Selling airsoft to the Sherrif's Department.

So, I've decided to step up our MOUT training, hopefully by getting my uncle ( Chief Deputy Sheriff of Granbury, Biff Temple), to allow us to act as role players/ consultants when/ if the Sheriff's Department begins using airsoft as their primary force-on-force tool. To try and persuade him, I've compiked a number if article's that generally involve Mil/LEO using airsoft for training. It's pretty long, so bare with me, and feel free to scimm through. However, if this works, we could end up being allowed to use the Sheriff Department SWAT training center, which I think would be pretty bad a--! Anyway, here are the articles:

Missoula Police Dept using Airsoft in high-tech training – KPAX-TV
Wednesday, April 29, 2009,

Thanks to a Montana Congressman, the Missoula Police Department has one of the most up-to-date technologies in the state to help with officer training.
Appropriation funds from Denny Rehberg helped the Missoula Police Department buy an interactive training system. Police say the simulator depicts real scenarios of what officers may face when they arrive on the scene.
"Gives it kind of a real life feel of what’s going on with the action you have to make proper decisions of what kind of force to use depending on the situation," said Missoula Police Detective Dean Chrestenson.
An instructor runs the scenario and can change what happens in it as the officers try to control a situation. Those training say it gives officers experience without being in a real life situation.
"The fact that you can use an actual weapon, it has recoil action on it, so that makes it more realistic. Where before you have just a laser, you’d have a bb gun or whatever," Chrestenson said. "Before it was a set scenario and the subjects didn’t move when you gave verbal commands — these ones they can do that."
An instructor controls a gun sitting in the corner of the room, so if the officer is not taking good cover the instructor can shoot airsoft pellets to simulate someone shooting at the officer.
Instructors say officers stepping into the mock situation don’t know what the outcome will be. The scenario can end with a suspect complying or a shootout.
"If they take good cover, give good verbal commands we like to reward the officer by making the scenario go to a comply rather than go to a more high level use of force situation," Lt. Mike Colyer said. "After the officers complete their scenario I ask for their justification in their force, or their justification for not using force, so that I get them thinking about appropriate forces of all levels."
http://everything-airsoft.com/blog/2009/04/29/missoula-police-dept-using-airsoft-in-high-tech-training-kpax-tv/
Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 12:01

Soldiers test integration of popular civilian game into pre-deployment training
FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- What began as a popular form of civilian entertainment is being tested on Fort Jackson as a possible new way to train Soldiers preparing to head to a combat zone.
The 187th Ordnance Battalion is operating a pilot program designed to test the feasibility of using Airsoft weapons to train Soldiers to cope with real-world combat situations such as forward operating base operations and force protection.
Airsoft weapons are replicas of their military counterparts, but fire plastic pellets instead of bullets. Airsoft is widely used by civilians who enjoy organizing military simulations and historical reenactments.
Training cadre with the unit are finding that Airsoft is an ideal way to teach Soldiers valuable lessons about combat.
"It gives them more realistic, outcome-based training," said Sgt. 1st Class Richard Hunt, module chief for the battalion. "Now they know when they get hit during a training exercise."
The battalion has been using Airsoft weapons since the spring at its field training site where soldiers learn basic combat tactics in an urban environment. Like Hunt, all of the cadre at the FTX site are combat veterans. Hunt said the Airsoft weapons give the training another level of sophistication and realism that is hard to attain with other training tools such as the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System, which has been in use for years.
Soldiers at the site practice reflexive fire and other tactical skills while armed with replica M-4s, M-9s and M-249s, the weapons they most likely will use in combat. While practicing tactical movements, such as clearing rooms or exiting a vehicle in an ambush, the Soldiers come under fire from Airsoft weapons. The feedback is instant if a Soldier makes a mistake.
"I got hit and it stung a little bit," Pvt. Joshua Kolometz said after undergoing reflexive fire training. "This gives you a realistic feel of what combat will be like."
That's exactly what the Airsoft training program is intended to impart, said Company B's 1st Sgt. Chris Arnold. "This has a huge impact on training realism," Arnold said. "If you make a mistake during training, you know you've made a mistake."
Maj. Benjamin Kratz, the battalion's executive officer, said data is being collected on Fort Jackson's Airsoft pilot program so that it can be determined if it should be implemented Army wide.
Kratz said initial data shows that Airsoft ammunition is much cheaper to use in training than the traditional blank ammunition used with MILES or equipping weapons with specially-designed bolts to fire paintball rounds. Kratz said one blank
M-16 round costs as much as 32 Airsoft rounds. The Airsoft rounds used on Fort Jackson are biodegradable, which is a benefit over using traditional blank rounds.
"We go through a lot of blank rounds here on Fort Jackson," Kratz said. "What the data doesn't show yet is how long the Airsoft weapons last and how much the replacement parts and other ongoing costs are."
Kratz said the Airsoft training so far has accomplished what was intended.
"This is the last stop before Soldiers go to their gaining units downrange," he said. "What they learn here will save lives."
Aug 12, 2009
By By Steve Reeves, Fort Jackson Leader
http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/08/12/25860-soldiers-test-integration-of-popular-civilian-game-into-pre-deployment-training/?ref=news-science-title1

