2016 Training Calendar

Jan 11 Closed Pistol

Feb 15-16 Tactical Pistol, Kent WA

March 14-16 Closed HR

April 18-22 Handgun Instructor, Kent WA

May 19-20 Mechanical/Ballistic Breaching Spokane, WA

June 13-17 Carbine/Subgun Instructor Kent WA

June 30-July 1 Designated Marksman, Kent WA

July 18-20, Carbine/Subgun User Kent WA

August 22-26 Basic SWAT, Spokane WA

Sept 12-13 Tactical Pistol, Kent WA

Oct 17-18 Tactical Pistol, Spokane WA

Oct 19-21 Carbine/Subgun User, Spokane WA

Nov 14-16 Hostage Rescue, Spokane WA

Dec 19-21 SWAT Team Leader, Spokane WA

I wear two hats, one of them is the supervisor of my agencies training unit and range, with a side job as a SWAT team member. The other hat is the owner/operator of a Tactical Training Company. The real job requires me to approve purchases of our department rifles and supporting gear. We are not a large agency, roughly 160 sworn but we issue a rifle to damn near everyone. So, we have approximately 140-150 guns issued and a handful of pool rifles to be used by new guys and officers whose gun is down for maintenance or in evidence during OIS investigations.

We currently issue a Colt Commando 11.5” rifle. Supporting equipment is a T-2, a Surefire Fury, a VCAS or VTAC sling and an MOE handguard to mount everything to. SWAT guns are a different animal with the SWAT dudes picking and choosing (with some direction) bits and pieces for their setups. Our team is regional so my agency only provides 6 guys to the 36 man regional team. The team has a service population of roughly 500,000.

While reading up on guns and gun shit, I came across Archer arms and their products. http://www.archer-mfg.com/ Archer is a new gun company, several things intrigued me about them. First was that the dudes involved were well known gunsmiths and gun dudes. I do not know all of them, but I was aware of their street creds. Second is that they are Making billet uppers and lowers in house, final machining forged receivers, Shilen Match bbls with their APR internals turned in house to their contours. My personal class gun was getting tired, so I was looking for something new. I was fortunate to have direct access to one of Archers gunsmiths, Chris Taylor for some questions. While we were talking, Chris mentioned that Archer was putting out a complete patrol rifle. The rifle would be turnkey with optic, light, and a bunch of upgrades over a stock Colt gun. It also includes a soft and hard case. As we were talking I kept thinking “What the hell is this gonna cost”. Chris asked me to come up with a price for our current issue guns.

After crunching numbers, our total cost is $1995 for the complete gun. A couple of things to consider are that I did not include employee wages to get our guns ready. We currently piece meal and order different things from different vendors, it takes a bit of time to research prices and then fill out the appropriate paperwork. Since those requisitions are individual pieces of paper, they sometimes don’t get approved all at once, or get lost in the shuffle requiring someone to go looking. Once everything shows up, inventory and inspection needs to occur. I also lose employee time assembling the gun and getting them on paper for the officer to finalize zero. It’s not a ton of time, but it does take time which in turn costs the agency in terms of wages.

I think we are issuing pretty damn good rifles to our guys, so the other issue was why switch and/or pay more for potentially less gun? Chris sent me a run down on what they’re doing.

Full specs on their stock Archer patrol rifle are as follows:

Patrol Rifle
– 14.5″ w/ perm attached muzzle device or 16″ barrel lightweight RECCE contour
– 13″ ALG EMR rail
– AimPoint PRO with mount
– MBUS BUIS
– ALG QMS trigger and LPK
– Daniel Defense-SSD flash hider (extended 1.5″ on 14.5″ barrels)
– MagPul CTR stock
– A2 grip
– MagPul trigger guard
– M600U with mount

*All rifles have QPQd Shilen Match 1:7 barrels with the Archer Proprietary Rifling (APR) internal dimensions, HP/MPI SOPMOD BCG with lifetime warranty and a bolt rebuild kit with each rifle. Lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects on the finished rifle, with a loaner rifle program if the gun comes back for warranty work.

*All packages include a Patriot Cases hard case, Armageddon Gear soft Carbine Carry Bag, Armageddon Gear or BFG 2 point sling, and a 3pc SLiP2000 cleaning kit.

If you’re like me you’re going, sounds badass, what’s it cost???

Dig this MFer’s, the gun listed above is $1895! If you upgrade to a T-2 it’s only $2195. Now I’m no financial whiz kid, but selling this to any cop boss in America should be easy as hell unless you are a total Goober. No more DRMO hodge-podge crap, and no more sub-standard crap at all. That price is subject to change like everything else, but Archer intends to keep it there unless Aimpoint prices go up. (Note: The gun in the picture is NOT the test gun, I will post pics of that in future in installments)

Now comes the question; “Is that bitch duty capable?” Well that’s why I’m posting this. I will be starting a lengthy field trial of their patrol gun, I have elected to upgrade to the T-2, but other than that it will be what is listed above. I don’t work for Archer in any capacity and the trial is for my PD, not my business.

Although I am not assigned to patrol, I am on SWAT. The Archer gun will take the place of my current duty gun and be my primary AND class gun for 90 days. My team trains 30 hours a month with one of those days being a ten hour range day. That alone will put 2500 rounds through it during normal training. With any new gun, I generally shoot 500 rounds of duty through it to ensure it is eating those pills reliably.  I will be as accurate in the round count during the 90 day test as I can, but I think it will see approx. 4-5K during that time. In addition it will also be converted for FoF training for 60 hours and a run through DARC’s LECTC course.

