The next one of these classes that will be held in Oklahoma is over the weekend of October 28-29. Enrollment information is available at the Palisade Training Group website.
I am working to schedule a non-instructor level Church Security Team Leader Training at OKCGC, probably in July (a Friday evening Saturday morning split class probably).
Review of Palisade Training Group Church Security Team Leader/Instructor Training
I had the pleasure of attending the Palisade training group LLC presentation of their Church Security Team Leader/Instructor training over the weekend of April 22 and 23rd, 2023. Coincidentally I had attended the Gunfighting in Crowds training by PTG the weekend before. This seems to be a perfect progression of course work, and I will explain why that is shortly.
The class was held at the Dallas Pistol Club in Dallas Texas. We started promptly at 9 AM on Saturday the 22nd. Everyone was in the classroom by 830 to complete paperwork for both the pistol club and for PTG.
Because we had Texas spring weather throughout the weekend (warm and beautiful and sunny on Saturday, cool and rainy and yuck on Sunday), the Palisade Training Group instructors flexed the training schedule around to spend almost all of Saturday out on the pistol range, and all of Sunday in the classroom. This is one of the marks of a good instructor team, the ability to be flexible and change things up as needed on the fly.
There were students from four different states, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Florida. All of them were already instructors or trainers in various disciplines, and some of them were leaders, members, or instructors of church security teams.
We started Saturday mornings brief classroom time by discussing range commands, ready positions, firearm safety rules, and defensive displays. We also had a discussion of the importance of not only not shooting targets that did not need to be shot, but NOT COVERING with our muzzles any targets that didn’t need to be shot. This is a concept that I have noticed is getting a lot more discussion in firearms training over the last couple of years, with good reason. I for one am glad to see that we are talking more about this and reinforcing this concept in trainings more often.
We then moved outside the classroom to work on techniques for moving through a crowd. Instructors demonstrated, and then everyone in the class had an opportunity to do several repetitions of the techniques. This was to be a theme throughout the weekend of training. Any technique was demonstrated by an instructor before we students got our turn to work it and receive feedback.
For the sake of providing us with a framework of how an instructor class would look we had a brief discussion of the four part draw from the holster. Then we moved into range drills. Everyone in the class was an accomplished shooter and the targets showed it. Lots of good hits, but opportunities for feedback, especially when we worked from 15 yards. Our instructors discussed how important it is that any church security team member know their limitations. The reality is that some prospective members might be best advised to limit any firearms use to 5 yards and in. The importance of readiness and prepping the trigger for the next shot was stressed repeatedly.
Once we were warmed up with some basic assessment drills, we began working on some skills that I had practiced the weekend before in the Gunfighting in Crowds class. Lots of working around and through bystanders and setting up the correct angles while remaining conscious of cover/no cover assessment. For me, this was an opportunity to really solidify some of these techniques that I had learned the weekend before. I feel considerably more confident in my ability to assess and navigate a crowded gunfighting situation now. “Finding a hole” is a skill that I do not have to want to learn in the middle of an active shooter situation.
Somewhere around this time we broke for lunch, honestly I don’t remember exactly when.
A word about the Gunfighting in Crowds class - the version that I took was held at the excellent Five-Oh Farms range outside of Oklahoma City. A four hour class that most of all stressed the principle of “muzzle in front of meat” and was taught (by the PTG team) in a from the ground up, very easy to follow format. The format offered a logical progression and LOTS of repetitions with constructive correction for these new skills.
There was lots of dynamic
movement as the class learned the concepts of moving around and working angles of impact on intended targets. It was an excellent reinforcement of some training I had received last summer in a Counter Robbery in Non-Permissive Environments class. I highly recommend taking the Gunfighting in Crowds class before the Church Security Team Leader/Instructor class.
