Lamar Tooke
Vice President of Operations
G4S International Training Inc.

From 1966 to 1995, Lamar Tooke served in various command and staff positions of increasing responsibility in Germany, throughout the Pacific, in the Continental United States and the Republic of Vietnam. He also has served as a faculty member and academic department chairman at the U.S. Army War College. His written work related to military operations has been widely published and often translated for use in other countries.

Since 1995 he has held various positions within the training profession. He continues to serve in a training organization where he makes a contribution to the safety and tactical skills of people every day.

Q: Can you describe G4S International Training Inc.’s history and evolution?

A: G4S International Training Inc. was established in May 1989 with the express purpose of providing advanced driver training to intelligence and special operations personnel within the Department of Defense. During the 1990s, the company expanded to offer basic firearms and surveillance detection training to a broader audience within DoD. The events of September 2001 resulted in a further expansion of company capabilities within three primary skill areas—driving, for which the company is well known, firearms through an advanced level with current optics, night vision devices, etc., as well as security operations beyond surveillance detection. Coursework in threat analysis, surveillance, counter-surveillance and personal protection details were added to the offerings available from G4S ITI.

Q: Can you describe the product line focusing on the needs of the special ops warrior?

A: The most notable services provided for special operations personnel would be skill maintenance for the advanced driving techniques and methods and the need to stay sharp with their assigned weapons, primarily variations of the M4 carbine and various pistols used within the SOF community. G4S ITI organized and supports a competitive pistol team, which has performed very well at the national and international level, especially during 2011. A visit to the G4S ITI Facebook page will provide readers the details on the team. The importance to the G4S ITI firearms program is that we have learned a great deal about speed and integrating that into tactical shooting requirements and the tactical environment. It is not an “either/or” situation. Tactical and competitive skills can be brought together in a rather astounding fashion with excellent results.

Q: What is G4S International Training Inc.’s connection with the defense community?

A: G4S ITI remains a strong specialized driver training and firearms training company with connections in the intelligence and special operations organizations of DoD. We have a reputation for flexibility, quick response and attempting to understand client training needs. There is not a one course fits all approach at G4S ITI. We attempt to develop coursework that is mission-focused and purposefully designed. Understandably, there are times when clients have to withhold information that might allow us to enhance the training.

Q: What is an example of your success in the military, and what are some of your goals [specific to the special ops industry] over the next year?

A: During the height of our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, G4S ITI is very proud to have trained over 50,000 students, many of whom deployed to those countries to perform their missions in support of U.S. policy objectives. Our goal for 2012-2014 is to become an obvious choice for training in the firearms field, especially skills maintenance in a more flexible open enrollment venue, which G4S ITI does not offer today. G4S ITI is also developing coursework for those intelligence personnel who will likely not attend a SERE course, but need survival skills once detained or captured.

Q: What unique benefits does your company provide its customers in comparison with other companies in your field?

A: Flexibility in course development, the ability to reach out to many partners for specialized coursework such as advanced medical subjects and a full-time, continuously professionally developed cadre are the major benefits to our clients. Having two sites to serve the West Coast [from Texas] and the East Coast [from Virginia] is also a big advantage to our clients. Our Texas facility has great potential for additional course work.

Q: How do you measure success?

A: In the broad view, G4S ITI measures success as a business, meaning revenue generation, which very much depends on return clients. Long-term returning customers are the life of training companies and G4S ITI is no different. In day-to-day terms, G4S ITI has a very systematic quality management system based on widely accepted Kirkpatrick methods of evaluation. The company requires every student to evaluate the training they received. Those students providing an email address receive another opportunity to evaluate the training they received 6 months after they depart G4S ITI. The standard is 90 percent overall and for each of the 12 items evaluated by all students. The G4S ITI average for 2011 is over 97 percent overall with instructor related items rated even higher. G4S ITI conducts a quarterly review of its performance and each instructor is monitored for student evaluation and feedback. ♦

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