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CSAT, LLCMAY 2010

INFORMATION LETTER/UPDATE:

MAJOR CALENDAR CHANGES:

Added

4-5 September, 2010 Home Defense I Nacogdoches, TX Open

25-26 September, 2010 Home Defense I Nacogdoches, TX Open

10 September, 2010 Seminar Midland, TX Open

25-27 October, 2010 Combatives Course Nacogdoches, TX Open

GENERAL INFORMATION:

We conducted a Tactical Rifle Instructor course and two-day Operator course thispast April. The instructor course had 11 students and the operator course had 23.The Instructors Courses has been getting smoother and smoother to teach.Instructors are rehearsing their assignments and delivering great presentations. Thestudent course also went well. I want to give you some of my personal observationsreference my rifle courses.

When attending a course as a new student, learn to shoot your weapon “slick,” withiron sights and not too much fancy gear. Vertical foregrips and new semi-horizontalforegrips force you to put your hand in one position and many times that may not bethe most ergonomic position for your body. What happens is that you must learn toshoot an after-market part that someone developed for who knows what. In the end,you need to put your front hand in one spot where you can shoot standing, kneelingand prone and not change your hand with each position. Learn about where to indexyour firing hand and then position your head/eye in the same spot for each position.

Once you learn to shoot, now figure out where to put your light so your day grip andnight grip are one in the same. This will keep your system simple.

Finally, we had a couple of minor weapon problems in the course. The instructorcourse fired about 13,200 rounds in their six-days while the student course fired

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about 16,100 in their two-days. One student had a Trijicon sight which either failedor the student could not shoot with it. We made him take if off and go to irons only.We also had a problem with a Noveske AR and were able to get it running withminor tweaking. This is the second one in a year’s time. Finally, we had oneLWRC rifle that shot, but would not hold a group. The student was issued a DPMSrifle that ran without a hitch for the rest of the course.

I enjoy reading many of the comments on the gun forums but disagree on commentsabout the quality of rifles. As an instructor, I have found that each manufacturergoes through a quality control period where they have problems. Some put out aquality test gun and then allow their standards to slip, either slowly or all at once.

I get very little for endorsing DPMS rifle, but shoot them as my training and “fieldgrade” rifle. I like my POC at DPMS and they treat me right. The rifles work justfine. I have had students rent them for the instructor courses and put over 2,000rounds through one in a week with no malfunctions. One that I am using to test theBurris AR-332, a 3x Aimpoint sized scope that shoots the groups below at 100 yardsusing standard ball ammo.

I know, many of you are cringing at the fact I am shooting a Burris optic. It worksand the only problem is a slight cant in the reticle pattern and it does not seem tomatch ballistically when shot at distance. Other than that, it works great for half theprice of the high end gear. I use this system as a predator control device in my rangevehicle.

As for my personal “Operator Grade” rifle, it is a Larue. I know Mark only byreputation, product and support staff. I would not know him if he walked up to meon the street. Mark and his crew have been true selfless Americans to the militaryand law enforcement community and they make serious equipment. My DPMSrifles shoot around 1” at 100, my Larue’s shoot about ½” groups.

In the end game, not everyone can afford a Larue or may need a rifle of exactingspecs. Some folks can only afford a “field grade” rifle and it suits their needs. I seenothing wrong with that. I use DPMS for my teaching and routine classes. I pullmy Larue out for my Urban Marksman classes and use it as an intermediate rangesniper weapon. I can also change my Larue over to an entry weapon in less than 30seconds and do two missions with one rifle.

In the future, I will continue to give After Action Reports on guns and equipmentthat fail in my Instructor and Operator classes. I want folks to understand that I liketo spend my money one time on equipment that works.

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Using my “Field Grade” DPMS and Burris 3x and 55 grain ball ammo, the rifleshot a 1 ½” group in the body and a ¾” group in the head at 100 yards.

MONTHLY INSPIRITATION

BT is a police officer who attended my Tactical Rifle Instructor course this pastmonth. BT had lost his right hand due to a faulty Flash Bang. Being right handed,he switched to left handed shooting, to include eye dominance. He trained throughhis injury and completed my instructor course using a mechanical prosthesis for hisright hand. He fired the transition drill with a single left hand where others used twohands to make the hit.

He is the type of person that Americans should try and emulate and kids should lookup to. He took a bad situation and used it to excel and did not use it as a crutch. Sothe next time you feel sorry for yourself, have not put enough effort into mastering askill or are too tired to train, turn around, kick yourself in the ass, and think aboutBT.

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BT on the Scrambler….

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MONTHLY PERSPECTIVE…..

“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable ofentrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier tolimit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessarycommon sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such aman for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious thanMr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us.

Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacyof fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama,who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools suchas those who made him their president.”

-- Author Unknown

Border violence is up because of American drug use. Not because of guns, etc., butbecause of lazy, double-standard Americans choose to use drugs. We are theproblem. The 60's generation hippie mentality of anything goes, does not. We havelet that generation breed and infect our current society and mindset. This is as simpleas I can put it.

