Warning: long post.
Note: I did not confirm that all of my links still work. So if something is broken, I apologize.
Several threads here reference arming school staff. The need for training has been emphasized. Below is a summary of training notes from FASTER Level I. These notes will be in summary form. The instructors who lead this training emphasize the necessity of keeping information confidential inasmuch as assailants often do their homework.
Prior to taking FASTER Level I, the student must meet two main criteria. #1. They must have their concealed weapons permit. (In Ohio, where FASTER was founded, there is a training requirement.) #2. They must take a Primer course offered by FASTER. There are no notes on the Primer class below as it is all range time with little opportunity to take detailed notes. But you learn the basics: dominant eye, loading, unloading, sight alignment, trigger press, etc. Primer ends up with taking the FASTER version of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy qualification. Primer is a one-day course of approximately 8 hours.
Below is a summary of the FASTER Level 1 class.
Videos of the Class
The links below will take you to news clips that show video of the facilities, instructors and training.
Local 12 news video (time 2:06). Most of this video is class video.
PBS news video of class as well as those opposed to arming teachers (time 8:41). This shows a decent amount of footage of the class.
The Daily Signal (time 3:14). This is a discussion of the rationale for the class by a group in Colorado.
Overview of Instructors
FASTER stands for Faculty Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response. This is a non-profit organization overseen by the Buckeye Firearms Association. Cost of the course and lodging is $1,500. Buckeye provides grants to certain participants under certain circumstances.
FASTER outsources their training to two trainers: Tactical Defense Institute (TDI) and Chris Cerino. I trained with TDI. (I donât believe Cerino trains anymore, but his partner has taken over, I believe.)
Tactical Defense Institute is owned and operated by John Benner. I can no longer find the bio page on their website. In summary, the trainers oincluded retired/former SWAT, two doctorate degrees (one of whom is a retired school administrator the other a college economics professor), a retired Air Force airman, EMTâs, and at least one active member of the law enforcement community. The two primary instructors were John Benner and Forest Sonewald. John has 25 years of SWAT experience with most of those as commander. Forest spent 7 years on a SWAT team, has a 23 year LEO career, and an extensive background in martial arts.
Some might assert that only those with law enforcement or military experience should be allowed to be armed at schools. The response is that the individuals leading this class (several of whom have military and/or LEO experience) believe that civilians can be sufficiently trained to respond to active killer scenarios. Additionally, class participants include former and active members of the law enforcement and military community. They apparently felt it necessary to receive this training even with their law enforcement background and did not seem opposed to interact with those outside of the military and law enforcement community. Futhermore, the goal of FASTER training is to have multiple staff members armed in each school. Their belief is that one armed school resource officer (SRO) is insufficient. They are in favor of arming staff in addition to SROâs.
There were approximately 22 students and 10 instructors. Each instructor addressed each student multiple times over the course of the three days giving each student multiple perspectives over the duration of the course. Each student received an enormous amount of individualized coaching, instruction, and critique.
Overview of Participants
Participants in the class included two principals, two school resource officers, one law enforcement officer, an Air National Guard chaplain, a non-school civilian, a facilities and transportation director, and teachers across multiple grade levels and subject areas. At least two school personnel had military and/or law enforcement experience in their background (one school administrator spent 10 years in the Navy and served as a K-9 handler in a law enforcement agency).
These participants ranged in ability levels from one gentlemen who did not pass the qualification at the end of the class to many who shot a perfect score on their first attempt. Several individuals were very proficient at the beginning of the class, others less so.
Summary of Each Day of the Class
Monday 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday morning began with an overview and history of active assailant/active shooter incidents. This included short case studies of Columbine, VA Tech, Sandy Hook, Parkland, etc. It also included the threat of terrorism. A âCubs of the Caliphateâ ISIS video was shown. This video surpasses any level of disturbing content I have ever viewed. In this video, children as young as early teens are shown utilizing âtacticsâ moving through an abandoned building executing men whose hands are tied. The gore of the executions are fully displayed as is the desperation of the captives as they plead for their lives and are mercilessly killed. The trainer returned to the front of the class and asked, âWhen will one of these teenagers slip across the border and enroll in your school?â One student decided that this wasnât for him and quit the class on the first day.
