Throwback Thursday: Training the Special Forces in UAE

Some years ago we were asked — because of the common technology shared by our trainers, the "9 Attitudes" framework and our Behavioural Self-Protection training methodology — to put together a team of experienced…

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Some years ago we were asked — because of the common technology shared by our trainers, the “9 Attitudes” framework and our Behavioural Self-Protection training methodology — to put together a team of experienced police and tactical trainers for a project in the UAE.

A client with a specific requirement to train their operators to enter buildings and to find and arrest dangerous people inside them wanted to make sure that their team was ready for anything.

We put together a team of 6 trainers — all of whom had skills and experience relevant to the requirement — who spent a month with the team, working every conceivable type of ambush attack, malfunction drill, and “what-if” scenario.

Our own Coach Torres from Functional Edge System was the architect behind the course structure and content. The unit trained each specific skill set in static and increasingly dynamic ways, culminating at the end of each day with donning the high-impact training gear that we use for scenario-replication and then going into the correct environment where those skills might be needed — a building with stairwells, a car-park full of vehicles, or an entryway with narrow corridors.

💡 Our core tenet: Violence may be the universal human phobia (as per Col. Grossman), and so we train every person using a behavioural model with core elements — regardless of their job description, physical prowess, or mental preparedness. The intensity of the training and the operational context may change, but the lessons of Survival, Reversal, and Engagement are common to all.

Picture of Gerard O'Dea

Gerard O'Dea

Gerard O'Dea is the founder of Dynamis, creator of the SCENA approach, and a holder of the ICM Physical Skills Tutor Award. He designs conflict management and physical intervention programmes for NHS and emergency services teams.

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