Close Quarter Core Skills
Up Close & Personal Requires Unique Skills
Posted: April 16th, 2009 06:05 AM EDT
RALPH MROZ
Courtesy of the Police Officers Safety Association
At the Police Officers Safety Association, an organization of which I'm the training director, we teach a course called Close Quarter Handgun Core Skills. It is a course focused on just what the title suggests: fundamental skills and drills for close quarter lethal force encounters. I always like to start this course by lining up the participants at seven yards, facing an IPSC or IDPA target. I ask them to perform two reasonably standard handgun drills. Drill number one is to fire a magazine into the A zone as fast as they can make the shots. Drill two is to put two into the A zone and one into the head, on command, repeating until the magazine is depleted. Then I ask the class, "What relationship to real-life street encounters did either of these two drills have?"
A surprising number of the attendees have the correct answer on the tips of their tongues: "Almost nothing." That's right. They were all standing in a row, facing a designated direction. They fired on command. They were at least four times the distance that they were likely to have to fight at with a handgun for real. They were using sighted fire. They didn't move. They were placing their shots carefully. The targets weren't moving. The targets were all facing them head-on. Most important: the targets weren't shooting back.
So why is so much of our current so-called "training" so much like these two drills?
Theory of Operation
The answer to that question is "because this kind of training is challenging for students and safe for the instructor to teach." But that begs the critical question. That is starting from an answer, not from a question; from a conclusion, not an analysis.
Before we can design an effective training curricula, we have to answer the question: "What is the problem we are trying to solve?" The answer to that is that we are trying to keep people alive in close quarter, spontaneous violent assaults that our adversaries usually initiate. Our training drills therefore need to instill skills that contribute to that objective - not achieving some artificial "range standard." Which means, of course, that we need to use drills that mimic close quarter, spontaneous violent assaults that our adversaries initiate. That's curricula design criteria number one.
The other thing that we need to understand to design an effective training regimen is what resources we have to work with, or in this case, what the capabilities of ourselves and our equipment are. Our own capabilities under severe, close-quarter stress, are well known: target focus, loss of fine motor skill, etc. Curricula design criteria number two is therefore to accommodate target focus and gross motor skills in our training.
Our handgun's capabilities are also well known, but often ignored. Essentially, there are really only three ways that bullets stop someone:
central nervous system hits that prevent the brain from directing the body
loss of blood pressure, or
such overwhelming pain and shock that the body shuts down.
Further, all handgun bullets are all extremely ineffective. None of them (even .357s and .45s) are reliable one-shot stoppers. Now, the "shot placement" school of handgunning advocates central nervous system (CNS) shots or center-mass shots to accomplish either 1) or 2) above. Brain stem or head shots are all but impossible to realize in the violent chaos of a real-life encounter, while hydraulic pressure loss occurs too slowly to be of reliable use, even with major blood vessels hit. That leaves 3) above - inflicting massive shock or pain. Accomplishing this is done with many shots placed on the adversary as fast as possible. They don't all have to be center-mass or CNS shots - just lots of hits quickly. So this is our theory of handgun "stopping power": Put a lot of hurt onto your enemy quickly. Caliber is not very important - any significant caliber will do. Just hit 'em often and fast. So curricula design criteria number three is to train in multiple shots delivered quickly.
To review, our curricula design criteria are: 1) train at close quarters, 2) employ target focus and gross motor skills, and 3) deliver multiple quick shots.
Making it real