The class worked on shooting on the move with good results. It was quite illuminating to see improvement in even these experienced shooters as they had an opportunity to receive detailed feedback from skilled instructors. After shooting on the move, we performed a VERY interesting reactive target exercise involving wiffle balls! If you had asked me early Saturday morning what role a wiffleball might play in a church security team training, I would’ve been hard-pressed to provide an answer. I have an answer now, though, that it is a component of an exercise which is both fun and meaningful in context. The class enjoyed the experience and I think everyone learned something from it. I certainly learned that it is important to get precise hits when precise hits are called for.
We broke from the range for our training staff to reset for the final training exercise of the day. Guy Schnitzler of PTG gave a great presentation on active shooter threats and how they relate to church security teams.
Our final training exercise was a fairly complex scenario that I won’t describe completely here, but suffice it to say that most of the students (myself included) failed to grasp at least one complicating factor. I actually also forgot to do a post-engagement threat scan (even though i had been practicing that all day) and got a finger gun in the back of the neck from someone I respect very much (Thanks Steve!).
We wrapped up and all went back to our respective domiciles to return the next morning for the classroom portion of the class.
MThe second day of class was a mixture of lecture, demonstration of physical techniques, and opportunities for us students to practice those techniques.
We learned a lot about the more routine parts of the role of church security teams. Church security team response to violence is rarely the result of an active shooter. There are many other factors that can require a response from the team and we discussed those and their probability using statistics garnered from the Faith Based Security Network. The most common causes of violence occurring in Houses of Worship might not be what you think. I was quite surprised to find robbery at the top of that list!
The class had an opportunity to practice the correct use of OC (Oleoresin Capsicum or pepper spray). The inert units with which we practiced were from Peace Of Mind or POM. Steve polled the class and the majority of the students were carrying pepper spray that day, which is pretty good sign that they have a clue that use of force incidents happen within a continuum. Pepper spray falls in that continuum “somewhere between a harsh word and a gun,” in the words of Legendary Lawman Chuck Haggard.
We learned about the use of the default cover position and the importance of dynamic movement when using it. I personally had sort of placed the dynamic movement component of this technique on a back burner in my head, so it was good to have that piece reinforced. For some students in the class it was an introduction to this important technique, and I saw some lights come on for some folks.
We discussed possible threats and the reasons that they might select a house of worship as a target, as well as specific targets and “threat areas” within the House of Worship.
The class spent a considerable amount of time working “assertive interview” techniques, using two team members, one the “active interviewer” (my term) and the other the “active observer” (again, my term). We had already covered pre-assault cues in a brief lecture/demonstration before working the actual interview. Instructors assigned roles to about a third of the class. The other 2/3 of the class took turns conducting the interviews, then we changed places. It was a great opportunity to practice some soft skills and be reminded of important points like the proxemics of interviewing in a public space.
Other topics that our instructors covered were tactical positioning of teams inside and outside the House of Worship, construction of the teams operating plan (keep it simple!), and medical concerns/brief gunshot wound treatment.
The last part of the day before the written test was spent on the fundamentals of room entry and how to perform that with both a single team member and with two and three man teams. This was a topic with which I was completely unfamiliar prior to this training and it was absolutely fascinating and too brief for me, given the complexity of the issue.
All in all, this class was a very complete overview, not just of the “how-tos” of training and being a member of a church security team, but also of how to close in and eliminate a deadly threat in a crowded public space. As always in realistic training, accuracy was essential, location of hits was key, and soft skills were an important component. I would encourage you to take this class with Gunfighting in Crowds as a prerequisite. I recommend THIS class if you are in any way involved with a church security team, even if your team is well organized and trains regularly. I believe that you will gain sophistication in that training by attending this class. I would also recommend this class for those who attend organized worship regularly (especially if there is no security team there). In addition I would recommend this class to those who go to crowded places armed and who entertain the notion of ever having to engage an attacker in those places.
Thanks as always to the PTG staff, and special thanks to my colleague Leonard Head of Head Firearms Consulting LLC for use of his excellent class notes, without which this review would not be nearly as complete.
