Letter From The Editor
Yancey Harrington

Welcome to the first Last Man Standing Defense newsletter. It has been a while in the making, but we believe that you are going to enjoy the content. LMS Defense has been busy since January of this year providing classes in a number of locations all over the country. One such course was the Counter Assault Team training course recently held in Phoenix, Arizona in July no less. Of course, it was hot, regardless the students soldiered on that made the CAT course the great course that it was. Student callsign ECTO offers an inside glace at the course with his after action report. The LMS Defense newsletter editor, yours truly, presents a short article about the importance of learning other weapon systems. We certainly hope that you will enjoy our newsletter and we look forward to offering more in the future.

LMS Defense News
Bill Toy

Life here at LMS is moving quickly. We are very excited by the recent Counter Assault Team class and have had a number of requests to add another class as soon as possible. This is truly a one of a kind, high stress course and we are very proud of both the content assembled and the reception it received from the inaugural class. If this is a skill set that you need for your tool box and you meet the prerequisites, jump at the opportunity to sign up on our website.

A lot can be said about a company from the reception by both the students and fellow firearms professionals. We are humbled by the extremely positive comments our alumni continue to share with us upon completion of our classes. We would like to encourage you to attend our upcoming Dignitary Protection Class in Richmond, VA and Team Tactics class in Hollister, CA. Both of classes are among the best of their kind offered and will certainly add to your skill set.

LMS is extremely proud of the reception we have received from our peers. Rob Pincus of Valhalla Training Center has graciously asked us to partner with Valhalla for a back to back LMS Pistol I / Combat Focus Shooting course in September. In fact, both Rob and his instructors will be taking the LMS course and LMS staff will attend the CFS course in the interest of continued self improvement and instructor development. There are a very few slots available for outside enrollment so here is you opportunity to train along side both Valhalla and LMS staff. We would also like to extend a very special thanks to Larry Vickers for partnering on the sold out Pistol / Rifle Class in October.

Training Topics
Yancey Harrington

Why is it important to learn about weapon systems other than your own?

The above question prompts yet another question, why do we train? The answer is so that we can obtain a higher skill level and proficiency with weapons, namely firearms, so that we can effect a situation that is beyond our control. Great, we, for example take our Glock Model X pistol and type de jure of AR15 rifle and we train, and train, and train. In short order, we have become quite proficient with the Glock and AR series of firearms.





Then, the above-mentioned situation that is well and beyond our control takes place. For example, either we pick up, or are handed, a Kalashnikov rifle weapons system... we look at this unfamiliar weapon as though we were just handed a severed human appendage. We try to fire it, but we are not at all familiar with the safety mechanism, we try to change the magazine and in the heat of the moment, cannot figure out how to make this weapon work.

For those of you in the military these days, it’s a numbers game. Your opponents are going to be armed with some flavor of Kalashnikov rifle and you need to know how to seamlessly pick that weapon up, and get it into action to save your life and the lives of your fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. The same applies to the FN-FAL, G-3 and the M-14 rifles. Watch the evening news and you can see what is used around the world.





We civilians need to be at least minimally proficient in the use of other firearms. Imagine that you are in the parking lot of your local shopping mall. You are walking to your vehicle when you hear a disturbance between two vehicles. On the ground you see a very large individual standing over a law enforcement officer beating them profusely about the head. Some distance away lays the officers service handgun. You close the distance and pick up the handgun, which is a model that you are not familiar with, because it’s not a Glock Model X, it’s a Berretta, SIG, 1911 or something. As you pick up the handgun, the large behemoth notices you, and starts to come to in your direction. You center the front sight on this beast and issue a command to stop, and then pull the trigger. Nothing happens. The trigger goes all the way to the back, again, and again and....

It’s vital that we learn and become proficient with as many weapon platforms as possible. I am not saying that someone needs to go out and buy every rifle and pistol that is available in the US market. There are other ways of course. You can go to your local shooting range and rent various models to try out and see how they work. You can also find the excellent books by Ezell called “Small Arms of the World”. In short, don’t let you life depend on just the weapon system you currently own and train with.

Feature Class After Action Report
ECTO

Counter Assault Team Course

CAT 1, as it is called, was, to my knowledge, the first Counter Assault Team course they offered. As with any first run course, there are always a few minor hiccups but like any good program those tend to be quite few and the support staff picked up the slack and the whole crew soldiered on and made the experience quite to my expectations and then some. I got the call about a month before the course was to run from a friend of mine. Normally I do not jump into an opportunity like this without doing a little research on the company and program but the reference I got from my friend made me throw caution to the wind and I signed up. I have to say I am glad that I did. This 5-day program was billed to me as an intensive intro into CAT team operations with the applications ranging from domestic support to hostile environments, extractions and intervention.

The location for this venue was Phoenix, Arizona in the early part of July. It would seem that we were to be training in a bit of a heat wave they had been experiencing and the daytime temperatures averaged 115 F plus or minus a degree. Add to that the heat searing wind and it felt at times like being a chicken locked in a convection oven. Do not get me wrong, I expected this, as the temperatures were very similar to what can be expected during a cooler winter season in Iraq or Afghanistan so finding this in CONUS was a definite plus in my books.

Most of the training days started off at 12 noon or 1 PM officially but team members and leaders were usually out well before call time gathering supplies for the days training activities, most notably water, food, gas and ammunition. Training ended well into the night to take advantage of working with night vision tools and team tactics in unfamiliar environments. I think on average we arrived back at the hotel at 3am. Anyone that works in that kind of weather can tell you just how draining it is for your system if you are not acclimated to it. The overall course hours clocked in at 60 on paper but many students went well above that in pre and post operations.

