Our Philosophy
At STS our philosophy has been highly successful with students that have attended various tactical and shooting courses. While at STS our students develop and maintain a “Winning Mindset” under our instruction, and carry it with them when they leave. They understand that our fundamentals will make them more effective with their firearms and tactics in a variety of stressful environments. Also, they realize what their realistic speed, accuracy, and abilities will be under different levels of stress. Last but not least, they see for themselves that the repetition taught throughout the week will enable them to leave STS a superior operator and far more prepared to win.
Our Philosophy can be broken down into three different categories for explanation:
- Our Instructors
- Our Curriculum
- Our Training Program
"At STS we have strict criteria for the instructors that we entrust to represent our logo. This includes, but is not limited to:"
1. Qualifications - At STS our instructors are not hired for their entertainment value or how well they can fill the time frame that you have paid for with information and busywork. Our instructors are hired for their individual capabilities, experience, credibility and expertise. If they haven't done it professionally then they will not be teaching it to you.
2. Teaching Ability - Our instructors remain very versed in creating safe but stressful environments for the student, thereby allowing them to see how he or she will perform when they have to employ what they have learned in less than favorable conditions. We continue to develop techniques for troubleshooting students' problems concerning shooting and tactical application through individual attention and careful analysis, not just running drills on the firing line until you happen to get it right.
3. Teaching Mindset - We do not and will not teach to the lowest common denominator or just to the student's ability like many firearms and tactical instructors and institutions currently do. We continually strive to set a higher than normal standard and make every effort to get each student as close to it as we possibly can in the time that we have with them.
4. Concern for the Students - Our instructors have a genuine concern for the student and a true passion to teach and make each and every student's experience a complete success. Every student is guaranteed to achieve a greater level of confidence, competence and capability in whichever discipline they wish to pursue with STS.
5. Performance - Every thing we teach is based on performance. As instructors or teachers we will tell the student how to do it, show the student how it is mechanically done, demonstrate it to the student in a realistic time frame, and last but not least, teach the student how to do it to the best of their ability.
"When a curriculum is developed by or for STS, it must comply with a strict guideline, and be based on, but not limited to the following criteria:"
1. Safety - Safety is the number one criteria for any training program conducted by STS. If it is not safe then we will not do it.
2. Practicality - Each of our curriculums is based on practical application. It is not bulls-eye or silhouette shooting, and we are not here for the entertainment value. If the skill being taught does not have a practical application (i.e. Job performance, self-defense etc.), then we will not waste your time.
3. Realistic Application - The entire curriculum is also based on realistic application. We teach in reality based training, not theory, whenever possible based on tactical application for combat, not sport. Too many courses are taught with a “New” or “High Speed” application so that the individual or the company supplying the information can put their stamp on it. The problem is that many of these techniques have no realistic value. In other words, is this a technique that is going to be easily reproduced under stress, or is it too mechanical and require too much conscious thought to perform?
4. Consistency - We go to great lengths to provide consistency throughout the curriculums that we intend to teach. We strive, whenever possible, to use a progressive building block approach that continually builds on topics learned earlier. We can apply this teaching to any of the topics taught at STS from Firearms Training, to Hostage Rescue, to Executive Protection. We teach our curriculums in a pre-determined sequence of events designed to continually enhance the students overall capability. Once the student can perform a certain task we add to it and maintain consistency until the very end where all the topics learned are performed in one complete task. At STS we strive to maintain consistency in our curriulum from one instructor to another. There is nothing worse than going to a school that has conflicting information from different instructors. Our staff focuses on teaching with consistency not contradiction or personality based training.
