GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Members from Goodfellow Air Force Base and local Special Weapons and Tactics teams came together to train their SWAT and Close Quarters Combat skills from May 7 to May 11.
They received training from The Shooting Institute, a company made up of former Navy SEALS, special operations and law enforcement individuals that travels around providing expert level firearms and tactical training.
“It goes more in depth than our initial training..."
“We were asked to come and teach a basic SWAT course,” said TSI chief of business operations, Stan Wiggins. “We want to teach these guys to actively find and engage a threat. The primary threats we have been training for are, active shooter, barricaded assailant or a hostage situation where you have one assailant and one innocent.”
The students learned the basics of approach, breaching, deliberate vs. dynamic movement, threat identification and how to use pistols and rifles in CQC environments.
“I think this training is awesome,” said Airman Josten Lacey, 17th Security Forces Squadron operator. “It goes more in depth than our initial training and it is very hands-on. They make it really fun.”
The training would start in a classroom, then move to a firing range or the Eldorado Air Force Station. There, the students would implement their training with drills and simulation rounds.
“You can argue tactics all day,” said TSI chief executive officer, Jared Hudson. “The truth comes out when you are in a gunfight, but we can’t go out and get in gunfights every day. So the way we measure the efficiency of our tactics is through the shooting and how long it takes to make that shot.”
Multiple agencies worked to make this training possible.
“This ended up being a happy coincidence that The Shooting Institute got the contract we put out for a certified SWAT training course that we needed to complete,” said Capt. Constantine Bucuvalas, 17th SFS operations officer. “The 17th Training Wing, the 17th Training Group and the 17th Mission Support Group have been really supportive and have provided what we needed to get this training.”
Even veteran operators could benefit from the training.
“This has been some of the best instruction I have received over my career and as someone who has been shooting all their life,” said Bucuvalas.