Defensive Tactics – Armed Combatives with UTM (8 hours)

Training Location:
Vero Beach, FL Training Facility (Click for Map)

This course serves as an introduction to extreme close quarters concepts and self defense with a foundation rooted firmly in the ShivWorks curriculum. It can be described as scenario based training with a focus on techniques ranging from verbal de-escalation while managing an unknown contact to actively engaging multiple armed threats in close proximity where your tools become more of a liability than an asset if employed improperly.

This is a physically demanding course, but ultimately the most critical coursework for any individual who carries a weapon in their daily routine.

Topics include:

  • Managing unknown contacts
  • Indicators of imminent assault
  • Reactive and preemptive measures
  • Proper timing decisions to produce a weapon
  • Appropriate extension & compression of the gun based on proximity of the threat
  • One handed malfunction clearance
  • Edged weapon & blunt object attack mitigation
  • Techniques to safely exit the clinch
  • Weapons access & retention
  • Ground fighting strategies
  • Techniques to submit and or disarm the opponent
  • Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC/TCCC) light, with a focus on self-aid & stopping the bleed
  • Scenarios with role players
  • After action debriefs to develop more accurate recall of the event and evaluate whether the actions taken were appropriate, and if they met the legal requirements necessary for the use of deadly force to be justified

Equipment requirements:

  • Belt
  • Notepad and writing utensils
  • Holster for a Glock handgun (optional)
  • Trainer Knife (optional)
  • Trainer Tourniquet (optional)
  • Mouthpiece (optional)

*Upon successful completion, students are invited to attend our regularly scheduled sustainment training sessions, that occur monthly, at no additional cost other than a $20 mat fee for the venue and $20 to cover the cost of UTM Ammo expended. Student attendance in sustainment training is entirely optional, but highly encouraged and always available to alumni of this course, or any ShivWorks course, and is critical for success in any deadly force encounter that occurs in close proximity.

Course Cost: $200