Dr. No
Regular Member
Anyone going this year? This will be the fourth year our team has gone and it is 2 years of training packed in 2 days.
https://urbanshield.acgov.org/home.htm
For those who don't know: Urban Shield is an interoperability exercise dreamed up by the Alameda County Sheriff due to the high population and agencies in the small bay area.
Urban Shield itself has evolved into a 3 tiered exercise - SWAT, Fire, and EOD. All have separate tracks and compete against each other. I have only attended the SWAT side so I can't comment on the others.
The exercise itself is a continuous 48 hour process. You start Saturday morning and end Monday morning. You get on a van, go to a training site, kit up, brief, make a plan, execute the hit, get an after action, gear down, and you're in the van to the next site. There are approximately 30-35 scenarios, 1 of which is live fire. All others are sims or some other sort of FOF option. There are 1-3 more "physical" scenarios such as the Alameda asskicker of an O course. It is a serious gut check - a 45 minute O course/run.
The scenarios are spread out through the entire bay area. We hit hospitals, schools, cars, water treatment plants, planes, trains, buses, military destroyers (Yes, we raided a moored museum), bridges, dams, businesses .... the list goes on. It is truly amazing the resources available in the bay area.
Several mass casualty scenarios have you working with EMS on dealing with the scene after you've shot people in the face. I remember in particular a real amputee who was in attendance. They had absolutely real looking shredded flesh hanging off his stump and blood squirting out everywhere. It was amazing. There are over 5,000 role players that assist in 2 days.
You are judged by evaluators on how well your team works, how your tactics and planning worked, and your threat assessment skills. As with anything, it seems like it can be subjective at times, but if you don't get too caught up in that it is a great way to learn about how to make your team better.
It is, by far, the best training I've ever been able to attend. I learned more about working with my team under stress and duress and how our tactics work than I ever have doing things training once a week.
If your agency is in California, particularly in the bay area, you are remiss if you don't attend. Teams from outside the area are accepted, but priority is given to the locals.
https://urbanshield.acgov.org/home.htm
For those who don't know: Urban Shield is an interoperability exercise dreamed up by the Alameda County Sheriff due to the high population and agencies in the small bay area.
Urban Shield itself has evolved into a 3 tiered exercise - SWAT, Fire, and EOD. All have separate tracks and compete against each other. I have only attended the SWAT side so I can't comment on the others.
The exercise itself is a continuous 48 hour process. You start Saturday morning and end Monday morning. You get on a van, go to a training site, kit up, brief, make a plan, execute the hit, get an after action, gear down, and you're in the van to the next site. There are approximately 30-35 scenarios, 1 of which is live fire. All others are sims or some other sort of FOF option. There are 1-3 more "physical" scenarios such as the Alameda asskicker of an O course. It is a serious gut check - a 45 minute O course/run.
The scenarios are spread out through the entire bay area. We hit hospitals, schools, cars, water treatment plants, planes, trains, buses, military destroyers (Yes, we raided a moored museum), bridges, dams, businesses .... the list goes on. It is truly amazing the resources available in the bay area.
Several mass casualty scenarios have you working with EMS on dealing with the scene after you've shot people in the face. I remember in particular a real amputee who was in attendance. They had absolutely real looking shredded flesh hanging off his stump and blood squirting out everywhere. It was amazing. There are over 5,000 role players that assist in 2 days.
You are judged by evaluators on how well your team works, how your tactics and planning worked, and your threat assessment skills. As with anything, it seems like it can be subjective at times, but if you don't get too caught up in that it is a great way to learn about how to make your team better.
It is, by far, the best training I've ever been able to attend. I learned more about working with my team under stress and duress and how our tactics work than I ever have doing things training once a week.
If your agency is in California, particularly in the bay area, you are remiss if you don't attend. Teams from outside the area are accepted, but priority is given to the locals.