Force-on-Force training: Should I do it?

[Buckeye 50]

I MAY have an opportunity for force on force training - using full pads with something like simunitions.  I recently took and passed the Active Shooter class and our trainers are trying to set this new training up.


I think it would be invaluable experience but would like to hear from anyone who has been through it?  I have supreme confidence in my trainers and am excited about the possibilities.


Thanks,


Pat

[sqlbullet]

Haven't done simulations.

My favorite parts of the the police academy where when we would pad up for PPCT or force cell extractions.  In forced cell I loved playing the "inmate" as they were very clear that anything went as far as trying to resist.

Good times!

I would jump on this if I were you.

[Spudmeister]

I have done it 4 or 5 times now.  The trick IMO is to get past the "it's a game" part.  It plays heavily on the soul as I discovered I am truly not wired toward killing people no matter the cause.  Speed is good.  Accuracy is good.  But neither save you without the proper mindset.  I have taken dozens of gunfighting classes and acquired a fair amount of skill but it's all nearly meaningless without the proper mindset.  That took numerous force on force classes to sort things out in my mind.  Force on force is a vital element to gunfighting. 

.... and I hope it is not fun for you.  I hope you discover yourself.  That is seldom fun.

[inv136]

I've participated in various simunitions training using revolvers (back in the early 90's) and them semi-autos in the 2000's, as well as MP5 with simunitions rounds. Make sure you cover any exposed body parts as I've seen rounds draw blood. The rounds are traveling a lot slower than live rounds and don't give you the same recoil response that live rounds do. It's like shooting blanks. They are good for tactical training. You know pretty quickly if you are employing tactics correctly, because if you're not, you are going to get shot.

The main thing I learned from tactical training is that my focus was usually to possible threats that were closest. Such as entering a door your attention goes immediately to the closest multiple doorways. This has gotten me and other's on the team "shot" more often than any other mistake. Because of the nearest immediate threat focus, even for one second, you miss threats that can be waiting for you down at the far end of a hallway or at the top of a stairwell on the floor. I've been "shot" by threats that were laying on the floor and obscured by the doorway at the end of a long hallway, while immediately looking at two open doorways nearest the entrance. On another occasion My team took several hits from the shooter who was at the far end of a long hallway in a building, laying on the floor at the second floor landing of a stairwell. We could barely see the shooter after several team members were hit.

I also had the opportunity to go through some of the simunition training that the TSA Federal Air Marshal's conduct inside a mock commercial aircraft. That get's pretty intense because you don't know who or how the threat is coming from. They do have a pretty good SOP set up in place for protecting the integrity of the plane, not the passengers. They're primary purpose is to protect the pilot and integrity of the flight deck, not the passengers.

If you have a chance to participate in simunition training I would definitely go for it. It is a lot more intense than just conducting tactical entries and clearing rooms with unloaded or "blue" guns.