WEST POINT, N.Y. (Jan. 26, 2011) -- The West Point Combat Weapons Team recently visited the FBI Hostage Rescue Team's headquarters in Quantico, Va., to train on close quarters battle techniques.
Several members of the HRT were on site at their shoot-house facility to offer training and instruction that focused on updating CWT's close quarters battle techniques with some of the most current techniques used in the field.
For two days, the team trained in a crawl, walk, run fashion. Broken down into teams of five and 10 members, the CWT learned how to "flow" in and out of rooms like water. This particular method of clearing rooms requires intense focus and awareness by all members of the team since the order of who enters each room in a house is rarely the same.
As the training progressed, CWT members were used as both the friendly and opposing forces.
"Seeing the tactical situation from the opposing force's point of view really helped me improve how I attacked the problem as a good guy," Class of 2013 Cadet Kyle Forward said.
Once the basics were in place, the team integrated in M4 and M9 weapons with simunition rounds. The simunitions, essentially real rounds but instead of a bullet they have a non-lethal paint projectile, brought all the training together.
"The simunition training makes everything more realistic. It gets your adrenaline pumping, and when you get shot, you feel it," Class of 2012 Cadet Eric Gallagher said.
The different ways to think through problems and new tactics learned from HRT will help the CWT improve their close quarters battle techniques.
"A lot of these techniques are learned firsthand by HRT members in the field. Learning from their experience is a great opportunity for us to avoid some mistakes in the future," Class of 2011 Cadet Michael Tovo said.
The FBI Hostage Rescue Team is the agency's only full-time counterterrorist tactical team. Established in 1983, the team can respond to any extraordinary hostage crisis or other law enforcement situation the FBI engages in, both domestic and abroad.
The Combat Weapons Team is a competitive team that trains cadets in combine tactics, techniques and protocols of military units, domestic police forces, government agencies and civilian security services to create a comprehensive foundation of skills in urban warfare and promote creative solutions to the problems involved in close quarters battle.
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