My AAR follows. HTML document with pics can be found here:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/shooter2_indy/EAG_carbine_2007.html
Raw photos and video can be found here (more uploading daily):
http://www.photobucket.com/albums/i188/shooter521/EAG%20Carbine%202007/
DISCLAIMER: I do not represent EAG Tactical in any way; I speak only as a satisfied customer.
Pat Rogers is a retired NYPD sergeant and Chief Warrant Officer of Marines with more than 30 years in service. His company, EAG Tactical, was founded in 1992 and provides tactical training and security consulting services to various military, law enforcement and government entities. Pat has worked in the Middle East, South America, the “emerging republics” of the former Soviet Union, and other locations around the world. He has also worked as a senior instructor at Gunsite, and is a regular contributor to SWAT magazine. On top of all this, Pat makes time each year to instruct a limited number of open-enrollment classes at various locations around the country.
One of Pat’s regular teaching stops is the Boone County Sheriff’s Department range in Lebanon, Indiana. During the summer, the BCSD plays host to a number of well-known instructors, offering courses in all manner of armed and unarmed self-defense disciplines. BCSD is a progressive department that recognizes the value of a trained police force, and, equally as important, a trained citizenry. Sheriff Ken Campbell has promised that as long as he is in office or has anything to do with the department’s training program, the BCSD will continue to bring first-class training opportunities to central Indiana. The Department is fortunate to have Ken at its helm, and we Hoosiers are fortunate to have such a resource available.
I first took the EAG Carbine Operators Course in the summer of 2004. Because it was my first exposure to professional training with the carbine, trying to absorb all the new information was sort of like trying to drink from a firehose! I came away with a solid skillset on which to build, but I knew there were things I’d missed or would forget. In the three years since, I have attended a couple other carbine courses and have made an effort to train with my long guns more on my own, as well. So when Pat announced his 2007 dates for Boone County, I decided to give the Carbine Operators Course another go - both as a refresher, and to gauge how my skills had developed. I also roped my buddies Doug and Aaron into going; Doug had taken the course with me back in '04, but this would be Aaron’s first time at the rodeo, so to speak.
THE STUDENTS
There were 26 students in the course (held July 6-8), although one had to drop out early on the first day. Pat’s courses tend to be more military and LE-centric than others I’ve been to, but Boone County classes are always diverse, and this one was no exception. Students ran the gamut from the expected military, law enforcement and security contractor types, to engineers, salesmen, lawyers, financial advisors, computer techs and even a candymaker(!) on the civilian side. Also in the class were noted pistolsmith and sightmaker Richard Heinie, and gunwriter Frank W. James.
THE HARDWARE
The variety of equipment used by the students was almost as diverse as their backgrounds; some ran the whole weekend with just a couple spare mags on the belt, while others jocked up in vests or plate carriers with body armor, lots of mags, hydration, the works. Weapons ranged from stripped-down lightweight AR carbines with iron sights, to registered SBRs, to the sophisticated and expensive LMT MRPs, topped with ACOGs or Aimpoint M4s. Oddities included a couple LW piston-driven ARs, a Robinson XCR and a Springfield SOCOM-16. I wore my Eagle Industries MOLLE plate carrier with Spectergear Universal Mag Pouches in front and a Camelbak hydration system in back, and tossed my empty mags in a Maxpedition dump pouch worn on the belt just behind my pistol mag pouches. My Glock 34 rode in my outstanding RM Holsters “Sport Slide” kydex paddle holster. This has been my standard class and match setup for a year or so now, and I’m quite pleased with it. None of the components of the system interferes with any of the others, which is a Good Thing; having to spend class time deconflicting gear (as some students had to) takes away from the learning experience for all involved. I shot the course with my Recon Carbine, topped with a brand-new GRSC 1-4x scope in a LaRue Tactical SPR-E mount. The gun wore a Viking Tactics VTAC padded sling, which was also a new piece of gear for me. My chosen ammo was S&B M193 55gr FMJ for the carbine, and Winchester 115gr FMJ for the Glock.
THE COURSE
I was interested in comparing this course to the one I’d taken back in 2004, so I took detailed notes on everything we did. What follows is a summary of each Training Day:
TD1
Weather was sunny and warm, with a high in the upper 80s. I thought it was actually quite comfortable, as far as Indiana summer days go! We started with a welcome from Sheriff Campbell, a review of the range rules and general safety procedures, and some brief bio information from Pat and his assistant instructors. After introductions, Pat launched into the lecture portion of the course, with a brief discussion of ballistics ("there are no ‘death rays’ according to Pat; even the vaunted .308 and 12 gauge); the mechanics of the basic fighting stance; iron sights vs. optics, with a dissertation on the pros, cons and common problems/fixes for the EOTech sight by Mike H; selection and placement of gear and mags on the body; and the basics of manipulating the carbine, including “make ready,” loading, reloading, firing (singles, controlled pairs, hammers and the “non-standard response” or NSR were described here) and follow-through. We then lined up, broke into two relays, and hit the range.