I think if it can handle that 90 day run, it will be “duty” capable. I know that far surpasses what any patrol dude will put it through and likely surpass most SWAT guys on round count as well. I will NOT be doing dumbshit like intentionally blazing through 100 mags, or shooting it dry or without cleaning for the 90 days. That shit is stupid. It will get my normal maintenance and lube that I have been doing to AR’s for the last 30 years. Wipe it off about once a month and keep it wet.

There are days when we absolutely put the guns through hard heat/cool cycles, and others not so much. One concern I have heard is whether the QPQ barrel can withstand hard use. From personal research and use from a different manufacturer, I am not concerned. I intend to lay down base line groups at 100 yards and then continue to try and match them throughout the test.

Here’s where you guys come in. If there is something specific that you want me to do with it, let me know and I will try to get it done. It has to be something that a hard use duty gun would reasonably be exposed to. I will continue to update this post with facebook notifications that something new was added. It will include pictures, # of stoppages (if any), round count, and training that me and my new battle buddy go through.

More info on Archer guns is listed below. We will also be putting a 10.3 upper through its paces simultaneous to my test. I will report out stats on that as well.  The first 90 days will be thoroughly documented, I may continue with quarterly updates until January 1, 2016 if there is interest.

SBR
-10.3″ bbl
– 9″ Geissele Mk4 rail and gas block
– MagPul MBUS BUIS
– Aimpoint PRO with mount
– ALG QMS trigger and LPK
– Daniel Defense Superior Suppression Device muzzle device
– MagPul CTR stock
– A2 grip
– MagPul trigger guard
– Surefire M600U with mount WML

SPR/DMR
– 14.5″ w/ perm attached muzzle device,16″, or 18″ medium heavy barrel
– 13″ Geissele Mk8 rail and gas block
– AimPoint PRO with mount
– MBUS BUIS
– ALG QMS trigger and LPK
– Daniel Defense-SSD muzzle device
– MagPul CTR stock
– A2 grip
– MagPul trigger guard
– M600U with mount.

Optics Upgrades available per rifle
– AimPoint T2 with mount
– Vortex Viper PST 1-4×24
– Vortex Razor Gen2 HD 1-4×24
– Trijicon VCOG 1-6×24
– Trijicon MRO 1×25

Additional upgrades per rifle
– Inconel gas tube for 10.3″ guns
– Geissele SSA triggers
– BattleComp 1.0 or 1.5, or suppresser specific, muzzle devices
– MBUS Pro BUIS
– MagPul MIAD grips
– MagPul UBR stock (For SPR/DMR builds)
– SureFire P3X tactical and mount

Oct. 19-21, Carbine/Submachine Gun User, Spokane County, WA

Oct 22-23, Tactical Pistol, Spokane County, WA

Nov 16-18, Hostage Rescue, Spokane County, WA

Dec 14-16, SWAT Team Leader, Spokane County, WA

Back in March I did a blog post on shotgun breaching for Police SWAT teams. In it I mentioned the need for a full size gun, and a capacity of 8 rounds. I also mentioned that the gun should have a red dot.

I think it’s important to note that shotgun proficiency in LE has been declining for some years. As carbines have replaced shotguns in the squad cars, level of training and attention to the shotgun has waned. The same issues we had years ago still exist, but are exasperated by lack of training. Short stroking the gun is one of those things. To remedy this problem, I recommend that the breaching gun be a semi-automatic. Most SWAT teams are outfitting their guys with good carbines. The breaching gun deserves the same attention AND selection. One of the best I have found for this purpose is the Mossberg 930. Not an expensive gun, but because it is gas operated it will cycle most breaching rounds with ease. I also like the Mossberg safety since I can use it the same way left or right handed. Did I mention it’s inexpensive?

The gun should have a red dot if the breacher has to transition to an anti-personnel role. Officers are comfortable with a red dot on their carbine, I want to make them comfortable with the shotgun. Red dots have become popular because they make people more accurate and faster. The breaching officer should have those benefits as well. I use a Vortex Sparc on my gun, not an expensive red dot by any stretch. It has held zero and continues to chug along at breaching round ranges. I have fired close to 1000 rounds with it and no issues so far. Did I mention it is inexpensive?

Another issue is Tac reloading and speed reloading the gun. THose things need to be practiced and ingrained so that I can plus up the gun quickly after breaching the first door. Another door may pop up in a hurry and I don”t want to run out. I may also shoot the door and have it come open with out a kick. That might put me right into an anit-personnel or Anti-K9 role as well. I need ammo on hand to make this be efficient and quick, a dump pouch or pocket full of loose shells is neither of those things. One of the cheapest and easiest way to carry a crap-ton of rounds is with velcro shell cards. The nice thing is that I can load them up and then just put them in my AR pouches. Since I advocate carrying ONLY the breaching gun for LE, the AR mags are not needed so I can fill those pouches with shell cards. If I empty one on the side of the gun, I just tear it away, pull a fresh one out of the pouch and stick it to the side of the gun. Now my regular gear can support multiple reloads of the shotgun. I use six round cards, but they can be found in 7 or 8 rounds. Examples below are from ESSTAC

 

Another method for carry is a shell caddy. The one below is the EZ8 shell caddy from Gunnersolution. www.gunnersolution.com. It allows the shooter to easily twin or quad load (Youtube that shit) or load using a more traditional method by pulling from a single row. How much ammo should I be carrying as a shotgun breacher? I have been on missions twice where I went through more than 20 rounds. Large compounds with multiple buildings will eat rounds quickly. I currently carry 8 rounds in the gun, 2 in a stock saddle, and 3, 6 round cards loaded in mag pouches. That’s 28 rounds ready to go .