What follows are descriptions of three of the basic drill sets we currently use in the Close Quarter Handgun Core Skills course. We are always adding, and sometimes dropping, drills as we continually develop the course. Some of these drills employ airsoft technology. If you aren't training with airsoft, you need to be - if you are concerned with self-defense. Airsoft is far less expensive than other projectile-firing simulated firearms technologies, and more reliable, to boot. It is widely available and easy to obtain. Little protective gear needs to be worn, and as a non-marking technology, you can train in your actual tactical environment: in your house, in your car, in your business, and so on. WARNING: About two police officers a year are currently being killed in simulated force-on-force training, because a live (real) firearm was introduced into the training area. It is imperative that you get proper training in running simulations safely. The Massachusetts Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors & Armorers Association offers the leading airsoft simulation instructor course, and it's open to firearms instructors with certifications from recognized bodies (NRA, state POSTs, etc.) See their website (linked below) for more information.
Drill #1 - no time to draw.
Situation: a deadly force attack that comes so close and so fast that you don't have time to draw your gun. Since most such attacks occur spontaneously and at very close distance, this is a typical attack.
Drill 1A: Face the target, 1 yard away. On cue (such as the command "danger") drive towards the target and strike it with an effective, devastating empty hand technique. (Don't know any? Learn some. Also, you'll need sturdy target stands for this one.) While maintaining forward pressure on the target, draw your gun and fire several shots onto the target with your gun hand's fingers touching your ribs (sometimes called a "gun retention position".)
Airsoft version: Two participants face each other, 1 yard away. The bad guy launches a simulated deadly force attack on the good guy, who responds as above with his/her airsoft pistol. Note: without protective equipment such as a FIST suit, the instructor will have to compensate by mandating less than full power strikes, and strikes to non-sensitive areas (e.g., the chest instead of the throat.)
Drill 1B: If the bad guy in the airsoft version of this drill chooses to go for or present an (airsoft) gun as his deadly force attack, then fouling his draw or presentation first, and then striking and then drawing/shooting your own gun, is a valuable skill to learn.
Drill #2 - Shooting after falling.
SituationM: you are knocked to your knees or onto the ground as a deadly force assault initiates. If you think this doesn't happen much, you haven't been in many fights.
Drill 2A: Face the target, 1 yard away. On command such as "falling", draw your gun as you fall to your rear knee. Keeping the gun close to your body, cant it up to the target, achieving either a "normal" angle of the gun, or a sideways "gangbanger" angle, and fire multiple shots on the target.
Drill 2B: Face the target, 1 yard away. On command such as "falling", fall to the ground, and onto your back. (Again, don't know how to do fall safely? Learn!) Kick violently towards the target using a bicycle pedaling type motion. At some point, plant your feet on the ground, draw your gun and put multiple shots onto the target.
Airsoft versions: same drills as above, but with role players using airsoft weapons. The bad guy actually pushes the good guy to the ground. Note: using mats for this exercise will cause you to want to practice it more than otherwise.
Drill #3 - hooded drills.
Situation: you are surprised by the sudden bad turn of events as the people right next to you launch an attack. Remember - attacks occur suddenly! This drill protocol is nothing more than the use by firearms students of the common hooded drills that martial artists and reality fight trainers have used for centuries.
Drill 1A: With the shooter not able to see the range, set up several target stands in realistic positions. Staple a human picture shoot/no-shoot target to each. Place a hood over the shooter and lead him/her into the middle of the targets so arranged. Standing in a direction away from any target, pull the hood off and let the shooter deal with the problem presented, making the necessary shoot/no-shoot decisions.
Drill 1A-1X: Any number of variations of this drill can be done, using different human representational targets and props.
Variation: Also place objects of cover or simulated cover in the training area, and let the shooter use them.
Airsoft variation: same drills as above, but using airsoft weapons and real people instead of targets.
In conclusion
The above three drills should give you some idea of how realistic training is conducted. You can design your own drills using our curricula design criteria, which are, once again: 1) train at close quarters, 2) employ target focus and gross motor skills, and 3) deliver multiple quick shots.


