February 15, 2007
Volume 1, Issue 2

 

ITTS DVD
Order Yours Today!
Just $39.95

Highlights:

1. New Courses

2. 2007 Course
Schedule         

3-4. Scotty’s
Thoughts on
Low Level Light
Training

5. LAPD Circa
1976 - Pursuit
Driving

6. Ask Uncle Scotty

 


www.internationaltactical.com   
310-471-2029 (Office) 310-476-4158 (Fax)


Sniper/Counter Sniper Course and All Women’s Defensive Handgun the same weekend

   Our Sniper/Counter Sniper course falls on the same weekend as the All Women’s class, which will be taught by Brett. This was not by accident. Some of the guys participating in the sniper course are bringing their significant other to the All Women’s class. We strongly suggest that anyone with a firearm in the house should have all adults know how to properly and safely use that firearm. What if you’re not home during
a break in? It has happened to two of our neighbors in the past few years…one during the day and the other at 2 AM. In both cases the women were alone, which is often the case!! The All Women’s class covers safety, handgun manipulation, marksmanship, handling critical situations and decision-making skills, emergency medical procedures,
using deadly force, setting up a ‘safe’ room and much more. Students will leave the class with a better understanding of how to avoid becoming a victim and how to protect themselves and their family from a home invasion or other critical situation. Don’t wait until a problem arises.

Carbine Tactics

Our Carbine I course is as much about tactics as it is about manipulation and marksmanship. After covering all the basics, Scott moves on to using the Carbine in tactical scenarios on the high speed mover, in vehicle engagement, in low level light conditions and problem-solving. Students will engage multiple targets, hostage scenarios and barricades in a variety of shooting positions. Students will come away with a multitude of new skills in using a Carbine in tactical situations.

 

NEW COURSES COMING SOON:

April 25-29       5 Day Ultimate Tactical Course
May 18-20       Sniper/Counter Sniper Course
May 19-20       All Women’s Defensive Handgun
May 25-27       Tactical Carbine I

The Sniper/Counter Sniper Course involves shooting out to 800 yards or more. The guys here try to find their target!

ITTS MONTHLY UPDATE - PAGE 2 of 6

February 2007 Intermediate
Handgun Class


December 2006 All Womens Class


March 2007 Carbine II class
 April – September  2007 Course Schedule
April 20-22 Intermediate Handgun
Series
April 25-29 5 Day Ultimate Tactical Course
   
May 5-6 Defensive Handgun I
May 18-20 Tactical Sniper/Counter- Sniper Course
May 25-27 Tactical Carbine I
   
June 1-2 Vehicle Assaults/Stops
June 2-3 Defensive Handgun II
June 2-4 Subgun/Carbine Course (Alabama)
June 8-10 Advanced Handgun Series
June 8 Advanced Handgun III A
June 9 Advanced Handgun III B
June 10 Advanced Handgun III C
June 20 –July 10 Training in Europe
   
July 13-15 Intermediate HandgunSeries
July 13 Intermediate Handgun IIA
July 14 Intermediate Handgun II B
July 15 Intermediate Handgun II C
July 21 Private Instruction
July 21-22 Defensive Handgun I
July 27-29 Concealed Carry – off duty
   
August 3 Private Instruction
August 4-5 Defensive Handgun II
August 10-12 Dynamic Shotgun/Handgun
   
September 7-9 Advanced Handgun Series
September 7 Advanced Handgun III A
September 8 Advanced Handgun III B
September 9 Advanced Handgun III C
September 22 Private Instruction
September 22-23 Defensive Handgun I
September 27-30 Dynamic/Covert Entries
   
October 6-7 Defensive Handgun II
October 12-14 Intermediate Handgun
November 3-4 Defensive Handgun I
November 17-18 Vehicle Assaults/Stops






 

ITTS MONTHLY UPDATE - PAGE 3 of 6
The Importance of Low Level Light Training
by Scott Reitz

