My department's part-time tac team recently did something that I never expected - they went multi-jurisdictional. We have three agencies within our city limits, one of them being a fairly large college campus PD, and the other our county's sherrif's office. Both are about half the size of our PD in number of officers. We had talked about bringing the other two on board with our tac team, but it never could be worked out once it got up to the egos and bean-counting prowess of the admin of the respective agencies. Recently, a new sherrif was elected, and the the university PD got a new cheif. The idea was approached again, and by some miracle it worked out.
We held tryouts and withing a month, the size of our team almost doubled. Typically, we did not hold in-house schools, as it was less of a hassle to send people out to others' established schools. Our problem was often that different tactics and techniques were taught at each school, and everybody came back on a different sheet of music from what we were doing and worked for us. We are a relatively small team even now with less than 25 members, but you can get a whole bunch of confusion by outsourcing schools. Every agency does things a little differently, and everyone thinks their way is the best. So, your new guys come back full of that our way is wrong since X agency said their way is better. We just decided to put on our own school and eliminate that.
I was asked to put together a basic sniper school and basic swat school, including the entire curriculum based on my experience actually doing both and several different schools I have been to (including long range rifle instructor among other instructor certifications). I had very little time to put this together, and was still expected to pull my weight as a patrol officer. Our training guys helped out as much as possible, but only of them was a sniper . . . and he was out recovering from a very recent surgery.
So after many very long days on my own time (goodness knows the PD wouldn't pay for me to do it), I came up with what I thought was a decent, very basic sniper course for our new fledgling snipers. There were only 7 enrolled in the class, one of whom wasn't on our team and was accepted into the class as a favor. He was a family member of someone important, and was an LEO but not on a tac team. We was overweight, and his physical conditioning was not what I would call ideal. As much as I liked him as a person (really nice guy), it was a mistake to allow him to come. He held the class back at many things, couldn't keep up on any of the physical stuff, and just generally had a lot of quit in him. I don't think I have ever heard any person say "I can't" as much as this guy. But I learned my lesson - set a standard and stick to it. You don't have to be a triathelete to be on our team, but we do have a mandatory physical fitness standard, and I know every single person can perform certain physical tasks.
On the actual course itself, I just tried to put it together based on how I think it would be easiest to learn from square one. Many of the items would overlap and be revisited at later times, but this outline is the basic schedule. A lot of time was spent on some items with just a short description here, and there was a very long power point that went along with all of the classroom stuff, several handouts and other typical course materials including the Storm Tactical log books (which I really liked compared to many of the log books I have used in the past)
The schedule was as follows:
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> DAY 1
Classroom
• Firearms safety rules
• Weapon Familiarization
• Nomenclature
o Rem 700
o AR
• Stocks
• Free-floating barrel
• Scope mounting
o Base
o Rings
o Leveling
• Trigger
• Safety
• Magazine
o Loading
o Unloading
2. Cleaning
• Disassembly
• Inspection
• Bore guides
• Rods
• Jags
• Brushes
• Solvents
• Lubricants/protectants
• Bore care
3. Equipment
 Sand sock
 Bipod
 Drag bag
 Spotting scope
 LRF
 Log book
 Duty gear considerations
 Packs
 Snivel gear
4. Optical sights
Reticles
Adjustments
Mils
MOAs
Comeups
Holdovers and hold-offs
Magnification
First focal plane
Second focal plane
Zeroing
5. Shooting Positions
Standing
Kneeling
Squatting
Sitting
Prone
Rests and barricades
Sling use
Field firing
LUNCH
RANGE
• Dry fire practice
• Log book, sniper/spotter dialogue
• 50 yard zero
• 100 yard zero
• Group ex
Rifle cleaning
DAY 2
Classroom
6. Ballistics
Internal
External
Drag
Gravity
Wind
Terminal
Ammunition choices
7. Sniper/Spotter teams
Position
Movement
Responsibilities
Dialogue
8. Range estimation
Milling
Conversion
LRF
Map ranging
LUNCH
RANGE
1. 100 yard cold bore
2. 5 shot groups
3. 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200 yard zeros
4. standing to prone ex
5. command fire ex
6. barricade shooting ex
7. Practice quals
DAY 3
Classroom
9. Camouflage
 Colors
 Movement
 Shine
 Shadows
 Equipment camo
10. Hides
 Black hides
 Field hides
 Vehicle hides
• Black hide exercise
LUNCH
RANGE (prarie)
1. Range estimation exercise
a. Map
b. Milling
c. LRF
2. 100-600 popup range / zero
3. Hold-on / command fire
4. Camo exercise
5. Low Light Shooting Practical
DAY 4
Classroom
• Op order
• Deployment
• Glass shooting
Range
1. Glass shooting
2. Movers
3. Final qual
4. Radio command fire
5. Unk distance shoot / endex
Classroom
Test
AAR</div></div>
T1 - after the classroom, it we went to the range. It was just over 100 degrees, which is typical OK weather. No equipment issues of any kind. Here people started to get a real understanding of MOAs and the fact that they would have to do basic math. This first range day is really slow and methodical, and a lot of time is spent building positions and harping on basic marksmanship. We were using the Storm Tactical log books, and we spent a lot of time going over how to fill them out correctly to track different positions and conditions present. My Kestrel 4500 sure does make it easy to keep track of weather conditions. One shooter dropped out because a previous neck injury (bulged disc) started acting up, and he just couldn't go on. This guy is not a pansie - he's a DT instructor, former Marine and general bad ass. He just had an honest medical problem that cropped up at an inopportune time.
