It was nightfall. I looked over the shoulder of the guy in front of me. I could just make out the shadow of his Kevlar helmet in the moonlight. By the corner of his eye, I was just able to pick out the eerie green glow of NVG optics, and then I saw bullets hitting steel, each one exploding into a burst of sparks. Tom turned to me and asked, “Where else could you do this?’
But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Just when you’re not expecting anything new, Tom demonstrates why he is a master of training. My sons and I took CCJA’s Tactical Carbine II class on Sunday. It was the second half of the program, with Tactical Carbine I offered on Saturday. David works every Saturday, so I had asked Tom for a Sunday program. We had taken previous tactical carbine courses, so the T.C. II course on Sunday worked out well for us all. Will and I had taken the T.C. II course before, but since we’re not particularly experienced, I thought it would be worthwhile to repeat it.
I was prepared for a leisurely “do over” of the previous T.C. II. I should not have underestimated Tom’s dedication to his profession, his creativity, or his contacts. We are familiar with most of his instructor cadre, and their extraordinary credentials. Pete was there, as was Mark. On Sunday we were introduced to Nate, EMT/Medical Instructor, and Jim, optics expert.
The day started at 0800 in the classroom. Since we had been through several similar courses, Tom covered the safety essentials. He then turned the floor over to Nate, who gave us a classroom demonstration of how to use the newest SF tourniquet and Izzie compression bandages. There was a lot of give and take about when, where and how to provide first aid associated with serious trauma. I found this very interesting, and could have listened to this presentation for the rest of the day. I guess I’ll have to come back...
Next we heard from Joe. He is CCJA’s optics guru, and like the rest of the staff, he knows his stuff. No optic is perfect, and he gave us the good and bad points for each type. Like anything else, your choice of an optic will be determined first by your mission, second by your personal preference, and third by your wallet. In Joe’s line of work, the end-user’s personal preference and wallet are not considerations in the slightest. His task on Sunday was to give us an orientation on visible and IR lasers. Tom had acquired use of high-grade lasers and night vision equipment. He spent big bucks to purchase a variance allowing him to use the range beyond the time normally permitted. So, the big news was that we were going to be shooting under the stars!
Mid-morning we made our way to the range. There was a little breeze, which kept the heat level to just oppressive. We started out by doing trigger reset drills. Some of us don’t have the skills that others do, and we benefit from instructions on the fundamentals. I don’t practice as much as I should, and it shows. These basic drills are things that I can do on my own, when time permits. And, the drills allow you to see how one skill builds upon another.
Nate and Tom set up a three or four man medical exercise. One was designated to provide cover fire, one or two were casualties, and the third was the medic. Complete medical bags were laid out with tourniquets and compression bandages. As we moved forward in contractor carry, Tom or Nate would call out where the casualties were wounded. The medic would first assess the wounds, and prioritize the treatments. Was the wound spurting or oozing? Could the casualty assist in his own care? Did the wound warrant a tourniquet? Open the bags, unzip the right compartment and remove the proper item. While the casualty is screaming , you’re crawling on your knees and your teammate is laying down suppressive fire, where’s your muzzle pointing? Doing all of these things in the field is an entirely different thing from practicing on the carpet in an air conditioned office. The next level of reality, which we were thankfully spared yesterday, was to pour warm syrup dyed red over the casualty and the hands of the medic. Try to tear open a sealed bandage like under those conditions. If that doesn’t instill in you a deep and abiding respect for those guys who do it for real in the Sandbox, nothing will.
We then shifted gears, so to speak, in the Suburban. We donned helmets, and plates if could put them in our kit, and teams of two got in the vehicle. Pete drove the Suburban in front of the targets, and we shot at steel from the moving vehicle, slowly at first and then at gradually increasing speed. Like the other things I did before and after that on Sunday, it’s a lot harder than I thought.
Next was the ever popular serpentine drill. When I try to explain to non-shooters what we do at these courses, I tell them it’s like ballet with bullets. Footwork is a crucial element to proper tactical movement. Body position is even more important, so as to provide the smallest target to the opposition. There is a good reason for everything the instructors tell you, and if you ask, they will explain why they do things the way they do.
At this time we broke for dinner. We had about two hours on our own while we waited for dusk. There isn’t much else to do, so after getting a few hamburgers we headed back to the range so that I could embarrass myself on the pistol range. Well, the price of 9 mm is coming down, so there’s no excuse for not practicing any more.
In the fading light, we put on the lasers and sighted them in. I am used to consumer-type lasers, and they are not exactly easy to sight in. The commercial-grade lasers are a snap. The visible laser is used almost exclusively for sighting in because the beam is visible, and washes out in daylight. Since the design of the commercial-grade lasers puts the IR beam to the left of the bore, and the visible to the right, the sighting in is specific to a given distance, similar to any other optic. With the visible laser, it was easy to punch steel in low light even with just iron sights.
Now came the time we were all waiting for. With the lasers sighted in, we could use the halo and helmet mounted NVGs Tom provided. We switched the lasers to IR, and turned on the IR illuminators. The clarity was excellent, but with limitations. The hardest thing was trying to load a magazine. Even though it was a dozen or so inches from your nose, there was no sense of depth and it turned out easiest to do by sense of touch. This was old-hat to some of the other students, one of whom actually flew helicopters with these things, but for most of us it was a fantastic and novel experience.
My sons and I were running Golden Bear and Silver Bear. We could win the next shooting war by giving the enemy AR pattern rifles and making them shoot Russian ammo. There were lots of problems with stuck casings and double feeds. I bought a case of decent brass ammo, but specifically decided to run the junk for this course. There is a real tendency when your gun jams in a course like this is to walk over to the instructor and ask him to fix it. The better action is to recognize instantly that your primary is down, and move to secondary. You “fix that bitch” before putting it away, because “if it saved your life once, it’ll do it again,” and then perhaps you can clear the jam. Now we know how to address minor problems, how much you can do quickly, and at what point you throw it down and pick up an AK.
It was nice to see the turnout of significant others and children. We had a great dinner Saturday night at Outback with three families and associated children from toddlers to young adults. CCJA now has special rates with two hotels, the Hospitality House and the Hampton Inn and Suites on Hospitality Drive. For the last two courses, we’ve stayed at the Hampton Inn and have been very pleased. The rooms are new, clean and well-appointed. If you are trying to get your wife or SO to come along with you for a course, you’ll score more points with the Hampton Inn for just a few dollars more.
It’s obvious Tom puts his heart into the courses he offers at CCJA. There is an enormous amount of work in setting these courses up, getting the outside expertise required, and putting it all together. It really comes through.
Oh, and the answer is “Nowhere.”


Reply With Quote
.
I will tell you one other little secret most never talk about with Aimpoints vs. EO's while peering through both with a PVS-14. In reality, BOTH DBAL-A2's and ATPIAL's are too darn bright with their respective IR pointers and cause much donut bloom while looking through a 14 stand-alone from CQB out to 75m. Now when mounting a 14 behind an AP and EO for passive aiming (a good thing nowadays as lot's of bad people have NOD's too), you will actually see less donut blooming while using a AP vs. a EO. My guess this is due to the coatings used on the Micro T1 (the best of the bunch for decreasing donut bloom IMHO). Obviously one would use his/her optical dot vs. an IR laser as you would be defeating the purpose of running passive, but just my little observations over the years while working with NOD's Hope this helps. 
Bookmarks