Question what has been your experience with ALS courses?

I sent two of my guys down to an ALS less lethal instructor's course in Fayetteville NC this last week and they were less than thrilled. We try to send our guys somewhere new every year and since we are already CTS, Def-Tec and state certified instructors we thought we would look into ALS simply to see. They had been upselling their course and wanting us to send guys to their other courses etc. My guys were calling me just about everyday by 1400 hrs done for the day and the last day by noon including an hour+ lunch. Many of the munitions they asked about were not available to train on At $750 a student plus travel, lodging etc, I am less than impressed by ALS so far.

Would you be willing to have one of your guys write a full AAR?

Sure I can ask them to we have a critique form that everyone is required to complete when they attend outside training, I should be able to scan the form or cut and paste the results once they turn them in.

Check out Safariland's training on the same subjects. It used to be all run through Armor Holdings, but things got shuffled around when their whole fraud charges came to light last year. It was basically the opposite experience of what your guys reported, very qualified instructors trying to squeeze a lot of classroom and range time into a 10-hour day.

V-man thx but have already been through Armor holdings instructor course and would agree with you it was good. We just tried ALS for a different view.

I am a recent graduate of the ALS Technologies Less Lethal Instructor course. What you described is not the course I attended. I burned up hundred of dollars in ammunition alone, including full flash bangs, gas, air bursts, and nearly every impact munition.

As the Director of Training for ALS is a friend of mine, I urge you or your agency head to contact them directly with a full, candid review. Being out early every day is unusual, especially if the class was remotely full. We didn't stay late, and only finished slightly early on the last day, as we literally used up every single round of ammunition that was sent to the course.

If you need contact information, let me know.

BTW... if your guys didn't get the breaching demonstration with the water charge using the newest thin-line flash bang, they were definitely cheated.

Jody,

They did not mention any breaching demo, I will ask, they were disappointed with not seeing the FND strips though and asked about those specifically.

Jody

If you would PM the contact info that would be appreciated also