Who Wants to Shoot Todd in the Face?

I will be attending Shivwork’s Armed Movement In Structures class next month in Virginia. This two day, twenty hour program is designed to give the lone defender the skills necessary to negotiate a wide variety of indoor environments while dealing with armed threats.

What does that mean?

The class, which is primarily force-on-force using airsoft and Simunitions, teaches students how to enter, exit, or move through buildings populated by armed aggressors.

Basic skills like using cover, dynamic vs. deliberate movement, and moving through doorways are covered. These fundamentals are then evolved into a more comprehensive system that includes normal, low, and zero light environments.

Primary instructor for the course is Southnarc. An experienced and highly regarded law enforcement professional, “Snarc” spent many years as an undercover officer who often had little or no immediate backup in bars, offices, or other buildings populated by significant numbers of possibly armed, possibly criminal, possibly crazy people. As such, his method of “room clearing” differs from the typical military-oriented team approach. By incorporating so much force on force into the program, it also gains a number of advantages. First, there is the obvious stress of knowing that a wrong move will get you shot. Second, “proper use of cover” goes from being an academic discussion to a practical reality. Mistakes are not theoretical, they’re concrete and in your face… sometimes literally.

Because there is no real ammunition live fire, AMIS takes place inside actual everyday structures, not a shoot house. This means all of the real world challenges posed by furniture, windows, floor material, lighting, etc. have to be taken into account. Rather than operating in a sterile environment, students learn and execute skills in a real house or office.

The class culminates in a series of force on force exercises involving everything from escaping a dangerous building to locating & saving a family member.

But what makes the Culpeper Virginia AMIS class special, of course, is that it gives students an opportunity to shoot me in the face. If that isn’t worth the price of admission…

Hope to see you… before you see me.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

(photos courtesy ByronG)