Trident Concepts Adv Combative Pistol LEO/Military Apr 21-23, 2009

[Ron Flowers]

Trident Concepts, Adv. Combative Pistol. April 21-23, 2009 at the Allentown Police Academy. All registrations handled at TriCon’s website. http://www.tridentconcepts.com/index.aspx?page=schedule



Feel free to contact me for lodging or other info.



The Allentown Police Department will be hosting Trident Concepts, LLC, for a three-day Advanced Combative Pistol class, at the Allentown Police Academy, April 21-23, 2009



Trident Concepts is one of the most respected tactical firearms/operations training entities in the United States, with an instructor cadre from the ranks of Naval Special Warfare; SEAL. (NAVSPECWAR).



The cost of the training is $550 per person, is restricted to active duty law enforcement or military personnel only, and all registrations will be handled via Trident Concepts. Please visit their website at … www.tridentconcepts.com Application can be made via the “APPLY NOW” link and filling in this course information. A 50% deposit is required no later than Jan 7th, 2008, with full payment due March 7th, 2008.



Please see below for additional information:



“The ACP (Advanced Combative Pistol) is an intensive 3-day course that will develop the combative fundamentals with the service pistol to support movement. It is structured with extended range sessions and high repetitions to strengthen proper technique and broaden conditioned response. Graded evolutions throughout the course provide instant feedback to the student on skill development and overall ability. A large majority of this course is performed while moving either aggressing a target or moving towards cover or similar concepts. The linear progressive training exercises build upon solid basics in order to progress to more advanced skills which demand ability from the student.”



“Basic Gear List:

Tactical Pistol (weapon mounted light optional)

2,500 rounds of pistol ammunition

5 pistol magazines (8 for single stack pistols)

5 inert rounds (No A-Zooms)

Training uniform with Ball Cap

1st line gear (duty belt, holster, magazines, flashlight, dump pouches)

handheld flashlight

clear eye and ear protection



hydration system and energy snacks

weapons cleaning kit and quality lubrication



Any questions you may contact Jeff Gonzales, Training Director for Trident Concepts, at jgonzales@tridentconcepts.com 928-925-7038. Registrations limited to first come/first serve.”

[Ron Flowers]

We invited Jeff again this year, as his class was quickly sold out in 2008. One of the most highly regarded trainers in the country.

[buggsb]

Ron,

You may want to check the dates for registration deadlines in your post to correct the year. I was a little confused at first if this was an old post for the 2008 course or a new one for this year.

For anyone who hasn't taken a Trident course yet, consider it. This is some of the best handgun training you will find anywhere.

[Ron Flowers]

Ron,

You may want to check the dates for registration deadlines in your post to correct the year. I was a little confused at first if this was an old post for the 2008 course or a new one for this year.

For anyone who hasn't taken a Trident course yet, consider it. This is some of the best handgun training you will find anywhere.

Thanks! Yep, the 2008 stuff is an ooops. I'll take the hit for missing it. Will repost.

[Ron Flowers]

Trident Concepts Adv Combative Pistol LEO/Military Apr 21-23, 2009

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trident Concepts, Adv. Combative Pistol. April 21-23, 2009 at the Allentown Police Academy. All registrations handled at TriCon’s website. http://www.tridentconcepts.com/index.aspx?page=schedule



Feel free to contact me for lodging or other info.



The Allentown Police Department will be hosting Trident Concepts, LLC, for a three-day Advanced Combative Pistol class, at the Allentown Police Academy, April 21-23, 2009



Trident Concepts is one of the most respected tactical firearms/operations training entities in the United States, with an instructor cadre from the ranks of Naval Special Warfare; SEAL. (NAVSPECWAR).



The cost of the training is $550 per person, is restricted to active duty law enforcement or military personnel only, and all registrations will be handled via Trident Concepts. Please visit their website at … www.tridentconcepts.com Application can be made via the “APPLY NOW” link and filling in this course information. A 50% deposit is required no later than Jan 7th, 2009, with full payment due March 7th, 2009.