Web Links:
Police Officers Safety Association
Massachusetts Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors & Armorers Association
About POSAI
The Police Officers Safety Association (POSA) is the training arm of the American Police and Sheriffs Association (APSA), a registered 501(c)(3), tax exempt organization. POSA is registered as a "dba" of APSA. Donations to POSA/APSA are tax deductible. POSA's training programs and publications are available free to every law enforcement officer, nationwide. When appropriate, free hands-on classes are conducted in our local area to develop and refine our training programs before they are produced on video. Classes are held in New England but law enforcement officers throughout the country are invited to participate. Funding is accomplished by private donations from citizens and businesses. Solicitations are accomplished with the aid of registered, professional organizations with reputable experience in funds solicitation. POSA/APSA solicits funds in our name only and does not refer to any specific law enforcement organization or agency as the recipient or benefactor in any solicitation.
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Visit Officer.com daily for the latest industry news, commentary, features and more.
http://www.officer.com/web/online/POSA/Close-Quarter-Core-Skills/30$46217
RALPH MROZ
Courtesy of the Police Officers Safety Association
Thursday, April 16, 2009

May 14, 2009
Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
IMPERIAL, Calif. — Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor.
The responding officers — eight teenage boys and girls, the youngest 14 — face tripwire, a thin cloud of poisonous gas and loud shots — BAM! BAM! — fired from behind a flimsy wall. They move quickly, pellet guns drawn and masks affixed.
“United States Border Patrol! Put your hands up!” screams one in a voice cracking with adolescent determination as the suspect is subdued.
It is all quite a step up from the square knot.
The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.
“This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl,” said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff’s deputy here in Imperial County, whose life clock, he says, is set around the Explorers events he helps run. “It fits right in with the honor and bravery of the Boy Scouts.”
The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out “active shooters,” like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.
“Put him on his face and put a knee in his back,” a Border Patrol agent explained. “I guarantee that he’ll shut up.”
One participant, Felix Arce, 16, said he liked “the discipline of the program,” which was something he said his life was lacking. “I want to be a lawyer, and this teaches you about how crimes are committed,” he said.
Cathy Noriega, also 16, said she was attracted by the guns. The group uses compressed-air guns — known as airsoft guns, which fire tiny plastic pellets — in the training exercises, and sometimes they shoot real guns on a closed range.
“I like shooting them,” Cathy said. “I like the sound they make. It gets me excited.”
…
Many law enforcement officials, particularly those who work for the rapidly growing Border Patrol, part of the Homeland Security Department, have helped shape the program’s focus and see it as preparing the Explorers as potential employees. The Explorer posts are attached to various agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local police and fire departments, that sponsor them much the way churches sponsor Boy Scout troops.
“Our end goal is to create more agents,” said April McKee, a senior Border Patrol agent and mentor at the session here.
Membership in the Explorers has been overseen since 1998 by an affiliate of the Boy Scouts called Learning for Life, which offers 12 career-related programs, including those focused on aviation, medicine and the sciences.
But the more than 2,000 law enforcement posts across the country are the Explorers’ most popular, accounting for 35,000 of the group’s 145,000 members, said John Anthony, national director of Learning for Life. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many posts have taken on an emphasis of fighting terrorism and other less conventional threats.
“Before it was more about the basics,” said Johnny Longoria, a Border Patrol agent here. “But now our emphasis is on terrorism, illegal entry, drugs and human smuggling.”
The law enforcement posts are restricted to those ages 14 to 21 who have a C average, but there seems to be some wiggle room. “I will take them at 13 and a half,” Deputy Lowenthal said. “I would rather take a kid than possibly lose a kid.”
The law enforcement programs are highly decentralized, and each post is run in a way that reflects the culture of its sponsoring agency and region. Most have weekly meetings in which the children work on their law-enforcement techniques in preparing for competitions. Weekends are often spent on service projects.
Just as there are soccer moms, there are Explorers dads, who attend the competitions, man the hamburger grill and donate their land for the simulated marijuana field raids. In their training, the would-be law-enforcement officers do not mess around, as revealed at a recent competition on the state fairgrounds here, where a Ferris wheel sat next to the police cars set up for a felony investigation.
Their hearts pounding, Explorers moved down alleys where there were hidden paper targets of people pointing guns, and made split-second decisions about when to shoot. In rescuing hostages from a bus taken over by terrorists, a baby-faced young girl screamed, “Separate your feet!” as she moved to handcuff her suspect.