The balance of Monday morning was spent dry firing. The basics of proper grip, stance, sight picture, follow through, etc. were taught. Throughout the week topics were introduced via dry fire before live ammo was used.
Monday afternoon began live fire exercises at five dot paper targets. Different drills were assigned for each of the five dots.
Later in the afternoon we transitioned to steel targets.
Tuesday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday and Wednesday began with each student shooting with an instructor in front of the group. You were instructed to shoot one round from any distance on the range you liked, but you must guarantee that you can hit the target. This was done in front of the entire class and all of the instructors in order to place heightened pressure on the participant. Often times the instructors would tell you things such as, âMy grandaughter is behind those targets. If you miss, you kill her.â Instructors strove to instil a level of sobriety in the students regarding hitting innocent students if you miss your shot.
Topics covered on Tuesday included clearing malfunctions, moving while shooting (walking forward, sideways, and backwards), and âdippingâ the gun while moving through crowds (so as to not âmuzzleâ other people). Tuesday afternoon was spent in two live fire houses. In the live fire houses we were taught how to move through a building quickly, yet carefully in order to seek out an active shooter. We were taught how to move and/or push through crowds while retaining our firearm. The reality is that you may not be able to move through the crowd and that you might have to wait until the masses have exited a certain area before you can respond to an active assailant. This may result in additional victims being shot. But you cannot respond if you get trampled to death by stampeeding students on the way to the threat.
Three different scenarios were set up inside the live fire houses where we had to move through the building with two instructors and live ammo shooting paper targets with both assailants and innocents pictured. We had to seek out the threat, not shoot innocents, and use the tactics we were taught to move through doorways, etc. We were taught that you cannot move faster than you can process the information that you see (i.e. donât shoot the wrong person and donât run past the bad guy with the gun). The instructors then debriefed with us after we ran the scenario and critiqued our technique. Mistakes were corrected and parts of the course were re-run as necessary.
Tuseday 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Tuesday evening was three hours of medical training taught by two EMTâs. (This part of the course was written/reviewed by a doctor.) Topics covered included application of tourniquets, wound packing, chest seals, and nasopharyngeal airways. We were taught why these worked and when and how to use them. We practiced applying the two tourniquets approved for use by the military. We also used improvised tourniquets.
During this course we were issued a classroom trauma kit. This is an $80 value. The take away from this part of the course is the fact that medical care will come only after law enforcement has secured the building. At Sandy Hook the first EMTâs entered the building 45 minutes after the shooting started. Kids bleed to death in that amount of time from what would otherwise have been surviveable wounds.
Wednesday 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wednesdayâs training included weapon retention. That is, what to do if a student or an assailant grabs your gun. We used life-sized plastic guns and practiced these drills. I went one-on-one with one of the school resource officers.
Much of Wednesday was âForce on Forceâ scenarios using high end air soft guns. We ran multiple scenarios in two different facilities. (Please note that at least two of these scenarios are âno shootâ scenarios if played correctly. We were taught not to automatically assume you have to shoot.) Each scenario became increasingly more difficult. Each student was the responder in two scenarios. Students also played the role of the assailant, victims, and innocent bystanders. Responders were not told what they were walking into except in the vaguest of terms.
Scenario #1. Active shooter in the library. Students were milling around and a gunman opens fire. The responder has to enter the classroom and shoot the assaialant without hitting any innocents.
Scenario #2. Active shooter in the library has now committed suicide and is on the floor. A student picks up the gun and is holding it by the muzzle when the responder walks in. Responder has to a) realize the student is not threatening anyone and not shoot him and b) secure the weapon from the student.
Scenario #3. Non-custodial parent comes to school to pick up child. Receptionist refuses to dismiss the student due to court order. The âprincipalâ hears the altercation from his office. Must discern that he needs to leave his office and respond. If he delays responding he arrives just as the receptionist is shot. He must shoot the assailant before he is shot himself and before the assailant moves to a group of students waiting between the receptionist and the principalâs office.
