Thoughts
from a First Time Practitioner-NTI XIV
By:
Anonymous
Every year, for
the past fourteen years, there has been an event that can best be
described as a tactical workshop. It's not a shooting event, though
there is shooting. It's not a convention, though there are seminars
and meetings. It is also not a match, really, even though there is
judging and the top performers are recognized. Just what is the NTI
then? The answers (and a lot of other useful information) can be
found at
http://www.teddytactical.com/FAQ.html, but to summarize NTI
stands for National Tactical Invitational. It is described as a
test of the participant's (referred to as a practitioner) tactical
skills and equipment. The group that puts on the NTI is called ATSA
(American Tactical Shooting Association). The reader can consult
the web site if they desire further information on this.
So, what would
bring this "first timer" to the NTI? A good friend had been telling
me about the NTI for several years now. Since it was a test of the
practitioner's tactical skills and equipment, this was perfect.
After a fair amount of training, and practice, and fiddling with
equipment, and reading, I had adopted a strategy for personal
defense. Of course, a holster and weapon had been settled on. A
mode of dress was adopted to facilitate concealment. Training
classes had bestowed the knowledge to operate the weapon of choice.
The concept of moving and checking six had been conveyed. Last, but
certainly not least, the concept and importance of mindset and
awareness of surroundings were digested. All of this, and more
importantly myself, was largely untested. How would the whole
package perform under stress? Not being a fan of bad neighborhoods,
bars, or courtrooms, the NTI sounded like a good way to find out the
answer to this question.
For the sake of
discussion, the event can be broken down into six segments. ATSA
Village, shoot houses, force on force scenarios, seminars,
debriefing, and banquet. Practitioners are grouped into groups of
four to six. This makes up a squad. One squad at a time enters
ATSA village (or just "the village").
The village is a
mocked up city in which force on force exercises are held. The
practitioner actually interacts with the role players. There is a
cafe, bank, attorney’s office, gas station, ATM, elevator, office
buildings, check cashing place, etc. There are role players in the
village. They actually do quite a good job playing the part of
irate motorists, jealous and violent lovers (and ex-lovers),
panhandlers, armed robbers, etc. They do an equally good job
playing benign characters like an attorney, sheriff, average
citizens on the street, etc. The practitioner is given various
tasks to perform in the village (go cash a check or go fill your car
up with gas). Practitioners are armed with a “J frame” revolver
loaded with simunitions rounds after being thoroughly searched and
divested of any real weapons. Just like real life, the goal here is
to get through the various tasks without having to deploy the
weapon. It is possible to achieve this if you are very alert and
have thought ahead of time how you might handle various situations.
This practitioner made some blunders, but the village is the place
to make them, the street is not. I was also pleased that some of
the tactics I had planned to use in various situations panned out.
The village is a huge learning experience that cannot be found just
anywhere. The scenarios are thoughtfully devised to bring to light
certain teaching points. To summarize, the village must have been a
huge production to plan, script, and implement, but an invaluable
learning aid for the practitioners.
The shoot houses
are just what they sound like. Various mocked up
structures/scenarios in which the practitioner must navigate and
complete a set task. The practitioner is briefed on this task at
the beginning of each house. A judge and a range officer stick to
the shooter like glue as they solve the problem, but are skilled
enough to not get in the way. It is very impressive. What struck
me most about these exercises, on a personal level, was the relative
breakdown of my square range training. Moving and shooting and
moving some more are good things if you need to shoot. Pretty much
everyone knows this. Some of us even practice it at the range.
It's a whole different story when you're in a confining hallway or
you're not sure where to move since there are so many doors and
windows that you haven't investigated yet! Well, this is a
deficiency that was brought to light that I really need to work on.
