CSAT Home Defense Course 9/25-26 AAR

[akv]

I was fortunate to attend a CSAT home defense course this past weekend. MSG (Ret.) Paul Howe and his cadre at CSAT are professional, meticulous, and down to earth. The course is designed for civilians as a 2 day overview of the mindset, equipment, legal considerations, physical skills and stress of a high risk confrontation around the home. In a nutshell for PS.com members, the course for me was like a laboratory session for the wealth of concepts QP's and LEO have mentioned across threads here. There are truly wise individuals who can learn from reading alone, but often for the rest of us the lessons are only pounded home when we do the things directly under the supervision of experienced teachers. There were 12 students, the class was on the mature side, mostly professionals, three docs, and one brave individual brought his wife. While there was live fire with a variety of weapons, the focus was on shooting applications in home defense scenarios. The class was 25% classroom and 75% hands on, taught directly by Paul with the exception of the LEO/Legal lecture by an experienced police chief.

Day One

The AM portion of day one 8-12, was the only classroom component. As all CSAT courses Paul began with safety instruction. We watched a few video examples of the kind of violence that is out there, and how quickly things can go bad even for trained professionals. Paul then went into his thoughts on SA and mindset, his thoughts on what it is, how to build it, and why it is important under stress to adopt "a workman like attitude, solve one problem, move to the next" He also explained his shoot/no shoot thought process from a recent encounter on his property.

The next portion was a lecture on the legal aspects of deadly force, given by an experienced police chief. The officer explained the differences between written law and real life application. He clarified when lethal force or the threat of it is justifiable and went through several cases of good and bad shoots, he described what responding LEO will be thinking, and how to safely link up with them. He then took us through how such a case would make it through the legal system to grand jury, and the possible outcomes. He stressed proper verbiage, and shared the steps he takes when off duty and for the security of his own family at home. With the caveat his direct experience is enforcing Texas criminal law, he then fielded a barrage of questions.

The next segment is the equipment lecture. Paul told us we each need to come up with our own system but he hoped to convey his thought process on the equipment and systems that work for him in his environment. He briefly went over some of the video surveillance and sensor equipment he uses on his property as an idea of what is out there. Paul then showed us the systems he uses explaining each one. He has kit for traveling, for the car, on his property, for different social settings and varying weather, even out jogging. What strikes you is his level of detail and planning, he has thought everything out, his gear is flexible and interchangeable. He covers bags and packs, different holsters, knives, med kits, clothing etc., and the pros and cons of his selections. He emphasizes two things, med kits are useless unless easily reached and you can never have enough flashlights. The rest of the course is hands on, we were each issued a go bag with a flashlight and med kit.

The PM session of day one consisted of weapons training, live fire exercises in the shoot house, simunitions scenarios in a real house, and an emergency medicine scenario. Weapons training was live fire exposure to three weapons systems, a revolver, a lever gun, and a tactical shotgun. We were taught the advantages and disadvantages of each weapon for home defense. The instructor attention to detail was excellent, Paul mentioned for me as a California resident with goofy gun laws and AR restrictions a lever rifle may be a very practical long gun for my home defense. No matter where you live we saw how an AR can over penetrate in a house. We were then taught how to pie a corner , scan, and take a room. He emphasized trying to take a room solo is a bad idea, don't unless loved ones are in danger, but if you are in that situation this is how he does it.

The next module is simunitions scenarios in a real home. The scenarios are either defending your home from outside intruders, or returning home to find bad things happening to your family. Paul is right next to you role playing, teaching about cover, strongpoints, angles, following your gun, and running you through each scenario. He videos your entries so you see if you are exposing too much around a corner, not leading with the gun, or forgetting to retract to the high ready when moving.

The final module of day one is emergency medicine. Paul said you might be the only one there to keep a loved one alive. After taking us through the MARCH diagram, the scenario is intense, students partner up and take turns imobolizing each other, cutting pants, and applying tourniquets to legs while Paul and the other instructors are squirting fake blood all over the place and adding to your stress level. Once again they can tell you to pre tie your bandages but the lesson is pounded home when you're splattered in blood and you can't find the end of the roll, or when the tourniquet handle snaps on you. We were also taught how to communicate with EMT's and told things like make sure they know if the victim has lost a lot of blood, only blood can replace blood, an IV could kill them. Paul deferred to the three docs who refuted none of this.

Day Two

Day two is all live fire modules at the shoot house with your weapon of choice, and increasingly complex problems to solve with simunitions at the real house. Great stuff, and the intensity level goes up accordingly. An example of a critique at the shoot house, " you pied well, and cleared the funnel, you also hit the three targets with guns, but the first one you shot in the hands because you weren't looking at the whole person, the second two were good center body hits, but number two had a badge on his waist, target three had an innocent behind it you likely took him out too, you needed to change the angle for that shot. " Very humbling stuff, but you learn a ton each with each rep. You really learn to see the whole picture before shooting including what is past the target.

The next module is the simunitions at the real home. The number and complexity of problems to solve increases significantly, they make you combine everything you have learned in the course. Paul once again is hands on. For example it is easy to read eliminate the threat first. It's another thing to solve one problem then pie around a corner into a hallway. There is a dummy on the floor that is a family member. Paul is next to you consecutively spraying fake blood from the dummy , screaming like a victim who is bleeding out, and later a dense police dispatcher. I went to the med kit, and he stopped screaming for a second and asks " Is the house clear?." One dead body doesn't justify two. Lesson learned. Once again very informative and humbling.

Finally, while we learned a great deal about systems, equipment and physical skills, IMHO the crux of the course was exposure to how he thinks when solving high risk confrontations. As he mentioned, we are taught from the time we are little not to hurt people, but by the end of day two all of us were conditioned to walk into our house, solve problems, apply medical if needed, and safely linkup with responding LEO. This stuff is serious detailed work, my hat is off to the military and LEO who do it professionally, these were great lessons, and my family is safer for it. He reminded us there is no magic formula to this stuff, at any level it is applying mindset and fundamentals under stress. You have to put the work in.

Paul is a very humble guy, he only mentions his past when sharing his direct experiences with ballistics on humans on the two-way range. Also Nacogdotches surprisingly has a sizeable Somali population, and the running joke at CSAT is that they and Paul keep an eye on each other. He is an excellent instructor, and a gentleman.

[The Reaper]

Thanks for the report.

Paul is a warrior, a friend, and is good people.

His classes are outstanding.

TR

[dr. mabuse]

Thanks for the info AKV. I tried to squeak into that class but was too late. I've heard nothing but good things about Paul.

Nice to know one of the best is right here in Texas.