Live fire began with establishing zeroes from the prone @ 50 yards. This process went fairly quickly, as most of the students had optics and were able to easily make the adjustments indicated by the zeroing grid incorporated into the EAG target. After lunch, Pat took us through a brief preventative maintenance (PM) routine for the AR before we hit the range. Live fire resumed with controlled pairs, hammers and NSRs from 3 yards, where we got our first real look at the importance of maintaining the proper offset at close range (due to the height of the AR’s sights over bore, you need to aim approximately 2.5" above your intended point of impact inside 15 yards or so). We then moved back to 15 yards and fired from braced kneeling, speed (unbraced) kneeling, double knee (“Monica”) and squatting. After that, we practiced pistol transitions at 5 yards (“going to the blaster” should be your standard response in the event of a misfire or other malfunction inside 25 yards). Moving back to 50 yards, we confirmed our zeroes from the prone, then fired strings of 2 shots standing and 2 shots kneeling, which would be a critical component of the MEU(SOC) course we would shoot on TD3. We ended the day with an introduction to the “indoor ready” position (gun is held against the body with the stock near the shoulder and the muzzle angled down and pointing about 12" out from the off-side foot), and used it as a basis from which we fired hammers, failure drills and NSRs at 5 yards. Personally, I thought TD1 came to a close entirely too soon, but the shooting portion served to whet our appetites for the intensity that would follow over the next couple days.
TD2
Weather was again sunny, but even warmer and more humid than Day 1, so eating and hydrating constantly throughout the day became critical to keeping up one’s energy level and staying focused on the task at hand. We started Day 2 by verifying our zeroes at 50 yards, then we launched into a series of speed reloading drills at 25 yards, including 2 rounds/speed reload/2 rounds from standing, and 2 rounds standing/speed reload/2 rounds kneeling. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but we had to run each series utilizing every magazine on our bodies! This was intended to give the students experience in accessing all their various mag pouches, and was an instant indicator of less-than-optimal pouch placement. For those students carrying large numbers of mags (9 to 13, in some cases), it was also an exercise in stamina! After that, we were briefed on the techniques for clearing Type 1, 2 and 3 malfuctions at 25 yards or greater (closer than that and we go to the blaster, remember?), and immediately set about inducing and clearing such malfunctions in a live-fire setting. After lunch came a series of instruction blocks followed by live-fire exercises, covering such topics as multiple-target engagement sequence (“Roadhouse Rules” and the “Box Drill”), shooting on the move from the 25- to the 3-yard line, and static turns (engaging targets at 90° left and right offsets) at 7 yards. We then progressed to dynamic turns, where the turn flows right into shooting on the move, from 7 to 3 yards. Moving back to 50 yards, we shot strings of 2 standing/2 kneeling/2 prone, which would again come into play during the MEU(SOC) course on TD3. “Occluded sight” drills came next; these involved masking the objective end of the red-dot sight but leaving the sight turned on, and using the combined image from both eyes (one seeing the dot, the other seeing the target) to aim. We also shot with our electronic sights OFF, using the sight window as a pseudo rear sight. Both techniques allowed students to accurately place rounds from 7 yards out. We didn’t cover this material in the 2004 course, and I found it quite interesting. We finished TD2 shooting hammers and box drills strong-hand-only. Although this sucks, it’s nice to know it can be done, in the event one is injured or the support hand is otherwise occupied. Proper technique helps (pull the gun tightly into the shoulder to minimize fatigue on the wrist), as does having a well-balanced carbine. We covered a lot of material, and by the end of the day, I was pretty wiped. The instructors and most of the students adjourned to a local restaurant after class, which gave everyone an opportunity to get to know each other a little better and swap war stories (“no sh*t, there I was”).
TD3
Day 3 was a carbon copy of Day 2 in the weather department, and began with a discussion about weapon makes/models, features and quality control issues. After that, we moved out to the 50 yard line to once again verify our zeroes, and stayed there to shoot a string of 5 brain shots, followed by several series of 2 shots standing/2 shots kneeling – again building us up for the MEU(SOC) course. We then practiced “failure drills” (2 rounds center mass followed by 1 round to the brain) at 25 and 15 yards, as well as static turns – engaging targets with either a failure drill or an NSR – at 7 and 3 yards. Staying up close at the 3 yard line, we continued to blast our targets with brain shots, failure drills and NSRs at warp speed. Pat then had us combine several previously learned skill sets, transitioning to the pistol and engaging targets while on the move from 10 to 3 yards, both with and without a speed reload. Finally it was back to the 50 yard line for more strings of 2 standing/2 kneeling/2 prone, as well as running from the 50 yard line to the 25 and firing 2 standing/2 kneeling. After that, it was finally time for our first run through the MEU(SOC) carbine qualification course, which Pat uses as a performance benchmark in his classes.