T2- After the classroom, it just poured outside for the first couple of hours we were on the range. When we were driving out to the range, I had to pull over in the red rhino (our range suburban) as the wipers couldn't keep up. Once we were there, it was an exercise in futility trying to keep the targets up. The targets just melted off the backers. But, it cleared off and got up into the upper 90s with about 1 billion percent humidity. But the shooting went well. As the day progressed, and I saw that everyone was well zeroed, we started the shooting drills. Almost everything we did started with some sort of jog or sprint to get thier heart rates up. Our qual course starts with a 1/4 mile run and cold bore shot, and then running from firing point to firing point. Everyone did well except our visitor. He was a good shooter when just lying on his belly, but if you even mentioned the word PT he fell apart. But, everyone else did very well, and by the end of the day, everyone was hitting where they needed to on demand, even though they were tired, hot and sweaty. This was probably the hardest day as far as running and gunning was concerned.
T3- this was a week later, since for staffing reasons it had to be broken up into 2, 2-day sessions for the 40 hour course (which we spent at least 12 there each day . . . . . I suck at math I guess). After the comparatively brief classroom portion, we moved to the longer range for shooting steel out to 600. We set up larue sniper targets at 300, 400, 500, 550, and a 3/4 IPSC steel target from LV Steel at 600. We started with range E, and you could see the lightbulbs going on at the milling exercise. Then we went over map ranging, then let them cheat with a LRFs we have. Then we started launching rounds, and people were able to get on target quick. Reading trace, spotting splash, and making corrections all while logging everything was the name of the game. Did I mention I just love our new Larue targets? They made my life so easy that day, and it's just a ball knocking those little bastards down. Of course, the wind was just howling. About 20 MPH and squirly as shit. Lots of great lessons. After everyone learned to dial in everything, we started using mil holdovers. Almost everyone got it immediately, and were able to make very quick hits. We broke for dinner, then came back and did some basic camo demos and exercises. Then we started shooting again. A storm rolled in, and we shot until it was too dark to see anything and the lightning was getting close. I think this was my favorite day of the class. It's just fun to knock down steel, and I loved watching all the guys get locked on and be able to hold or dial everything and knock the shit out of the targets.
T4- It was hot. Like 105 hot. CCBs and groups. Some position shooting, and then on to the largest collection of glass I have ever had the opportunity to see shot. Everything from car windshields to tempered glass to wire glass. We had a small airplane (cessna) windshield and a lear-jet windshield. We spent too long shooting glass, but it was just a ball. Manequine heads provided wonderful targets for us to kill through the glass, and we tracked distances and deviations through it all. It was just a tremendous training opportunity courtesy of our local glass companies who were very helpful of the deal. Our mover broke, so we didn't get to do that like I wanted (stupid mechanical failures). I will try to pick that up next monthly training. We moved on to the endex, which was a one-shot only command fire after a 1.5 mile hike with all their gear on an unk distance target. The spotter was given their target before the hike, and had to memorize it (likme a mini KIMS exercise). Once in position, he had to spot his target among the others, get his shooter on it, and make ready for the shot. On the command, they fired their round, which they had been carrying around knowing it was their only shot on the endex. Then the teams switched shooter/spotter positions, and got new target assignments. They had to move to a different range through some woods, and had to do the same thing. This time, the shooter had to hold on target for a longer period of time before the command fire. Two of the six missed (one outside the scoring ring, the other - the big kid - missed the target completely - he was just wiped out from the little hump).
At the end, we had the written test and the AAR. Everyone seemed to be happy, but I asked them to send in a class critique form so they could shit talk my course if needed. Hopefully, this will help me better organize future classes and help provide the info a little more smoothly. Everyone said they thought the course was great and learned a lot. I know <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> did. I know some of the info I presented was confusing, and I may not have explained it as well as could have been done. Hopefully I can learn from this, and streamline things a bit and maybe alter the presentation.
