For those of you unfamiliar with "Southnarc" and/or Shivworks, here is their site:
http://shivworks.com
I will skip introducing you to the program and actors as you can read about who,what,when,where above, and skip to the meat of this post, my AAR of AMIS (Armed Movement In Structures).
Day 1:
I drove across the state, and had been up for about 8 hours when class began. The location was an abandoned mental-health hospital, and we used 3 sub-buildings within the facility. They were configured similar to a regular school/hospital that I'm sure all of you have been in at some point, except the windows were plexi-glass/acrylic, and pictures were bolted to the wall. Really "cool" venue!
Southnarc (I will use his forum/internet name) introduced himself, and the over-view of the course content early on. The main and over-reaching idea/concept is that AMIS (real-life) is dangerous! THERE IS NO SAFE OR "GOOD" WAY TO CLEAR A STRUCTURE BY YOURSELF! There are bad ways, and there are better ways, but there is no safe way to do it.
The course focuses on the worst-case scenario for a rural officer or home-owner who is FORCED TO CLEAR A STRUCTURE. This may be because you are home when an invasion occurs. It may be that you have relatives in the structure and you MUST move to their location during an invasion of your home. It may be that you are a rural officer and for whatever reason MUST act then to enter a structure. There are many reasons, but the point driven home is that this is a bad day already. Shivworks aims at giving you the most tools they can in your toolbox to have the best chance possible to turn that bad day into one that ends as well as it can.
After the overview, we watched a video, and analyzed it. I won't go into what was analyzed and how---that's Shivwork's material, and me handing out a few slices of tomato does not a burger make. Here is that video, though:
After this, and a discussion of tactics displayed in that video, we began "board work"---that is to say, a structure floor-plan was drawn on a dry-erase board, and we were all called to the board to trace a certain portion of the route we would use to clear it. We were asked "what is your weapon pointed at?" "What are you looking at?" "What are you thinking?" constantly. It put us in the mindset of analyzing "What's going on...what COULD be going on?"
At this point, we all began to feel "Hey...this is more complex than "I'm going to pop around the corner fast and hope I get 'em!" I literally had no CLUE how much mind-game goes into clearing a structure, how much technique, both physical and mental, it could make use of. Things like "up-pacing" (to get out of a long hallway with multiple exposures fast!) and "down-pacing" (to take full advantage of room depth, angles, and make the "badguy" stew while you methodically reduce the available space he has to hide in by working depth and angle). Penetrating into a room violently so as to make them traverse the muzzle, if they are in a far corner adjacent to the door...but not penetrating so far into the room so as to expose yourself to a side-room, or an off-set of the wall. This really is a 3D chess-match with bullets!
After board-work, we divided up into teams of 3-4 each, and split for the 3 sub-structures of the facility that we were using. Each had a hall-way that I estimate at 50 yards, with rooms/utility closets/bathrooms off to the sides, a shorter "T" hall, and more rooms. It was a serious lay-out! Some of the rooms (utility closets/bathrooms) were dark, even at noon. There was no electricity. We began clearing these rooms with training pistols (no ammo) and hand-held and weapon-mounted lights/laser. Each person in the 3-4 man group would clear through the structure while the other 2-3 followed him, asking why/what, and providing input and different viewpoints. We all learned something from each other at this point, with Southnarc (his handle comes from his occupation, former, as a narcotics officer in the South), the instructor, making rounds between the groups and showing us each how he would solve particular problems that our group was flustered by.
Next up came simunitions. Now, if you've never used a sim gun before, let me describe it. We used sim Glocks. They operate just like a "real" Glock and even require an FFL to purchase. They CANNOT ACCEPT A LIVE SLIDE OR BARREL! What they CAN do, is hurl paint-filled pellets at roughly 375fps, and they leave blood-shot bruises and do hurt! Even through heavy clothing. Face/ear/mouth/eye covering masks are MANDATORY, in my opinion, although SOME people (not in our group), I have heard, only run eyes.
Anyway, after lunch, out came the simguns...anxiety went up a notch. One "good guy" was left outside, while 1 "bad guy" hid in the structure. The "badguy" was "fixed" in location. "Hunting" the badguy could get somewhat nerve-wracking! We all got a few bruises, and we also discovered that it's a RARE! event to fire more than 3-5 shots without a jam from the simguns. Lots of "OH CRAP!" going on, there!
