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The S&S Training Triad 

9/7/2014

3 Comments

 
People often wonder why S & S incorporates a mix of live fire, blank fire & airsoft into our training curriculum. Our training triad if you will.

The answer is simple. We are working to build well rounded warriors. We don’t want to pump out just gunfighters. We don’t want to just run tactical battle drills. We don’t want to build airsoft CQB teams or pretend medical heroes.  We acknowledge that no training medium is perfect. One by itself will not yield the most prepared individual for an armed encounter.

 To build & train warriors we incorporate training with these 3 mediums to help paint a fuller picture of a person’s tactical training needs and through that, foster confidence through personal competence in individual skills & small team leadership abilities.

 Let’s break down the pros & cons of the training tools we use to help tie together the reality of armed engagements.

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Live Fire Training:
Live fire training is great. Students get to put real rounds down range with real manipulation of their own weapon. But you’re limited to square ranges where the enemy is normally static and offers no resistance. This is great if that is how the enemy reacts in the real world but more often than not that just isn't the case. 

I can assure you from my time deployed to Baghdad, Iraq in 2007 at the height of the surge that the battlefield is a fluid and fast paced environment where the enemy doesn't stay in one place long nor stand out in the open waiting for you to pump round after round into him. After all they usually want to go home at the end of the day as well & not get laid to waste by superior fire power & tactics.

So we have to incorporate not only moving targets but an opposing force that can think & react to your movements & actions! 

It is also important to note that S & S utilizes primitive ranges for most of our live fire training. It is important to get out of our comfort zones and into the dirt & elements. It is a reality check for some who may be getting dirt on their rifle and gear for the first time. This is important. Because if and when you find yourself in a firefight your gear, rifle and you will get dirty. If you're not having to clean your gear somewhat regularly you aren't training enough or hard enough. 
 

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Blank Fire FTX's
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Blank fire training allows us to safely patrol against a human Opfor that attempts to flank, sneak, ambush & generally wreak havoc to patrol leaders well thought out battle plans. It also allows for battle field noise & manipulation of your real steel weapon & ammunition supply management skills.

However without the use of expensive MILES gear  there is no penalty for being exposed too long or being 'hit' by well-placed blank fire rounds.

Granted if your team is initiated on by the Opfor it is usually safe to say you lost the engagement and took casualties. But the rounds on target feedback is lacking. People will take chances they simply couldn’t take on the two way range but will do when using blank fire as a training tool.

So we generally use this for basic skills lanes training with individual/team battle drills & 24 hour FTXs to work in the feel of being in a hostile environment. It is something that can't be replicated safely with live fire & for which the scale is simply too large for the range of airsoft platforms. Plus who wants to wear an airsoft mask for 24hrs! 

Aside from the military only One Shepherd currently fields the MILES system & a fine job they do of it. However their training cycles are a week long (they can be split into to 2 or 3 day commitments) and offered just twice a year. Only one of which new comers can attend the entry point of the program.

The cost of 1 Shepherd, time off away from work needed for many to attend prohibits some from training routinely on such battle drills & skills. Even though the cost is extremely fair when considering the outstanding content and amenities provided, some simply cannot afford it routinely enough to maintain and grow such skills. With that being said, go train with them at some point! You won’t regret it & neither do we!


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Airsoft Training
PictureInstructor Schreckenghuast low crawling.
Lastly we use airsoft. We have built two courses with airsoft as our training tool. One of our most popular being a Post-CCW course that thrusts you into robberies, car jacking’s & active shooter scenarios.

This allows for great feedback of the plastic rounds on target with using airsoft weapons. However the equipment is somewhat unreliable & not usually realistic in regards to sounds, weight & feel. You will however catch yourself jumping off line of an attack & seeking cover so you don’t get the ‘pain penalty’ of the airsoft rounds.

We also use airsoft as our medium to train in our CQB 1 course. We found it as a good start for someone just learning how to enter & clear rooms for the first time before proceeding onto more stressful blank or live fire training in the CQB environment. It’s a building block, a means to an end.

A lot of companies simply train only live fire or only sprinkle in force on force activities. We want to tie in the best of all the different available training mediums to create a more prepared warrior.

If someone is too heavily into live fire training they will neglect their tactical skills. Too much blank fire & they will neglect basic marksmanship skills. Too much airsoft & the lack of battle field noise and you may not train your senses properly to react to those extra sensory stresses if and when you are in a gun fight. 

Training regimens should be like a healthy diet. Well balanced & should include a physical training program. Whatever your training regimen is, make sure you approach it with a open mind & based in reality. Don't base it on a perfect world with every aspect of the critical incident stacked in your favor. More often than not you will find yourself out numbered & possibly out gunned. Have more than one tool in your tool box for problems. Including more than one style of training. 