Well, I'm done with my little speil on this. Now for pictures.
I think this one is a larue (left one) getting smacked right before it fell
The white one is at 600
We held tryouts and withing a month, the size of our team almost doubled. Typically, we did not hold in-house schools, as it was less of a hassle to send people out to others' established schools. Our problem was often that different tactics and techniques were taught at each school, and everybody came back on a different sheet of music from what we were doing and worked for us. We are a relatively small team even now with less than 25 members, but you can get a whole bunch of confusion by outsourcing schools. Every agency does things a little differently, and everyone thinks their way is the best. So, your new guys come back full of that our way is wrong since X agency said their way is better. We just decided to put on our own school and eliminate that.
I was asked to put together a basic sniper school and basic swat school, including the entire curriculum based on my experience actually doing both and several different schools I have been to (including long range rifle instructor among other instructor certifications). I had very little time to put this together, and was still expected to pull my weight as a patrol officer. Our training guys helped out as much as possible, but only of them was a sniper . . . and he was out recovering from a very recent surgery.
So after many very long days on my own time (goodness knows the PD wouldn't pay for me to do it), I came up with what I thought was a decent, very basic sniper course for our new fledgling snipers. There were only 7 enrolled in the class, one of whom wasn't on our team and was accepted into the class as a favor. He was a family member of someone important, and was an LEO but not on a tac team. We was overweight, and his physical conditioning was not what I would call ideal. As much as I liked him as a person (really nice guy), it was a mistake to allow him to come. He held the class back at many things, couldn't keep up on any of the physical stuff, and just generally had a lot of quit in him. I don't think I have ever heard any person say "I can't" as much as this guy. But I learned my lesson - set a standard and stick to it. You don't have to be a triathelete to be on our team, but we do have a mandatory physical fitness standard, and I know every single person can perform certain physical tasks.
On the actual course itself, I just tried to put it together based on how I think it would be easiest to learn from square one. Many of the items would overlap and be revisited at later times, but this outline is the basic schedule. A lot of time was spent on some items with just a short description here, and there was a very long power point that went along with all of the classroom stuff, several handouts and other typical course materials including the Storm Tactical log books (which I really liked compared to many of the log books I have used in the past)
The schedule was as follows:
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> DAY 1
Classroom
• Firearms safety rules
• Weapon Familiarization
• Nomenclature
o Rem 700
o AR
• Stocks
• Free-floating barrel
• Scope mounting
o Base
o Rings
o Leveling
• Trigger
• Safety
• Magazine
o Loading
o Unloading
2. Cleaning
• Disassembly
• Inspection
• Bore guides
• Rods
• Jags
• Brushes
• Solvents
• Lubricants/protectants
• Bore care
3. Equipment
 Sand sock
 Bipod
 Drag bag
 Spotting scope
 LRF
 Log book
 Duty gear considerations
 Packs
 Snivel gear
4. Optical sights
Reticles
Adjustments
Mils
MOAs
Comeups
Holdovers and hold-offs
Magnification
First focal plane
Second focal plane
Zeroing
5. Shooting Positions
Standing
Kneeling
Squatting
Sitting
Prone
Rests and barricades
Sling use
Field firing
LUNCH
RANGE
• Dry fire practice
• Log book, sniper/spotter dialogue
• 50 yard zero
• 100 yard zero
• Group ex
Rifle cleaning
DAY 2
Classroom
6. Ballistics
Internal
External
Drag
Gravity
Wind
Terminal
Ammunition choices
7. Sniper/Spotter teams
Position
Movement
Responsibilities
Dialogue
8. Range estimation
Milling
Conversion
LRF
Map ranging
LUNCH
RANGE
1. 100 yard cold bore
2. 5 shot groups
3. 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200 yard zeros
4. standing to prone ex
5. command fire ex
6. barricade shooting ex
7. Practice quals
DAY 3
Classroom
9. Camouflage
 Colors
 Movement
 Shine
 Shadows
 Equipment camo
10. Hides
 Black hides
 Field hides
 Vehicle hides
• Black hide exercise
LUNCH
RANGE (prarie)
1. Range estimation exercise
a. Map
b. Milling
c. LRF
2. 100-600 popup range / zero
3. Hold-on / command fire
4. Camo exercise
5. Low Light Shooting Practical
DAY 4
Classroom
• Op order
• Deployment
• Glass shooting
Range
1. Glass shooting
2. Movers
3. Final qual
4. Radio command fire
5. Unk distance shoot / endex
Classroom
Test
AAR</div></div>
T1 - after the classroom, it we went to the range. It was just over 100 degrees, which is typical OK weather. No equipment issues of any kind. Here people started to get a real understanding of MOAs and the fact that they would have to do basic math. This first range day is really slow and methodical, and a lot of time is spent building positions and harping on basic marksmanship. We were using the Storm Tactical log books, and we spent a lot of time going over how to fill them out correctly to track different positions and conditions present. My Kestrel 4500 sure does make it easy to keep track of weather conditions. One shooter dropped out because a previous neck injury (bulged disc) started acting up, and he just couldn't go on. This guy is not a pansie - he's a DT instructor, former Marine and general bad ass. He just had an honest medical problem that cropped up at an inopportune time.
