AAR LMS Defense No Light Operations, July 10-12, 2010, Alliance, OH

[John Chapman]

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TD1 ended at 0400.  What a smoker!

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[Scimitar2]

So, how did night one go?

[Bill Toy]

N1 went well. 10 dark hours (at least 3 of them with 0% illum), Awesome training venues, 35+ Bangs thrown, rounds down range in the shoot house and lots of solid training with great students. Fire hose was opened a bit, tonight we will build on that base. 

[DOC]

Drive on Boss!!

[John Chapman]

I had the pleasure of leading the LMS Defense No Light Operations Course in Alliance, OH on July 10-12, 2010.  I was ably assisted by Bill Toy as AI, and Mike Griffin as medic. 

The concept of the course is simple: develop the skills and techniques necessary to effectively employ white light, IR light, night vision devices and IR lasers in order to dominate any circumstance.  We utilized square range and team tactics exercises to develop student’s skills, build skills into techniques, and demonstrate some procedural methodologies applicable to no light situations.

Our host agency, Alliance PD, was an outstanding partner in fostering an environment where professionals could learn and grow.  Det. Jones, the Alliance PD training officer, is a true professional, with the best interests of his Cops in mind.  His dedication to their professional development is truly a sight to behold. 

When designing this course, we wanted to make it as applicable to the wide spectrum of available equipment as possible.  We understand that while some students have the latest equipment (PVS 14 or 15 and PEQ 15/15A), some are still issued or own legacy systems, most of which remain marginally viable.  We believe that when life gives you lemons, learn to kill the enemies of freedom with lemonade.  We had a good mixture of equipment in this course; with every student using autogated PVS 14’s (a good thing) and a mix of PEQ 15’s, PEQ 15A’s (DBAL A2 and PI DBAL A2 Greens), several PEQ 2A’s, and one PAQ 4.   We worked to maximize the individual students’ effectiveness with their particular systems, and to awaken them to some of the advantages offered by the latest Multi Function Aiming Lasers (MFAL).

This course was populated by active SWAT Officers, PMC’s with SWA PSD and defense assignments, active duty AFSOC, defense industry development specialists, and one old, er, I mean experienced, combat developer and trainer.  Everyone was extremely professional and obviously dedicated to developing their own capabilities and passing on the lessons learned in the course to their peers and teams.

I will not bore everyone with a blow by blow of the course, but I do have a few observations to share.

-   The value and necessity of taking the time to becoming familiar with your equipment, especially electronic systems, is underappreciated.  It costs you nothing to don your NVG’s, clear your rifle, and practice system manipulation and basic movement at home. 
-   The visible laser function on the MFAL continues to be the most effective back up sight at close range when used looking through your malfunctioning optic..
-   As often as I see it, I still found it amazing how quickly a group of individuals can be forged into a team when they are all quality professionals.
-   Crye uniforms are worth every single penny.  They are the most comfortable, functional and durable uniforms I have encountered.
-   Stephens SCAR CQB is sexier in person.
-   Pat Rogers is one of the most solid operators I have ever met.  The adage of “those who can’t do, teach” is absolutely wrong in his case.  He consistently made good decisions (the most overlooked skill, and the most important) and stepped up and led his team.  I learned a great deal having him in the class.

In conclusion, the high level of competence and professionalism of the students allowed for a fast-moving and effective course.  I’m sure I will have more observations as my memory is jostled by other posts.

We would like to thank the following companies for their support of this valuable class.  Please support the people who support the men on the wall:

PWS
www.PrimaryWeapons.com

Laser Devices
www.LaserDevices.com

Nightline Nightvision
www.Nightline.us


Austere Provisions Company
www.AustereProvisions.com

US Palm
www.uspalm.com

Blue Force Gear
www.blueforcegear.com

Slip 2000

Bravo Company USA
www.BravoCompanyUSA.com

[MIKE G]

I was glad to be able to make it up to this course.  I have had NVGs and some type of laser aiming device in my arsenal for some time but this is the first time I have been trained beyond a  simple in service in their use.

The course covered both intro into the tools necessary to assemble a no light fighting kit and the implementation of those tools in a multitude of environments from movement on patrol to static fighting positions to CQB and confined space team tactics.  A lot of effort was put into showing the students and providing scenarios that allowed us to use daylight tactics that are modified for use under NODs.  What I mean by that is initially when people look through an optic they think "cool, I can see at night" and dont take into account the restricted field of view, lack of depth perception, diminished long range contrast, and loss of up close focus.  While it is great to be able to see at night all of these things are considerations and must be accounted for in everything from adjusting how you walk, how you hold your gun in both low-ready and on target positions, and much more.  This class outlines those considerations, provides solutions, and gives the fighter the opportunity to learn for themselves what individual modifiers they need to make and gather feedback from SMEs.