Please see below for additional information:



“The ACP (Advanced Combative Pistol) is an intensive 3-day course that will develop the combative fundamentals with the service pistol to support movement. It is structured with extended range sessions and high repetitions to strengthen proper technique and broaden conditioned response. Graded evolutions throughout the course provide instant feedback to the student on skill development and overall ability. A large majority of this course is performed while moving either aggressing a target or moving towards cover or similar concepts. The linear progressive training exercises build upon solid basics in order to progress to more advanced skills which demand ability from the student.”



“Basic Gear List:

Tactical Pistol (weapon mounted light optional)

2,500 rounds of pistol ammunition

5 pistol magazines (8 for single stack pistols)

5 inert rounds (No A-Zooms)

Training uniform with Ball Cap

1st line gear (duty belt, holster, magazines, flashlight, dump pouches)

handheld flashlight

clear eye and ear protection



hydration system and energy snacks

weapons cleaning kit and quality lubrication



Any questions you may contact Jeff Gonzales, Training Director for Trident Concepts, at jgonzales@tridentconcepts.com 928-925-7038. Registrations limited to first come/first serve.”

[Ron Flowers]

Standby for additional information......

[Ron Flowers]

Guys....one more slot before the class is full. Dates are April 21-23, 2009, LEO/Mil...in Allentown, PA. See website to register.

[Ron Flowers]

Guys....I am "stealing" jeff's comments about the class he taught at our facility....and then will add some of my own.

See below:
"Trident Concepts conducted their 3-day Advanced Combative Pistol for a mixed group of Law Enforcement and Military personnel at the Allentown PD Academy in Allentown, PA. Once again, we had a diverse group of shooters ranging from folks who were novices to seasoned shooters that were good to go. Training conditions were mild; temperatures were in the mid 60’s with threatening rain storms the whole course. We saw many familiar faces and lots of new ones with a nice size class. All totaled in three days of structured training the class fired and estimated 30,000 rounds.

To our great pleasure we were greeted to our proud Ensign and the Navy Jack flying freely on the flagpole. Those colors would remain during our presence and we were honored for it. Of course, we are all now probably subjected to some sort of neo-Nazi watch group for flying the Navy Jack and as far as I am concerned they can all crawl back to their grass eating, cowardly hole from which they crawled. They deserve nothing more from me.

Gear and equipment was very diverse as to be expected. Worth mentioning was one shooter who wore a heavy vest with chest mounted kydex holster. I think these systems look sexy, but perform poorly. You are much better off going with your standard thigh rig setup. While some will argue they can get to it in a vehicle I still question why you are going to a pistol instead of your rifle and if you are the driver why you are not driving the vehicle instead of drawing your pistol. By the TD2 the shooter transitioned back to a traditional rig and was much better off for the move.

We saw the standard assortment of duty pistols in classes, everything from M1911, to Sigs, to Glocks a few Beretta’s and an HK. All performed well except for one Sig that had a catastrophic failure during a shooting evolution. While that is pretty bad, the way the shooter handled it was less than optimal. It doesn’t matter what the condition of the firearm is as you know it, the rest of the line is unaware of your condition, but aware of the fact you are failing to follow instructions and have an unsecure firearm dangling at your side. The event took place during a shooting on the move evolution and the shooter stopped moving and attempted to leave the line while the rest of the shooters continued to advance. The right thing to do was continue to advance, make it safe and then ask to leave the line for a gun repair. The shooter is a smart and safe shooter, but when the gun failed he got wrapped around the axle and dropped range protocol. He got a severe tongue lashing, but realized the mistake quickly.

The problem was a take down lever that sheared in half and while the shooter did have a spare weapon to go to, he wanted to canabalize the spare gun part and replace it on his broken gun. This would take some time and the problem grew more difficult when the new part would not correctly install. The shooter eventually replace the part in the spare gun and would complete the morning session with his spare, taking more time during the lunch break to fix the broken gun. The shooter ended up replacing the whole locking block and take down lever and continued the course with his original pistol. The P226 was chambered in .357Sig and while some may fancy this caliber, I have seen too many problems arise for marginal terminal performance enhancements. You definitely want a spare pistol and spare parts for this caliber as it will beat up any make/model.

