Sage Dynamics - Citizen Response to an Active Shooter - Force On Force AAR

When I found out that Aaron Cowan of Sage Dynamics was teaching a force-on-force class about 30 minutes from my house, I jumped on it.  Citizen Response to an Active Shooter was hosted at ForceTEC in Cleveland, NC.  The site was originally an old school, then a YMCA, before being bought by ForceTEC.

Day one started at 9am.  I brought donuts.  Buzzing from sugar and caffeine, the mood started off light but quickly changed.  Aaron played a 16 minute video of the entire Columbine school shooting with 911 audio spliced in.  Personally, I hate watching stuff like this.  The same goes for horror/slasher movies.  I’m fine with war/crime movies, or videos of bad guys getting smoke checked, but hearing the screams of innocents disturbs me far more than seeing people killed on screen.  I wanted to reach through the TV and strangle the two pieces of shit, strolling around and casually pumping rounds into victims.  Everyone in the room shared the same conviction. 

With the seriousness of what we were training for established, Aaron spend the rest of the morning going over active shootings, more specifically the shooters and how we deal with them.  The common aspect was how motive was academic and that the only profit in an active shooting was causing death itself.  He did a section on critical anatomy which was familiar to anyone who has taken his classes before, or watched his videos on the subject.  The next block was on how our bodies respond to stress in a life threatening situation.  I experienced everything he talked about once the scenarios were underway.  Tunnel vision, time distortion, increased respiration and heart rate, the uncomfortable almost electric feeling of adrenaline, and how this would all lead to the degradation of my shooting and problem solving skills.  Finally, he went over the Simunition system.  He provided us with ammo, a sims converted AR15, and four sims converted Glock 17s, one with an RMR.  He went over safety and the limitations of sim weapons, including an accuracy check.  We broke for lunch, and returned to the classroom after sanitizing ourselves of guns, knives, and car keys. 

From Sage Dynamics Instagram

After double checking ourselves for real weapons, we donned our protective gear (masks, neck bibs, padded vests, long sleeves, gloves, and groin protection) and were broken up into three groups of four.  One group consisted of role players, one was the bad guys, and one was the good guys.  The good guys were separated from the rest of us for each scenario, and wouldn’t know who the bad guy or guys were or how the scenario would start.  The bad guy(s) wouldn’t know who the good guy was either.  The scenario was repeated until all four members of the good guy group had finished, and then a new scenario was setup for the next group.  For the first day, the scenario was in a doctors office.  For one group, the good guy started in the back exam room, and the bad guy entered the lobby and started shooting. 

For my scenarios, I was equipped with the RMR'd G17 and attached my TLR1-HL.  I used my EDC holster and mag carrier.  The only real difference to my EDC Glock 19, was that we couldn’t load the magazine past 13 rounds or the guns would malfunction.  The bad guy started in the exam room, and started shooting shortly after I checked in with the receptionist.  One of the artificialities of sims is knowing that something is going to happen.  I walked in much more alert that I’d normally be.  The other role players would try to distract me with questions, arguments, or simply positioning themselves uncomfortably close.  My eyes were darting all over the room and I'd probably be seen as a madman if I’d been acting that way in real life.  I heard a shot from the rear and moved toward it with gun drawn.  The people in the waiting room ran in front of me toward the exit, two men ran toward me from the hallway, and I had to quickly identify them as threats or not.  I yelled for them to show me their hands.  I only remember seeing their hands and body language.  Unfortunately, it’s impossible to read facial expressions due to the masks.  I saw a figure emerge from the back room.  Even with adequate overhead light, I couldn’t make out the blue gun in his hands.  I didn’t think to activate my weapon light.  I heard his first shot, saw the muzzle flash, saw a nickel plated shell bounce off the wall, and felt something hit my shin.  I shot before I had my arms at full extension, finally seeing the red dot on his chest after what felt like an eternity.  I tracked and shot him to the ground, then moved in to secure his weapon.  Attempting to clear it one-handed with gloves on did not go as smoothly as I’d hoped.  I also didn’t think to top of my gun with a fresh magazine.  I had fired 11 of 13 rounds but didn’t remember shooting that many.  With the shooter down, I yelled “Call 911!” to no one in particular, and I felt stuck, trying to think of what to do next.  I was concerned with possible threats down the hall, when I should have improved my position and started considering law enforcement response and rendering aid to the wounded.  Reviewing my GoPro video, I was happy to see a few things I got right.  My muzzle and trigger finger discipline were good, and I instinctively moved toward a bookcase for “cover”.  However, the particle board bookcase wouldn’t stand up to real bullets, my shots were nowhere near as accurate as I can shoot on paper, and I’d have probably been better served working to my right, using the wall corner for concealment.  I also should’ve been more specific regarding what information was being relayed to 911. From the time I heard the first shot, to when the shooter was down took less than 9 seconds.  The entire scenario was over in 90 seconds.

