As many people who are presently watching local and global events I have a heightened concern with our general social situation on many levels. As part of my preparations I had identified some potential deficiencies with my actual ability to use firearms in a defensive manner if it were to be necessary. Like many, having the time, funds and opportunity to attend formal instruction in utilizing a rifle in a tactical manner just was not coming together in a timely manner. To my advantage I have actually spent time in the Marine Corps (combat veteran) and Coast Guard (boarding team, special capabilities unit member) and so have had both military and law enforcement type rifle/carbine training. Though even with that I still felt I was lacking something in the real how to do it if or when it is needed in my present environments. With this in mind I began a quest to find some good solid instructional training materials in various media formats. During this adventure (and with all that is out there it is an adventure trying to find quality material) one company and set of DVDs kept appearing on my radar, that is Magpul Dynamics and their The Art of the Tactical Carbine
Magpul Dynamics is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Magpul Industries who manufacturer tactical accouterments in the United States. Finding a vacuum in the training available in the US for effective/efficient tactical rifle usage they took their programs and advanced into to video arena. The instructors on the DVD are Chris Costa (former USCG Tactical Law Enforcement Team member and instructor and government security training contractor) and now presently CEO of Magpul Dynamics and Travis Halley (former USMC Force Recon [Marine Special Ops], security contractor, former CEO Magpul Dynamics) and now founder of Halley Strategic Partners ( www.haleystrategic.com ) who together bring some serious real world experience to their program.
This is a three DVD set. Discs one and two contain the training specific portions; disk three contains a detailed breakdown of the many drills that are utilized in the training program and also a series of informational clips on weapons, sights, accessories, etc. and an out-take reel. (The latteris actually pretty hilarious). The combined time is over four hours of material. Being a little cost conscious and a comparison shopper that comes to under ten dollars for each hour of material compared to on average other DVDs which provide approximately one hour of training at an average cost of nineteen plus dollars. While I like the bang for buck value of the set, the true determination of true value is what they teach and how. Beginning with a mandatory safety brief they roll into the basics of how to load your rifle. Utilizing their core training doctrine of “Reality, Consistency, and Efficiency” it moves forward from there picking up speed as it moves uphill. From how to properly get into basic positions to correctly sighting in your rifle, to how to move, to how to perform speed and tactical reloads, to the whys of each action. The entire filming is done from a point of that you are almost there on the range in the class with them. Loud and rapid they present a mass of information all the time explaining that why they teach each method and/or technique. They readily acknowledge that sometimes your method will differ because life and other factors will affect your use of techniques and skills in a dynamic situation and that will determine what is most efficient and effective for you. Performing drills the entire time there is so much information provided there is no way to get it all in one viewing.
During the training they constantly push people to their failure point in drills believing (as I have found in my personal experience is very true) that amateurs train till success, professionals train past success till failure (as that shows you where you need to go to further improve your skill sets). After watching the DVDs for the first time all I could say is wow! Though my background may have paid a part in how I viewed their production (I am very use to loud, direct, and effective training) the details and logic of what they teach had me amazed. At this point I have viewed it over five times and am still pulling nuggets of information each time I see it. Even with my experience the information and techniques they present left me wondering even how much more about utilizing a rifle/carbine I did not know.
Though the DVD is called ‘The Art of the Tactical Carbine’ do not expect tactical type techniques such as house clearing in this presentation. The ‘Tactical’ in the title comes in the form of the description of the weapon; the ‘Art’ is the proper handling and use (firing) of the weapon. I believe as they teach that it is much more important to have a solid base of basic skills before you move upward and this DVD set does that. House/room clearing is an important skill however being able to efficiently use your carbine during such activities is much more critical. Though they do an excellent job on teaching movement to cover and shooting around various obstacles which is the stepping stone to advanced ‘tactical’ type actions and movements. Key information presented in the DVDs which I found extremely useful in my situation includes a wide range of subjects they presented starting with good tactical sling selection, to improving my tactical shooting stance. During the section(s) on firing positions the urban prone stood out as one I needed to acquire the skills for as that the ability to shoot efficiently and accurately under obstacles is one which I could readily identify use of in my present environment. Throughout the DVD the mechanical precision which the instructors move through each step of each technique or skill is amazing but expounds on their key core training philosophy of consistency. By achieving consistency you improve efficiency which means in reality you have a higher chance of coming out alive. They also build on the training throughout, for example: taking the basic administrative type reload and using the steps there to teach how to properly perform an tactical reload to how to perform a combat type reload (yes there are major differences in each) then taking those techniques and integrating them into how you handle weapon malfunctions, all in one package. Nothing in this training seem to be left to chance, everything they seem to show or explain rolls right into another step or procedure. There is very little waste of time in the presentations again with them staying with those core principals they utilize of reality, consistency, and efficiency. Contrary to other training programs I have experienced in my life these boys definitely believe in the old saying of ‘practice what you preach’. However, nothing in their mannerisms or instructional techniques makes it boring and even when they are using humor during their presentations to make a point it flows almost perfectly making watching the DVDs more of an adventure than an ordeal.
Chris Costa’s explanation of some of the weaknesses of using a ‘dump pouch’ to keep your primary weapon magazines in, which is now commonly known as his “1911 mag, Twinkie, Twinkie, cupcake, primary weapon magazine” speech has now become a legend in some shooting circles (and hilarious to see). The training presented does focus on the AR-15/M4 type platforms though they do try to integrate many of the variables of those configurations into the training (and do a reasonable job considering the amount of configurations out there). Unfortunately they don’t really address other types of rifles and utilizing them (though one of the students has an AK47 type platform in the DVD), realistically by the time they finished adding wide range AK47s or 74s, Mini-14s, FN/FALs, SKSes, et cetera. The DVDs would be forty plus hours. However, the ‘basic techniques’ they teach are effective with all platforms and can be easily incorporated into your training by thinking it out and using their core principals of reality, consistency, and efficiency.
Since purchasing and viewing Magpul Dynamics The Art of the Tactical Carbine