Last thing is that the shotgun should have the same sling system as the users carbine. I am not a fan of single points or bungee slings. I use a two point sling on my carbine and I use a two point sling on my breaching gun.  I wear it as normal but will often just use it as a 12 gauge necklace. I am a left handed long gun shooter, but if the primary entry point makes more sense to run it as a right handed guy, I will typically un-sling for that door and then go back to a necklace or standard sling as I make my way through the target looking for more doors.

Setting dudes up with the proper gear and weapon will usually generate buy in. This means guys will actually practice with it instead of remembering how to use it the day of the mission. You wouldn’t even consider taking a beat up, old ass carbine and making entry with it. Why would you be happy doing that with a breaching gun?

September 14-15 – Tactical Pistol, Kent WA

Sept 21-22 – Mechanical/Ballistic Breaching, Mt. Vernon, WA

Oct. 19-21 – Carbine/SubGun User, Spokane, WA

Oct. 22-23 – Tactical Pistol, Spokane, WA

Nov. 16-18 – Hostage Rescue, Spokane, WA

Dec 14-16 – SWAT Team Leader, Spokane WA

I’m starting to fill the 2016 calendar now, if your agency wants to host training, contact me ASAP to set dates.

I was having a conversation recently on social media about how to prepare for a gunfight. Absent being in one, how do you know if you are prepared? Even if you do get a gunfight as a cop and win, were you really prepared, or just lucky? A world champion could also be killed by a very untrained dude, luck works in both directions. But I want the luck margin to be as narrow as possible, meaning I want my skill as high as possible so luck has as little to do with the outcome as possible. Being good with a gun isn’t same as being ready to use that gun at the decisive moment.

Skills. These are just basic gun skills performed at an extremely high level of efficiency and competence. It is accuracy done very quickly, first show from the draw, follow up shots, manipulations, malfunctions and so forth. It’s not being satisfied that I can do it, it is continually working where I am doing it subconsciously and on demand. Cold or warmed up doesn’t matter. Shit just happens like my heart beating.

Drills. I add in drills to test the skills. Huge body of data out there on some industry standard drills. I want to shoot those and see how I stack up to others on the accuracy done quickly side of the house. Examples would be an El Prez, Bill Drill or Half & Half to name a few. I consider these “Low-Level” drills, it’s not because they’re easy, its because I know exactly what I need to do, when I need to do it. For an El Prez I know I’m going to draw, fire 6 rounds at 3 targets, speed reload, and then do it again. There is no thinking required IF my skills are solid. I just have to do it without missing. “High-Level” drills are blind drills. This means I shoot some type of drill where the order of the targets engaged is prescribed by a stimulus during the draw. Or, my magazines get loaded by a range partner who puts in a dummy round at an unknown location, or forces a reload that I don’t know about. I could do this with an El Prez as an example. I will load your two magazines with the twelve rounds required. But rather than go 6 and 6, I might give you 4 and 8 or whatever. I don’t tell you, now lets see how that reload goes. Or I might toss a dummy round in there. Was the immediate action subconscious or did you have to stop and think about it?

Scenarios are usually best using marking cartridges and OPFOR. Now I am testing the above against a human adversary. This is as close as we are gonna get to a gunfight. Since you were happy with 8″ circle accuracy live fire, how is that translating to the moving target that is shooting back? Nobody wants the bees, so when you start getting stung, do you just shoot back like a damn spaz, or can you force your mind to forego the hits you are taking to make well aimed shots to the box or head? During this whole process, did you notice cover was two steps to the left, there was another person in the room, your partner transitioned to pistol because of a rifle malfunction or whatever. If you aren’t picking all these things up with a paint cartridge, then you aren’t ready young Paduwon. And to be clear, one training class isn’t going to cut it. You must constantly be working the mental aspect, just like skills and drills.

A friend of mine started a post on social media about whether or not civilian LE “needs” automatic weapons. At last check there are over 600 comments on that post.

I will put it out there right now, we do not. Further we should not have guns that have the capability. Agencies that can’t afford guns and who get 1033 M16’s should remove the auto sear so that there is no chance in hell that gun can ever be accidentally flipped to AUTO.

I cannot come up with a single scenario where auto would do something that Semi won’t. In my carbine classes I run a test on guys with the auto guns using a shot timer. We pre-load a magazine with ten rounds, guns are required to start on safe. Using a shot timer, we record the ten shots, me using semi and them using auto. In most cases I can typically fire 6 rounds faster than most guys can get their FIRST round off. There are some large handed dudes that are faster and small handed folks that are slower. No science or collection of data, just 9 years of testing this in every carbine class I’ve taught. But that isn’t the actual measurement we are looking to get at, because what if I’m like freaky fast? So we run it again, this time they are compete against themselves. In EVERY case they are far faster getting shots off going from Safe to Semi. Speed matters.