Daylight training and low level light training are two very different evolutions. Low level light training brings to the table a much different set of problems to overcome than that of bright, ambient light training. The simple fact that targets and circumstances become somewhat diffused and complicated is in and of itself, a complicating factor. What one can readily discern in daylight becomes unclear and sometimes even unresolvable in very dimly lit circumstances. Whether a suspect is armed or not, the background to a target, the resolution of a target and the illumination of a target become very different when compared to those presented in daylight conditions. You cannot learn this from a book by the way. Years ago, the LAPD dictated that at least two of the twelve qualification courses an Officer conducted on a yearly basis were done on the night combat course. Fast forward to 2007 and an Officer may not qualify at night ever again once he goes through the Academy. From my
personal experience four of my shootings were at night. Many shootings occur at night. I have been at locations where a shooting occurred at night and the investigation continued on into the
morning hours. As the scene became brightly

lit, the distances, objects and clarity of the situation appeared to be much different than what it had appeared to be at night. When you experience this phenomenon it becomes readily apparent that night evolutions differ radically
from those of daytime. Learning how to use light and dark situations to your advantage and when to do so can only be trained to in actual live fire scenarios. Putting to practice a theoretical technique must be done in a hands on setting. The very simple scenario of pulling up on a suspect’s vehicle, orienting the doors and lights and vehicle itself, and then using these all to one’s advantage as we doin our low level light
classes requires a hand’s on approach. Students find that targets are almost obliterated by such factors as fractured glass and shadows and those that are seen are sometimes very different in their dimensions than they really are. The choice of whether to use headlights or flashlights or no light at all suddenly become split second decisions that must be made as one gets into a problem. If the situation
changes then the shooter must adapt and rework the problem on ‘the fly’ so to speak. Using flashlights in conjunction with the
handgun is an entirely different proposition
altogether.

CONT'D PAGE 5

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ITTS MONTHLY UPDATE - PAGE 4 of 6
Nighttime Shotgun
Class

‘Rolling
Thunder’ at
Night – a Reitz
fast-paced drill
for shotgun!
CONTD PREV PAGE

Many beginning shooters find that they have to embrace an entirely different mindset and physical adaptation to the handgun and rifle and shotgun when working at night as opposed to daylight conditions. The choice of lighting ystems that many shooters employ are less than adequate when applied in realistic life fire cenarios. This is due in part to the fact that the purchase of an item may be done over the internet or from an ad that is simply designed to sell a particular product. When the shooters run through night problems
with us they may find that the money they laid out could have been better spent on a different system that is demonstrably better than the one they purchased. The rule of thumb that we teach is to purchase a light that fits the hand, casts out a good deal of light and is user friendly. This may mean a fairly considerable outlay of

funds but you only have to buy it once and then take care of it and it will serve you well. Night shooting must be experienced first hand and in realistic settings in order to grasp all of the intricacies involved. There simply is no
other way to learn such a valuable and essential
component for the combat shooter. The problem with many shooting evolutions is that there is a small percentage of training done at night as compared to that conducted during the day.

“Learning how to use light and dark situations to your advantage and when to do so can only be trained to in actual live fire scenarios.”

“The choices of whether to use headlights, flashlights or no light at all suddenly become split second decisions that must be made as one gets into a problem.”


Nighttime Vehicles Class with Mover

Please send me any comments or questions you have. 

 

ITTS MONTHLY UPDATE - PAGE 5 of 6

 

 

 

 

Custom made LAPD door for
Scott’s Retirement as a reminder
of the good old days!

 

 


Sgt Bill Kelly demonstrates exiting a vehivle with a weapon

 

 

 

 

‘Shootin Newton’ Division on
Scott’s last Divisional Training
Day!

INSIDE THE LAPD- CIRCA 1976 –Pursuit Driving
by Scott Reitz

Pursuit driving training was conducted down at the Harbor Division in the late 70’s. It was done for our class on an unusually hot spring day which was to prove our undoing. The black and whites we used at the time were Ford Matadors which could really ‘haul the mail’ so to speak. We were taught about the ‘ten’ scale of braking. The numerical value of ten being the most and one was the least in terms of the braking applied during pursuit driving. The training cars were equipped with roll bars and had not one vestige of amenities other than the emergency lights and a working siren. We learned how to negotiate the turns using the apex of a driving line when going into and then out of, any given turn at high speed. We learned controlled braking in conjunction with controlled steering to keep pace with the ‘bad guys’ and simply allow the ‘bad guys’ to overdrive themselves. I did fair on the driving but nothing spectacular and then my partner at the time Vic took over. Vic was from back East and he was pretty sure he had this whole affair down to a gnat’s behind, (the intricacies of pursuit driving that is!) I was strapped in the back seat as we started pursuing one of the driving instructors who was similarly equipped with a Ford Matador. The course was very serpentine with a few straight-away’s with cones marking the outer boundaries of the fictitious city streets. Vic was gaining on the instructor and was shouting at the top of his lungs over the siren, how he was catching up to him and there was no way he was going to get away from us and how he was going to show him how pursuit driving was done back in Jersey City! Now things have a way of humbling you in life and this particular exercise in the art of advanced Police Science was about to prove this theorem beyond a reasonable doubt. About half way through the circuitous course, the instructor suddenly flipped the car 180 degree’s around and then started driving backwards! To add insult to injury, he simply
smiled and then waved at us and started pulling away from us while driving backwards through the rest of the course! He beat us by a country mile. We all got somewhat queasy from the backseat from the combination of all the heat and the engine exhaust and acrid smoke of melted tires throughout the day but it was still great fun. The ‘skid pan’ was a
huge paved area that had voluminous amounts of soapy water sprayed over it. We drove into it at speeds up to 60 mph and then slammed on the brakes and learned how to drive onto the direction of the skid and then regain control of the car. At the time, I did not realize that this training would prove to be invaluable in the real world of police work but it really
did. In many of the pursuits I was ever involved in I simply kept pace with the suspects even though they may have pulled away from me at times and eventually they out-drove themselves, and then crashed.