Our social and dedicated drug users create a demand for drugs in this country andthese "Americans" are responsible for the border violence. They create the demandand businessmen south of the border supply their needs. Unfortunately it is a violentbusiness and the number of innocents that are killed are staggering.

None of our liberal, left-wing, dope-smoking scumbag citizens want to accept this.Instead our politicians cater to minority ethnic and sexually oriented fringes insteadof the main stream conservative electorate. No one will make a hard decision onillegal drugs, one way or the other. Instead we put our law enforcement personnellives in jeopardy with non-committal attitudes.

Our fellow Americans who live on the border will now feel what it is like to be in acombat zone.

I have no problems with these folks coming across the border for jobs to supporttheir families. They work hard for the right reasons. We have plenty of Americansthat are too lazy to work and do a shitty job when they do work. As long as they aredocumented and pay into our system and taxes, I am okay with it. The jobs they arefilling need to get done. What I have a problem with is the amount ofundocumented people in this country who draw from the system and don’t giveback.

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Tighter Military Gun Restrictions on Military Bases

I read an article on 15 April where Secretary of Defense Gates approves of tightergun restrictions for the military. I am sorry to see that the military and the OfficerCorps continues to sell their souls and promote their ignorance.

The military and military bases have had tighter gun control laws than in any city inthe United States. You used to have to register your guns at the Provost Marshal’soffice and then store them in the arms room and get permission to take them out.

Now we are going to layer more restrictions on our military, a military that cannotdefend themselves against violent attacks. Gates and his officer corps have created akilling ground for terrorists and mentality unstable gunmen or women on ourmilitary bases. At Ft. Hood, soldiers had to wait until a female civilian securityofficer came to their rescue to stop the killing. This is embarrassing.

In today’s Army it is okay for a Muslim Army Officer to verbally spew his radicalbullshit for extended periods of time, mentally harass soldiers that he was entrustedto treat and then go on a killing spree. The problem seems obvious to me. Whydidn’t the nut-less wonders of the officer corps fix the problem before their soldierswere murdered? All were politically correct. Instead of doing the right thing andrequire more soldiers to be armed set up a military CHL system, we will enact moregun restrictions on the victims. I bet these restrictions would have had no effect onMajor Hassan and murder spree.

COURSE UPDATE(S):

HOME DEFENSE COURSE I & II

Home Defense I will cover safety, legal considerations, weapon selection, medical,basic home clearing and routine scenarios that you might find yourself in.

Home Defense II will work both day and night scenarios to include work aroundvehicles and anti-carjacking tactics. We will also work scenarios for Home DefenseI in low light environments.

Attendance in Home Defense I will be a requirement for Home Defense II. We willprovide simunition weapons/ammo/bolts for certain scenarios. Also, you must havea certificate of training for at least 16 hours from a reputable firearms school ineither rifle or pistol to attend Home Defense I.

TRAINING:

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Danny’s Halligan is bringing a three-day Combatives program to CSAT in the Fall.It is an open course and will address several different areas to include knife tactics.LE personnel will be able to attend a cuffing class at the end of the day.

RANGE UPDATE:

Should an agency or group wish to rent the facility, feel free to contact us forrates. This includes the ranges, new property, classroom and bunkhouse.

CLASSROOM/ LODGE:

I am biting the bullet this month and putting in new air conditioning units in theCSAT lodge. The old system has been around over 20 years.

EQUIPMENT:

SAFARILAND HOLSTERS AND COMPONENTS

Safariland makes numerous components for their ALS holster system. I have beenworking with it extensively and like it. The snap and lock components allow theholster to be instantly moved from platform to platform. The platforms also pushgun/holster slightly outward to help the pistol during the draw clear body armor.

As for the ALS holster without the hood, I am experimenting with it. I have foundthat tactical body armor has a tendency to roll/push the hood down when moving

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around. Usually I find it happens two-three times during the training day, forcingme to constantly check the hood. Using the ALS button alone, I have not had theweapon fall out yet. I have tested it while negotiating numerous obstacles on theobstacle course and then going for runs.

CSAT LD Target

Originally designed as a long range target for iron sights, I now use this target whenconducting zero procedures with students. We hold the front sight where the whitemeets the black and adjust our sights to strike accordingly. Also, when usingOptics, I teach students to use the tip of the dot to make surgical shots.

New CSAT LD Target that I use for rifle zeroing

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When zeroing the LD target with iron sights, I use place my front sight postwhere the white meets the black for the best contrast. I adjust my impact wherethe black and white meet.

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When using a red or black dot scope, I use the tip of the dot to zero and forsurgical work. I adjust my impact where the black and white meet.

HUNTING UPDATE:

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Too many predators, too little time…

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READING/MISC. INFORMATION

Thanks for all your responses reference the “The Tactical Trainer.” I have sent anotice to Authorhouse not print anymore of this book. I have sent it to establishededitors. If they do not pick it up, I will send it to a reputable self-publishingcompany. I do not wish to support poor business practices and will also be taking“Leadership and Training for the Fight” to another publisher shortly.

CLASS PAYMENTS

In the future I will request payment in full by either check or Credit Card for classesas I am doing double accounting when I take deposits.

IN CLOSING

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you all soon.

Paul R. Howe