I am working to schedule a non-instructor level Church Security Team Leader Training at OKCGC, probably in July (a Friday evening Saturday morning split class probably).
Review of Palisade Training Group Church Security Team Leader/Instructor Training
I had the pleasure of attending the Palisade training group LLC presentation of their Church Security Team Leader/Instructor training over the weekend of April 22 and 23rd, 2023. Coincidentally I had attended the Gunfighting in Crowds training by PTG the weekend before. This seems to be a perfect progression of course work, and I will explain why that is shortly.
The class was held at the Dallas Pistol Club in Dallas Texas. We started promptly at 9 AM on Saturday the 22nd. Everyone was in the classroom by 830 to complete paperwork for both the pistol club and for PTG.
Because we had Texas spring weather throughout the weekend (warm and beautiful and sunny on Saturday, cool and rainy and yuck on Sunday), the Palisade Training Group instructors flexed the training schedule around to spend almost all of Saturday out on the pistol range, and all of Sunday in the classroom. This is one of the marks of a good instructor team, the ability to be flexible and change things up as needed on the fly.
There were students from four different states, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Florida. All of them were already instructors or trainers in various disciplines, and some of them were leaders, members, or instructors of church security teams.
We started Saturday mornings brief classroom time by discussing range commands, ready positions, firearm safety rules, and defensive displays. We also had a discussion of the importance of not only not shooting targets that did not need to be shot, but NOT COVERING with our muzzles any targets that didn’t need to be shot. This is a concept that I have noticed is getting a lot more discussion in firearms training over the last couple of years, with good reason. I for one am glad to see that we are talking more about this and reinforcing this concept in trainings more often.
We then moved outside the classroom to work on techniques for moving through a crowd. Instructors demonstrated, and then everyone in the class had an opportunity to do several repetitions of the techniques. This was to be a theme throughout the weekend of training. Any technique was demonstrated by an instructor before we students got our turn to work it and receive feedback.
For the sake of providing us with a framework of how an instructor class would look we had a brief discussion of the four part draw from the holster. Then we moved into range drills. Everyone in the class was an accomplished shooter and the targets showed it. Lots of good hits, but opportunities for feedback, especially when we worked from 15 yards. Our instructors discussed how important it is that any church security team member know their limitations. The reality is that some prospective members might be best advised to limit any firearms use to 5 yards and in. The importance of readiness and prepping the trigger for the next shot was stressed repeatedly.
Once we were warmed up with some basic assessment drills, we began working on some skills that I had practiced the weekend before in the Gunfighting in Crowds class. Lots of working around and through bystanders and setting up the correct angles while remaining conscious of cover/no cover assessment. For me, this was an opportunity to really solidify some of these techniques that I had learned the weekend before. I feel considerably more confident in my ability to assess and navigate a crowded gunfighting situation now. “Finding a hole” is a skill that I do not have to want to learn in the middle of an active shooter situation.
Somewhere around this time we broke for lunch, honestly I don’t remember exactly when.
A word about the Gunfighting in Crowds class - the version that I took was held at the excellent Five-Oh Farms range outside of Oklahoma City. A four hour class that most of all stressed the principle of “muzzle in front of meat” and was taught (by the PTG team) in a from the ground up, very easy to follow format. The format offered a logical progression and LOTS of repetitions with constructive correction for these new skills.
There was lots of dynamic
movement as the class learned the concepts of moving around and working angles of impact on intended targets. It was an excellent reinforcement of some training I had received last summer in a Counter Robbery in Non-Permissive Environments class. I highly recommend taking the Gunfighting in Crowds class before the Church Security Team Leader/Instructor class.