In a competition in Arizona that he did not oversee, Deputy Lowenthal said, one role-player wore traditional Arab dress. “If we’re looking at 9/11 and what a Middle Eastern terrorist would be like,” he said, “then maybe your role-player would look like that. I don’t know, would you call that politically incorrect?”
Authenticity seems to be the goal. Imperial County, in Southern California, is the poorest in the state, and the local economy revolves largely around the criminal justice system. In addition to the sheriff and local police departments, there are two state prisons and a large Border Patrol and immigration enforcement presence.
“My uncle was a sheriff’s deputy,” said Alexandra Sanchez, 17, who joined the Explorers when she was 13. Alexandra’s police uniform was baggy on her lithe frame, her airsoft gun slung carefully to the side. She wants to be a coroner.
“I like the idea of having law enforcement work with medicine,” she said. “This is a great program for me.”
And then she was off to another bus hijacking.

The Airsoft Advantage
Dynamic and realistic training with Airsoft
Posted: July 8th, 2008 05:27 PM EDT
KEVIN DAVIS
Tactical Survival Contributor
Officer.com
I completed a two day firearms instructor workshop for the state academy a couple of days ago. As part of the program I talk about different training modalities and the newest training technology. Invariably, when I talk about Airsoft and its possibilities for firearms and force on force training, I always generate a lot of interest.
Over the last couple of years I have used Airsoft many times in in-service training, and can heartily endorse it. Far from the BBs of our youth and even the plastic ones my brother and I shot at each other as kids, current green gas Airsoft pistols and electric Airsoft carbines and subguns offer much to police firearms and tactical training. Pistols are available in virtually all makes and models carried by law enforcement today, and many progressive agencies nationwide are looking into the use of Airsoft to enhance their officer safety and survival training.
Types of Airsoft
There are several different types of pistols and long guns available. Not suitable for serious training are the manual cocking (which require that the slide be manipulated between each shot) and the low cost battery operated electric pistols (which are inaccurate as well as cycling too slow for serious training). Green gas (ozone friendly Freon) pistols are the only ones that should be considered for police training, as well as the rechargeable electric long guns. These Airsoft arms use "hop-up" technology, which is a little bump in the barrel that produces a backspin on the BB. The backspin increases accuracy dramatically. Inside 30 feet these .20 gram BBs are exceedingly accurate. With velocities of up to 400 fps, they are not toys.
Training Value
So how can these "toys" be used in serious survival training? The answer lies in the low cost of the systems and BBs. Simunitions cost between 40 and 50 cents per round, with conversion kits for pistols costing about $150.00 for drop in parts. This is the same price as standard parts for a standard Glock pistol. Unfortunately the Glock cannot be converted, thus the Simunition Glock is the same price as a real pistol. Airsoft pistols cost around $100.00, and rifles around $300.00 with the BBs costing less than $20 for a 4000 count bag. Airsoft will replace neither Simunition nor paintball, and shouldn't. It can, however, offer trainers a heretofore unavailable option for training at a cost that allows hundreds, if not thousands, more repetitions.
My experience with marking cartridges goes back to around 1992. I had read an article about Code Eagle marking cartridges in SWAT magazine and ordered a T&E sample. Code Eagle was then only available in .38 special for revolvers. As one part of the test, I let my then-training sergeant shoot me in the back from a distance of about ten feet. Yes, I found out early that marking cartridges can and do hurt. Indeed this is one of the positive aspects of this type of training, i.e. a pain penalty if a suspect is able to get rounds on target. When Simunition was developed and came out with conversion kits for our agency's Smith and Wesson 5906 pistols, we were one of the first departments in the country to try them out. I remember calling their company trainer at the time and asking what protective gear they recommended. His response was, "it depends on how tough you are." When I asked for clarification, the instructor told me that the Norwegian Jaegers (alpine troops) conducted training in running shorts, sandals and goggles. With the projectiles moving at 400 feet per second and capable of leaving lasting marks and scars, I freely admit I'm not that tough. Simuntion came out with face protection, and then upgraded to full-head protection, neck guards, and padded short sleeve shirts, body protectors and shorts. Role players have to be sure to wear long sleeves and trousers. Even then, the sim rounds are like magnets to skin (more than one role player has cursed me for the raised red welts they received).
