Review: Squad Tactics September 2025: Tony

Student Review: HEAT Squad Tactics September 2025 – Tony

TL;DR: For me this is the ultimate MVT class (I know others will say Texas is, but I have not done that one and thus cannot say that myself.) I encourage you to sign up for every chance you get. Move things around in your schedule, save your pennies, sell stuff you don’t really need. Push Max to put more of these on the training calendar, sign up for them, and encourage others to do so as well.

My background: I’ve been taking MVT classes for several years now. I’ve repeated most classes several times, including this one four times now. My military background was in a service support MOS in the Army during the 90’s and provided little, if any, applicable experience for small unit infantry operations.

My goal: As it has been from the beginning of taking these classes, I wanted to improve as a rifleman so that should it ever be necessary, I wouldn’t be a detriment to any group with which I was working. As stated in previous reviews, it boils down to learning how: a.) not to die; and b.) kill the people trying to kill my team. Taking all the drills that we learn in structured, confined learning environment in HEAT-1 and HEAT-2, this class gives you the ability to see how to apply them “on the fly” and against a live OPFOR. You are working in a 360 environment where you don’t know when or from where a threat will appear. “Everyone has a plan until they get kicked in the face…” This is the class that allows you to make that plan, rehearse it, attempt to execute and then deal with what happens next.

Classmates: Once again, I was fortunate to train with a great group of people. There was one group from a western state who train together regularly and traveled the distance to train here at MVT. I have trained with them before and they are all good. Everyone else had previously trained at MVT before and so we were able to hit the ground running, use the same terminology, and familiar with the same execution of drills.

Safety: Even though this is a 100% Air Sim class, I still feel the need to bring up the point that MVT is the safest training environment I have ever participated, including US military run. They do not just focus on live fire safety, they focus on SAFETY – if that means heat, snow, flying rattlesnakes, whatever. These guys will keep you safe. I would, literally, stake my life on it.

Changes to previous classes: One of the BIGGEST changes to previous iterations of this class was that instead of “just” running two planned missions a day, Max decided to allow for more “reps” by throwing in ad hoc missions throughout the days Friday thru Sunday. Instead of the 6 missions (1x Thu, 2x Fri & Sat, 1x Sun) of previous classes we ended up running eleven (11) missions during the class. Instead of returning to the team cabin between missions, you are staying in the field, eating in the field, and taking care of admin there. This is very important to note for planning purposes, especially for being able to maintain your “combat load” for AirSim operations. If you use an electric rifle, you may have to bring an extra battery. If you use green gas, it means bringing extra bottles. More BB’s. Food, water, etc. This simple change has numerous knock-on effects, all of them great for enhancing the training. This change to include more operations has made this class even BETTER and MORE important to attend.

Class layout: The class begins with a relatively short classroom portion which covers the importance of giving a coherent set of orders, and provides basic instruction and material for doing so. This is followed by Max giving a set of orders for an afternoon mission, which is led by the cadre, and then some basic rehearsals. The afternoon mission gives your first taste of working together with your classmates, while being under the leadership of someone who definitely knows what they’re doing (I encourage you to enjoy this moment because after it’s over, it’s up to your classmates or yourself to provide that leadership and that can be….interesting.)

The following days are all student led missions. There were two planned missions on Fri/Sat and one on Sun. For those, the student squad leaders were given the mission the night before so that they could plan and be more prepared to give their orders. Then after each “prepared” mission there was an ad hoc mission, or two, thrown at the squad. This gave the volunteer squad leader for the mission to quickly come up with a plan and give a set of orders without as much preparation time. Mentioned previously, we ended up running a total of 11 missions over the course of the 4-day class.

The squad leader position is entirely voluntary, so you need not worry about being forced to do it, ergo that should not be a reason to avoid this class. You can focus on being a rifleman solely, or step up to a lower leadership position such as team leader or assistant team leader. Or you can volunteer for one of the squad leader roles. Regardless of what you choose to do in regards to leadership, you will have ample opportunities to hone your basic infantry skills through rehearsals and missions.

One of the things that makes this class, and indeed all of MVT’s force-on-force classes, is the quality of the OPFOR personnel. You will learn to both love and loathe them. Love them because of how great they make the training. Loathe them because they are relentless killing machines who work together frequently and are significantly more lethal as a group than a random group of students. For a bunch of volunteers, they have honed their craft and are always improving. Working against them is always a challenge, a pleasure, and an honor. I look forward to the day when I am part of a team as dedicated to training as they are. And I cannot wait until I am part of a group that can take them on with no cadre-imposed handicaps and beat them fair and square – that day will come, I hope.

Pay attention to the packing list. Get quality airsim equipment, and test it out prior to class. Bring at least 2 batteries, if electric, or several bottles of green gas, if gas rifle. Make sure you check the class provided packing list for other items. Be prepared to spend the three latter days of the class in the field from the step off. The force-on-force classes in general, and this one in particular I feel, are fantastic for testing out all your non-rifle equipment setup, load kit, packs, etc. Do not be surprised if something you think will work great but you have never actually used in a field environment does not match up to your expectations, or simply fails miserably.

Finally, I want to reiterate my opinion that this class is simply the best that MVT offers. You should never let this class slip by you. While you will gain significantly more from it, I feel, if you have taken HEAT-1 and HEAT-2, you do not have to have that experience to take this class. While you may feel a bit overwhelmed if you attend without the experience of those classes, you will still gain so much from this class that it is worth it.

Please sign up for this class whenever it is offered and perhaps if this class sells out quickly every time, perhaps Max will include more offerings of it on the training calendar. Be deposit ready and push him to do so! You can NOT —- CAN NOT —- attend this class too often.