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Cumberland Tactics: A Training Review

By: David Wildermuth

Cumberland Tactics (CT) is located in Goodlettsville, TN. and is owned and operated by Randy Cain, a long-time law enforcement officer and disciple of the world-renown Louis Awerbuck. CT can be reached at (615) 351-5243 or through their website: www.guntactics.com. A mobile training school dedicated to providing state-of-the-art instruction throughout the US, admission to a course requires a written application and a $200.00 tuition deposit.

Cain offers 3 levels of handgun, 2 levels of shotgun and 4 levels of rifle training. CT is POST approved to teach handgun, shotgun and subgun courses to law enforcement officers (LEO) and Cain can tailor courses to meet unique student requirements. Class size is limited and all students receive one-on-one instruction. Most training is 3 days in duration.

Randy Cain is a long-time police officer/deputy sheriff with extensive tactical experience. His courses are designed to encompass marksmanship, weapons manipulation, tactics & mental conditioning as they relate to the defensive use of small arms. The cornerstone of all Cumberland Tactics courses is found in the “Combat Triad”. Cain’s background is in the “Modern Technique” and he is a multiple Gunsite graduate and presently serves as a Gunsite adjunct instructor. Additionally, he’s an accomplished martial artist with over 25 years training in oriental martial arts. His mentor is Louis Awerbuck and he serves as a class coordinator for Awerbuck’s Yavapai Firearms Academy. Totally self-sufficient with respect to items required to run a course, Randy only needs an existing range, farm, ranch or rural property where a safe back-stop exists and local ordinances do not prohibit gunfire

Cain, although relaxed and quite friendly, is a no-nonsense instructor. Range time makes up 95 % of a course with detailed lectures on safety at the beginning of each session. He demonstrates drills prior to the students accomplishing them and there are sufficient repetitions of each drill for the student to become fully habituated. Following the Awerbuck model, drills are fashioned in a building-block approach and tend to become more “cerebral” as their difficulty increases. Advanced exercises require a great deal of mental concentration to properly accomplish them. Students shoot on a “hot” range and are expected to load what they shoot and to handle their own malfunctions. Verbal compliance is taught and firearms can be carried either concealed or exposed. CT employs flat and 3-dimensional targets as well as “chargers”. Cain uses his own paper target that is unique with respect to anatomical and physiological features. The bulk of handgun training is done at conversational distances with confidence-building drills done at longer ranges. Accuracy is constantly emphasized. Most courses have a night or “low light” session and students are required to demonstrate precision shooting during a 3-dimension hostage-target scenario.

Cain draws from his law enforcement background as he stresses that actions must be automatic in order to remain mentally engaged in a rapidly changing and potentially lethal environment. He emphasizes that the “reflex response” to a violent attack must be programmed through the repetition of basic drills. This is reinforced to the student through personal examples cited by Randy that have occurred during encounters with lawbreakers. Tactical awareness is constantly stressed.

Building confidence in the student’s ability to properly employ a firearm is taught through a series of tactical manipulation drills which include the drawstroke, malfunction clearances, weapon retention, shooting on the move and at moving targets and using alternative body positions. Students are introduced to basic one and two man tactics and, in more advanced courses, are taught team tactics, support-hand shooting and one-handed weapons manipulation.

Cumberland Tactics employs a variety of 3-dimensional target systems that move in a realistic manner and require “surgical” shooting to hit vital target areas. This is simultaneous with movement by the shooter as he constantly changes target angles in an attempt to reach cover or to disengage from the fight. Cain emphasizes that you are responsible for every round fired and that there must be a balance between speed and accuracy. Students having accuracy problems can expect to receive considerable attention devoted to analyzing and correcting their problems.

A graduate of the FBI Advanced SWAT Course and a long-time SWAT team member, Cain excels in the areas of single, two-man and team tactics. Tactical simulators are used for entry techniques and the proper method of flashlight searching is taught. Cain stresses that you must remain flexible in your use of tactics since your adversary can be very unpredictable.

Randy Cain excels at diagnosing student shooting problems and offering remedial instruction to correct them. In my opinion, he is second only to his long-time mentor Louis Awerbuck in this ability.

Completing the required number of training hours while demonstrating firearms safety and the ability to successfully complete the training drills will earn a training certificate from Cumberland Tactics.