May 2024 Training Update

TRAINING UPDATES:

GENERAL:

When attending CSAT classes in the future, please have the following:

·        Electronic Ears

·        Tourniquet

·        Thumb drive

The reasoning behind the Electronic Ears is simple. We want you to hear range commands on the line and during scenarios.  Input can be made without shouting.

As for Tourniquets, I watch many people who have one on their gear and do not use it because they don’t want to remove it from the pouch or the plastic. If your tourniquet is so fragile that it cannot be used for training, you need to buy a different one. You should have training tourniquets as well. If you need one, the Pro Shop will happily sell you one.

Finally, bring a thumb drive to collect class information and handouts.

THE CSAT WAY ON FACEBOOK AND PATREON AND YOUTUBE

It looks like the CSAT YouTube page is taking off. It is time to educate the non-believers.

We continue working on new video content for the Patreon Operator and Patreon Instructor. We currently have 227 videos on the site.

You can visit “The CSAT Way” on FaceBook for video updates.

BARRACKS

While the barracks have saved many students money in the past, I must, unfortunately, raise the rent. To stay there for a two—or three-day class, it is $100 extra to class tuition. Power, water, and AC/Heat have all gone up, as have maintenance and maintenance contracts. Send any complaints to Joe Biden, POTUS. Also, if you are a current LEO paying on your own dime, the barracks increase does not apply to you.

This will take place in the Fall.

WORLD

The Left has recently pushed the following terror groups on the American People:

·         BLM

·         ANTIFA

·         Now the Pro PAL’s Movement

Colleges allowing this are conspirators in state-sponsored terrorism. Pre-trial confinement will shut these radicals down.

FUTURE

We are preparing to move into Guardian Season and then into the Fall schedule.

We have made some adjustments to the Fall calendar.  Thanks for being flexible.

Further, we have added a Long-Range Hunter Class on 21-22 September.

We also schedule and provide private training for small groups during all times of the year. 

A new article, and feel free to repost.

The Training Table

The state of Texas has implemented its newly mandated Active Shooter Instructor Training and is churning out Instructors weekly in a feeble attempt to change Uvalde's failure and low training standards.

It is a training mess.

The same model they used for training before Uvalde has been rebranded and will continue to fail. The state is throwing money at a failed academic feel-good program. The program is a one-legged table in an eternal state of collapse. The pre-Uvalde training that created a national embarrassment of cowardice and tactical incompetence needs to change.

Components of the Training Table

Four legs to the table of mission success:

• Mental

• Individual Shooting Skills

• Tactics

• Instructor validation and calibration

Mental Fixes

The mental aspect of the new training for officers will fail from the start.  Seasoned officers can see through the newly packaged and mandated “old stuff” that is branded new and improved.  Police officers are lied to on the streets during many day-to-day contacts with citizens and crooks. They are many times lied to by their chains of command and thrown ink, beards and RDS Sights on their pistols as “pacifiers” or morale builders.  Unfortunately, many of the new generation officers will drink the Kool Aid believe in the failed training being pushed by their own ranks.

Savvy Officers can see through BS training. When Instructors teaching the “new” system are asked if they use these tactics and model back at their home agency and they say “no,” it only confirms the new class is a training ticket punch.  New Instructor Officers will do what is necessary to secure a certificate and flush the material before they get back home from their training vacation.

Individual Shooting Skills

The claim that Red Dot Sights (RDS) on pistols make officers better shooters is false.  Proper and consistent training makes better shooters. It requires dry practice and range time.  I will not get into all the particulars, but if you cannot shoot or will not train, an RDS Sight on your pistol will not make you better.  It will provide you with false confidence and enable you to miss faster with a more expensive platform the taxpayers purchased.

It is time to shrink the size of qualification targets to realistic kill zones and restructure antiquated shooting standards.  Many standards and quals were changed from the revolver quals by who?  Officers who could not shoot. Dump the TQ-19 target for ones that require higher precision.

Tactics

The State and its training promote “paintball” tactics that instill false confidence and allow you to be sloppy in weapon handling and still walk away.  Crappy tactics allow ignorant officers to feel good until a real-life situation takes place. In reality, duty ammo will validate the tactic on the street. 

One need only look at Uvalde and those who had the prior tactics training to see the results. Legislators promote politically endorsed training and feel-good legislation so they believe they contributed to a solution. The reality is that they live in the “Tactical Hallmark Channel” of life, and the streets will sort out what works in short order with new police officers. Usually, the harsh reality of life is unforgiving.

Instructor Validation and Calibration

The current instructor factory is churning out “certified” instructors who can recite company doctrine but cannot truly perform lifesaving training.

The military contractor mentality of collecting money, putting out the company policy/information and keeping your mouth shut has jumped into the law enforcement arena with both feet.

While these “shake and bake” instructors can structure an artificial paintball scenario when they get their certificate, many cannot shoot or perform the actions with live ammunition.  They are academic instructors who have never been required to perform the tasks with live ammunition or train others with live ammunition. New officers will get to validate their training on the streets around American Citizens in a 360-degree live fire environment.

Leadership Fixes

Ticket-punching law enforcement leadership (managers) are to blame for this.  They fail to enforce or enhance any training standards.

The Training Sergeant position in an agency should be required as a stepping stone for promotion and not a dumping ground for an unsatisfactory employee.

Get leaders out of their offices and supervise training.  Many patrol officers who have worked the night shift for years have never shot at night. Leaders fail to check on their training needs.

I have watched top-heavy, mid-management staffing in many departments leave patrol hanging with minimal numbers while collecting substantial paychecks for managing 2-3 people.

Conclusion:

Again, it is a training mess.

Unless Law Enforcement Leaders band together to require higher standards, the standards will continue to be low. When you embrace mediocre training, you will get mediocre results. This cannot be hidden as it was in the past due to the number of cameras both in fixed locations and on the officer’s body.

The Fixes are simple.  If leadership and individual Officers “Live the Example,” then excellence can be the only result.

It takes a savvy Chief and upper chain of command to recognize what is fluff and what is substance and then to promote their understanding throughout the department. LEO Leadership needs to band together to fight the weak state mandates and push for higher standards. 

The sad reality is that we can take male and female teachers who have never fired a weapon and have them out performing Law Enforcement Officers live fire in a short amount of time. This is because the current political system relies on cronyism and empire-building former LEOs who have migrated to government-sponsored training programs where money plays a more important role than a child’s life.

About the Author

Paul R. Howe is a 20-year veteran and former Special Operations soldier and instructor. Paul currently owns Combat Shooting and Tactics (CSAT), where he consults with, trains, and evaluates law enforcement, government agencies, Teacher Guardians, Church Security and Civilians in technical and tactical techniques throughout the training spectrum. See www.combatshootingandtactics.com for details.

PRO SHOP/STEEL:

A few of my personal favorites

 “Be sure to check in at csattss.com for our line of Tomahawks and limited-edition blades.”

MEMES:

HUNTING:

 Nothing to report. No pig signs which is good.

The CSAT WAY Book:

Get the Book Here

IN CLOSING:

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you on the range.

Paul R. Howe