As a role player or bad guy, it was easy to watch the scene unfold and know what to do next, but as the good guy, there was immense pressure to perform and make the correct decisions.  While getting shot as the good guy didn’t end the scenario, it reinforced the idea that gunfights are absolutely terrible.  I took one unlucky round to what would have been my femoral artery.  As the bad guy, I was able to land a few headshots on the good guy, simply because the pressure was off.  One thing I had difficulty with was shooting innocents though.  Even as the bad guy, I would shoot over their heads or at the floor, only aiming for the good guy when he presented himself.  I was instructed to go down after a solid head shot, or 2-3 good shots to the torso.  That didn’t mean I had to stay down.  In some cases I chose to “bleed out” while in others I kept fighting from the ground.  Once the scenario played out, Aaron would call “out of role”, and then let the student explain what he saw and his actions.  Aaron would provide insight into what was done well, why,  and what needed to improve.  His feedback was honest and direct.  He didn’t sugarcoat our mistakes, but wasn’t overtly harsh either, even with the students who had shot the wrong people.  We all understood that failure was an important part of learning, and that no one could be harder on us than ourselves.  By the end of day one, we all had a few welts and bruises, and a few band-aids were applied.  The running joke is that in sims you get stung by bees.  Mistakes made in force-on-force became solid lessons.  I didn’t realize how much more I had to learn, and we still had another day to go.

After class, most of us returned to our respective hotels, showered, and met up at a local chain restaurant.  We ate, swapped stories, and talked about our experience in class.  While many of us had just met, we spoke like long time friends.  One of the local alumni even joined us for dinner even though she couldn't attend the class.  This has always been a constant at Sage classes.  Sage Dynamics students make up some of the best people and shooters I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.  

The next day started like the previous afternoon.  We stripped ourselves of weapons and jumped back into scenarios.  Yesterday was “training wheels”.  The complexities would increase today.  Multiple shooters and the rifle were now in play.  If getting hit with pistol sim rounds felt like bees, the rifle felt like wasps.  We started in the cafeteria which was laid out like a small café.  As a bad guy, I got to try out my acting abilities.  I was to sit down, and act like a guy trying to psych himself up.  Nothing too dramatic, but enough to catch the attention of someone paying attention.  I got up, walked to the counter, drew the handgun, and “executed” the cashier.  I then started firing indiscriminately until I saw the good guy draw his gun and emptied my magazine toward him managing to hit him in the mask.  I ran behind the counter, reloaded and popped up like a lunatic, spraying his cover(concealment), while stepping out from behind the counter.  I felt a few hits to my chest and fell backward to the ground firing as more rounds snapped into the wall behind me.  My gun locked empty as a volley of rounds hit my thigh and head.  The good guy recovered my weapon, directed people to call 911, identified himself as the good guy, and got people to the exit when Aaron called the scenario.  Even as the bad guy, I learned from each incident.  I saw how easy it was to get pinned down, and how foolish leaving cover for the sake of aggressively attacking could be.  On the flip side, my initial hail of gunfire gave me a huge advantage until I ran out of ammo.  I saw how getting to behind cover/concealment first might be a better option than going straight to your gun, and how aggression can briefly regain the initiative.  In this way, force-on-force gives you a way to experiment.  There were some situations where we might be more likely to just sit tight or even retreat in real life.  In FonF, you can take chances you normally wouldn’t take, gaining valuable insight.

In my scenario, I heard a shot outside the restaurant and immediately drew my firearm.  With no threat present, the role players reacted to me like I was the bad guy.  I now had to deal with an unruly and frightened crowd for what felt like minutes.  In reality, about 10 seconds later, the shooter appeared in the back doorway dual wielding a rifle and pistol.  My first few rounds hit him square in the chest and I drove him back out the door.  This time I reloaded from slide lock, used my light, and held the corner.  My reload was awful.  I grabbed the mag backward and felt like I was moving underwater.  I moved to better cover, and when he reappeared, I shot him several more times, tracking his head to the ground.  I was more assertive this time, directing individuals to tend to a wounded man, and another to call 911, before directing everyone who could walk to escape, and then call 911 myself.  After ending the scenario, we talked about how I had pulled my gun unrealistically early had this been real life.  A single loud noise this close to 4^th of July could just be a firework, car back firing, or if indeed a shooting, an isolated incident.  Without a clear threat, I should have made my way to a better position before clearing my gun, but I had “gamed” the scenario.