We fired the course twice - once for practice and once for score. The MEU(SOC) is a good course of fire and a good measure of a student’s performance, as it incorporates shooting at various distances (3 to 50 yards), from multiple stationary positions as well as on the move, on single and multiple targets, and including a tactical reload – all under time pressure. The Marines who do this for real go out and qualify in full gear - rucksack, body armor, 13 loaded mags, pistol, helmet, goggles, gloves, comms, the works - and in any weather, and they shoot better scores than lightly loaded students like us do on a sunny day… I stand in awe of that kind of capability, and glad they’re on OUR side! On my practice run, I shot an 88, which didn’t make me very happy despite being a passing score. Just 3 months earlier, I’d shot a 90 with my 12" barreled AK-105, so in my mind I had to do better with a scoped 16" AR! Taking Pat’s “get into the Zen of it – ‘be the bullet’” speech to heart, I resolved to do better on the next run. After lunch, we shot the course “for real” and I scored a 93. Woo-hoo!
After we completed the MEU(SOC) course, Pat selected four students to be team leaders for our final exercise, which he called the “LAPD drill.” He explained that the drill was designed to allow a team encountering enemy fire from the front to rapidly move from “stacked” configuration into a line perpendicular to the threat, so all team members would be able to deliver suppressing fire. Each team would move along in the stack until one of the instructors fired his pistol, simulating an attack. The pointman would immediately stop and engage the target in front of him, while the other team members fanned out to either side, opening fire as they came on-line with the pointman. I was chosen to lead Team 4, but of course I had never taken part in anything like this before! So I selected a couple cops (Doug, and Brad Trittipo from the 10-8 Forums) and some former and active military guys to round out my team, and actively solicited their suggestions on entry order and how to handle communication and reloading after each engagement. The LAPD drills provided students the opportunity to move, shoot and communicate in a team environment (something many of us had never done before), but most of all they were a helluva lot of fun! We burned through a LOT of ammo (especially the first 3 guys in the stack), got the guns smoking hot, and left a trail of spent magazines in our wake. It was a totally new experience for me, and an awesome way to end the course.
Total Rounds Fired: 1181 carbine, 100 pistol
EQUIPMENT PROBLEMS
A fast-paced, high round count course like this tends to take its toll on guns and gear - especially stuff that is marginal to begin with. In addition to the occasional ammo or mag issue, we had several major problems with carbines. A couple guns – an LMT 10.5" with an undersized gas port and underpowered ammo, and an M4 of unknown origin with a bad extractor and recoil spring – went down but were eventually returned to service. A couple others – an LWRC M4 conversion with a broken piston system, and a Robinson XCR with a sheared extractor, loose barrel and other issues – went down hard and stayed out for the duration. My Recon Carbine experienced two inexplicable failures to fire on TD2; two separate rounds in the middle of two separate mags, and the hammer fell both times, yet there was no mark on either primer. I solved the problem in both cases by transitioning to the pistol and completing the drill, and experienced no other problems before or after. My maintenance routine was limited to wiping down the barrel extension and bolt/carrier every night, and lubing every morning with a couple extra drops in the bolt gas holes at lunch. Doug’s BCM 11.5" SBR and Aaron’s 16" HBAR also ran well; the latter was a bit surprising, since we had just built and test-fired the gun a few days prior to class!).
AWARDS
After the brass call from Hell, Pat got us all back together for some closing words and to present our certificates, as well as award the top shooters in the class. The High Individual Shooter (top score on the single-target portion of the MEU(SOC) course) received a complete set of furniture from TangoDown, LLC. The High Multiple Shooter (top score on the multiple-target portion of the MEU(SOC) course) received a sling system from BlueForce Gear and a spring kit from Tactical Springs.com. The High Overall Shooter (top total score on the MEU(SOC) course) – holy crap, that’s ME! – received an Aimpoint mount from LaRue Tactical, a VTAC padded sling from Viking Tactics, and a spring kit from Tactical Springs.com. I’ll certainly use the gear I won, and thanks go out to all the mentioned companies for their support.
IN CLOSING
This course was light years ahead of the one I took back in '04. The overall skill/experience level of the students was higher, which allowed us to do some more advanced work like the LAPD drills. Additionally, Pat was capably assisted by Mike H., Josh K. and Sheriff Ken, which meant a lot more instructor eyes on the students, so not very much got missed (good or bad!). It was, as always, a pleasure training with Pat and company, and alongside an outstanding group of guys. Thanks to Sheriff Ken and his crew, as well, for continuing to bring first-class training opportunities to central Indiana. I look forward to going back next year!