Teams moved to all training locations as a motorcade after gearing up prior to departure and remaining in gear all day, with the rear vehicle containing the trunk monkey who even though did not have the weapon in transit, was expected to be in his position throughout the movements. A word on vehicle movements. I thought it was a great learning tool for people looking to do this as a detail. I have done this sort of thing before and I do not believe many people that think of the job understand just how much attention needs to be paid to your surroundings. I am a believer of live as you train. In real world actions, you will respond as you have trained, with few exceptions. Training does not end until you gear down from an exercise and even then, there may be post operation brief that needs to be done. Teams need to be aware of this as on more than one occasion I heard snoring coming from the rear of my vehicle. Yes it is hot out, yes we were exhausted but still on exercise. Just a minor pet peeve of mine.

Phoenix is one of the largest, most spread out cities in the US and a great city for practicing motorcades and during the CAT course we had a lot of practice. We had anywhere from 3-6 vehicles in the motorcade moving between the guys at Cavalry Arms who were our weapons support staff out to the driving track and then the range facility. For those that drive in convoy a lot it’s a great chance to practice formations and communications for those that don’t, it will open your eyes to the challenges of maneuvering in rush hour using all vehicles to create a whole host of lane changing options. Which is where having all members of a team having eyes on the other vehicles, road obstacles and directions is a must. (see snoring comment above)

All in all I believe this is an excellent offering from LMS for both practicality and realism. When you've been in the industry long enough you see a good deal of info thrown out without regard for its place in your work environment; courses that run based on regurgitated web pages and taught by guys that have little or no experience in the field let alone the industry. So it was quite refreshing to be involved with a program that had good instruction from well trained instructors based on tried and tested tactics, observations and experience along with a good deal of flexibility on how to use and in which applications.

Future Student Recommendations

If you brought it along, wear it.
The typical winter temperature range in Iraq is -115 to 120F. If you can't handle the heat for training, you may want to reconsider your intended operational environment. I realize it takes a few days to acclimate, but this can be minimized by pre-hydrating. (which is sent by emails as a reminder prior to course by the instructors, polite suggestion but a reality so take heed)

Get comfortable with your gear before you show up.
- I was running all my regular gear (including armor) plus 10 AK mags, 4 more than I usually run and an extra pouch for additional water I would not normally carry. It made me bulkier than usual and I had to readjust my movement when conducting breeching drills and maneuvering in tight hallways, especially when all the other bodies in there with you are your size or bigger.

Can't stress this enough, this is a “hit the ground running” type of course.
- People are vetted prior to arrival for a reason. You are expected to be able to handle your weapons in a professional manner. If you asking yourself if you're professional or not, then you may need more work. Don't kid yourself; your weapon handling alone should be on a subconscious level if your training is up to par. There are so many things going on during a fire and maneuver drill out of a vehicle that if your reaction is something other than “finger in a strong registered position” , well, you can see where I'm going with this thought. Mistakes are never forgiving in that environment. As an example, I was leading the team in an attack when I became tangled in barbed wire mid stride and hit the ground hard wrapping myself up in it and before I realized I was utterly stuck. My muzzle never once, flagged anyone, my finger never went near the trigger, and I maintained positive control even in my compromised state. What impressed me more was my team. We had relatively short amount of time to work together but the professionalism and previous training was apparent when they bunkered around me, the mg and a couple others keeping up a steady stream of fire while the remainder freed me and we carried on with the drill. Yeah, I got tore up a bit but remember you get what you put into it. People freeze up, shout and do a multitude of things under fire but no one will stand there and ask for a “time out” so they can sort themselves out.

Take notes.
- There are no handouts here. You can ask for an outline and one will be provided to you, but if you're like me, there are always a couple more tidbits that I want to add to my own toolbox. A lot of info comes fast here. Some drills did not work for me as well as I had hoped due to previous ingrained training routines. I needed to write stuff down so I could practice at a later point in time when I had the opportunity to build the conditioned response necessary to get the results I wanted. It takes time to introduce new or different skills and 5 days is not enough time to build a complete new set. The instructors aren't trying to build a whole new person either, I rarely saw them contradict anyone’s prior training or skill set unless they were looking for a specific response based on a safety need or to try and get a reaction that the student could identify with for a later drill.
Hence the notes; Under stress we will naturally fall back on prior training. To add a new skill or drill to my toolbox I have to play with it a lot and see if it works for me then train with that new idea on a more regular basis until it becomes a reactionary skill for me.

LMS has a variety of programs that are geared for taking the novice through to the advanced and operational personnel. Courses run all over the US and can be custom tailored for your specific needs if you're willing to put the effort in and fill a class minimum for them. Keep an open mind. I occasionally meet people that absolutely refuse to believe that there is anything better than their one “True” system of training. Personally I choose not to work with them. Good instructors and professionals can recommend a variety of programs from all sorts of schools including ones teaching the same skill sets because there is always an opportunity to learn. Good info is shared amongst the schools and the bad as well. This is how the industry grows and becomes more professional in its attitude and delivery of intel and training. I teach for another school and will recommend this course to my students as well. Don't try to bullshit people either; you'd be surprised how well in touch people are with others from different programs. Word gets around. Be honest with yourself and your skills, if you're not sure of something ask. The only stupid question is the one you didn't ask. And remember, have fun but stay safe!

-Ecto-

What other students have to say about the CAT course:

""Like drinking from a fire hose" -- the CAT course covered a lot of ground and presented many challenges, and certainly reset my Comfort Zone." - Dooly

"MOTIVATING!! This was a challenging course that pushed your fitness and mental level to the max!!!" - DiamondCutter

Visit our website for upcoming classes and additional information.