like he was giving praise. He has a nice voice and a slow cadence; I felt like he could easily be on a children’s television show! He knew his stuff though and was militant all weekend about constantly scanning our environments. Their saying is that every 3 seconds the battlefield changes in some way, so it’s important to identify those changes.
We then swapped with the other group and worked on single-person room-clearing with Simon. He showed us what we’d seen on videos in the classroom (and I’d seen in AIT) how to pie 80% or so of a room from outside the door, addressing targets from the comparative “safety” of the hallway. All carbine work in the structure was done from the low-ready, which allows full view of the “people” you run into along the way. All carbines were to be on safe until up on target, and put back on safe once the target was down. We also reviewed how to re-enter a hallway from a just-cleared room by checking where we were headed, where we had just been, and a second time where we were headed. The little mantra for this is “dirty-clean-dirty”. Once everything was demonstrated and we practiced dry, we went live and cleared the room twice each. Simon was great with feedback and cleaned up some minor issues with my technique (once I failed to apply the safety post-shots. Another time, I held my carbine too high up in my field of vision). Just like Cheston, he was very positive with everything.
Throughout both of these exercises, Paul bounced back and forth between the groups to check on progress, address questions, etc. Earlier, I mentioned that this course was larger than advertised, and that was because Paul was trying out this different style of having his assistants run a lot of the show while he bounced between groups. Due to the high demand for this course, doing things this way would allow a greater number of students to take the course each time it is offered. He sought our feedback often to see if we were happy with this format, as we were the guinea pigs. Personally, I thought it worked out well.
Our final exercise for the day consisted of corner clears at the entrance to the “old shoot house”. Down past the T intersection, about 60 yards away, were another two pieces of steel that mimic the size of the A zone in the CSAT target. We now got to practice what we had done at the barricade on the flat range and got to shoot from standing and kneeling from both sides of the doorway. I think I fired a total of 5-10 rounds to get my hits here.
With that exercise complete, Paul reminded us that that everything we did today would be built upon the next day and then incorporated into the final exercises on Sunday. He reminded us to keep up with “fluids in and fluids out” throughout the evening, as it was oppressively hot and humid (high 80s, and the humidity had to at least match that). I chose at that point to shoot two more groups out of my AR just to make sure the zero was decent. I did so, and then packed up and headed back to the barracks. By the end of Day One I had fired 22 rounds out of my Glock, 60 rounds out of my SBR, and 15 out of my AR.