LECTC-2 20190218

AAR – Direct Action Resource Center: Law Enforcement Counter Terrorism Course Level 2 - 20190218-20190223
I attended the LECTC-2 course at DARC in North Little Rock Arkansas, which builds off of LECTC-1. The primary difference is external and internal explosive breaching, ballistic breaching, task organization, live fire snipers, hostage rescue, and of course, live fire. Without getting too much into the tactics I will attempt to convey the utility of attending the level 2 if you have already attended the level 1.

Unlike the level 1 course, there is no “Zero Day,” everything starts on the first day of the course and one of the first things hashed out is who is a ballistic breacher and who is an explosive breacher (I was one of the explosive breachers in the class). From there, the teams are broken down and off to the shoot house you go, re-hashing everything from the level 1 to ensure everyone is on the same page and a few new items are added to help ensure safety for the live fire.

Once everyone confirms their zero (it is expected you arrive with a zero) and gets in some dry runs we start making the explosive charges. There were over 130 explosive breaches during the course, so it took the participation of every student throughout the entire class to make the charges and firing systems in a timely fashion. It is important to note, THIS IS NOT A BREACHING CLASS, BUT THERE IS A BREACHING IN IT. And while this may be true, it very quickly became very apparent that the flat range explosive breaching I am accustomed to is simply not enough; I learned just as much about breaching as I did about CQB during this course. Additionally, it became very apparent that a large portion of the course was not accustomed to integrating with either explosive or ballistic breachers, but they have it on their teams. The first few interior breaches incorporated into the DARC method were a very eye opening and humbling experience for the entire class.

This trend of eye-opening information, which builds upon the tactics and task organization learned in level 1 does not stop for the entire course (Bring your note pads and caffeine). Obviously, I can not post the tactics here, but if you have been to the level 1, you have a baseline for what those are; they get slightly more complex, but also more fluid, especially the multi-entry (that was with sims obviously due to roll players being in the rooms you breach)

Safety. At no point in time did I feel like I was in an unsafe position. The instructors have it down to an art form of placing the bullet traps and locked doors that are to be breached; it seems as though they are at every major potential friction point, ensuring those are safe, successful, and also valuable learning points. Side note: You very quickly learn the value of properly employed technology during multicell under nods.

I would very much like to do this course again, only not as a breacher, so I can focus on the assaulter piece. If you ARE an explosive breacher, you should either try to attend twice or attend as an assaulter, then attend their Advanced Operational Breaching Techniques which is their breaching class, that has assaulters in it… I hope to attend that this coming November.
 
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