If you have any intent of using night vision I would highly recommend this course.  As with most things you can head out and learn by trial and error but this course offers you information gleaned from an industry of both end users, engineers, and combat developers to put the most high yield info in front of you in an efficient package.

A few things I picked up along the way:

Software:
-Peripheral vision is a huge component to situational awareness, you have to keep your head on a swivel to overcome the limitations even more so than normal.

-We really on lots of non-verbal cues when communicating between team mates, these need to be modified to adjust for low-light/no light and the considerations outlined above.

-Practice your basics like mag changes, turning on and off optics, LADs, etc until you can do it by feel only.

-Stay hydrated and consider what you eat when training, i.e. dont eat mexican (with your entire team) before a final scenario in an industrial structure with the HVAC shut off, just sayin...  ;-)

Hardware:

-The PVS-14s work well and were very beneficial over some older optics.  The monocular has it's disadvantages but functioned well whenever we had to transition to pistols under NODs which allowed you to use the BSP.

-While I like my MSA helmets I will likely be looking into an OPS-CORE due to comfort and weight.

-The DBALa2 and all the LDI lasers we got the opportunity to check out were great.  I have used my personal DBALa2 for a while and it has been a strong unit.  Seeing some of the new iterations of the DBAL with the green visible lasers have been impressive in their strength and day time visibility.

-During the white light iterations I used an OV-2 as it has become the light I keep on my primary gun.  This thing continues to rock and has held up to extensive firing even with it mounted immediately next to the muzzle (far forward on a 13.2" larue rail).

-BFG Ten-Speed pouches work great on back panels when working on teams.  It is a low profile solution for carrying a multitude of gear items securely.  While I do not normal keep gear on my back panel so that I can run a med pack, these are low profile enough that I will stash a few back there to be  more fluid in my gear setups.

That is all for now,

[Pat Rogers]

My first post here, and just want to thank Chappy, Bill and Mike for a Great Class!

LMS Conducted a No Light Course at the Alliance OH PD Range 10-12July 2010. This class was instructed by John Chapman and Bill Toy, two very capable people who are well versed in both the operational and training aspects of this subject. Mike Griffin, an LMS medic did double duty as a student.

The class was hosted by the Alliance PD SRT, who are likewise a group of professional and very talented cops.

This was a Restricted class, for the obvious reasons. As such it was populated mainly by cops with some military/ contractors and Industry professionals. The experience level for shooting/ CQB was high, and with night vision generally much less so.


There are reasons for this. One is that night vision equipment (both NVG and IR lasers/ illuminators) are expensive(in some cases very expensive) and IR lasers somewhat restricted.

Add to that the fact that this class was a team tactics class and it becomes apparent.

The class worked on a reverse schedule. T1 was 1800 until 0415. T2 was 2000 to 0530, and T3 was 1800- 0300. With sunset occurring at roughly 2035 for this class, it allowed some daylight for equipment checks but max useable dark time to permit the use of NOD’s and white light.
T1 started off with a quick (and very neat) skills test to ensure all hands were capable of the specialized shooting necessary to function in this environment. To this end the carbine magazines needed to be loaded to a specific number of rounds and shot in a specific order. I managed to self earn a Moosecock at of the gate as I grabbed the properly loaded magazines out of order (que in thunderous applause from the peanut gallery).


Chappy brought us into the large APD shoot house for refresher training in CQB and the use of flash bangs.
This was followed by NOD’s refreshes and then NOD's BZO. We practiced movement techniques under NOD’s and then moved to an infrastructure target site to further run team movement drills under NOD’s and white lights.

T2 began with a cold team hit in the shoot house. Most runs in the shoot house will show some deficiencies, ad this was no exception. However, those deficiencies translated readily into teaching points which translated into lessons learned.
We did a fair amount of shooting under NODs, to include positions, shooting on the move and transitions to pistol.
The day ended with a movement exercise which ended with a FRAGO for a team hit on the house.

T3 started at 1700 and included more square range drills which emphasized the usefulness of a visible laser. I have been running a vis laser during certain drills to mimic a RDS failure for about 6 months now. It works especially well, and the drills that Chappy ran us through confirmed that fact to the other students.
We executed more hits in the APD shoot house and then transited to an infrastructure target site.

