A Complementary Effort

Written by Marty Kauchak

SOTECH 2010 Volume: 8 Issue: 2 (March)

 

The U.S. DoD’s special forces community gains efficiencies from using private sector training facilities and receiving industry-delivered instruction. Instruction and facilities made available to SOF under outsourced agreements continue to complement department-provided core mission training. At the same time, new business opportunities for outsourced training are on the horizon for industry vendors.

FACILITIES AND COURSES

Private sector ranges available to the department support training readiness capabilities in off-road driving, IED training and other missions. In an evolving trend, many of these venues are being designed to support multi-mission scenarios in the air, land and maritime domains.

ISI Training Center has trained U.S. SOF from the SEAL community, AFSOC and SOCOM.

Some of ISI’s courses may be similar in name to those offered by the U.S. DoD, but with a twist—they are based on decades of Israeli experience and employ new techniques that U.S. teams may not have otherwise been exposed to. “Over and over, we receive feedback that our training complements their U.S. training, and that the units feel the addition of new techniques and perspective increases their survivability and effectiveness in a combat environment,” Hanan Yadin, president ISI, told SOTECH.

Entry tactics and IED training are two of the military skill sets taught by the operationally-experienced staff.

“U.S. SOF tends to storm buildings in a stack formation, which at times can be extremely dangerous due to booby traps. The extensive experience our Israeli instructors have in this area allows us to teach them alternative tactics on how to quickly check the door and have speedy, smooth and safe entry,” pointed out Yadin.

Lessons learned from the Israeli military’s decades of research into IED disarming techniques are included in the training center’s courses. “Breakthroughs in this arena have led to the creation of lightweight and miniaturized gear for our special forces,” said Yadin, and noted, “This gear is widely used by Israeli SOF and counterterror units. One of ISI’s instructors was the inventor of this gear, which he created based his own personal experience and difficulty in the field. This gear enables combatants to wear tools on the body, forearms and vest, leaving the hands free. The result is the capability to disarm several IEDs at once, thereby saving critical time and increasing safety.”

A short list of courses offered at the San Antonio-based facility includes Urban Small Arms Team Tactics, Strike Team Tactics, Krav Maga and ATV Recon.

ISI has access to a state-of-the-art MOUT center. The facility is fully equipped with world class technology that provides specials effects, including noises (street market and battlefield), smells, burned and decomposing bodies and the like, to create an integrated and realistic live training environment. “This construct allows the combatant to experience a range of scenarios and conditions in a safe environment prior to being exposed to such factors in combat. The facility is capable of handling 54 operators and is also equipped with CCTV and an after action review capability,” said Yadin. International Training, Inc. (ITI) has facilities in Virginia and Texas available to the community, and provides unspecified training to SOF units from different service components.

The geography and infrastructure of ITI’s 900-acre Virginia site provides a compelling case for the department to look to this and similar private sector facilities—as it is accessible by air, land or water, and has a 5,000-foot active regional airport and a parachute drop zone. Such a venue may support multi-mission scenarios and challenging unit training.

The West Point, VA campus includes firearms ranges with a .308-caliber capable ballistic shoot house with about 3,400-square feet of training space. To prepare drivers for off-road contingencies or operations, the Virginia campus has two courses (1.0 and 1.3 miles in length) which support on and off-road, hands-on, driving instruction for four-wheel vehicles. The West Point venue also has a simulated urban exercise area.

Lamar Tooke, vice president at ITI’s West Point, facility, noted that “SOF would be interested in the various driving and firearms courses offered at ITI. On occasion, some special mission personnel may require coursework for various security operations missions.” In fact, the company’s core courses teach and refresh driver and firearms skills. ITI also provides instruction in tactical courses (tactical teams combative integration and others), combative skills (personal combative skills and others) and security operations (personnel threat analysis and others).

Asked to describe how ITI’s training has evolved to include lessons learned from the Afghanistan theater, Tooke responded, “Driving surfaces and some vehicle changes have been made to reflect conditions found there. Scenarios and the role players/appearance have adjusted to this nation and weapons have been upgraded to account for what SOF units may be using.”

Similar courses of instruction and other training infrastructure are available at ITI’s 280-acre facility, 60 miles south of San Antonio, Texas.

ONS21 Security Service’s training facility is on approximately 200 acres located west of Dallas, Texas. Richard “Ricko” Brion, project manager for ONS21, pointed out the facility’s features include: training lake and range for waterborne training to include waterborne insertion tactics and helicopter underwater egress training (HUET); 400 yd KD (target) range; close quarter training house; 30-person handgun range; vehicle driving range; helicopter operations training area; and a capability to support force-on-force, integrated training exercises.

