Joint MAG Training AAR

This past weekend my MAG had the opportunity to cross-train with another MAG in the mountains of Kentucky. We arranged a mutually beneficial exchange of training where they taught us how they train to fight from and around soft-skin civilian vehicles, and we taught them some radio skills. It was an OUTSTANDING weekend of training and fellowship with like-minded Christian men, and we left having learned a lot from each other. This AAR will list the type of training that we conducted and summarize the lessons learned.

Day 1: Vehicle Training

After the safety brief, we received a short class on what bullets do to different parts of cars. The instructor proceeded to shoot a car with different calibers in different places to show us what bullets ACTUALLY do to vehicles. Some key observations:

• 124gr 9mm: punched through both doors, deflected off of the pillars and trunk area
• 55gr 5.56 from a 16″ AR-15 actually failed to exit the vehicle, penetrating one door and stopping in the second. 62gr M855 green tips, however, punched through easily. Both were deflected by the pillars.
• 7.62×39 doesn’t give a shit about anything in the car except the engine block and the axles. My crew uses AKs primarily, and this validated our choice quite a bit. .308 performed the same.

Next we practiced shooting positions on the outside of some cars using the few parts of the car that actually stopped or deflected bullets as cover. Some of these positions were completely new to us, and were a bit challenging to master. What was particularly interesting was maximizing cover by shooting my rifle sideways when firing over the hood. I admit that I accidently put a few rounds into the hood of the junk car I was shooting over before I got the technique down.

• We did this with live rounds on junk cars, but you can practice these techniques using airsoft guns and your personal vehicle. If you screw up and hit your car, worst case scenario you have to wipe off a white mark from your windshield or hood.

We then practiced shooting through the windshield of a vehicle from the inside. This was a very eye-opening experience, as I knew this was possible but had never tried it before.

• LOTS of glass bits fly when doing this. Eyepro is a MUST for mounted operations. We also zipped up the collars on our combat shirts to keep glass from going down our necks. My team will be adding shemaghs to our gear SOP to protect our necks in the future.

• I was very surprised to see that the windshield was still very much usable after this drill. It turns out that when you shoot through (mostly) the same hole, the rest of the windshield remains intact and fit for driving.

After lunch, we practiced “react to contact” drills from mounted in the vehicles. The key to these drills was to exit the vehicle quickly, on the side opposite the contact, and peel outwards away from the vehicle to better cover. We practiced this from all directions (front, rear, left and right sides). After a few dry runs we did it with live rounds, and I gotta say that I was impressed with how well we did.

• I did these drills with a my full Minuteman kit (plate carrier, war belt, and helmet). It added an extra challenge getting in and out of the cars, but I got used to it. It wasn’t as much of a hindrance as I thought it might be.

The day closed out with a situational exercise, with us as a 4-man vehicle team in a convoy. I was the vehicle commander (and thus Team Leader) for this exercise. The scenario was that we were the 2nd vehicle in a 2-vic convoy, and we had to catch up to the lead vehicle which had rounded a curve and temporarily went out of sight. We rounded the curve, and saw that the lead vehicle was stopped. Suddenly, the lead vehicle exploded in a cloud of dust and shattered glass. “SHIT!” I yelled, “CONTACT RIGHT!” We bailed out on the left side of our vehicle and started engaging targets.

Our objective was to recover a “VIP” (white IPSC target) from near the lead vehicle 50m to our front. After quickly assessing the situation and evaluating the terrain, I initiated a peel left using a shallow ditch as cover. My team peeled with me, continuing to engage targets as we went. Once we reached the lead vehicle, I advanced with Boltboy and covered him while he recovered the VIP. We then peeled back to our vehicle, and upon discovering that it was still drivable, I threw a smoke grenade and ordered my team to mount up. Once back in our car, we drove away while still engaging the brown cardboard enemies (whom we learned later were all very dead), shooting from our open windows.

The whole situational exercise took less than 3 minutes, and went amazingly smooth for us having not rehearsed it. It was very violent and very fast, some of the most fun I’ve had on a live fire exercise.

• Blanks are great for Force-on-Force training, but live fire exercises build confidence and trust among teammates. It greatly helped that everyone involved had a high level of weapons proficiency, and we didn’t have a single incidence of anyone getting flagged by a muzzle.
• Those who pooh-pooh competition shooting underestimate the training value that they provide in basic weapons handling. Boltboy and I both have extensive experience in 2-gun and run-and-gun matches, and we can credit at least some of our muscle memory for muzzle discipline to these events. These habits translated well to live fire and maneuver exercises.

Day 2: Radio Training

The next day I taught a class on radio communications. We covered the following topics:

• Basic radio etiquette and lingo

• Sending and receiving common report formats (POSREP, SALUTE, SALTA, SITREP, 9-line CASEVAC, and ZMIST)
• Introduction to communications planning
• Building a directional MOXON antenna for UHF

By the end of the day, I had students talking on their radios at vastly improved ranges with directional antennas that they built themselves. Everyone was stoked! That evening we went to a steakhouse, and the entire evening was spent with discussion on how to set up communications between everyones’ houses, where repeaters might be needed, how they would be employed, etc.

The next day, Sunday, we attended church together before parting ways. We worshipped the Lord together with our families and thanked God for a productive and safe weekend of training and fellowship.

Summary

This weekend was an outstanding success for both MAGs. We all learned a lot from each other, and a closer bond was built between our groups. If you know of like-minded MAGs, militias, or other groups of patriots in your area, I strongly encourage you to consider scheduling joint training events. It builds your network, improves everyone’s skills, and is an overall great way to spend a weekend. Find something that your guys are good at and offer to teach it.

And as a reminder, if you have a group and don’t know where to start with your own internal training, I can come to you to train your people in your local area. Team Leader I is a good place to start for a foundation of organizing and training a new group, or I can teach custom classes if your team is ready for the next level.

Semper discens.