Your normal “square range” training is great for working on your marksmanship and (depending on range rules) your gun-handling skills. It’s not very good, however, for dealing with where we’re most likely to encounter threats in the real world, which are in what we call “transitional spaces” between our homes and jobs.

Many armed self defense occur in, around, or near vehicles. That holds true for law enforcement and civilians alike. For police officers this could include both high-risk and “routine” traffic stops or in and around their vehicles when they arrive to the scene of an incident. For you or I, it might be while we’re pumping gas, walking through a mall parking lot, or returning to your car in the grocery store parking lot.

That’s where the art and science of Vehicle Close Quarters Battle (VCQB) becomes very important, and one of the best at Vehicle CQB is William Petty, who just left the highly-respected folks at 88 Tactical to start his own training company, Centrifuge Training.

He does some neat stuff.

You’ll note the very fast one-on-one fight below takes place between two combatants only allowed to use their left arms.

I’ll be a student in a Daniel Defense-sponsored edition of Petty’s  Vehicle CQB Instructor class in a little over a month.

Vehicle CQB Instructor is an accelerated shooting class focused on positional shooting and critical light manipulations in and around vehicles.  Students will push the boundaries of “traditional” cover and concealment utilizing various cars and trucks in a true 3D environment. Drills will incorporate critical weapon employment while engaging threats in, around, from, over and under vehicles with a heavy emphasis on problem solving. Lighting principles and threat assessment all play a major factor in this course. Live ballistic demos with a variety of ammunition will be conducted as the class explores ballistic deflection, deformation, penetration and terminal effect in direct correlation to various vehicle mediums. Classroom portions will include video diagnostics, statistics, tactics and the science behind why we win and lose around vehicles.  This course will have long days and a night shoot (depending on range logistics).

Is there anything in specific you’d like for me to find out while I’m there which you might be able to apply to your training at home? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll see if I can find answers for you as I try to earn my Vehicle CQB Instructor rating.