The class worked on shooting on the move with good results. It was quite illuminating to see improvement in even these experienced shooters as they had an opportunity to receive detailed feedback from skilled instructors. After shooting on the move, we performed a VERY interesting reactive target exercise involving wiffle balls! If you had asked me early Saturday morning what role a wiffleball might play in a church security team training, I would’ve been hard-pressed to provide an answer. I have an answer now, though, that it is a component of an exercise which is both fun and meaningful in context. The class enjoyed the experience and I think everyone learned something from it. I certainly learned that it is important to get precise hits when precise hits are called for.
We broke from the range for our training staff to reset for the final training exercise of the day. Guy Schnitzler of PTG gave a great presentation on active shooter threats and how they relate to church security teams.
Our final training exercise was a fairly complex scenario that I won’t describe completely here, but suffice it to say that most of the students (myself included) failed to grasp at least one complicating factor. I actually also forgot to do a post-engagement threat scan (even though i had been practicing that all day) and got a finger gun in the back of the neck from someone I respect very much (Thanks Steve!).
We wrapped up and all went back to our respective domiciles to return the next morning for the classroom portion of the class.
MThe second day of class was a mixture of lecture, demonstration of physical techniques, and opportunities for us students to practice those techniques.
We learned a lot about the more routine parts of the role of church security teams. Church security team response to violence is rarely the result of an active shooter. There are many other factors that can require a response from the team and we discussed those and their probability using statistics garnered from the Faith Based Security Network. The most common causes of violence occurring in Houses of Worship might not be what you think. I was quite surprised to find robbery at the top of that list!
The class had an opportunity to practice the correct use of OC (Oleoresin Capsicum or pepper spray). The inert units with which we practiced were from Peace Of Mind or POM. Steve polled the class and the majority of the students were carrying pepper spray that day, which is pretty good sign that they have a clue that use of force incidents happen within a continuum. Pepper spray falls in that continuum “somewhere between a harsh word and a gun,” in the words of Legendary Lawman Chuck Haggard.
We learned about the use of the default cover position and the importance of dynamic movement when using it. I personally had sort of placed the dynamic movement component of this technique on a back burner in my head, so it was good to have that piece reinforced. For some students in the class it was an introduction to this important technique, and I saw some lights come on for some folks.
We discussed possible threats and the reasons that they might select a house of worship as a target, as well as specific targets and “threat areas” within the House of Worship.
The class spent a considerable amount of time working “assertive interview” techniques, using two team members, one the “active interviewer” (my term) and the other the “active observer” (again, my term). We had already covered pre-assault cues in a brief lecture/demonstration before working the actual interview. Instructors assigned roles to about a third of the class. The other 2/3 of the class took turns conducting the interviews, then we changed places. It was a great opportunity to practice some soft skills and be reminded of important points like the proxemics of interviewing in a public space.
Other topics that our instructors covered were tactical positioning of teams inside and outside the House of Worship, construction of the teams operating plan (keep it simple!), and medical concerns/brief gunshot wound treatment.
The last part of the day before the written test was spent on the fundamentals of room entry and how to perform that with both a single team member and with two and three man teams. This was a topic with which I was completely unfamiliar prior to this training and it was absolutely fascinating and too brief for me, given the complexity of the issue.
All in all, this class was a very complete overview, not just of the “how-tos” of training and being a member of a church security team, but also of how to close in and eliminate a deadly threat in a crowded public space. As always in realistic training, accuracy was essential, location of hits was key, and soft skills were an important component. I would encourage you to take this class with Gunfighting in Crowds as a prerequisite. I recommend THIS class if you are in any way involved with a church security team, even if your team is well organized and trains regularly. I believe that you will gain sophistication in that training by attending this class. I would also recommend this class for those who attend organized worship regularly (especially if there is no security team there). In addition I would recommend this class to those who go to crowded places armed and who entertain the notion of ever having to engage an attacker in those places.
Thanks as always to the PTG staff, and special thanks to my colleague Leonard Head of Head Firearms Consulting LLC for use of his excellent class notes, without which this review would not be nearly as complete.
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