We next came across some gear failures; the Streamlight TLR-1 is a piece of junk in my opinion. We all too often find them lying on the ground with about the same frequency as we saw EOTechs a while back. I am equally amused by the company’s statement of “Rail grip clamp system securely attaches/detaches quickly and safely with no tools and without putting your hands in front of muzzle”. Like that all matters when the damn thing won’t stay on the gun. Anyhow, on TD1 we started to see one of the two on the line loose up and as soon as I saw that I prepared the shooter for the eventuality of losing the light and more importantly to wait until the “all clear” before recovering his light. Reason being is in previous classes we have shooters come off the line while shooting is taking place to recover their gear. They completely go into the white when they see this happen. So, when it did happen he was disappointed, but not surprised. The other light would go Tango-Uniform on TD2 and I briefed the shooter of the same situation.

We saw a lot of drop leg holsters that were improperly fitted, way too low for their shooter. As far as we are concerned the holster needs to be as high on the hip as possible just low enough to clear your heavy armor. Anything else and it is cumbersome and restrictive on movement. Dump pouches are more and more common these days, but in most cases I find them to be less likely on the streets. We had one officer who discarded his dump pouch because he felt is was better to practice stowing magazines in what he will most likely have on the streets, sounds like a good idea to me. Just remember that your mission will always drive your gear selection. I don’t think it is a bad idea to use a dump pouch during training classes, but I also agree with this shooter.

A major problem we encountered in this class was the shortage of ammunition. You cannot wait until the last minute to purchase ammunition for training or attending training classes. You are much better off stock-piling and then drop shipping ammunition for training classes well in advance. We have tried to pass out a shipping location for all our courses for this reason specifically and for the most part it has helped out big time. One of the shooters purchased a small amount, less than 500 rounds to supplement his duty loads he brought. The rounds in question were PMC 200 grain FMJ semi-wad cutter type bullets. These continued to malfunction in his Glock 21 and we saw similar problems in other 45 ACP chambered pistols. To put it to you mildly, he could not give those things away. While you have to work with what you can find, if it is new to you, you should always function check for reliability. He grew very frustrated and ended up programming a nasty training scare as a result of all the malfunctions he had until he expended or threw away the remaining rounds.

In honor of one of our instructors who has moved on to greener pastures we conducted one of our favorite evolutions…a stress course. This is nothing more than strenuous physical activity coupled with marksmanship and manipulation drills. In our case, we had a car push, which was our SUV rental car for about 25 yards. Nothing like getting the major muscle groups pumped. Then the shooters had to hammer away at a tire pushing it down range to the first firing position. It was funny to watch some people hit a tire like that, many having never done it. This is another great major muscle group burn, but focuses more on the upper body. At least nobody had the sledge come back and nail them in the shin, which has happened before. From there, the shooters would have to engage multiple targets on the move performing some gun handling skills in the process. The reward for the best score would be a “free mulligan” on the final standards test. You should have seen everyone’s eyes when I said that and needless to say that was a huge motivator.

It was an awesome event and I was very disappointed to see a couple of students mentally quite during the drill, they just walked between stations. To me, this is a huge problem as it is a glimpse into their mental game. Believe me, the evolution rated pretty low on the suck factor. Part of this drill is to give you the opportunity to perform under duress, but also to toughen your mental game. I believe that it really is just the opportunity to remind you about mental toughness, but in this instance it was a red flag for some.

We shot the final test and unfortunately had a pretty low pass rate, about 50% of the class passed. A big comment during the debrief was the humbling experience of failing and while it is not the intention it is a byproduct. You might have a good set of skills or what you think are “advanced”, but one thing is for sure we will put that name to the test."

Guys....Jeff's training was, as always, very professional and very demanding. Sacrifices of high standards are NOT made for the sake of anyone's ego. Indeed, no sacrifices of those standards are made at all. It was a great experience. I would like to add that the Combative Edged Weapons class, which was the day after ACP, was an excellent, eye opening introduction to the use of the folding knife as a tertiary weapons system.

With more and more examples of officers using a knife to end the fight and save their own life showing up in the media, it would really behoove us to pay attention to this kind of training generally, and that offered by TriCon specifically.

Be Safe!
Ron

[ToddG]

Ron -- Sounds like a great class. I really need to work out a schedule to take one of Jeff's pistol classes.