Last step is that proof is in the pudding as it relates to accuracy. In the test above everyone’s semi group is far tighter. “But, but, but….all of my auto rounds are still on the target!”. I get it, I spent many years with an MP5 as my primary and an Auto Colt Commando. Then, like now, I took great pride in my skill at arms and worked hard to be as good as I could be. I could absolutely run a 30 round group into a small target on demand. On the range. Fighting paper. Whether I could do that or not in a real gunfight was never tested, but I would suspect the answer is I could not.

There are lots of examples from around the country of well trained guys losing control of the gun under stress. There are also stories of poorly trained guys flipping it too far, and then releasing a burst instead of a single. Both instances are bad, probably embarassing and in at least one case deadly to a small child.

When I weigh out the consequences for these events compared to the actual necessity of auto, the answer is clear. There is absolutely NO LE circumstance where auto fire would save the day and semi wouldn’t. I routinely run the last stage of the popular 1/2 & 1/2 drill in less than two seconds with all hits. That’s ten rounds, sub 2 seconds. That is tremendous volume of fire, so for the dudes who will say what about suppressing terrorists in a Mumbai type incident? I say, do more aiming, but if you absolutely have to hose the area, I’m pretty sure ten rounds in less than two seconds will do it. If it won’t, I doubt a mag dump on auto would do it either.

Come to a class and I’ll show you.

Open Courses 2015

Pistol Instructor, Kent WA, June 15-19

Basic SWAT, Polson MT, July 27-31

Basic SWAT, Spokane, WA,  August 17-21

Tactical Pistol, Kent WA, Sept 14-15

Mechanical & Ballistic Breaching, Bellingham WA, Sept 21-22

Carbine/Subgun User, Spokane WA, Oct 19-21

Tactical Pistol, Spokane WA, Oct 22-23

Hostage Rescue, Spokane WA, Nov 16-18

SWAT Team Leader, Spokane WA, Dec 14-16

I shot a USPSA match this last weekend, it is the first one I’ve shot in about a year. Life gets in the way sometimes. I didn’t do as well as I hoped I would, but I didn’t suck as much as I thought I would either.

Although I haven’t shot a match in a year, I have been shooting. Whether it’s teaching a class, my own team training or just getting my licks in on my own. Live fire combined with a steady diet of dry fire helps keep that edge sharp. But how good is good enough? I mean at some point I gotta say this is it, right? Wrong, that is total bullshit.

My thoughts on being able to run my guns hard are completely because I really want to save my own ass if they are needed. You see, I like me, and I want to live as long as humanly possible. I would also like to be able keep my teammates and good citizens alive, and I really don’t want to be more of a liability to them with shitty gun handling than a bad guy. So I train.

Within the small ponds of my agency and team, by all accounts I am doing pretty good. As I get older the thought of when it’s time to quit goes through my mind alot. I do not want the team to wish I would go away, so I have a personal standard that I will always be in the top 10% of shooters on my team. For the agency, that is simple enough to do, not so on a team of pretty competent and competitive individuals. Alot of those dudes shoot very well. So I train.

In addition to the above, I don’t want to be good at my teams qual. course or standards drills. I want to be good at ANYONE’s course or drills. This leads back to USPSA, since I don’t know what the stages of fire will be until I get there, I have to work a lot of different skills to stay good. The RMR forces me into the Open division, there are some no-shit shooters in that division, they have Star Wars Blasters and crazy ass holsters/mag pouches. I shoot it with my normal carry gear. That isn’t an excuse, my objective is to whip all their asses with that gear and I am willing to put in the work to do it. So I train.

Last, is that in this world I don’t have any idea who my adversary will be. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will be some uncoordinated, untrained knucklehead with a Jennings .22 shooting at me from 40 yards out. Or maybe I’ll get unlucky and it will be a USPSA Grand Master at five yards. I don’t get to choose my adversary so I need to be ready for everyone and anyone. My buddy who is in his mid-thirties is in excellent physical condition. Someone once told him, “Wait until you’re fifty”, his response was golden. He said, “Fifteen more years of training? I can’t even imagine what kind of shape I’ll be in at that point, I can’t wait”. Great mindset.  I will never be “good enough”. So I train.

 

2015 Open Courses

June 15-19, Pistol Instructor, Kent, WA

August 17-21, Basic SWAT School, Spokane County, WA

Sept 14-16, Tactical Pistol, Kent, WA

Oct. 19-21, Carbine/Submachine Gun User, Spokane County, WA

Oct 22-23, Tactical Pistol, Spokane County, WA

Nov 16-18, Hostage Rescue, Spokane County, WA

Dec 14-16, SWAT Team Leader, Spokane County, WA

I often get asked what I recommend for teams that want to start, or already have, a ballistic breaching program. I teach the topic different than most guys, at least from the courses I have been to and what I read. I won’t get into specific technique here, I will talk about the gun and supporting gear.

This is specific to police SWAT teams, since that is what I do and I think I have a good grasp of what team needs are. It should be a fighting shotgun first, meaning a full size gun with a stock and at least 8 rounds loaded. The reason for this is that it will be the only long gun that guy is carrying on the mission. So he needs to be able to throw down on doors, vicious dogs and vicious people off that platform.

It needs 8 rounds because if I run the hinges with six and then the door falls in, I will have two left on board to defend myself. There will be times where the breacher can’t retreat or get out of the way of the guys with rifles, so he’s gotta do work on his own. With that concept, the pistol grip, sawed off 870 that you made yourself is not going to cut it. The same level of quality you expect in your rifle should be in the breaching gun. This includes a decent red dot optic just like on your real gun.