Paintball offers a low cost option for force-on-force training, but pistols and rifles are not that accurate and oftentimes have to be "lobbed" in. While conducting force-on-force training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, I participated in training using paintball rifles. Even though the training was valuable, I must confess that I "played" paintball at a couple points more intent on "painting" my adversary than realistic training (note, this was only in one event of the otherwise excellent training).
Simunition can permanently dent or damage interior walls of training locations, and paintballs can be a pain to clean up, as well as pose a fall risk if they splatter on linoleum or smooth floors.
Once again, this is not to say that both sim and paintball training is not worthwhile.
Enter Airsoft
After hearing about Airsoft on a firearms training forum, and purchasing a low cost green gas Airsoft pistol, I heard about a west coast civilian firearms trainer by the name of Rich Daniels, and a pistol training DVD he had produced that featured Airsoft. After making contact with Portland, Oregon-based Daniels, I learned that Rich's father is a retired Toledo police officer, and Rich is very much into sharing his wealth of knowledge about Airsoft with police officers. Rich sent me his first DVD, Defensive Handgun Drills 1-4. In the DVD, Rich uses Airsoft to replicate the live fire drills he first demonstrates. He further uses Airsoft to incorporate handgun training with empty hand striking in close quarters, combat scenarios, and force-on-force training with moving, aggressing suspects.
Airsoft Protective Gear
Impacts to unprotected skin can result in a small mark and sufficient sting similar to a bee sting. Goggles or protective eyewear are mandatory for anyone in the training environment. Daniels has adapted street hockey helmets for his programs with plastic meshing to protect the face and head from errant rounds (indeed Rich advises that the helmets are more to protect the trainee's heads from collision with the floor if they fall during dynamic training).
All that is necessary for body protection is a jacket made from decent material such as the work clothing made by Carhart (some trainers use sweat shirts). Body protectors designed for boxing or martial arts competition could also be used. Gloves, whether of the open-finger martial arts type or standard patrol gloves, are sufficient to protect the fingers and hands of trainees.
Low cost boxing or martial arts focus mitts can be used as the primary target for role players. The role player can hold the mitt off to the side or up against their body to provide a safe target area for drills that require multiple repetitions.
Force-on-force training is very similar to that using Simunition or paintball. Indeed 21st Century Airsoft (see below) has developed quality marking cartridges for Airsoft.
Additionally, a "house of horrors" or similar interior Hogan's Alley-type course can be set up using mannequins, targets taped to walls, or cardboard boxes with the limits set only by your imagination. Hits can be documented by perforations in the paper or cardboard targets, or using Shoot-N-See self-adhesive targets by Birchwood Casey. Due to the low cost and easy set-up, multiple scenarios can be run quickly for maximum training value. Clean-up is easy, using a broom or shop vac.
Final Shots
While at this year's ASLET convention in Albuquerque, I attended an excellent Airsoft program conducted by members of the Seattle Police Department. Seattle PD, after training with Rich Daniels, has put all their officers through an intensive and excellent Airsoft program, and although we only got to conduct only a portion of that training, it was an intense and highly worthwhile training experience.
Airsoft is not meant to replace live fire by any stretch, but dynamic and realistic training can be conducted with this technology that was not possible before, without high costs. This can provide training opportunities for agencies on a budget or with limited range access.
Check out the sources listed below and take a serious look at Airsoft technologies for yourself or your agency. Regardless of how many range visits your agency allows a year, it is never enough. Airsoft can provide the opportunity to hone and maintain firearms skills, and provide the chance for repetitions that weren't possible before. Not a toy, Airsoft can give you the survival advantage.
Web Links:
Feet Fist Knife Gun
Paladin Press
Airsoft Atlanta
21st Century Airsoft
Advanced Tactical Concepts

Kevin Davis is a full-time officer assigned to the training bureau where he specializes in use of force, firearms and tactical training. With over 23 years in law enforcement, his previous experience includes patrol, corrections, narcotics and he is a former team leader and lead instructor for his agency's SWAT team with over 500 call-outs in tactical operations.
Printable version may be for personal use only. Content may not be duplicated, re-used or otherwise replicated without expressed, written consent from Officer.com and/or the original author/source.
Visit Officer.com daily for the latest industry news, commentary, features and more.

That's about it. Feel free to post more articles, comments or questions.

-Wyat

as i always say, HOLY BALLS thats quite a lot of information there wow

Yep. I'm going to pick and choose the right stuff for the presentation.