In another scenario, I was instructed to enter a hotel lobby with the rifle, with a second shooter a few seconds behind me.  As I was being engaged by the good guy, he was so focused on me that he didn’t check the direction I came from down the hall, and was shot in the back eight times by my accomplice.  In another, one student didn’t hear Aaron identify himself as police and engaged him in a shootout.  In two other instances, a hostage was shot by the good guy.  We took every one of these lessons to heart.  One big takeaway was after a student initially engaged the shooter, drove him into a room, backed off, and waited.  There was no pressing need to move forward and take down the shooter.  We were reminded that our goal is to deny the shooter access to more victims.  Obviously, incapacitating the threat is a great way to accomplish this, but just stalling them can also save lives until help arrives.

In my last scenario, I was in line for a movie when someone opened fire on the cashier.  I moved to my left to clear the line of bystanders, but they all moved as well, crowding around me and blocking my arms.  I found out later they were told to do this to see how I’d react.  I pushed the guy in front of me down and shot at the shooter one-handed, before getting my support hand on the gun, activated my light, and shot him to the ground.  At slide lock, I spun away as I backed down the hallway, checking behind me while reloading.  I fumbled the magazine against my vest and dropped it on the floor.  Cursing, I got my gun back into action, and made my way back to the shooter who was now seemingly deceased.  I slid his gun away, then looked up and down the hallway convinced there would be a second shooter.  I forgot to secure the weapon which was now laying next to the sims rifle which I also never saw.  I moved back into the hallway and backlit myself to the entryway behind me, a ripe target if someone had been there.  I assessed for wounded, yelled for 911 to be called, and finally improved my position before calling 911 myself.  Scenario over, the bad guy commented on how my light temporarily disorientated him even under the normal lighting conditions.  Score one for having 800 lumens.  Reviewing my GoPro, I never saw the innocent man running behind the shooter.  While I didn’t hit him, I could have just as easily done so.  While I scored multiple hits, I have no idea which of my shots were on target.  Just as before, I can’t recall seeing my dot until after I started shooting, and my one-handed shooting felt slow, like I was dragging my fingers through concrete.  

The class came to an end shortly after.  We were excited to learn that Aaron would be returning some time early in 2019.  He encouraged us to continue training, but to seek out instructors other than himself.  Red patches were handed out, one of which I received, and the coveted Black patch went to the top student.  With real-life fast approaching, we all headed out.  I spent the next few days decompressing, and as mentioned before, it took a few days for some of the lessons to fully sink in.

Bite mark from a rifle wasp.

Many of the things I learned I already knew, but experiencing them first hand reinforced them.  The adage of gunfights lasting 3-rounds, 3-feet, and 3-seconds is B.S., as is having too many lumens.  Nobody wished they had fewer rounds or less light once scenarios kicked off.  I learned how hard wired I am to not hurt people who don’t deserve it.  Even while playing a bad guy I felt conflicted.  I had to shoot one person point-blank in the chest to start a scenario.  Even though he was wearing a thicker vest and wouldn’t even feel the shot, I hesitated for a split second.  I had no qualms about shooting the bad guys multiple times in the face though.  I learned that I need to improve my one-handed shooting, smooth out my reloads, and work on my accuracy at speed.  I learned first hand how quickly an incident can occur, and how little time there is to actually think.  I learned how my mind and body react to stress, and that I can work through it.  I never once saw my iron sights and I still default to high center chest shots instead of the head at close ranges where headshots are possible.  My fine motor skills didn’t so much degrade as they were overridden by an intense desire to be fast.  My movements felt sloppy and frenetic.  Quick draws from concealment are great, but getting in a better position may help you live longer.  In a perfect world, we’d see the shooter and take him down before he fires a single shot.  The reality is much more sobering.  The shooter probably won’t make himself known until it’s too late to save the first victim(s).  In one scenario, the good guy was shot in the back at the very start.  It also gave me insight on how a potential bad guy might carry out an attack.  As I participated in the next weeks 4th of July festivities, I found myself taking just a few seconds to take note of my surroundings and who was around.  

My GoPro proved invaluable.  While I forgot to turn it on a few times, being able to review most of the scenarios allowed me to dissect any lessons that could be picked out.  Just as Aaron had said, my memory of each scenario was incomplete, especially in the first 48 hours afterwards.  Having the GoPro video made it easy to piece together what I did right and wrong.  The other students and I shared our videos freely with each other.

The class also reshaped my understanding of violent encounters.  Whomever brings the most violence the fastest usually wins.  Violence itself is not a bad thing.  It’s simply a description.  A tornado is violent but doesn’t carry the evil connotation society has given it.  Being able to focus an unholy amount of violence onto a bad person is something that needs to be practiced ahead of time.  Just thinking about it isn’t good enough.  Saying how you’re going to hit a home run isn’t the same as actually swinging the bat.  

A force-on-force class should be taken as soon as possible by anyone once they are proficient with their defensive handgun.  FonF is both a laboratory and a proving ground.  I can’t think of a single live-fire class where I’ve learned more about myself as a shooter and as a person.