Preview: King33 LLC Training - Open Enrollment Sims/FoF in Southington, CT

Full disclosure: I am not affiliated with, nor do I receive compensation from Chris Fields, King33 LLC or any affiliates.

VLODPG and I had the opportunity to catch up with Chris Fields of King 33 Training in Southington this past Saturday evening. Chris graciously met us very late to give us a tour of the huge facility (a former aerospace manufacturing factory) and an overview of the training opportunities therein.

I met Chris about a year ago shortly after he moved to CT. As you probably have heard, Chris is a recent veteran of the US Army’s Group Special Forces, with related combat, instructional and contracting experience.

Earlier this year Chris opened up a 5,000 + square foot, 360 degree simunitions capable, fully-insured training facility (with an additional 13,000 square feet available at another facility!). For those of you who are not familiar with simunitions, think of it as paintball out of modified firearms. The benefits of simunitions are tremendous and open up a whole world of training opportunities. Simunitions are non-lethal – if you screw up and ND, the harm is limited (sims rounds can take your eyes out, and break unprotected skin at close range). Secondly, you can do things with sims that you can’t with real guns and bullets on a flat range. Namely: practicing defending yourself and your family under realistic conditions from one or more living, breathing, moving and similarly armed threats (Force on Force).

Chris is offering (and co-hosting!) open enrollment training to responsible and law-aiding citizens and LE.

This is huge, in my opinion. Why?

-Firstly, for whatever reason, it has been my frustrating experience that simunitions type training has been until fairly recently limited to LE and military only.

-Secondly, Connecticut, having been largely devoid of local defensive training resources (this is my opinion), and now has what is likely the only facility and staff (accessible to civilians) of its kind in the NYC tri-state area.

-Thirdly, the possibilities for training and role playing are endless, in my opinion. Home invasions, street holdups, low-light/no-light, carjackings, tac-med, combatives - you name it. You don’t even need to use sims guns to train there – it’s a place you can take your entire family to rehearse scenarios where things go bad.

So, I personally am really excited about this. It is my personal opinion that defensively-minded folks would do well to avail themselves of a great training opportunity that is 1) close to home, 2) manageable time-wise, 3) can be repeated, 4), one-on-one, and 5) reasonably affordable. Additionally – there is no practical age restriction with simunitions modified guns. If your family member/loved one can wear the required safety gear, he or she can participate.

With Chris’ permission, we snapped a few pics of the facility.

This is shot from the stairs looking at about half of the available space. Out of view is the classroom (seats about 10) and a restroom. This open space can be used for flat range exercises and additional classroom space. There is also a garage door that allows cars to be brought in for vehicle scenarios. Also not pictured is an outdoor area which can also be used for scenarios.

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Behind Chris (on left) are five rooms connected by several hallways (with room for expansion). I won’t divulge the layout because I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you when Chris comes to hunt you down and “kill” you. Solo problem solving in 360 degrees, on the move, and under stress takes on a whole new dimension. Chris has a video recording system with eyes on all rooms and hallways. What’s great about this is that Chris can review the encounter with you, and provide a debrief on what worked, what didn’t, and things that could be done to improve the outcome. I got a chance to view some footage from a prior day’s training; I would add, when Chris, role-playing the aggressor, is hit, he does a realistic job of crumpling and “dying.” :p What Chris also does, which I find tremendously value added, is going through what needs to be done immediately AFTER the assailant(s) have been stopped.

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Chris can accommodate your preference for home defense weapon. Pick your poison - pistol (Glock and Sig for now), rifle (M4gery), and shotgun.

Chris generously allowed us to fam-fire some of the sims-equipped blasters.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1...3/PaulSims.jpg

What to bring:

Yourself, your own eye protection, and groin protection (cup). You don’t need anything else, although a notebook and a pen would be a great idea IMO. The simunitions rounds aren’t that loud – they sound like a cap gun going off. I would also add that felt recoil is a fraction of the real deal. Chris will provide you with a helmet and neck protection and the simunitions equipped guns and ammo.

No lethal items (firearms, ammo, knives) will be allowed in the facility. Leave them in your car.

Contact:

Chris Fields / King33 LLC
http://www.king33training.com
info@king33training.com