INNOVATIVE: Cutting edge Force on Force class for civilians a big success

by John Boch
Hudson, IL (Guns Save Life) – What would you do if you happened upon a violent domestic or have a person running up to you for help from an attacker?   How do you handle a situation where someone approaches you while you’re at the ATM?

These scenarios and many more were on tap for nearly a dozen students at GSL Defense Training’s first force-on-force class entitled “Critical Threat Management” August 15 & 16 at the Timber Pointe Outdoor Center in Hudson, IL.

Force-on-force (FoF) training is a fairly new tool, primarily used by law-enforcement and military, with proven results.  It stimulates physiological stresses by enabling “bad guys” to shoot back at trainees.  Getting shot with these specialized “marking” rounds hurts, and this “pain penalty” provides a high degree of motivation to use good technique and tactics.

One scientific study published in Human Factors termed FoF handgun training “a potent training tool to prepare armed officers for performance in a stressful real-life environment.”

It’s rare for civilians to have the opportunity for this cutting edge learning.  Credit goes where it’s due:  Black Flag Firearms Training and Fortress Defense Consultants brought FoF coursework to northern Illinois a few years ago.  GSL Defense Training has tweaked on their formula and brought this innovative training to Central Illinois civilians.

While government agencies use specially modified live firearms and marking ammunition, GSL Defense Training is using the safer, more affordable option of airsoft.  Make no mistake, while safer and less powerful, there’s still plenty of pain penalty.  In fact, the guns used leave welts and sometimes draw blood.

The training facility was picturesque and tranquil – at least when people weren’t running scenarios – with acres and acres of land and structures.   Enrollees navigated incidents which included domestic violence, robberies, confrontations, mistaken identity and many more on Saturday morning.  On Sunday afternoon, they had an opportunity to employ newly-learned skill sets to enjoy more satisfactory outcomes.  The improvements were profound.

Never quit!  Always fight through!
Lessons included incident avoidance and de-escalation, the importance of the reactionary gap and tactics to deal with both armed and unarmed aggressors.  The common theme throughout the class was to always fight through tough situations and to never give up.

Training started off with introductions of the staff and the rules for the day.  Real firearms were verboten, along with blades, outside of the parking lot except for the live-fire segments.   All of the standard stuff, including medical and safety information were noted.  The “Rules of Engagement” for the training guns were “real world”:  training guns must remain concealed unless you have legal justification to draw.  Any shooting must be justifiable under law.  All students, staff and role-players frisked one another for “live” weapons prior to starting the scenarios for safety.

GSL Defense Training brought in volunteer role-players of all ages that did a tremendous job acting to make the scenes realistic.  Nothing elevates the heart rate like a teen girl screaming in fear for her life, begging for help.

GSL Defense Training also brought in Bill Martin, a guest Krav Maga instructor, who along with wife Kristin and assistants Ronnie and Mark, taught some fundamental elements of unarmed self-defense and weapon retention.  Mr. Martin teaches Krav classes in Normal, IL twice each week.

Martin began with mindset, situational awareness and stress considerations and then students were taught and practiced some basic combatives.  It was full-contact, using pads and mitts, exposing those present to options available to fight off an aggressor inside your reactionary gap.  By using some basic combatives at bad-breath distances, a good guy can create the time and distance necessary to draw or flee the confrontation.

There were also GSL Defense Training lectures on mindset, legal considerations, asymmetrical tactics and situational awareness/threat identification.  It was two full days, nearly ten hours each day, of solid learning, coupled with hands-on exercises.  Time outdoors was mixed up with (air conditioned) indoor lectures and exercises.

Students loved it as well and noted how the scenarios “made you think” in the course evaluations.

“The scenarios were true to life,” one student commented.  Another wrote how it was “real world problem solving.”  Still another:  “Great job on the scenarios.  Role-play was very realistic.”

“This class was very well done  I learned a lot of new things and got to hone skills learned in previous classes,” another wrote.

Update:

From a student in the class (in comments):

JM on August 17, 2015 at 10:57 pm

And another.

Jan M Cimarossa on August 18, 2015 at 5:14 pm