Learning how to communicate over the radio during a pursuit and broadcasting the s spect’s personal and vehicle description and crime the committed along with the direction of travel and block numbers especially at night while simultaneously watching for cross
traffic and listening for updates from the air unit really proved to be an art in itself. The first few that we did around the Academy itself were to be eye opening experiences. On the actual streets in real pursuits, I found that it took all of your concentration and focus to keep up with everything that was happening at warp speed. Sometimes, a black and white would forget to roll up its windows as they pursued a suspect and the responding units had a real hard time trying to decipher just what it was that was being said over the siren in the background as they broadcast their pursuit. If you ever mis-communicated anything at all, it threw everything into disarray. Responding units went in the wrong direction and everyone ‘stepped’ on your broadcast just trying to find out just where in the city you really were. It became one big fur ball of black and whites and suspects going in every direction trying not to crash into one another. Great fun! In the Academy we learned the book procedures for
pursuits. Code Two was without lights and sirens but responding as soon as is practicable and safe while obeying all the laws of the road. Code Three was with lights and sirens and basically disregarding every vehicle code ever set into law. What we found out on the streets, was the fact that traveling without lights and sirens proved to be more efficient and safe than traveling with lights and siren. Civilian drivers would panic and slam on their brakes or for some unknown reason turn into you when they saw you coming up on them. All in all the pursuit driving portion of the Academy proved to be a very solid foundation for
the real streets.

 

ITTS MONTHLY UPDATE - PAGE 6 of 6
ASK UNCLE SCOTTY
Real answers to real questions from you!         

 “What distance do you
recommend for zeroing in a
carbine and why?”

Personally I prefer a 100
yard zero as I have used this for over thirty years
however…the zero distance
is not as important as
knowing where the rounds
impacts at varying
distances. In essence you
must know where your
rounds will strike at any
given distance and adjust
accordingly. In our Carbine
I class we cover this
extensively as well as optics.

“Scott, you demonstrate
depressing the slide stop
with your thumb to chamber
a round when reloading.
Why is this better than
easing the slide forward?”
Mike M.

For right handed shooters, depressing the slide stop with the left thumb once the magazine is seated is faster, cleaner and allows for the recoil spring to ensure that its
decompression fully seats the round.

“What are the advantages of the Benelli shotgun versus the
Remington 870?”
John T.


The advantage comes into
play when shooting from the
prone or for single handed
manipulation. As there is no
slide to actuate this may be
a decided advantage over
the pump actuated shotgun.
In terms of speed, the semi-auto can be faster yet from a
practical standpoint, the
same speed can be achieved
from a pump gun when
working realistic problems. 

A Golfing Joke?

A Woman was out golfing one day when she hit the ball into the woods. She went into the woods to look for it and found a frog in a trap.

The frog said to her, "If you release me from this trap, I will grant you three wishes."

The woman freed the frog, and the frog said, "Thank you, but I failed to mention that there was a condition to your wishes. Whatever you wish for, your husband will get times ten!"

The woman said, "That's okay."

For her first wish, she wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the world. The frog warned her, "You do realize that this wish will also make your husband the most handsome man in the world, an Adonis whom women will flock to".

The woman replied, "That's okay, because I will be the most beautiful Woman and he will have eyes only for me." So, KAZAM-she's the most beautiful Woman in the world!

For her second wish, she wanted to be the richest woman in the world. The frog said, "That will make your husband the richest man in the world. And he will be ten times richer than you."
The woman said, "That's okay, because what's mine is his and what's his is mine." So, KAZAM-she's the richest woman in the world!

The frog then inquired about her third wish, and she answered, "I'd like a mild heart attack."

Moral of the story: Women are clever. Don't mess with them!
Send your questions to brett@internationaltactical.com and we will try to answer them here them as soon as possible! 

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