Close Protection Forum and Surveillance Forum

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmorg3053

Firstly I would like to say a big thank you to all the staff and instructors at NSC during the course.

After arranging to attend the course at the last minute, I received my course joining instructions. The instructions were basic but had what we needed to know; things like addresses, tel no’s, kit list, maps etc etc.

I arrived at the NSC on the Monday morning as I only managed to get to Dorset late on the Sunday night so decided to stay in a B&B. Turns out that I didn’t have to do this as there is always someone on standby at the NSC so could have got there at whatever time. This was a bit of a bummer as the joining instructions said either 8pm the night before the course or 8am on the day the course starts. Ah well, was a cosy night in a B&B alone before sharing rooms with other course members.

Anyway, once I arrived at the NSC, I was welcomed by Davie. Davie was extremely welcoming and showed me around the training school and the various different facilities.

The training facility at the NSC is absolutely fantastic. I think it has something like 28 acres of land, so there are all sorts of scenarios that can be played within the grounds. It has a gym, pool, Jacuzzi, snooker room, bar facility, wireless internet, television lounge, laundry area and student kitchen areas. The food was very good and always freshly cooked. There were always refreshments on the go too which were well needed a lot of the time. Accommodation was shared bedrooms with en-suite and relatively comfortable.

After I had been shown around I needed to get out of my suit and in to some casual clothes with a collar. Again, this can be looked at two ways.
1: Perhaps recommended attire for arrival on the course could be stipulated on the joining instructions,
2: Turn up in whatever clothing and it’s up to you to make the impression of how you want to start on the course.

I turned up in a suit purely because I believe that although it is a 2 week training course, how you conduct yourself on a training course could determine what happens for the rest of your career. To me it is like turning up for an interview, especially in this industry. I would rather someone say that I turned up as smart as a guardsman than someone say that I turned up like a bag of shit. People talk, and it only takes a few phone calls for someone to get to know a bit about you.

Moving on. A few admin points had to be cleared up before commencing the course. This was done with Eve and included checking documents, ID and then going through our dietary requirements (I am a fussy bugger). She also laid down a few ground rules about the college and how we should conduct ourselves whilst there.

Once all this had been done it was time to meet Andy. Again, Andy laid down some more rules about the college and went over what was going to happen during the course so that we were all clear on what we were going to do.

I felt that the content of the course was laid out perfectly. There was a fair bit of content that I was familiar with as it seemed to come straight out of the British Army handbook, lol. But at the end of the day it has been proven to work, so why change it? Although it is military derived, it doesn’t mean that civilians will struggle to learn it. Remember that soldiers were once civilians too and had to learn it at some point. There was also a lot of content that I hadn’t seen in my past but I felt that I could adapt my past experience to suit what was being taught. E.g. foot formations around the Principal: I could adapt patrolling techniques taught in my military training (and also surveillance training in some cases) to be adjustable to close protection foot formations.

The first week involved all the classroom based lessons. Personally I totally agree with this teaching method as it gets all the lessons out the way prior to doing all the practical training. Once everything has been taught, it is time to put it all in to practice. The last thing I would want to be doing is going doing a practical, then coming back in doing a lesson and having to get my head around it again. Another reason this method worked is due to the amount of work that had to be done after the days had finished during the 2nd week. It would be a nightmare studying lessons when you are trying to plan a CP tasking and having to go out and do recces and surveys etc.

One thing that I really liked throughout the course was the instructor:student ratio. During the course it was at least 1 instructor to 2 students. This was extremely beneficial and allowed the instructors to have more time concentrating on helping the students.

During the first week the students were training in close quarter techniques that have been taught by Michael Mason. The training sessions were twice daily and attendance has been voluntary. Personally I think that the sessions should be compulsory in order for all students to get the same level of training.

From the off Michael laid down the rules and stipulated that the students didn’t have to attend the lessons, but he would conduct them anyway. One thing that was said (which was good to hear), was that he didn’t want students to be turning up whenever it suits them. Obviously there are a few reasons behind this, one being discipline, another being that it is progressive training and it isn’t good for students to be trying to play catch-up and attempting techniques that they haven’t practices properly during the training.

Throughout the week the techniques taught by Michael would be adapted to different situations. The good thing about this is that you don’t even have to think about it too much. It was so easy to make the techniques work from different positions and get on with your job. I found that the techniques were best suited to the UK commercial sector (which is what is needed). The UK is becoming very injury claim orientated, and this type of training is what is needed so that operators don’t end up in a whirlwind of trouble after beating someone senseless.

Other techniques taught were techniques that get the Principal out of danger situations. We were taught effective techniques that allowed us to control the Principal whist remaining alert and being in a position to protect the Principal at the same time. These were put into practice on quite a few training sessions during the course.

Throughout the course the students used various bits of equipment like vehicles and radios. We were put through good scenarios within the training school grounds which enabled us to practice vehicle drills in the huge driveway circuit and on a safe empty field using the SORN cars. It just lets us do various things in a safe controlled environment under the supervision of the staff. It was good to practice things you would think you can never do. Then we would be out in lovely new hire cars on the CP tasks, enabling us to put our lessons and drills to the test.

Having used various covert radios in the past, I found the radios used were extremely uncomfortable, too big and not very covert. There would always be a huge bulge on your side where it sticks out a mile. The curly earpieces are rather overt and draw massive attention in my opinion. Also the batteries were a pain in the bum. I feel that it is harder to try and blend in during summer with a jacket or blazer over your shirt/top when everyone else is wearing shorts and bikinis. The amount of attention this draws is massive, even when you don’t have the earpiece in. This isn’t such an issue during a training course because the training value of experiencing this does you good and allows you to learn for when you become part of a CP team. I would hope more and more UK CP teams are using more covert radios with wireless Sonic earpieces or something similar. I could go on and on about the pros and cons about curly earpieces and proper covert earpieces, and the possible scenarios are endless but I will leave it to your imagination.

I found the examinations for the course quite difficult. I even failed the first mock exam by one mark. After that, I continued to study and managed to maintain a reasonable pass mark. I am not sure what other awarding bodies exams are like, I hear that they are not quite as tough as the City and Guilds. That is something that I would have to see for myself sometime. One downfall that I found with the exams is that there seemed to be repeat questions on numerous occasions. This is ok if you get both right, but it also gives you the opportunity to get both wrong (like I did, ha).

Overall I felt that the course was fantastic, and it certainly let me learn more about myself as a person. One thing that I did have to adjust to quickly was the fact that I am no longer in the military, having been out only a few weeks. Having spent all of my adult life in HM Forces it was quite difficult for me not to “get amongst it”. This was made a little bit harder due to the military type content of some of the lessons and the fact that everyone except Michael Mason was ex military, and even down to sharing bedrooms with other students. I felt that the course helped me in my transition to a civilian both physically and mentally. The instructors were always helpful and always had an answer for any questions posed.

To top it off I feel that I have made some lifelong friends on the course, both instructors and other students, and I will certainly be keeping in touch with everyone.

Mike