Review: Close Quarter Battle Course: Bailey

“This is a family training.”

This is my fifth class at MVT and my first time retaking a class. CQB was the first class I took 3 years ago when my dad told me about MVT telling me about the live fire and how intense it was and asked if I would want to take a class. At first, I was pretty intimidated by the sound of running around with rifles but I said sure. Heading to my first class I was expecting to be doing HEAT 1 like my dad described but instead he signed himself, me and my younger brother up for CQB. It was a three day class with the first day being live fire and the last two being airsim. Max taught the class and we had three teams of four taking the class. It was quite the experience. The first day at the CQB huts for one of the very first reps, I was having my barrel a little too close to the window and an enemy OPFOR reached his hand out the window grabbed my barrel and close killed me. I kept walking around like nothing happened with Max witnessing the whole thing and he said, “Dude, you’re dead.” Max proceeded to go inside while I sat outside, dead, defeated, to go tell the guy how freaking awesome that was. I am not sure how to describe that feeling of being completely dunked on but that moment was the beginning of my journey with MVT. I wanted to be better.

Fast forward three years later, I took heat 1, squad tactics then heat 2 later. Coming back to retake a class like CQB was something I’ve been wanting to do. My dad and I planned for a little while to take CQB in May. He told me that there was not many people who signed up and it might get canceled. I wasn’t totally sure leading up to the class that it would still happen. Max reassured my dad that it was going to happen.

We get out there and only four students took the class. But, this class was a super awesome and unique class considering the preceding circumstances. Max and Scott brought their sons to partake in the class to make another team. We had three dads and five sons as a part of the class. “It’s a family training.” It reminded me a lot of doing my first class coming out for CQB with my brother, practicing entering a room over and over together. We had quite a range in age from young teenager to around 50 years old. With only two teams, we had a dedicated OPFOR come in which was huge in how this class went. My first time doing CQB the rotation of students being OPFOR made the drills go out the window as a sense of “playing the game” entered the door. Having the dedicated OPFOR put emphasis on running the drills and doing things correctly since we were only going in and clearing. Having both Max and Scott there as compared to only Max last time allowed another set of eyes to witness the drills and call out mistakes. This time around the class was a four day class which allowed for lots of more reps with our smaller, dedicated teams. The first day was live fire, second day was force on target, and the last two days were force on force with OPFOR being introduced. By the end of the class, we were running the drills really well, working as a team. I have been training by myself and with some friends since my last class that I took. I really wanted to see how I have improved skill wise and in leadership. It was such an awesome feeling to finish the first day of force on force leading the teams to clear the whole building and not taking any casualties as I took lead entering through most of the doors. Even better for Scott to reel it all back in after the rep with a serious and macabre note of, “even if you do everything right, you will still die.” The father-son dynamic was really special and made this class so unique and unforgettable. With the instructors yelling at their kids to get things right and do the drills properly or watching my dad mess something up and getting critiqued or vice versa. On the last day, my dad and I entered a room that became casualty intensive and I got shot in the leg from the next room. I was dragged into a corner and applied a tourniquet with my dad in the room holding the door. I was still alive but I had a thought come to me to watch the door with my rifle ready. I thought, ‘oh, dad will be fine holding that door himself.’ 20 seconds later an enemy walks through the door and he and my dad traded shots, killing each other. Well crap. I rolled on my belly and crawled through mud to cover the door as bbs hit the floor next to me. It ended up being a total squad wipe but it was a cool experience and a memory that’ll stick with me for a long time. Despite the worries of the class not being, it ended up being one of the best classes I have taken at MVT.

Classes at MVT are safe. The instructors are very adamant about safety and reinforce it whether training live-fire or airsim. I have done both and recommend any freedom loving person to take a class and many classes at MVT. It is more than worth the value of the class with the knowledge and the understanding of yourself and your abilities you are walking away with. If you are a family man, sign up for a class with your son. If the live-fire is intimidating, then do the CQB class or another airsim class to get a sample of what MVT is like. I believe that this is the best training a civilian can get. Get trained now!