We then graduated to a moving bad-guy, as well as "no shoots". The entire 4-man teams were used. 1 good-guy, 1 bad-guy, and 2 "no shoots". The no-shoots wore eye-protection, but no masks, and hands were ALWAYS to be up and open away from the body. I am happy (and surprised) to report that during the entire 20 hours of coursework, NOONE shot a no-shoot that I heard about.
After this, we broke for supper, and returned after dark. This is where the anxiety really kicked in. Same as daylight, except the building was DARK! The "good guy" got a hand-held light, and a weapon-light, and the "bad-guy" got no illumination. It proved a double-edged sword in some cases. There were no-shoots, and there was a fully mobile "badguy". The "goodguy" was turned loose outside the structure, and had to make entry, and "kill" the home-intruder without shooting "no-shoots". The inside was pitch-black to BARELY illuminated in one or two rooms from moonlight.
I got several things from this portion of the course that changed my opinion on how I do things.
1: Hand-held lights allow you to do things weapon-lights DO NOT! Such as hold the light far from your body. Such as "flash" illumination, away from your body, and to move it opposite your direction of travel in front of door-ways, etc. etc. etc. It really is a force multiplier. Also, less is more, 98% of the time, when it comes to time "on the light". Lumens didn't really matter, as they were a double-edged sword. Cooler tint lights with focused beams did the best in this course, whether 200 or 500 lumens. I still prefer 4-600 lumen lights, although a focused 200 will get it done, you stand the same chance of "blinding yourself" with that focused beam on a white wall. I did that a few times, but the effects of blinding your own self clear up VERY FAST compared to what 500 lumens does to "the other guy". If you are aware of your surroundings, it's worth it to have the lumens, and even if you're not, I only did it 2-3 times the whole night, and it never had a negative consequence, while SEVERAL people hit with Surefire TIR and other 500+ lumen highly focused beams completely lost combat effectiveness.
2: INITIATIVE! YOU MUST HAVE IT, YOU MUST MAINTAIN IT!
3: Weapon-mounted lasers. I'm still divided on them, but at night, they have definite worth that cannot be easily argued against.
Point 1, I learned when I cornered the "bad-guy" in a utility closet. A few flash-bulbs, and he was blinded. I asked him afterward what effect it had, and he said he was worthless after I hit him with a few flashes, and then confronted him (With bullets). This was born out by the fact that he did not hit me with any of his shots fired in response. I got him in the wrist as he held the weapon in front of him. This brings up another point...both of us totaled about 20 rounds exchanged. ONE SHOT HIT THE TARGET. ONE! OOONNNNEEEE!!!! This was not rare or unique during day or low-light, here. LOTS of misses. We had people who ranged from former marines, to former Rangers, to current LE, to a jiujitsu teaching MD. NONE OF US were "putting 2 in the chest at 1 in the head". It just wasn't happening. That shocked me as much as/more than anything, and really blew holes in how I *thought* a "gunfight" in a house would be. It also underscores the NEED for knowing your target, what is beyond it...and normal capacity magazines!
Point 2: Almost immediately upon entry, I was ambushed by "the badguy". I saw muzzle flashes (yeah...simguns...they do that, too.) and moved immediately into a room to cut off his field of fire. Unfortunately, I picked a room that backlit everything from a large window. Maybe it was the therapy day-room? The entry where he would have to come through was the only thing NOT backlit. I took what is known as a "hard corner" in the room. A "hard corner" is one of the 4 (or more) corners which creates an edge of the room. I took the strongest one with the best angle on the door. Obviously the badguy never came in the room. I began losing initiative. Stewing in my own mental juices, the foggy face-mask, the knowledge that he was "out there somewhere, probably just outside the door". Southnarc emphasized the issue "Not getting anything done" "Losing initiative". Etc. I forced myself to pie the door. Made it out the door into the hall. I felt better. A lot better moving than sitting still! I WAS GETTING **** DONE! I was ambushed from a utility closet. Flash-move/fire response. He ducked back in. Now I actually felt GOOD. I could use angles against him, take away his space, and trap him in (eventually) a small sliver of that closet and gun him down. That's exactly what I did, helped by the points learned in point #1. Another thing I would say, is that I felt just as naked as he looked. I wasn't. All he saw was a few light flashes and muzzle-blasts. He said he never had a target. I could see all of him crouched in there, once I made my move after taking away as much space from him as I could.
