Lackland AFB Tackles Challenges of Establishing Joint Training Effort

February 26, 2007 

As the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces look for improved ways to execute their missions in the evolving Global War on Terrorism, the need for inter-service training standards continues to emerge as a vital step towards establishing a foundation for success. On February 21-22, Controlled F.O.R.C.E. met with U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Marine detachments at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to discuss training issues faced by our modern fighting forces.

Controlled F.O.R.C.E., at the request of SSgt David Silberman, Law Enforcement Operations Instructor with the 37th Security Forces Training Section, came to Lackland to review the training programs there in place, and to discuss the necessities and pathways for establishing an inter-service training standard and the challenges inherent in such an effort.

Upon arrival at Lackland AFB, Controlled F.O.R.C.E. Directors and Chief International Instructors Tony Grano and Don Roberts reviewed a Naval training exercise in-progress Wednesday afternoon. The Sailors in training immediately recognized Mr. Grano and Mr. Roberts from the CD support manuals they had previously been issued to accompany prior Controlled F.O.R.C.E. training. Seizing the opportunity to utilize the expertise of Grano and Roberts, the Navy requested an impromptu class evaluation. The two instructors spent an hour running the Sailors through Body Positioning Drills and Mechanical Advantage Control Holds™ (M.A.C.H.) with takedown techniques. The Controlled F.O.R.C.E. Instructors and the Navy trainees were mutually impressed with the results, and Grano assessed the class performance as outstanding.

“The only aspect missing from this current training,” states Grano, “is the drill enhancements for maintaining perishable skills.” Controlled F.O.R.C.E. is working with the Interservice Nonlethal Individual Weapons Instructor Course (INIWIC) operated by the United States Marine Corps detachment at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri to update their curriculum with these drill enhancements. INIWIC represents the DoD minimum training standards to be included in developing NLW and tactics instructors, and is the basis of Lackland’s joint training effort. “The Navy and Marines here at Lackland,” adds Roberts, “are clearly on the right path to integrating the INIWIC blueprint into a true joint training effort.”

On Thursday morning, the Controlled F.O.R.C.E. Team met with the Inter-American Air Forces Academy Instructors of the International Force Protection Training Flight. Grano and Roberts, joined by Controlled F.O.R.C.E. Master Instructor Heath Jackson, provided a brief hands-on demo of the Mechanical Advantage Subject Control system to these instructors. The Air Force Instructors could not believe how fast the techniques were being taught to them, and were amazed at the amount of content they had acquired in such a short period of time.

Next, SSgt Silberman brought in a group of about 40 Airmen for a mini-training session. The Controlled F.O.R.C.E. Team ran this group through an hour and a half crash course with immediate results. The trainees’ gained an understanding of body movement and leverage along with new skills for manipulating a non-compliant subject’s resistance, giving the Airmen the ability to better control of themselves as well as control the combatant or aggressor in a non-compliant operating environment.

All of these hands-on training engagements culminated on Thursday afternoon in a meeting with Air Force Security Forces Instructors and a group of Marines. Grano and Roberts, talked with these groups about training issues relating to force readiness and pre-deployment preparation. “Its becoming increasingly clear in today’s military,” notes Silberman, “that the lack of any common training standard between and within the services is an unnecessary drain on organic resources.” Both of these groups are looking to Controlled F.O.R.C.E., which is the basis of the Close Range Subject Control Techniques core curriculum category of INIWIC, to help them achieve their goals of establishing a joint training effort for inter-service standardized non-lethal training that will help them achieve long-term mission success. “After all,” Silberman concludes, “we are all down range together; we should be training together.”

Controlled F.O.R.C.E. Instructors Tony Grano (far left), Heath Jackson (bottom row, second from left),
and Don Roberts (far right) with SSgt Silberman (bottom row, far left) and Air Force group at Lackland AFB.