5. Must have an answer to the question “Why?" - So many times you will be taught something from someone in this industry that has been teaching it for years and is fully convinced that “This is the way”. However, many times if you ask that person “Why?” the only answers they can give you is “That's the way I was taught”, or “Because that's how we've always done it”, or “Because that's what the book says”. These are not good answers. If you can not answer why you are doing a certain tactic or technique in a specific way then why would you do it or teach it to someone else? Many times a person will get a job in this industry based on the fact that he or she is a good shooter or has been doing a certain job for many years. The trouble is that although they can shoot well, or perform well, they can not teach you why or how they are doing it or better yet why or how you should be doing it. At STS, if we can not competently answer with a good explanation “Why”, then we simply do not do or teach it.
"Our training program is based on six fundamentals that apply to almost anything taught under the STS logo. These fundamentals are the foundation for your training to be victorious in those scenarios that dictate the employment of a particular firearm or tactic under varying degrees of stress."
Our programs include:
1. A Winning Mindset – Whenever possible, we train on the range the way we desire to act during an actual life-threatening situation. We will not arrive at the range with the mindset that this is just another day of motor skills training. Each and every drill will have some practical value relating to a well-defined threat scenario. Our mindset is that we are teaching this to better prepare you to act effectively while under duress. This “Winning Mindset” will increase your chances to successfully defend yourself and/or someone else if required.
2. Honing Your Fundamentals – As proven over and over again in shooting incidents, the sound Tactics and Shooting Fundamentals you incorporate in your training will be the first reactions your body and mind will take upon entering an extreme situation. Whenever possible we do not deviate from the basic fundamental tactics or techniques that we wish to employ. We feel that these fundamentals develop the baseline of your operational ability and will carry you successfully through a threatening or high stress situation.
3. Consistency – Once we have developed your fundamentals, we will ensure that you perform them consistently each and every time you perform a task. Whenever possible we transfer our consistent fundamentals from firearm to firearm. For example, if we go from shooting a pistol to shooting a shoulder-fired weapon, we only change the movements necessary to shoot that particular firearm. This will assist in rapidly developing proficiency with all firearms. The way we conduct your training with a firearm on the range will not change when we go into Hostage Rescue or Executive Protection. We will only change what applies to that particular application. Our primary goal is proficiency with your firearms and tactics in a variety of environments such as indoors, outdoors, different positions, shooting on the move, shooting moving targets, low light and so on.
4. Smooth Transitions and Economy of Motion - Smooth is fast, and the shortest distance from point A to point B is a straight line. When we are training you with firearms and various tactics, we will not allow you to do every step of your drill as fast as you can, only to be successful about half of the time. We emphasize smoothness and economy of motion for each step of your drill. With this you will find that speed will become a given and your success rate for the drill will be improved. Remember the fewer moving parts you have in a particular drill, the easier it will be to reproduce under stress whether it is drawing a pistol from a holster, moving a Tactical Team through a building or escorting a VIP in a Protective Detail.
5. Never Sacrificing Accuracy and/or Ability for Speed – When it comes to firearms, we do not develop our drills to become so accuracy dependant that it takes forever to make a necessary shot. We also do not develop our drills to be shot so quickly that your accuracy plummets below an acceptable level. As for Tactical Movement we do not believe that the ability to get to the objective quickly should override the ability to do so without getting half of your team injured or killed. We will make each drill a realistic balance between speed and accuracy and/or ability within your own capabilities. We feel that shooting and tactics should not be so difficult that you have to be a seasoned veteran or a champion shooter to achieve a realistic goal, but not so simple that it defeats sound judgment and practical application.
6. Repetition – To ensure your body reacts the way you want it to under duress you must repetitively rehearse your actions. There is no other way! Most of your sustainment training with a firearm can be accomplished without shooting any live rounds. The draw, reload, and malfunction drills can be safely practiced almost anywhere. However, you must soon move this repetition to live fire with a firearm fully loaded and in its standard carrying or storage position in order to give you realistic feedback for controlling the weapon throughout the drill. Tactics for moving a team through a building or escorting a VIP in a Protective Detail require very little if any live fire to accomplish proficiency. Later on you must include the total environment in training if and whenever possible. |
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