Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection

Level 2 and Level 3 in Germany

Jim Wagner

I only teach my Level 2 and Level 3 courses once a year and I do it in my European Headquarters in Solingen, Germany because it is easy for students to get there from anywhere in Europe. Case in point, I had students this time from Italy, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Luxemburg, and all over Germany come to these two seminars. I did not run these courses this year in the United States because I was just too busy with American military courses, and could not fit it in my schedule; not even a Level 1 course this year in my home country. Many courses and project I do are not publicized.

Level 2 consists of five full-day courses: Conflict Conditioning, Situational Awareness, Control & Defense, Improvised Weapons, and Handgun Survival. Once a student has completed Level 1 and Level 2 they have pretty much everything they need for most conflict situations: from a criminal knife attack to a full blown terrorist attack with automatic weapons and explosives. The Handgun Survival course prepares Reality-Based instructors to safely conduct air gun scenarios since the Reality-Based Personal protection relies heavily on air guns for realistic training.

Level  3 is designed specifically for those RBPP instructors who want to know how to effectively teach the Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection system, whether they teach under my banner or add it to whatever system they are teaching.  At this professional level there are four courses: Business & Leadership, Advertising & Marketing, Professional Instructor, and Children's & Women's Survival. A fifth course will be added in 2012.

On Wednesday, November 16^th, Tobias and I had to immediately leave our training facility after class, jump on the Autobahn (unlimited speed limit just like you've heard about), and drive to an unnamed location. The "mission" was to train one of Germany's top Special Operations teams. In some respects, it was one of the most unique courses I ever taught, being that this team wanted very specific techniques and training methods from me that I had developed. I'd love to talk more about this event, but I agreed to conditions of nondisclosure. Now, a decade from now I may be able to say something about this team and training, and throw up some action photos. When I first trained GSG9 (Germany's national counterterrorism team) I signed a nondisclosure form and I was told what I could say and what I could not say (this is a common practice among top government teams) about my connection to the team. It was not until a decade later that I was able to discuss some, but not all, of my experiences inside one of the world's most elite teams, and throw a few extra photos of me training them in books, articles, and on my website; even a small video on YouTube. And, so it is with this team as well.  What I can say was that the training was well received, and I had never seen a tougher bunch of men, and afterwards Tobias and I were invited to their barracks day room; an invitation like this from an elite unit only comes if what you gave them was well something they could really use, and fortunately for me it was. In front of about 20 men our host presented me with a very nice gift that I shall cherish by placing in my office. And, since it was a German unit, they all knocked on the surface of the tables a few times (a form of clapping) upon the presentation, and we all went back to finishing our beers. Needless to say that it was a late evening, and it was only a few hours of sleep until I had to be back up again for my civilian course in the morning.