The ONS21 facility allows its staff to quickly tailor its course offerings to meet the direct needs of the client. “Each operational unit is different with different needs and requirements; therefore we work with each client to ensure that training is designed with their use of the tactics in mind. There should not be a one size fits all method to tactical training,” Brion said. He continued, “If a client wishes a tactical handgun and rifle course with close-quarter battle, quickshot, land navigation, rappelling and HUET in one [more inclusive] course, then that is what we can provide. If another wishes a SERE [survival, escape, resistance and evasion] training with a great degree in the change of terrain, then that is what we can provide. Additionally, as a result of our relationship with local entities, we can also offer a true urban-type driving, surveillance, and counter surveillance course.”

While ONS 21 does not presently train SOF units or individuals, the firm intends to offer its services for several upcoming training opportunities. “We are also marketing some of our courses to select units,” noted Brion.

NEW PROGRAMS AND INSTRUCTION

A number of initiatives at these centers are being planned or are under way.

In 2010, ISI will offer training for the “invisible unit.” Yadin pointed out that this course is highly relevant for SOF. “It teaches in-depth methods which allow units to blend into any culture and act independently to collect intelligence, disrupt and thwart enemy organizations, and neutralize their abilities to execute their operations when they are still in the planning stage,” he said. Units will be able to locate and go after the leaders by merging and becoming “a local.” Yadin added, “In particular, our course teaches understanding cultural threats, the echelon of the local street, identification of the local circles of influence, and how to read signs, including body language and nuances of communication in the local environments. It also includes language skills and specifics such as, ‘Does the enemy use women, children or the elderly in their operations?’ This is very detailed, right down to designing clothes that exactly match the local attire.”

ISI is also offering its new advanced Field Operator and Evaluator course for SOF Intelligence units.

ITI’s Tooke pointed out that an expansion of some training support is underway to assist with all clients. “Coursework projections under consideration include expanded medical courses and continuous scenario capabilities that begin at day one and continue throughout training, rather than culminating at the end of training,” he added.

For its part, ONS21 is working on designing a new type of survival training that will take recent lessons learned and incorporate them into a better practical exercise.

DOWNRANGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR VENDORS

The SOF community is examining an increasing number of outsourced training opportunities through requests for information (RFIs), -proposals (RFPs) and other contract vehicles. These efforts will support industry’s ability to deliver additional training to the SOF community for specialized individual and unit training requirements. Of note is the scope and breadth of training opportunities being entrusted to the private sector.

This January, the United States Army Special Operations Command, on behalf of Special Warfare Center and School, received inputs for an RFI to identify vendors capable of providing contractor support for the administration, execution, and instruction of U.S. military personnel, allied forces personnel and other government participants in the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Level C Wartime and Peacetime Government Detention and Hostage Detention courses.

The anticipated period of performance is a base year with four one-year options.

Umetria Thomas, a contracting spokesperson at USASOC headquarters, told SOTECH the RFI was posted for market research purposes only. “The results of the market research will not be released outside of the government and at this time, no information is available for release. Should a competitive solicitation be developed, it will be posted to the federal business opportunities Website, “he said.

Also in January, USASOC completed a combined synopsis and solicitation to support the command’s new multipurpose canine program utilizing specially trained canines to support its mission. To sustain this program, the command requires a contractor with the capability of providing a SOF Multi-Purpose Canine Handlers Course utilizing the latest practices in the canine community. No details were available on the next step in the process.

Another outsourced effort has NAVSOC’s contracting office providing oversight for an RFP for training support for prisoner control and close quarter skills (solicitation number: H92240-10-R-0008). As this issue was being published, the fedbizopps.gov Website indicated, “Due to recently identified changes necessary to its requirements, the government anticipates that this solicitation will be modified considerably in the very near future. The government will extend the due date for the solicitation at that time.”

Progress is being made to provide training through the AFSOCled Air Force Combatives Program (AFCP). In late 2008, the U.S. Air Force convened a working group to define the content of an AFCP. The intent was to develop a program similar to the Modern Army Combatives Program.

In September 2009, an RFP to advance the program was issued under solicitation number F2F2029132A002. As this issue was being published, six vendors had responded to the RFP. Five of the vendors included Cyber Domain Consulting Group Inc., Rein Worldwide Inc., The Academy of Martial Arts LLC, Critical Solutions Provide LLC and Protective Services Training Consultants LLC.

Hakim Isler, president, Elite Guard LLC, also responded to the RFP. Isler, who developed his martial arts proficiency serving four years in a special operations component and in other follow-on positions, noted that while his company does not support any SOF contracts, it does have a number of contracts to deliver training to the law enforcement community. “I am currently in the process of writing a four-hour block of instruction for the SWAT course for the state justice academy to be taught to all SWAT [personnel] in North Carolina. I am also bidding on two contract proposals that will result in delivering training to SEALs in hand-to-hand combat and some PsyOps soldiers at Fort Bragg,” Isler told SOTECH.

And in December 2009, Naval Special Warfare Group- 4 (NSWG- 4) issued a combined synopsis and solicitation for its special boat team members to receive operator and maintainer training on the Aqua Wasp Unmanned Aircraft System. The system is presently deployed with operators.

UAV Communications Inc., ITA International LLC, and The Academy of Martial Studies LLC responded to the solicitation. ♦

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