The breacher needs to able to manipulate the shotgun with the same speed and accuracy he brings to his rifle. So dumping loose shells into a dump pouch, as the PRIMARY reload is ridiculous. I want to be able to access shells in a secure manner, so they come out the same way every time for the approach to the gun. You know, the same way you put your rifle mags in the pouches in a specific manner to ease reloading? One of the best things I have used to date is the EZ8 shell caddy from Gunner Solution. It allows a guy to have 8 shells standing by and allows for standard loading one at a time or using the twins or quad method. Shells are extremely secure, but still easy to access. The one I have came with MOLLE clips so it is secured right on my battle belt. It is about 4 rows wide, but it only take two rows to mount it. I highly recommend this piece of quality, American made, bad- assery if you are a shotgun breacher. Check them out at www.gunnersolutions.com. Seriously good stuff.

This is a review of the A9A Mission Pants from Beyond Clothing. If you haven’t heard of Beyond, they are a Seattle company that has been making outstanding outdoor clothing since 1996. Their tagline “Stitched in the states” say a lot about their company, everything is made and sewn in the USA. The location of the company in the Pacific NW says a lot about their outdoor background, everything from impressive rain forests, to mountainous terrain and desert is present in Washington State, as such they have a broad understanding of what outdoor enthusiasts need to stay warm, dry and survive in harsh climates. The have now taken their excellent clothing and with the same eye toward the fighting man, behold the “Mission Line” of gear.
http://www.beyondclothing.com/collections/mission.html?___SID=U
Your first glance at their line probably went straight to the price. As a kid who grew up wearing hand-me-down Tuffskins, I get it. It is important to note that they do offer a Pro program and once you are signed up they offer generous discounts. So if you are purchasing off a team budget or personal funds, the savings is pretty good. I purchased a pair of the A9A’s out of my training company account and they were worth every penny. Their prices are consistent with other high end manufacturers, two manufacturers in particular that start with an “A” and the other with a “C”. Both of those companies have been the gold standard for high end clothing for the SWAT cop and Warfighter. Beyond is going to give them a run for their money.
On to the pants. At first glance they are very similar to the “C” pants. Without question the quality of materials, sewing and attention to detail is very similar. As a comparison, if you already wear the “C” pants, these fit and feel almost identical to the G3 line. Main material is a 50/50 NYCO blend, no surprise there. The front pockets and stretch crotch are a Cordura nylon for additional strength and durability. The waist band is thicker, a little padded and sports an internal belt system. I hung a paddle holster with my G34 on it and wore it for a few hours. No problem supporting the weight.
The front pockets are built robustly enough that a pocket clip knife will have trouble tearing the material. The zipper fly pulls in both directions, bottom up and top down. You might think this is overkill, but the bottom up is awesome for Gatorade bottle operations when you get stuck on a UC cover, long barricade or vehicle takedown waiting for bad guys to get with the program. Obviously zip top down if you just wanna get naked or for #2. The cargo pockets have both Velcro and button closures.
I wore them for two days in the office and two days of training, the training was focused on Covert clears with NVG’s and Hostage Rescue in a large structure where covert techniques were used to get closer to the crisis site. I had previously cut two strips of Velcro to cover the fluffy side for the cargo pockets. Slap those in place and use the buttons to close the pocket if you need to. Want the Velcro? No sweat, just pull the Velcro strip off and leave it in the pocket until you need it. Rear pockets are zipper pulls so they are quiet, all the zippers are excellent YKK brand. Front thigh pockets easily fit a can of Copenhagen or for small, birdlike men and ladies, Skoal Peppermint pouches.
The Cordura nylon crotch is stretchy while going to kneeling and acts like a sweet “Junk Hammock”. The material has the same IR signature, (meaning none) as other pants in this category. The pants come with “Universal” knee pad pockets. Beyond does not offer their own knee pads, however “C” pads and knock offs do fit. The bottom of the knee pad enclosure has a full Velcro seam and the seam has to be opened for the pads to fit without trimming. I did not trim the pads, I let the bottom hang out and did not have issues with the pads moving or coming out. It would be nice if Beyond offered a knee pad so you could one stop shop off their website.
On the back of the knees there is two Velcro tabs to adjust the knee pads at the right spot. The ankles also have Velcro for a loose or tight fit at the boot. Obligatory calf pockets are sewn on both sides. In the flap of the left pocket there is a hidden “stash” pocket that would be very hard to find if you didn’t know it was there. It is small but easily fits a handcuff key, a CR2032 battery for your T-1, a tootsie roll or a rolled up $20. I tried to get two CR123 batteries in there but it is just a tad too small.
Overall I am impressed with the A9A pants. While purchasing I contacted them directly and talked with one of the employees. She was very friendly and helpful and I ended up emailing her several times with questions for the review. Her answers were always prompt and she clearly had knowledge of the product. Last, the pants were actually in stock and I had them delivered to my door in just a few days after ordering.
They will be adding colors to the line very soon to include Cop black and Ranger Green. If you are balking at the price, I would only say, save your pennies and try a pair. The difference between how these pants fit, quality of material, Made in USA, and the customer service is worth every dime. Buy once, cry once. You already do it with guns, ammo, first and second line gear. Your clothing should be at the same level for mission accomplishment.
I have not tried any of the other Mission line clothing but I will as soon as possible. If you would like a 5”X8” glossy of me wearing the pants, please let me know.

