Weaponize the Senses

As the Boss indicated last Friday when he relayed what he'd given us as Commander's Intent, several members of the OFFGRID, RECOIL and CONCEALMENT editorial staff are in the field for approximately 2 weeks (well, some are; others will only be there for portions of that). While working as adjunct instructors for Greenside Training to instructed assorted armed professionals from the Baltimore-DC area, they'll be taking the opportunity to evaluate how various pieces of gear perform and endure as they're used. The course begins with a 3 day variant of the “Weaponize the Senses” class before going into additional index tracking, night tracking and urban tracking.

“The ability to track is a decided advantage to anyone involved in the bush, either in work or as recreation. It is an even greater advantage to a person stranded in the bush facing a survival situation.” Ron Reid Daly

Make sure you're following us on Instagram for what doesn't make it to either of these articles, @RECOILmagazine and @OFFGRIDmagazine.  It might also be worth keeping an eye on @greenside_training on IG, @timmacwelch on Twitter and @michigantrainer (also on Instagram). There will be other writers and SMEs there, we'll update that in the days to come. Hashtags to keep an eye out for include #NjdááBeedjníí (it's an Apache phrase), #weaponizethesenses, and #TENinthefield (TEN is The Enthusiast Network, parent corporation of our magazines).

“Being able to track is of little use unless you can also read the meanings of the tracks. In tracking you find a lot of small signs, and then comes in the art of ‘putting this and that together’, and so getting information from them.” Robert Baden Powell

You can see more on the Instagram feeds of OFFGRID Magazine (@offgridmagazine), Greenside Training (@greensidetraining) and Michigan Defensive Firearms Institute (@michigantrainer). More images from the course here in this Facebook album.

You can check out Greenside Training online or on the FaceSpaceInstaTumblebook at “@greenside_training.” He also teaches courses for Alias Training on occasion (that schedule here) if you can't make one of the ones scheduled through Greenside (Alias is also on Facebook at /AliasTrainingLLC/ if you want to watch for updates there, or on Instagram @alias_training).

“Can't attend one of Osuna's courses? Attend one taught by one of the other reputable tracking organizations — learn from Jim Grasky (Arizona), Mike Vaught (Oklahoma), Anthony Winegar (Georgia) or Mike Hull (Virginia) if you can contrive to. Look also to Gary Drake at TTOS, Scott-Donelan at SDTS or John Hurth at Tyr. You won't regret it. Reach out to Freddy (Fred(at)GreensideTraining.com) if you want some guidance on reputable instructors. You'll just need to wait a couple weeks to do it.” Iain Harrison

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“Then [Ab Taylor] would turn things over to his gut instincts and innermost instincts and began tracking. Almost immediately he was in a state of intuitive flow. That’s one thing researchers have found about this kind of optimal experience: Intuitive flow is not something that happens when we are passive or distance by the mind from an experience; it occurs when we are fully engaged with that experience and stretch ourselves to accomplish something difficult or worthwhile. In other words, it is not something that happens to us or is random, it’s something we must make happen.” Cooper and Sawaf, Executive EQ: Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Organizations

Non-social photos by Michael Garcia.