Final five RBPP courses in New York City
Jim Wagner
The Reality-Based Personal Protection system has 10 training courses, which adds up to 80 hours of instructions. From July 13 to 17 at the Fighthouse in New York City, operated by Peggy Chau, several dedicated men finished up their training in this revolutionary system, which includes pre-conflict, conflict, and post-conflict training, and they in turn will go out and teach family, friends, and self-defense students how to survive the most common crime and terrorist attacks they may face. The final five courses were Conflict Conditioning (my new Black Belt magazine DVD with the same title will be released at the end of the summer), Scenario Training (which nobody in the martial arts is doing yet except us), Control & Defense, Improvised Weapons, and Handgun Survival (using airsoft guns for realism and learning objectives). Those who completed their studies were Stephen Franklin from Bermuda, Cameron “Gus” Ives, Anthony Raymondo, and Richard Hubbard. Those who attended the week to recertify for their instructor certificates were Joe Landerwhel, Carlini Jaramillo, Cesar Torrones and Nick Serna from Canada.
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I flew into the Big Apple on Friday, July 10 because I had been invited to attend Army National Guard training the following day at Fort Dix, New Jersey. I am not at liberty to write about the specific training or the unit, but from 0930 to 1130 hours I did get to observe Judgment Based Escalation of Force Training (JBEFT) conducted by United States Air Force instructors at the Joint Training and Training Development Center. The McQuire Air Force Base butts up to Fort Dix and the two military facilities share resources.
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The Air Force training that I was privy to included the M4 and M9 weapon systems: pre-combat inspection and pre-combat check, shooting platforms, rapid reloading exercises, and movement drills. The military personnel that were being taught were to be deployed to the Afghanistan Theater.
I was also given a tour of the Lanes Simulation. This is a giant building that has a mock Islamic country urban village inside of it. The ceilings are all painted black (just like we do in Reality-Based Personal Protection facilities around the world), the lighting can be controlled to look like broad daylight or midnight, and there are small buildings and props everywhere for realistic Close Quarters Battle scenarios. Dry fire, blanks, and Airsoft guns can be used in this fantastic facility.
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On Sunday, July 12, I continued my research on human conflict by going to the Museum of New York City where I studied the Dutch colonization of Manhattan (New Amsterdam). At one time there was a massive fortification on the south end of the island in the 17th century. I was just in Amsterdam, Holland in May training 17 Amsterdam Police Department Defensive Tactics instructors my Police Knife Survival program, and having just been in both places (Amsterdam and New York City) made the research that much more profound.
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The week of training was very enjoyable because everybody involved, even those who signed up for one or two courses, were highly motivated. I will be in New York City again teaching the Level 1 courses: Defensive Tactics, Ground Survival, Knife Survival, Crime Survival and Terrorism Survival.
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Movie Review: The Hurt Locker
Jim Wagner
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CLICK HERE for official Hurt Locker website.
Carlos “Carlini” Jaramillo said, “It’s because of Jim’s teachings that I decided to join the Army National Guard,” he said when introducing himself to his peers in the seminar. He is a Reality-Based Personal Protection instructor who was certified a couple of years ago.
A former Columbia police officer Carlini is now a sergeant with the New York Army National Guard. He is also an instructor for Homeland Security who is an expert on terrorism.
After my seminar on Friday, July 17 Carlini took me out to dinner at Chevy’s on busy 42nd Street on Broadway. He then insisted that we watch the movie Hurt Locker. Although he had seen it two weeks prior, he said it was a “must see” for me since it deals with terrorism, insurgency, and lots of bombings.
The movie, which I recommend to every Reality-Based Personal Protection student or instructor, takes place in 2005 in Baghdad, Iraq and the story is centered on a U.S. Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) unit.
Having taken several explosives and bomb search courses with both law enforcement and the military I was impressed with the realism of this movie. It’s one of those movies that makes you extremely nervous and tense because it makes you feel like your right there with the characters. The bombings are not your typical “Hollywood explosions” with several camera angles and lots of petroleum-based fire. They are realistic explosions with horrible consequences.
In Hurt Locker there is also a as-close-as-I-have-ever-seen real-time sniper incident. There are a few details where Hollywood was not accurate, but the realistic “feel” of the situation more than made up for it. Having gone through hundreds of hours of training with the 1st Marine Division Scout Sniper School myself in the 1990s, it brought back a lot of memories about my training. Twice I had instructions on the same rifle that was used in the movie; the Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle.
This movie has already been out for a few weeks, so it may not be showing in most movies. Therefore, if you can’t find it at your local theater, you’ll just have to wait until it comes out on DVD and get it when it does.
Your pocket knife may become illegal
Jim Wagner
The United States government is considering making all pocket knives that can be opened with one hand a crime in the same category as switch blades.
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