2015 Course Calendar

March 2-4, High Risk Warrant Service, Spokane County, WA

March 5-6, Ballistic Shield User, Spokane County, WA

April 13-15, Carbine/Submachine Gun User, Kent, WA

May 25-27, High Risk Warrant Service, Kent, WA

June 15-19, Pistol Instructor, Kent, WA

August 17-21, Basic SWAT School, Spokane County, WA

Sept 14-16, Tactical Pistol, Kent, WA

Oct. 19-21, Carbine/Submachine Gun User, Spokane County, WA

Oct 22-23, Tactical Pistol, Spokane County, WA

Nov 16-18, Hostage Rescue, Spokane County, WA

Dec 14-16, SWAT Team Leader, Spokane County, WA

Late last year Samson manufacturing (http://samson-mfg.com/) put out a notice on Facebook that they were looking for people to test, evaluate, and then write about their products. I threw my name in the hat and was selected to take part in the process along with a bunch of other gun enthusiasts, competition shooters and hardcore MF’ers like myself. The group is a great mix of people with different uses and requirements. A side benefit to a large group is that we are all discussing the product in a closed group on FB, so you are actually getting some info in this review from their perspective and insight. It’s like 100 reviews in 1 package. Pretty badass.

The first products that Samson sent were their 3.5X magnifier and their mount for it, the R.A.M. I will break them down into two reviews. At Samsons website linked above they torture test the RAM mount pretty well. I froze the magnifier and mount overnight in the freezer, left it in a bowl of water overnight, and bashed it from a variety of directions simulating getting in and out of vehicles, doorways, and rapid prone position. The RAM flip to side was not affected by any of these with one exception. On one occasion going from standing to prone and smashing the magazine into the ground, I was able to get it to flip to side just from hitting the deck. I will say that I was trying to do this and was only able to make it happen once out of ten attempts. No lasting issues, I just rolled it back up into the locked position. After soaking in water, I shook it off but did not dry it. The small pin that holds the rotary lever in place showed signs of rust the next day. Hit it with a brush and some lube and it has not returned. The mount locks up tight on the gun, you can adjust the tension to make it immovable. I cannot get the mount to shift at all in any direction with considerable force being applied. It’s a pretty badass mounting system.

The magnifier itself has excellent glass. I was able to compare it with an Aimpoint 3X and it is easily on par with clarity. Behind a T-1, dot “smear” is about the same with both units. The Samson has screws on it that will allow you to adjust the dot to the center of the glass and it works well. I also compared it to a Vortex Viper PST 1-4X on my DM gun and glass clarity was on par with that and a Trijicon fixed 4X as well. The glass is impressive for the price, I have no idea who Samson is using to scratch the lenses but it is quality. Do not think that this is a Sniper scope, it isn’t, when used with RDS it will magnify or alter a crisp dot so it is not the same. It has a diopter ring for individual focusing of the image which is a plus. As a lefty rifle shooter, I mounted it to flip to the left. The flip actuator was very tight to the rubber coating and it was difficult to actuate without getting my thumbnail in there. I could not do it with gloves. The answer was to trim the rubber coating with a razor allowing relief in that spot to get access. It took all of five seconds and made a world of difference. Right side flip is already relieved at the factory.

When you consider that Samson has a list price of just $389 for the magnifier with the RAM mount, it is an incredible deal. Compared to Aimpoints with mounts costing twice as much, it really does make it affordable as an individual and for teams working on a budget. This is a huge plus for cops that might be assigned as a perimeter unit on one job and then entry on the next. The RAM mount is easily removed with gloves so the unit can be used as a monocular to obtain visual intel and also to discriminate targets without pointing a gun at anyone. With the flip to side option, officers could leave it mounted for entry work where only the red dot is needed, or pop it off and throw it in a dump pouch. I would leave it on the gun for active shooter events where I might want the magnification in hallways, and then flip it to side to enter classrooms, offices or stores. My team cleared an extremely large shopping mall a few years ago after a homicide. Witnesses were reporting that the suspects were still in the mall somewhere. The ability to see down the halls at distance and then enter stores with only the red dot would have been awesome and would likely have increased confidence to release a pill, or ten, with longer shots. Great product and I highly recommend it.

Last piece is this: you might think that I have to write a good review in order to get free product. Not so. Samson reps made it very clear to us that if the product sucked we were absolutely required to report that. In addition, those that know me personally will tell you that I would not fan boy junk when lives could be at risk. I have been using this thing on my duty carbine for the last few weeks because it’s an awesome piece of gear. Check one out, you won’t be disappointed.

2015 Course Calendar

Feb 2-3, Tactical Pistol, Kent WA

March 2-4, High Risk Warrant Service, Spokane County, WA

March 5-6, Ballistic Shield User, Spokane County, WA

April 13-15, Carbine/Submachine Gun User, Kent, WA

May 25-27, High Risk Warrant Service, Kent, WA

June 15-19, Pistol Instructor, Kent, WA

August 17-21, Basic SWAT School, Spokane County, WA

Sept 14-16, Tactical Pistol, Kent, WA

Oct. 19-21, Carbine/Submachine Gun User, Spokane County, WA

Oct 22-23, Tactical Pistol, Spokane County, WA

Nov 16-18, Hostage Rescue, Spokane County, WA

Dec 14-16, SWAT Team Leader, Spokane County, WA

Every SWAT cop has heard the phrase “Mission drives the gear”. I would bet $10 that every Basic SWAT course in America has that sentence in it’s manual, powerpoint or test as a true/false. But is it true?