Point 3: They are easy to see, and allow you to focus on the target more, I find.
Anyway, that concluded 14 hours of training on Day 1. I was tore up. It really was mentally and physically exhausting, and I had been awake for 24 hours, now, roughly. I looked so bad that the hotel clerk (in New Orleans, no less) asked me 3 times "Are you okay?" when I was checking in near midnight. Wow. Even with simguns, it takes a toll on the psyche.
Day #2 began at 9 am the next day. It incorporated all of the things learned during Day 1, but it added "do not shoot yet's". For example, people you have confronted which are neither "no-shoots" or "badguys" that need to be shot. These were "random persons". In real life, they could be the drunk who stumbled into the wrong house. The 16 year old who got 1 digit off on a girl's address that she texted him and slipped in the wrong window...or they could be violent criminals. You were not told.
Let me also stop right there, and make note of something that Southnarc pointed out. A lot of people here in "E-land" say "They are in my house, I can and will kill them." Well...okay. Legally, yes you might be able to. However, what normal, properly adjusted human being is going to shoot a 16 year old who is obviously scared to death stuttering and has his hands out, etc. trying to do anything BUT get shot, and feel good about it? Same for someone drunk and throwing up on your hardwood floor. You think they deserve to be shot for that? Answer it in your head.
Okay...so you have these "don't shoot yet's" Loose in the house. How do you deal with them. Well, once we confronted them, we held them at gunpoint. Not too close...but not so far that they felt they could dart/run. We then issued verbal commands, which resulted in them being "pinned" in place (if you have someone kneeling, shirt over their head, ankles crossed, hands full of the back of their shirt-collar, facing away from you, it's HARD for them to do anything super fast.)
These were all "dry" drills. No ammo.
Our final evolution that day focused on tying EVERYTHING together. We were given a scenario involving a "do not shoot yet", a "badguy", and "a family member".
The "don't shoot yet" in that scenario (we were not told this, this is how it occurred) was discovered first, and was moderately compliant. However, before you could get the "don't shoot yet" pinned and inspected, the "family member" began yelling "HEEELLPPP!" from down the hall past the "do not shoot yet". You had options: Shoot the "do not shoot yet" even though you don't know who/what they are, and then address the family member's issue/assailant, or run past the "do not shoot yet" and address the issue.
*Pause*
In some states, it is legal to shoot the "do not shoot yet". In others, that would be considered murder, especially if no weapon were found on them, further, what does your own morality dictate?" Food for thought...
*Resume*
The "do not shoot yet" ended up having a gun. Noone (self included) shot the "do not shoot yet" that I am aware. We yelled "DOWNDOWNDOWNDOWN" and freight-trained past them, and immediately entered the room to cut off the "do not shoot yet's" line of site. My personal failure here, was that when I did this, I was shot at and yelled at by the assailant in the room with the family member. I ducked back in the hall to seek cover, and the "do not shoot yet" shot me in the back multiple times---I had COMPLETELY forgotten about them (nor did I look over my shoulder as I ran to the yelling "family member"...another mistake). I believe this happened to more people than it didn't, and is serious sobering food for thought about how we "tunnel vision" in on things. Not only that, but I had completely lost initiative in the room with the family member because now the assailant knew where I was coming from, and that I would be back if his buddy didn't kill me. I did immediately re-enter the room and we fired at each other from 12' or so away. Neither of us scored hits. Again, sobering. This person is a former Ranger and current SWAT member with hundreds of hours of training.
That concluded the course, after a discussion of the final scenario. There was a ton of material, and a ton of exercises. I honestly feel like if I did the same course again, I would get just as much from it the second time.
The one thing that I cannot stress enough, is that clearing a structure by yourself, even when you know the lay-out, is NOT EASY OR SAFE! Unfortunately, sometimes you have to do what must be done, and I feel that AMIS by Shivworks is the best possible way to put more tools in your toolbox.