Guns and gear:
This class does not generate a high rounds count. Couple that with the level of quality of the students and you can understand that gun problems were mercifully few. The only optics used were Aimpoints. We had no RDS problems.
A high round count SRT gun (a Colt) had a bolt crack in two at the cam pin hole.
The big issues came with the NVG- both NOD’s and lasers. And it was no surprise that the majority of the issues were from user unfamiliarity rather than equipment defects.
IR lasers used included the AN/PEQ-15 (ATPIAL) and the AN-PEQ-15A (DBALa2) as well as some old school AN/PEQ-2’s and one PAC-4.
I was running a DBALa2 Green laser – a very sweet unit.
Most NOD’s were AN/PVS-14’s with Chappy rocking an AN/PVS-15.
I used a helmet mounted SureFire M1 light. This is an IR light and was extremely useful when in the absolute low light conditions of the target site. There is a real need for a smaller/ lighter unit with a diffuser. Any takers?

Lessons Learned: It has been 5 years since I last worked under NOD’s. It was waaaaay too long. It took a while to reacquaint myself to the NOD. It did not come easy.
One thing that helped immensely was the Orion, an orange filter over the ocular lens. This partially prevented (for my first time ever) the inevitable green headache.
The second part of the headache preventer was the Ops Core ballistic helmet. Adjusted properly, this helmet adds stability heretofore unknown to me. Taking into account the weight of the helmet, the ballistic protection and the stability provided, i consider it to be about a quantum leap forward.

Shooting with NOD’s unlike conventional shooting for a lot of reasons and requires not just a different position, but a strong change in attitude. Some positions (think prone here) require a lot of consideration/ ad hockery in order to find a viable position.

A big lesson that should be written in everyone’s book is this.

Do not go to a fuckin’ Mex restaurant for team dinner while the training day is still ongoing.
The malodorous emissions emanating from the posterior regions of the shooters was impressive.
This was especially true at the infrastructure site when doing five stories worth of stairwells.
The heat was right up there but fortunately the humidity was off the high end of the scale (sarcasm warning).
The noise/ toxic aroma reached such epic proportions that Stephan Hilliard commented that the “Fouls smelling Mexican farts hung in the air like a dead Santa stuck in the chimney”.
The training day eneded just in time, as witnessed by the speed at which some shooters raced to make a deposit in the porcelain receptacle.


This was an awesome class for a lot of reasons. Chappy and his crew are spot on instructors. The class had some very talented shooters and the lack of ego was apparent and healthy.
Everyone talked with each other on breaks and team dinners, so the info exchange as well as the ability to provide peer support was excellent.
We don’t find this unusual, and is common for almost every class we have ever attended, but there are apparently some places where this doesn’t happen. That is a pity, because in good classes that passing on of information can be a major plus up.
The POI is solid. Having been exposed to several military classes, I learned a lot more here due to knowledge and experience of the instructor as well as how the class was conducted.
Safety was of course a major issue and was constantly stressed. Almost as important was the fact that it was hot and humid and all hands were fully jocked up. The instructors mandated rest periods and carefully monitored the physical condition of all hands.

Many thanks to the Alliance Police Department and their SRT team for the terrific support.

The No Light Class is an exceptionally useful course for people who use/ need or are considering the purchase of NVG and IR Lasers/ Illuminators. You really need to understand not only the capabilities of these units but also the limitations.

LMS Defense
www.lmsdefense.com
Austere Provisions
www.austereprovisons.com

Laser Devices
www.laserdevices,com

[Pat Rogers]

Chappy give Don- an Alliance PD SRT guy- some pearls of wisdom...

[John Chapman]

thanks for the AAR Pat

[BlackViper]

Hey guys, how can I buy one of Pat's EAG dump pouches? Does any place sell them or is this a direct-from-Pat item?

[Simple Machine]

Hey guys, how can I buy one of Pat's EAG dump pouches? Does any place sell them or is this a direct-from-Pat item?

Have to take a class from Pat.  But believe me, you'll get more than just the dump pouch;  He runs a first rate class!

[Pat Rogers]

Black Viper- sorry, only available at class.

[BlackViper]

Black Viper- sorry, only available at class.

No worries Pat, I plan to take your course scheduled at the LMS CDC in April.

[keeper]

The malodorous emissions emanating from the posterior regions of the shooters was impressive.

This quote is going up in the station head, lol