The answer is Yes, it is true. But the “Mission” encompasses more than just what the task is. A better statement would be METT-TC drives the gear. METT-TC is a military acronym that has likely been adopted by Police SWAT teams, so it also needs a disclaimer that we have modified it for Civilian Police Officers!

METT-TC stands for Mission, Enemy, Terrain & Weather, Troops, Time available and Civilian considerations. Let’s break these bitches down.

Mission – SWAT has a variety of missions to perform, some teams may be tasked with more missions than others based on size, training time, location and so forth. For brevity we will talk about barricaded subject management and high risk warrant service. So the mission is: Serve a warrant at 123 Any Street, detain all occupants, make the location for detectives to search. Short & sweet, don’t get wrapped up in this part, that is basically the mission. What gear then? Well, it might depend on how that warrant will be served. If we are to hit it using dynamic tactics, that may affect what I wear and carry vs. S&C. So defining the manner in which it will be served starts the gear train down a particular set of tracks.

Enemy (Modified for Police; Suspects & Subjects) Suspects are people who we may have an arrest warrant for or PC to arrest. Subjects are everyone else inside. Both must be considered. I have served warrants to arrest Suspect A only to find out that SUBJECT A was worse than the guy we came for. I know, weird concept that crooks hang out together. What this means is that we have to prep for the actual dude, AND contingency plan for the unknown dude. I.E there is PC to arrest John Doe for Interstate Transportation of Fruit, no crim. history, 4’11″/100 pounds and he has a reputation for being softer than baby’s breath. My gear selection for that guy could be a Speedo and my two iron fists, it is likely the fists will not even get used. However, he has a friend living with him with tons of crim. history including chopping humans up with a toenail clipper, 7’11″/350 pounds of twisted steel and has a reputation for hitting MF’ers using the little fella mentioned above as the club. If Mongo cooperates, all is well with the Speedo/Fists. If he doesn’t, and thinks we are there for him for a crime we don’t even know about, but he thinks we do, I better have chosen the gear correctly. I am well aware that the little guy might have a belt fed and I should consider that as well. Hopefully you get the point.

Terrain & Weather. Our terrain is typically urban and it includes the actual structure. Big, multi-story structures may require a combination of tactics; dynamic for first floor/slow for the remaining.  Terrain might be a bus, aircraft, boat or the obvious one, wooded terrain. All of these should be driving gear choices, in addition to the manner in which I will arrive there. If I have to hump over the Cascades to hit a house in Ellensburg, I will dress differently than if I can arrive there on the rails of the Bearcat. If I am arriving on the Bearcat, I can AND should, wear as much armor as possible while maintaining an appropriate level of mobility. (This where it gets sticky) Weather is obvious, dress for sustainment but this might also mean carrying stuff while you cross the Cascades so you can sustain on arrival.

Troops. Big structure = more men. Motel room = less men. (Lady cops please don’t email me with nasty messages, “Men” is general. Thank you) But I also have to consider the training of the troops, can they handle the Mission? A good team serving residential warrants would likely struggle with ships/aircraft/trains if they have never trained in those battle spaces. They might be willing and eager, but are they ready? Crossing the Cascades on foot will require a level of physical fitness, is the entire force at that level? Everyone can run a mile in 8 minutes, we’re good bro. Well now add in the sustainment gear in that environment, if it requires 50 pounds of additional weight can the force carry that over the mountains? It’s not just how many men, it’s also a consideration of their skills and abilities to include fitness levels.

Time available. Shorter planning cycles USUALLY mean higher risk. In the Cascade example, if I was given two weeks to prepare I could coordinate caches along the route, plan a route that would allow for logistic dumps close to roads and coordinate air support for medical and logpac. We could take more time to navigate the route which means a pace that should be manageable. If I’m given two hours and the element better be moving, I will be relying on hasty planing while we move toward the objective and established TTP’s. Those can carry me, but only if appropriate pre-training has taken place. And if we already possess the right gear. If we don’t, then we are going to have a rough go. Willing and eager, but I have to recognize that the attempt may be fool hardy.

Civilian Considerations. Gear? Maybe. When you consider that you have to plan for Chems on an S&C, that might mean you have to evacuate neighbors first. Gear might require a ballistic blanket so you can better protect citizens that are leaving the area. Gear might be your armored vehicle that will have to be used to transport civilians off the location safely, meaning you and the force will have to find natural cover while it’s gone. Remember Subjects? The dude in Apartment D that you are about to contact to be officer friendly to, may decide you are there for him, and he might not appreciate your efforts. In the military they call it non-permissive environments. In cop land we call that the Hood. Better be ready at every door.

The last thing that I want to hit is that a lot of combat veterans are joining the police force and are naturally gravitating toward SWAT. The gear assessment they used in the mountains of Afghanistan may not be appropriate for Police SWAT teams. I hear a lot of vets bitching about shoulder/bicep protection and groin flaps. “That shit binds me up dude, I need to be mobile!” You rode here on the rails of a Bearcat, you walked 30 whole yards to the breach point and you dynamically cleared a rambler. What portion of that mission would have been compromised by shoulder/groin protection? The answer is none. If you can’t do your job with “all that stuff”, it’s probably because you haven’t put the licks in to get comfortable wearing it. When you consider that at least half a dozen cops have been shot through the side on SWAT warrants, my “enemy” analysis should be driving me toward more gear to prevent that from happening. In addition, I owe it to my teammates to stay combat effective, so the addition of a groin flap might catch a bullet that would potentially hit a really bad place. (Not the wiener dumb asses, the femoral artery) If I am hit there, the team will have to take care of me really damn quick or I will likely die. So because you were too stupid/proud/tough to wear the damn groin flap, I now have to allocate resources to treat/carry you that could be used to fight. Thanks for being a shitty teammate, because you just fell into the same category as the out of shape d-bag that can’t cross the Cascades.