I was introduced to the course by Advantage Group Training, and have taken previous courses arranged by them. Some companies have 1 or two products that are great, but the rest of the stuff they put out is "meh", but Advantage Group has consistently delivered a premium product. I had no idea who/what Shivworks was until this course, and signed up for the course based on my previous association with Advantage Group and their reputation. As far as I am concerned, if their name is attached to it, it's going to deliver. Not "rock-star" or "feel-good" deliver where the training is simple and the bar low and only shoulder-pats are handed out, but the kind of deliver that makes you a more competent person and better problem solver. AMIS was no exception, and I highly recommend it, as well as the other courses hosted by Advantage Group.
http://www.advantagegrouptraining.com/
http://shivworks.com
I will skip introducing you to the program and actors as you can read about who,what,when,where above, and skip to the meat of this post, my AAR of AMIS (Armed Movement In Structures).
Day 1:
I drove across the state, and had been up for about 8 hours when class began. The location was an abandoned mental-health hospital, and we used 3 sub-buildings within the facility. They were configured similar to a regular school/hospital that I'm sure all of you have been in at some point, except the windows were plexi-glass/acrylic, and pictures were bolted to the wall. Really "cool" venue!
Southnarc (I will use his forum/internet name) introduced himself, and the over-view of the course content early on. The main and over-reaching idea/concept is that AMIS (real-life) is dangerous! THERE IS NO SAFE OR "GOOD" WAY TO CLEAR A STRUCTURE BY YOURSELF! There are bad ways, and there are better ways, but there is no safe way to do it.
The course focuses on the worst-case scenario for a rural officer or home-owner who is FORCED TO CLEAR A STRUCTURE. This may be because you are home when an invasion occurs. It may be that you have relatives in the structure and you MUST move to their location during an invasion of your home. It may be that you are a rural officer and for whatever reason MUST act then to enter a structure. There are many reasons, but the point driven home is that this is a bad day already. Shivworks aims at giving you the most tools they can in your toolbox to have the best chance possible to turn that bad day into one that ends as well as it can.
After the overview, we watched a video, and analyzed it. I won't go into what was analyzed and how---that's Shivwork's material, and me handing out a few slices of tomato does not a burger make. Here is that video, though:
After this, and a discussion of tactics displayed in that video, we began "board work"---that is to say, a structure floor-plan was drawn on a dry-erase board, and we were all called to the board to trace a certain portion of the route we would use to clear it. We were asked "what is your weapon pointed at?" "What are you looking at?" "What are you thinking?" constantly. It put us in the mindset of analyzing "What's going on...what COULD be going on?"
At this point, we all began to feel "Hey...this is more complex than "I'm going to pop around the corner fast and hope I get 'em!" I literally had no CLUE how much mind-game goes into clearing a structure, how much technique, both physical and mental, it could make use of. Things like "up-pacing" (to get out of a long hallway with multiple exposures fast!) and "down-pacing" (to take full advantage of room depth, angles, and make the "badguy" stew while you methodically reduce the available space he has to hide in by working depth and angle). Penetrating into a room violently so as to make them traverse the muzzle, if they are in a far corner adjacent to the door...but not penetrating so far into the room so as to expose yourself to a side-room, or an off-set of the wall. This really is a 3D chess-match with bullets!
After board-work, we divided up into teams of 3-4 each, and split for the 3 sub-structures of the facility that we were using. Each had a hall-way that I estimate at 50 yards, with rooms/utility closets/bathrooms off to the sides, a shorter "T" hall, and more rooms. It was a serious lay-out! Some of the rooms (utility closets/bathrooms) were dark, even at noon. There was no electricity. We began clearing these rooms with training pistols (no ammo) and hand-held and weapon-mounted lights/laser. Each person in the 3-4 man group would clear through the structure while the other 2-3 followed him, asking why/what, and providing input and different viewpoints. We all learned something from each other at this point, with Southnarc (his handle comes from his occupation, former, as a narcotics officer in the South), the instructor, making rounds between the groups and showing us each how he would solve particular problems that our group was flustered by.
Next up came simunitions. Now, if you've never used a sim gun before, let me describe it. We used sim Glocks. They operate just like a "real" Glock and even require an FFL to purchase. They CANNOT ACCEPT A LIVE SLIDE OR BARREL! What they CAN do, is hurl paint-filled pellets at roughly 375fps, and they leave blood-shot bruises and do hurt! Even through heavy clothing. Face/ear/mouth/eye covering masks are MANDATORY, in my opinion, although SOME people (not in our group), I have heard, only run eyes.
Anyway, after lunch, out came the simguns...anxiety went up a notch. One "good guy" was left outside, while 1 "bad guy" hid in the structure. The "badguy" was "fixed" in location. "Hunting" the badguy could get somewhat nerve-wracking! We all got a few bruises, and we also discovered that it's a RARE! event to fire more than 3-5 shots without a jam from the simguns. Lots of "OH CRAP!" going on, there!