Clearing a building is another thing that is probably foreign to
many new practitioners. If you ever need to do it for real, it had
better not be your first time. The targets were pretty easy meat
(i.e. the ranges were short and they were square to the
practitioner) for the most part. If you shoot much at all, then the
square range is sufficient practice for this aspect. Of course you
do need to hit, so it's not a trivial part of the equation, just one
that square range training can address. It should also be noted
that the targets were not simple, flat, paper affairs. They were
three dimensional, humanoid, targets. Ancillary hits would not
neutralize the targets. They are designed such that a good, solid,
centerline hit was necessary to make them fall down (neutralize
them). In some cases a head shot was required. The targets were
fully clothed, so it was pointless to look for hits (not that you
should anyhow). After the practitioner completed a shoot house, the
judge would review it with them and usually offer helpful tips (at
least to this first timer). This is just another benefit and
example of how this event is such a huge learning experience.
On the last day
(Saturday) there are more force-on-force scenarios. Two scenarios
took place in two of the shoot houses with “sterilized” (sims only)
participants. This year it was pretty cool (50s?) and very wet out
(raining). When using sims, face shields must be worn for obvious
reasons. A nuisance on the best of days, they became quite a thorn
in ones side on a cold, rainy day. With fog from the wearer's
breath, and raindrops all over them, visibility was less than
optimal. I mention this not to complain (especially since rule
three of the NTI is no whining or sniveling) but to point out that
it actually enhanced the realism in my opinion. Many self-defense
episodes occur in low light and less than favorable conditions. We
all like to go to the range when it is 70-80 degrees out and sunny.
This is not the best preparation for a low light encounter however.
Rapidly unfolding, unpleasant, events are challenging enough to keep
track of in ideal conditions. It gets rapidly worse when visibility
is reduced. This was a stark learning point on that cold, rainy,
morning. I made blunders I know not to make. I feel I would not
have made them in better conditions. Is that an excuse? Not at
all, it points out yet another hole in most training. Just like in
ATSA village, the scenarios had good teaching points and the role
players did a great job of bringing them out.
Each year there
are usually some big names from the training/firearms world at the
NTI who give seminars. This year was no exception. Participants
could attend lectures by George Demetriou (Modern Warrior), John
Farnham (DTI, Inc.), Jeff Gonzales (Trident Concepts Research
Group), Tom Givens (RangeMaster), Vicki Farnham (DTI, Inc.), and
Peter Pi (Pres./CEO-CorBon). They usually repeat most of the
seminars on different days to facilitate all the shooters. Each of
these presenters gave very good presentations on topics that ranged
from openhanded defensive techniques, firearms training for women
and self-defense. There is much to be learned at the lectures and
they are excellent filler for down time when the practitioner is not
shooting. Luckily, the hotel (where the lectures are given) is only
about a 10-minute drive from the range. Ten minutes once you figure
out the maze-like roads of that region that is!
On Saturday
afternoon a debriefing is held. All of the judges at the different
stages (the village, the shoot houses, and force on force) confer
and come up with common mistakes, exceptional efforts, and other
points of interest for the various stages. This is presented to all
of the practitioners by the judges in an orderly manner. Some
discussion takes place during this and it is a hugely educational
segment of the event. It also makes the practitioner realize that
they may not be the only one who made a certain mistake.
Following the
debriefing, there is a banquet. It is the final event and many
people dress up for this. It's a nice dinner and the top
practitioners are recognized. They do not get a trophy, or any
other token, but they do get their names mentioned. They are the
“unconsciously competent” of the 50 practitioners. There were seven
this year, and that is more than usual I understand. These
practitioners are singled out by the judges, using a scoring system
that is not divulged to the participants. This, in my opinion, is a
good thing as it discourages gaming.
The NTI is a very
good test of an individual's tactical preparedness. It incorporates
tactics with shooting quite successfully. It also provides ample
opportunity for real learning through seminars, individual feedback,
and the group debriefing. It shows, glaringly, training
deficiencies, which can quite often be a lack of transference of
square range skills to a street (or structure) environment. It is
put on by a dedicated group of folks that were friendly, helpful,
and courteous to a man or woman. They definitely went the extra
mile to optimize every aspect of the event for maximum learning.
Personally, it was
some of the best training effort (time and money) I have ever
expended and I hope to be able to attend many more NTIs.
