Shoothouse Operations and Safety

First and foremost the course is structured to focus on HOW to set up and conduct unopposed CQB training in either live fire or Sims/UTM on paper in either shoot houses or actual structures. The course uses the vessel of CQB 101 level instruction to show students how to prepare a run and “cock the house”.  The entire POI is geared around why the training area is set up a certain way and how it safely supports the training objectives.

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Elements of shoot house prep covered include:

• Floor plan design and route of the CQB run

•  Administrative and safety marking of off-limits areas

•  Accountability of individuals inside the training area

•  Target placement considerations (to force decision points, as well as for safety purposes)

•  Target selection (type of construction, size, threat, critical scorable area exposure, etc).

•  Use and type of target stands/hangers

•  Safety/cease fire control measures and signals

•  Conduct and content of safety briefings

Setting up a CQB training run is pretty useless if there is not CQB training happening, so all students will rotate through the house as team members in addition to having opportunities to observe others, act as a safety, and provide AAR comments to others training runs.  The course flow maximizes student time by alternating between doing the training and facilitating the training of others.  The rotation from student to observer/safety provides for a better understanding of the concepts being taught, even if the student will never be an instructor.

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Enlisting the student body in the training process provides more sets of eyes and makes for a more in-depth AAR process than if only the PI and AI’s were observers/safeties.