T2- After the classroom, it just poured outside for the first couple of hours we were on the range. When we were driving out to the range, I had to pull over in the red rhino (our range suburban) as the wipers couldn't keep up. Once we were there, it was an exercise in futility trying to keep the targets up. The targets just melted off the backers. But, it cleared off and got up into the upper 90s with about 1 billion percent humidity. But the shooting went well. As the day progressed, and I saw that everyone was well zeroed, we started the shooting drills. Almost everything we did started with some sort of jog or sprint to get thier heart rates up. Our qual course starts with a 1/4 mile run and cold bore shot, and then running from firing point to firing point. Everyone did well except our visitor. He was a good shooter when just lying on his belly, but if you even mentioned the word PT he fell apart. But, everyone else did very well, and by the end of the day, everyone was hitting where they needed to on demand, even though they were tired, hot and sweaty. This was probably the hardest day as far as running and gunning was concerned.
T3- this was a week later, since for staffing reasons it had to be broken up into 2, 2-day sessions for the 40 hour course (which we spent at least 12 there each day . . . . . I suck at math I guess). After the comparatively brief classroom portion, we moved to the longer range for shooting steel out to 600. We set up larue sniper targets at 300, 400, 500, 550, and a 3/4 IPSC steel target from LV Steel at 600. We started with range E, and you could see the lightbulbs going on at the milling exercise. Then we went over map ranging, then let them cheat with a LRFs we have. Then we started launching rounds, and people were able to get on target quick. Reading trace, spotting splash, and making corrections all while logging everything was the name of the game. Did I mention I just love our new Larue targets? They made my life so easy that day, and it's just a ball knocking those little bastards down. Of course, the wind was just howling. About 20 MPH and squirly as shit. Lots of great lessons. After everyone learned to dial in everything, we started using mil holdovers. Almost everyone got it immediately, and were able to make very quick hits. We broke for dinner, then came back and did some basic camo demos and exercises. Then we started shooting again. A storm rolled in, and we shot until it was too dark to see anything and the lightning was getting close. I think this was my favorite day of the class. It's just fun to knock down steel, and I loved watching all the guys get locked on and be able to hold or dial everything and knock the shit out of the targets.
T4- It was hot. Like 105 hot. CCBs and groups. Some position shooting, and then on to the largest collection of glass I have ever had the opportunity to see shot. Everything from car windshields to tempered glass to wire glass. We had a small airplane (cessna) windshield and a lear-jet windshield. We spent too long shooting glass, but it was just a ball. Manequine heads provided wonderful targets for us to kill through the glass, and we tracked distances and deviations through it all. It was just a tremendous training opportunity courtesy of our local glass companies who were very helpful of the deal. Our mover broke, so we didn't get to do that like I wanted (stupid mechanical failures). I will try to pick that up next monthly training. We moved on to the endex, which was a one-shot only command fire after a 1.5 mile hike with all their gear on an unk distance target. The spotter was given their target before the hike, and had to memorize it (likme a mini KIMS exercise). Once in position, he had to spot his target among the others, get his shooter on it, and make ready for the shot. On the command, they fired their round, which they had been carrying around knowing it was their only shot on the endex. Then the teams switched shooter/spotter positions, and got new target assignments. They had to move to a different range through some woods, and had to do the same thing. This time, the shooter had to hold on target for a longer period of time before the command fire. Two of the six missed (one outside the scoring ring, the other - the big kid - missed the target completely - he was just wiped out from the little hump).
At the end, we had the written test and the AAR. Everyone seemed to be happy, but I asked them to send in a class critique form so they could shit talk my course if needed. Hopefully, this will help me better organize future classes and help provide the info a little more smoothly. Everyone said they thought the course was great and learned a lot. I know <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> did. I know some of the info I presented was confusing, and I may not have explained it as well as could have been done. Hopefully I can learn from this, and streamline things a bit and maybe alter the presentation.
Well, I'm done with my little speil on this. Now for pictures.
I think this one is a larue (left one) getting smacked right before it fell
The white one is at 600
