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Combined Force on Force / Alumni Weekend March 19/20

In response to a comment that ‘Trailman’ put up on a forum post: ‘You know these are the things that I wish we had more fire time on at Max’s. Talking about this stuff, vice doing over the Internet’ I have decided to combine the March 19/20 Force on Force (FoF) Team Tactics weekend into a combined Alumni weekend.

The intent is to run the FoF weekend (Saturday / Sunday) while allowing time for discussion and dinner / fireside etc. We can start the Alumni part of the weekend, for those who want to get there early enough, on Friday evening, do dinner for sure on Saturday night as we usually do at class. Times / exact details / feeding plan to follow on). FoF Team tactics is an Alumni only weekend anyway (Combat Team Tactics is  prerequisite) so this will fit quite well.

You do not have to participate in FoF to show up to participate only in the meet-up portion of the weekend. Cadre will however be busy during the day (Saturday / Sunday) with training, and will be available in the evenings for fireside. Please email with intent to show up, for the meet-up only, or for FoF as well.  Camping is, as usual, free at site.

FoF costs: standard FoF costs are : Class fee: $350, UTM ammunition $400 = $750 total.

I cannot change the price of the UTM ammunition, but for this weekend I will drop the cost of the 2 day class to $250.

Price: Class fee: $250, UTM ammunition $400 = $650 total.

I’ll take the opportunity to dispel some misunderstandings about the FoF Team Tactics training, that I have heard, and seem to be natural misunderstandings:

FoF Is Not:

  • Paintball
  • Airsoft
  • Free-for-all games

FoF Is:

  • Scenario based TRAINING.
  • It follows on from CTT/CP (or CTT only) and is an opportunity to validate skills and training in a dynamic scenario based environment.
  • Think of the FoF training you  may be familiar with in CQB training, applied out in the woods to Small Unit Tactics (SUT).

For those of you who have been asking for leadership training, this is an excellent environment to develop both teamwork and leadership skills in a simulated combat environment. The specific scenarios will be student-led and cadre adjudicated.

  • Teamwork
  • Leadership

You may have noticed that in some scenarios you will not ‘die’ when you are hit by a man-marker-round. This is specifically to ensure that we do not ‘game’ the training and that maximum benefit is gained by the students. What we do in training, we do for real, and it is not good to teach that when hit, you ‘die’ i.e. lay down and give up. This will then be what you do for real, when you may have to continue the fight. Rules for scenarios will vary, but will be managed by the cadre observers. Cadre will, in those cases, be the ones to tell you that you have been hit, and what to do at that point (dead/casualty?). This means that sometime, we can run a  scenario such as a break contact/ambush, and use hits as debrief points, or we can allow a casualty to be caused. Whatever is best for the training value of the scenario.

Scenarios will be designed to test specific training objectives. Sometimes, it will be like the live CTT ranges with Ivan, but this time with real enemy, sometimes it will be a specific free-play force on force action. Cadre will use judgment on when to intervene to manage the scenarios, for example when a leader needs a nudge in the right direction. Debriefs will be used to bring out the learning points.

Example scenarios:

  • React to contact / hasty attack.
  • Break contact drills.
  • Meeting engagement.
  • ‘Capture the objective.’
  • Offensive / defensive / break contact drill scenarios.

The FoF Man Marker Round travels at around 350 m/s and is thus about the same as a paintball round, and thus there is not a significant pain penalty if you get hit. All exposed skin is covered and safety gear is worn. Simunition, of which you may have heard horror stories, travels about twice as fast and hurts! The UTM round is accurate out to 50 meters and is thus good for use in the restricted sight-lines of the wooded VTC training area.

This weekend is an excellent opportunity for both face to face contact with MVT alumni, and also for those participating in the FoF training, to put your skills to the test and develop additional leadership and teamwork. Think you know how to use cover? Make your mistakes in safety at the VTC, rather than on game day!

See you there!

Max