Student Review: Combat Team Tactics April 2015: Rob
If you are taking the time to read these reviews, you are probably more than curious about the training Max offers, as I was. I won’t bury the lead: Stop what you are doing, get out your check book and reserve your spot in the next available MVT class. Do not wait any longer.
This is a review from someone with no military or law enforcement training. I have, however, grown up with firearms starting in childhood. I saw an increasing need to get my battle rifle situation squared away. Problem was 1) I didn’t have one and never had fired one 2) Even if I did have one, my knowledge of that kind of weapons system was almost nil. 3)- How to deploy/handle yourself with an AR should it come to that.
Long story short, I went the route of building an AR with an 80% lower and showed up at CTT having only fired 100 rounds through it. So, #1 was solved. But a massive hole in my knowledge was painfully evident. MVT solved #2 and #3.
If you are looking for a highly condensed rifle handling/malfunction clearing/small unit tactics training. Max’s CTT fits the bill perfectly. If you are anything at all like me, the last thing you will EVER do is purposefully jam your weapon just so you can see how bad it can get. Well, you get to do that Day 1 at CTT! Shiny new rifle? Here! Cram that cartridge in there sideways and ram it home! Cool, huh? It’s a beautiful thing, in it’s own way. Point being, even if you are familiar with the AR, there is much to learn about the basics of your weapon that you get to learn in a trial by fire situation that you simply won’t get in a sterile range environment.
A note about PT. I’m a desk jockey, so marathon runner I am not. I did prepare as best I could before the class with lots of burpee’s, sit ups, etc. Also threw in, as time allowed, hard, short hikes in hills/mountains with a 25-30lbs pack on. If I had to do it over again, and going forward, I would do a lot more of the pack and hike routine. Nothing can substitute scaling a hill with a pack on like actually doing it. And you will be doing this, to some degree, in CTT (depending on your load out you choose to wear for the class), with a loaded rifle. I was dragging pretty hard at the end of the class, but that in and of itself is valuable intel. How else could you figure out how well you can perform with all your gear on, humping your rifle all over most of West Virginia if you didn’t’ take CTT? Do as much exercise you can before the class. Work at it, don’t half-ass it, but don’t let not being in peak physical shape stop you from taking the class.
All I can say about the fire and maneuver tactics that encompasses the two remaining days is that they are a huge eye opener. You realize the depth of what you do not know. Humbling, really. I came away with a much sharper understanding of what proper infantry tactics are. Max deals with the basics during this class, but, believe me, it’s still a lot to take in. Even at this basic level you’ll find yourself feeling the ‘stress’ of the situation (which is partially the point) making you appreciate how hard it is to function in an effective way even when it’s only your teammates firing off rounds and yelling at you to move.
Max creates a good working environment to teach you what you need to know. He’s not a drill instructor, but neither is he running a day care center. There is a certain amount of gravity you need to bring to the class given the fact that you are there to learn from him how not to get killed in the event you need engage a hostile target someday.
All in all, one of the best instruction experiences, of any kind, I have ever had. Looking forward to my next class.
Written that check yet?
Class gear takeaways:
– Would bring at least 1200 rounds of ammo for comfort margin. I went through 850 rounds while trying to be conservative.
– April weather is a fair mix of hot and cold factoring in the gear you have on. For future classes I’d bring better, light weight thermal base layer. Also, I’ll bring some kind of GI issue rain gear in the event we get dumped on. We didn’t this time, but that was just luck of the draw.
– As this was my first time out, I used a combination of a battle belt and an issue FLC for mags. My mag pouches were double stack HSGI taco’s and Condor covered flap models. Carrying a total of 8 mags. Next time around, I will have 6? single stack taco’s on the vest with possibly the double stack, double pouch on the belt for reserve.
Rob
COMBAT TEAM TACTICS CLASS
CUSTOM TACTICAL FITNESS TRAINING PLANS FOR CLASS
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