Scenario #4. Disturbance in an upstairs room. The responder must navigate the stairs and hallway and arrives to see a room full of people with two in particular in a heated argument. Everyone in the room is chaotically yelling. There is a handgun on the table. The respondent has to recognize the weapon, secure it and attempt to de-escalate the argument. Delaying entry into the room results in the assailant picking up the pistol and opening fire. The responder then has to shoot the assailant.
The second set of scenarios ratcheted up the response by forcing the responder to not only deal with the threat, but also deal with the aftermath. We were taught ESNP: Eliminate the threat; Secure the weapon, students, and area; Notify law enforcement; and Provide medical attention. At each stage the trainers would ask âhow?â How are you going to secure the weapon? What are you going to tell law enforcement? How are you going to treat these particular woundsâ This lasts step was meant to incorporate the medical training from the night before. At times the instructors would refuse your answer. For example, you would say, âIâm going to apply a tourniquet.â The instructor would respond with, âYou donât have a tourniquet. How are you going to improvise one?â In one scenario a plastic bag of gummy bears and duct tape was used to improvise a chest seal. Later scenarios had more than one victim that needed medical treatment. You had to prioritize which victim to treat first and you had to get student role players from the class to aid you in rendering treatment. If you took too long to treat, instructors shouted at you that people were bleeding to death.
These scenarios provided stress inoculation.
Scenario #5. The responder is told there is an outdoor athletic event at the school. He arrives to see a crowd of people excitedly cheering on a sports team. Someone within the crowd begins shooting. The responder has to shoot the assailant without hitting any innocents. He then has to secure the weapon, talk through the 911 call, and treat an arterial leg bleed and an oozing arm wound.
Scenario #6. Someone begins shouting and shooting a class full of students. Three students escape the classroom and rush down the hallway. Two students are injured in two different ways each: artierial bleeds, sucking chest wounds, junctional bleeding and oozing wounds. The responder has to work his way past students running down the hallway, use appropriate tactics to move through the doorway into the classroom, shoot the assialant, secure the weapon, notify law enforcement, and âtreatâ (verbally explain how to treat) four different types of wounds on two victims.
Scenario #7. A group of students are in the hallway yelling âfight, fight, fight.â A shoving match turns into a stabbing. Students flee the area and the assailant pursues. The responder has to navigate a crowd of rushing students, percieve which student is the assailant, shoot the assailant without striking innocents, and treat knife wounds.
Scenario #8. A classroom full of students is facing away from the only entrance into the classroom. The teacher is the responder. He is facing his students and doorway. The students fill the room with minimal space between students and the walls. The assailant comes down the hallway yelling and screaming, threatening and firing his weapon. He ultimately strikes one of the students in the class. The teacher has to instruct the students to get down and seek cover. He then has to navigate past students, through a doorway, and respond to the assailant. He then secures the weapon, notifies law enforcement, and treats the wounded.
Wednesday wrapped up with each participant shooting a modified OPOTA qualification. The OPOTA qualification is the Ohio-wide qualification standard for law enforcement. The OPOTA pistol qualification course of fire can be found here. Officers are required to shoot 25 rounds and score a minimum of 80% (20 out of 25 hits).
FASTER requires 28 rounds and a score of 92% (26 out of 28 hits). Shooting stations include the following (this is not an exhaustive list): drawing and firing two rounds to the chest and one to the head; right hand only; left hand only; one handed from a retention position (high rib cage and shot without the use of your sights); shooting two rounds, reloading, and shooting two more rounds; and shoot three rounds while walking towards the target. Distance to the target ranged from 4 feet to 50 feet. In fairness, there are two differences from the standard OPOTA that are less rigorous. First, the OPOTA is timed. Second, the OPOTA requires a sidestep with each shot. During the Foundations Primer class, we were timed. All shots had to be in the light gray to count, dark gray counted 0, hits outside of the silhouette were -1.
Level II notes to followâŠ