On the 8th to 10th of March the Defensive Tactics Group ran its first course of the year in Chester. The Close Protection Operatives (CPO) course was primarily aimed at providing the participants to either provide them with competency evidence or to give a unique insight into the role. This type of training is particularly interesting for those who are interested in personal self-defence. It was a re-run of a previously run successful course from last year. This year’s one was to prove equally exciting and fun.
Day one Friday was attended by just four of us, but this was ok, it was the planning and reconnaissance day. I know this doesn’t sound exciting, and to be honest it wasn’t but it was essential. Close protection involves meticulous planning, if you end up fighting to save your principal, well I’m afraid you’ve already failed. Two phrases spring to mind, failing to plan is planning to fail and stay left of bang! Anyway, we travelled around Chester and did our thing for the next two days.
Day two was to be much more exciting. Nine of us met up and made our acquaintances. Some new to the DTG and some old dogs, but all very friendly. It was a packed day and there was no time to hang around. We started with some convoy driving to the first venue at the University of Chester. After a very brief discussion about surveillance and Anti-surveillance from our expert, Sean Hannigan, we went straight into two hours of foot drills as we practiced walking around the town. Some brilliant exercises from Sean set the bar very high. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were clamouring for more.
Then we changed tac and carried out Protection foot drills with myself and Tim Taylor. Everyone got a go as a protector and a VIP. I made it much more interesting by employing two students to constantly attack the VIP. We tied into a spot of lunch in a local pub before carrying on the foot drills to the University. Then it was time for the physical intervention element to the course. Tim Taylor put us all through some very painful, but very useful protection techniques. The photos describe them better than I can explain. By now it was 4pm and we still had two hours to go! We took the cars onto a disused area of an industrial park so Tim and I could carry out vehicle drills and anti-ambush techniques. Again, this was well received by the team.
Day three and an early Sunday morning start saw Sean Hannagan and Tim Taylor take us for Explosive vehicle search. It took me back to my old days in the 1980’s, where I used to have to check my car for IRA bombs! The best way to learn is to actually do it, so Tim rigged up my car so everyone could search it. Tim and Sean, I have decided are a devious pair of fellas!
No sooner had we finished the searching and it was time for a quick briefing for the days exercise. Pick up a principle and her friend and provide them with a protect detail as they went around Chester. I used my daughter Lucy and my neighbour Sonja as the VIP’s and another student to carry out attacks and generally harass the team on their walkabouts. Myself and Tim kept a watchful eye on the exercise and ensured it ran smooth. It all went swimmingly well, until I told Lucy to try her best to lose them, if she could and be as awkward as she could. Brilliant, mayhem ensued. To be fair to the team, they did an excellent job, I couldn’t believe that most of them had never been a CPO before and in just two days were doing a very professional job of it. One of the guys confessed that his heart was beating and hands were shaking with adrenalin. Sean said, “I’m not sure at what point this ceased to be an exercise and became real.” Music to my ears!
At the end of the day we had a quick debrief and swapped war stories from the two days. We all agreed it was a brilliant weekends training and had all learnt a lot. Best of all we made friends and recruited two more guys to the IPA and the DTG. Perfect.
Rob Stenhouse, Special Interest Group, Defensive Tactics Group
