I just finished teaching at the TTPOA conference, Texas Tactical Police Officers Association in Dallas, Texas. The conference included two days of vendor displays and a week of tactical training. The vendor section was huge, rivaling anything in the US as tactical conventions go.
I had two, one day session of pistol training on the range. The topic that I attacked was Stress Shooting, the crux of which was forcing shooters into stress, either by time or target design. Shooters were working against the timer on every drill. Shooters had to achieve second sight picture, trigger control, scan and check their six on every drill or making the time and getting the hit didn’t count.
We moved to some drills that I learned from attending a Larry Vickers class and on to Center Mass Targets that I designed. These targets had clothing on them and a center kill zone that was 4X18 inches wide. If you didn’t hit the kill zone the target didn’t fold in half and go away. Oh I forgot to mention that you were standing in a rectangular box with a moving target that you had to dodge, if it touched you time ended.
These guys were squared away guys and most didn’t have any difficulty performing to the standards. What was interesting is that on Sunday’s class we had a dramatic change in weather. When I arrived to set targets at 6:30am it was seventy degrees, by 8:00am it had dropped into the low 50’s and started raining.
About 30 percent of the class had any type of rain gear with them. That meant that by noon they were standing around shivering with steam rising off their bodies. What rain gear was present was a mixture of poncho’s, Wal-Mart plastic rain suits and some waist length rain gear.
Don’t get me wrong, for years I was in the same boat. Getting on SWAT in 1982, I was handed a Vietnam era poncho, harvested from the local Army Navy Store that smelled like vomit. It covered all your equipment and the sides leaked like crazy. Most guys couldn’t get by the smell and just got wet and cold.
Flash forward 30 years and we are in the same boat. If they have it, yes some have good gear but they are in the minority, but most are still in the seventies with rain gear. Everything else from sights to weapons to vests has evolved, but not rain gear.
Rain gear seems to be the last bastion of the 70’s still in Law Enforcement. An advanced setup seems to be Military reject Gore-Tex from the Army Navy Store, turned in because it started leaking 20 minute into the rain storm. If I handed a guy a weapon with the flash light duck taped to the fore end, they would laugh at me, not so with shitty rain gear. If I’m a bad guy, or a good guy for that matter that wants to move undetected, I will move in bad weather. The rain will cover the sound of my movement and my adversary will be cold and fatigued by the rain, not me. What’s the point of all this high speed gear when the operator can’t function because he has hyperthermia?
What makes good rain gear, obviously the ability to keep out rain, but also does the material breath and is it practical. I want the rain to stay out in all position. I want pockets where I need them not where someone else decides, and I want it to last.
I don’t sell gear, but I do recognize good stuff when I see it. During the down time at the conference I walked by a vendor selling Gore-Tex rain gear. It was Stormforce, by Watershed an American manufactured rain suit that had quality written all over it. This Gore-Tex is three layer material, fully seam sealed and totally water and windproof. They carry custom rain gear from Patrol style to SWAT. This gear can be custom design from pockets, to abrasion resistant fronts on the pants, and they have 10 different colors to choose from. The factory sells gear that they stand behind and will repair when issues come up, rips tears can all be repaired at the factory, for a reasonable fee.
My first flash light on my Vietnam era M-16 was a SL-20 which weighed 1.5 pounds mounted with worm clamps that was great for tearing your knuckles. Flash forward 30 years the gun has changed but the rain gear is the same or nonexistent, not me….
If you want to look at great gear check out Stormforce, by Watershed, 800-848-8092
Watershed
2895 Valpak rd, NE
Salem, Oregon 97301
I had two, one day session of pistol training on the range. The topic that I attacked was Stress Shooting, the crux of which was forcing shooters into stress, either by time or target design. Shooters were working against the timer on every drill. Shooters had to achieve second sight picture, trigger control, scan and check their six on every drill or making the time and getting the hit didn’t count.
We moved to some drills that I learned from attending a Larry Vickers class and on to Center Mass Targets that I designed. These targets had clothing on them and a center kill zone that was 4X18 inches wide. If you didn’t hit the kill zone the target didn’t fold in half and go away. Oh I forgot to mention that you were standing in a rectangular box with a moving target that you had to dodge, if it touched you time ended.
These guys were squared away guys and most didn’t have any difficulty performing to the standards. What was interesting is that on Sunday’s class we had a dramatic change in weather. When I arrived to set targets at 6:30am it was seventy degrees, by 8:00am it had dropped into the low 50’s and started raining.
About 30 percent of the class had any type of rain gear with them. That meant that by noon they were standing around shivering with steam rising off their bodies. What rain gear was present was a mixture of poncho’s, Wal-Mart plastic rain suits and some waist length rain gear.
Don’t get me wrong, for years I was in the same boat. Getting on SWAT in 1982, I was handed a Vietnam era poncho, harvested from the local Army Navy Store that smelled like vomit. It covered all your equipment and the sides leaked like crazy. Most guys couldn’t get by the smell and just got wet and cold.
Flash forward 30 years and we are in the same boat. If they have it, yes some have good gear but they are in the minority, but most are still in the seventies with rain gear. Everything else from sights to weapons to vests has evolved, but not rain gear.
Rain gear seems to be the last bastion of the 70’s still in Law Enforcement. An advanced setup seems to be Military reject Gore-Tex from the Army Navy Store, turned in because it started leaking 20 minute into the rain storm. If I handed a guy a weapon with the flash light duck taped to the fore end, they would laugh at me, not so with shitty rain gear. If I’m a bad guy, or a good guy for that matter that wants to move undetected, I will move in bad weather. The rain will cover the sound of my movement and my adversary will be cold and fatigued by the rain, not me. What’s the point of all this high speed gear when the operator can’t function because he has hyperthermia?
What makes good rain gear, obviously the ability to keep out rain, but also does the material breath and is it practical. I want the rain to stay out in all position. I want pockets where I need them not where someone else decides, and I want it to last.
I don’t sell gear, but I do recognize good stuff when I see it. During the down time at the conference I walked by a vendor selling Gore-Tex rain gear. It was Stormforce, by Watershed an American manufactured rain suit that had quality written all over it. This Gore-Tex is three layer material, fully seam sealed and totally water and windproof. They carry custom rain gear from Patrol style to SWAT. This gear can be custom design from pockets, to abrasion resistant fronts on the pants, and they have 10 different colors to choose from. The factory sells gear that they stand behind and will repair when issues come up, rips tears can all be repaired at the factory, for a reasonable fee.
My first flash light on my Vietnam era M-16 was a SL-20 which weighed 1.5 pounds mounted with worm clamps that was great for tearing your knuckles. Flash forward 30 years the gun has changed but the rain gear is the same or nonexistent, not me….
If you want to look at great gear check out Stormforce, by Watershed, 800-848-8092
Watershed
2895 Valpak rd, NE
Salem, Oregon 97301