METT-TC drives the gear, not just the mission. As always, my apologies for typos.

 

 

2015 Course Calendar

Feb 2-3, Tactical Pistol, Kent WA

March 2-4, High Risk Warrant Service, Spokane County, WA

March 5-6, Ballistic Shield User, Spokane County, WA

April 13-15, Carbine/Submachine Gun User, Kent, WA

May 25-27, High Risk Warrant Service, Kent, WA

June 15-19, Pistol Instructor, Kent, WA

August 17-21, Basic SWAT School, Spokane County, WA

Sept 14-16, Tactical Pistol, Kent, WA

Oct. 19-21, Carbine/Submachine Gun User, Spokane County, WA

Oct 22-23, Tactical Pistol, Spokane County, WA

Nov 16-18, Hostage Rescue, Spokane County, WA

Dec 14-16, SWAT Team Leader, Spokane County, WA

The Decathlon is a series of ten athletic events completed over two days. There is a long held belief that the competition doesn’t truly begin until the second day. The second day focuses on the more technical events, and since the athletes are tired from the first day, it is exponentially harder to complete. No decathlete holds the world record in any one event, similarly no world record holder of a single event would even be competitive in a Decathlon. The world of police special operations is pretty damn similar.

10 Tactical Events in no particular order of importance:

Fighting – You better be able to use your fists and feet effectively. Very few operations statistically require gunplay. If there is force it is administered the tools you have physically attached to the chassis.

Physical fitness – You absolutely must have physical strength AND cardio endurance for the above. Being fit also plays into using tools to affect entry, carrying 30 or so pounds of additional equipment, and being prepared for the mission that does not allow you to arrive on the rails of the Bearcat.

Weapons – When gunplay is required, you better be damn good because there is no Silver medal in this event. It’s gold or a pine box for you or a teammate. Within the weapons category I have my primary, secondary, tertiary (i.e. breaching shotgun) and all of them likely have different manual of arms. If I’m carrying a blade, and I do, then I also need to attain a level of proficiency with that. Not just slicing and dicing, but retention in the fist fight as well.

Breaching – I have to be able to efficiently and effectively run a halligan, hammer, ram and tomahawk. I also need to have knowledge of ballistic breaching and the gun that supports that. The manual tools live closely to the PT category above.

Tactics, Techniques and Procedures. There is no single play, I must have an expanded knowledge of TTP’s so I can quickly drag on the right remedy. Covert, Slow & Methodical, Dynamic, HR. Within those categories, each event is unique, so one dynamic warrant to the next will be slightly different based on unknown variables. If you’re team has buses, trains, vessels and aircraft, you better be knowledgeable on all the nuances that go into those specific battlespaces to be able to enact TTP’s. This is extremely technical, but once mastered it should also be intuitive. Getting to Zen requires effort, there are no shortcuts in this cateogry.

Specialty Equipment. In this day and age you are remiss, and maybe even negligent, if you aren’t exploiting technology. Night vision, Robotics, remote listening, Pole cameras and even UAV’s are in the professional teams arsenal. I must know how to use each of them and use them well.

Medical – More than ever we are required to have expanded knowledge and equipment to repair ourselves, our teammates and citizens. The days of calling in Fire for this task are OVER. Get good in this area, we simply cannot be naive that we will be injured. Seconds count in this arena, handle your business. This includes teams with the benefit of surgeons and medics, those dudes may not be able to get to you or may be too busy with worse problems to help your dumbass.

Specialty vehicles – Armored vehicles are big and somewhat awkward to drive. Everyone should be able to start and run the auxiliary equipment like lights, remote spotlights, thermal imagers and whatever else that vehicle has.

Training/Trainer – One of the best and easiest ways to give back is to provide training to your agency for all they have given to you. Guys will appreciate it, it breaks down the wall of elitism, and it requires you to become the expert or look like a jackass. I strongly believe we owe a debt in the way of training others when we have been provided with so much.

Leadership – From newest guy to senior team leader. EVERYONE has a duty to hone leadership skills. On my team we stress, demand and require leadership at all levels. As a SWAT member you will be called upon for leadership on hot calls while on patrol. Very early on you are expected to make the right decision, quickly on operations. You will be held accountable for those decisions. As a formal leader, get good at democratic leadership when time allows, and Autocratic leadership when it doesn’t. Each man should have a vision of where the team will be regarding proficiency when they leave the team. Start forging that from your first day.

So there you go, ten events to be a good SWAT man. All of them require a great deal of effort. None of them can be ignored if you want to win a gold medal. The Tactical Decathlete has a full plate, and without question you will not be world class if you only work on these things during training. It will require time, effort and energy outside of work if you want to be a world champion. It is the most full time, part time assignment I have ever held.

No world record holders, 90%ers in EVERY event. The second day is the hardest, it separates men from boys,  professionals from fan-boys and champions from silver medalists. Which one are you?