"Stay Alert, Stay Ready"

Cole Sammons
Owner/Instructor 
S&S Training Solutions, LLC




3 Comments
Christopher Larsen link
9/8/2014 03:00:06 am

Spot on!

The S&S Training Triad hit’s all the major components of warrior competencies – marksmanship, battle drill, and force-on-force experiences.

Let’s do some realistic math. If you train 2 days a month, that comes to roughly 24 training days per year.

The technical aspect of marksmanship involves individual learning. This is one of the more demanding tasks in terms of time, and it is considerably perishable in that if you don’t continue to use this skill, your abilities deteriorate appreciably.

Roughly 25 percent (6 days) of that annual schedule should be committed to live fire training with most of that time dedicated to your primary weapon. Be sure to also allocated time to your secondary weapon within those 6 days.

Another 25 percent (6 days) of the warrior’s annual training should be committed to battle drill training. And as Cole Sammons has pointed out, blank fire is ideal for this! It induces confusion in situational awareness and stress in decision-making.

Another 25 percent (6 days) of that schedule might include additional warrior task competency on a yearly rotational basis. For example, you might on even numbered years train in land navigational skills and radio communications. Then on odd numbered years train on battlefield medical aid and survival-escape-evade techniques.

Finally, 25 percent (6 days) of each training year should be dedicated to Field Training eXercises (FTX) in which opponent teams engage each other in force-on-force simulation. This is the highest level of learning through problem solving in ill-defined and ill-structured domains. Here the reflective process after the FTX moves tacit knowledge into articulated understanding.

Sure. Force-on-force training is sloppy learning if it is conducted outside of the framework of the warrior competencies delineated above – marksmanship, battle drill, land navigation, radio communication, and battlefield medical aid. Yet within that critical framework, force-on-force simulation propels the warrior to a level of competency that is otherwise simply unachievable!

As for which force-on-force platform is “the best” – I’ll insist that none of them are perfect. Each has it’s own set of advantages and disadvantages. And as Cole has suggested, Airsoft is actually better suited to CQB in enclosed environments than MILES. Whereas MILES has the advantage of weapon engagement ranges and also integration with ground and airborne vehicles that is necessary for large battlespaces.

Master your marksmanship skills. Absolutely! But never forget that in the end, marksmanship makes up just 5 percent of the warrior competencies.

- Christopher Larsen

Reply
Cole Sammons link
9/9/2014 02:20:27 am

Couldn't agree more Chris. Certainly we acknowledge that even our training program isn't perfect despite our efforts to make it so! A few things I didn't cover but are worth mentioning:

Hand to hand fighting skills, vehicle tactics, water-borne ops, rope rappelling/rescue skills & more. There are so many aspects of warrior competencies that we just had to try to focus on the 'basic' skills.

I wish we all had more time and funding to complete all these other tasks and at a minimum cross train others in our training circles on those other skills often overlooked.

Thanks for the comment Chris.

Cole

Reply
Christopher Larsen link
9/9/2014 02:44:24 am

That’s a valid point, Cole. And frankly it’s a perspective that I feel is missing from most online warrior communities. The 11B (US Army) 03 (US Marine Corps) Infantry MOS basic qualification requires task competencies that literally fill a 400-page book!

No single school in the US Armed Forces covers all of these basic tasks. So is it any surprise that no single school outside of the military covers all of them?

One Shepherd certainly DOES NOT! Our primary focus is leadership competency. We achieve this through authentic FTX simulations involving dismounted patrolling operations. And yes, that means the first two semesters spent with One Shepherd are dedicated to warrior competencies unique to patrolling operations.

However, we DO NOT produce MOS-qualified Infantry. What we DO produce are competent Warrior-Leaders who are capable of leading combat missions.

As you are aware, Cole, we also produce competent “Lightfighters” with an appreciable expertise in dismounted patrolling operations.

Together, the Warrior-Leader and the Lightfighter are a powerful combination of competencies earned through experiences!

But to be perfectly blunt, One Shepherd simply doesn’t have the time and space in our curriculum to address MOUT/CQB, Combat Life Saver, Survival Escape Resistance & Evasion, Hand-to-Hand Combatives, vehicle-mounted operations, airborne/air assault vertical insertion, or even basic marksmanship!

We’d love to. But we simply don’t have the time, space, and paying clients to do so.

We tell our community members that as warriors they must seek this sort of training elsewhere – like say, S & S Training Solutions?

Sincerely,
Christopher Larsen

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