Indiana SWAT Officers Association Conference

[NIFT]

On May 5 - 7 (Sunday - Tuesday), the Indiana SWAT Officers Association (ISOA) has its annual conference in Fort Wayne. Indiana Firearms Training staff instructors Sgt. DeYoung, Sgt. Tharp, and I will be attending. I am signed up for a day on the range with Bob Vogel (Practical Pistol Applications), then a half day shooting class in Covert Carry, and a seminar on Great American Gunfights, along with a banquet, guest speakers, and so on.

AAR coming after the ISOA conference. Should be fabulous!

 

[Gabriel]

This is the second year in a row I have a class down at ILEA the same week.

To anyone in law enforcement on the fence about attending the ISOA, it is well worth the time and money to go.

 

[pierce195]

As always I'm looking forward to being there.

 

[Tim1911]

I'm there as well. I'm pumped about Jared Reston's High Performance Gun Fighting class on Monday. Should be a good one. Don't forget the sunscreen.

 

[VERT]

Tagging for an AAR. I am not a LEO. But my very good friend was there. He was telling me about the Bob Vogel class today.

 

[NIFT]

Fabulous conference, trainers, speakers, and shooting!

The Indiana SWAT Officers Conference started on Sunday, May 5, with "vendor appreciation" exhibits and the Junk Yard Shoot, which we had to miss due to teaching a Tactical Handgun II class that day. We--Sgt. Tharp, Sgt. DeYoung, and I--did get there in time to visit the exhibitors, attend debriefs of some major SWAT call outs, along with a presentation by Steve Ijames (Springfield, MO Commander) on less lethal applications, specifically flash bangs. Flash bangs are only less lethal if they don't land on someone or set the place on fire!

Mr. Ijames (pronounced Iames) also detailed a very recent (February 22) SWAT call out in Springfield, MO, in which the perpetrator, Martin Potts, age 29, was shot a total of 71 times (that is not a typo--seventy one times), the last two being .45s to the head by an officer who flanked Potts while he was reloading. The very first shot was .223 from behind that went through Potts' scapula and completely blew out his left lung, leaving a large exit hole in the front of his chest--totally unsurvivable. The next three were from an MP5 that penetrated his right lung. Potts fought on through a gunfight in which Springfield SWAT officers expended 161 rounds. A PowerPoint slide showing Potts' clothes looked like they were repeatedly run over by a golf course green aerifier!

There were about 350 in attendance, and the star-studded cast of about 27 instructors and speakers included:
Tony Blauer of Blauer Tactical Systems
Jason Falla, Australian Army Special Operations Command
David Freidrich, LAPD
John Krupa, Spartan Tactical Training Group
Pat McNamara, 22 years' Army SF units, and built like a rock!
Frank Proctor, 11 years in U.S. Army SF and Grand Master competitive shooter
Phil Singleton, British SAS and outrageous personality!
Robert Trevino, U.S. Army SFOD-D (Delta Force)
Robert Vogel, currently, the top competitive shooter in the world.

I had the privilege of shooting/working with Robert Vogel for the entire day on Monday, along with 14 SWAT guys in full SWAT regalia, except for balaclavas and helmets. Felt like a duck out of water, wearing an old pair of Dockers, tennies, and a Glock hat! Vogel put heavy emphasis on proper grip and hand strength. I have never seen a shooter who cranks his support hand so far forward and down. The left thumb was, actually, positioned under the frame, against the trigger guard.

Sgt. Tharp spent the first day on the range with Frank Proctor and the second day on the range with Pat McNamara. What a privilege to learn from those combat-proven experts! Sgt. Tharp will be teaching our Unarmed Self Defense class tomorrow (Saturday, May 11), and I expect to get an extensive debrief.

Sgt. DeYoung attended Sniper Concepts with Det. Peter Segreti, NYPD ESU, and we both attended the Covert Carry class on Tuesday, along with the Great American Shootouts that detailed the 1970 Newhall, CA, gunfight that killed four CHP officers, and the April, 1986, FBI Miami firefight in which two FBI agents were killed, three seriously injured, and two others injured by one determined bad guy, Michael Platt.

I cannot tip my hat or salute the ISOA and its President, Sgt. Nick Kokot, enough for the job they did with the conference and banquet on Monday evening. It takes an enormous amount of time and work to put everything together, and fabulous does not begin to describe it.