We then graduated to a moving bad-guy, as well as "no shoots". The entire 4-man teams were used. 1 good-guy, 1 bad-guy, and 2 "no shoots". The no-shoots wore eye-protection, but no masks, and hands were ALWAYS to be up and open away from the body. I am happy (and surprised) to report that during the entire 20 hours of coursework, NOONE shot a no-shoot that I heard about.
After this, we broke for supper, and returned after dark. This is where the anxiety really kicked in. Same as daylight, except the building was DARK! The "good guy" got a hand-held light, and a weapon-light, and the "bad-guy" got no illumination. It proved a double-edged sword in some cases. There were no-shoots, and there was a fully mobile "badguy". The "goodguy" was turned loose outside the structure, and had to make entry, and "kill" the home-intruder without shooting "no-shoots". The inside was pitch-black to BARELY illuminated in one or two rooms from moonlight.
I got several things from this portion of the course that changed my opinion on how I do things.
1: Hand-held lights allow you to do things weapon-lights DO NOT! Such as hold the light far from your body. Such as "flash" illumination, away from your body, and to move it opposite your direction of travel in front of door-ways, etc. etc. etc. It really is a force multiplier. Also, less is more, 98% of the time, when it comes to time "on the light". Lumens didn't really matter, as they were a double-edged sword. Cooler tint lights with focused beams did the best in this course, whether 200 or 500 lumens. I still prefer 4-600 lumen lights, although a focused 200 will get it done, you stand the same chance of "blinding yourself" with that focused beam on a white wall. I did that a few times, but the effects of blinding your own self clear up VERY FAST compared to what 500 lumens does to "the other guy". If you are aware of your surroundings, it's worth it to have the lumens, and even if you're not, I only did it 2-3 times the whole night, and it never had a negative consequence, while SEVERAL people hit with Surefire TIR and other 500+ lumen highly focused beams completely lost combat effectiveness.
2: INITIATIVE! YOU MUST HAVE IT, YOU MUST MAINTAIN IT!
3: Weapon-mounted lasers. I'm still divided on them, but at night, they have definite worth that cannot be easily argued against.
Point 1, I learned when I cornered the "bad-guy" in a utility closet. A few flash-bulbs, and he was blinded. I asked him afterward what effect it had, and he said he was worthless after I hit him with a few flashes, and then confronted him (With bullets). This was born out by the fact that he did not hit me with any of his shots fired in response. I got him in the wrist as he held the weapon in front of him. This brings up another point...both of us totaled about 20 rounds exchanged. ONE SHOT HIT THE TARGET. ONE! OOONNNNEEEE!!!! This was not rare or unique during day or low-light, here. LOTS of misses. We had people who ranged from former marines, to former Rangers, to current LE, to a jiujitsu teaching MD. NONE OF US were "putting 2 in the chest at 1 in the head". It just wasn't happening. That shocked me as much as/more than anything, and really blew holes in how I *thought* a "gunfight" in a house would be. It also underscores the NEED for knowing your target, what is beyond it...and normal capacity magazines!
Point 2: Almost immediately upon entry, I was ambushed by "the badguy". I saw muzzle flashes (yeah...simguns...they do that, too.) and moved immediately into a room to cut off his field of fire. Unfortunately, I picked a room that backlit everything from a large window. Maybe it was the therapy day-room? The entry where he would have to come through was the only thing NOT backlit. I took what is known as a "hard corner" in the room. A "hard corner" is one of the 4 (or more) corners which creates an edge of the room. I took the strongest one with the best angle on the door. Obviously the badguy never came in the room. I began losing initiative. Stewing in my own mental juices, the foggy face-mask, the knowledge that he was "out there somewhere, probably just outside the door". Southnarc emphasized the issue "Not getting anything done" "Losing initiative". Etc. I forced myself to pie the door. Made it out the door into the hall. I felt better. A lot better moving than sitting still! I WAS GETTING **** DONE! I was ambushed from a utility closet. Flash-move/fire response. He ducked back in. Now I actually felt GOOD. I could use angles against him, take away his space, and trap him in (eventually) a small sliver of that closet and gun him down. That's exactly what I did, helped by the points learned in point #1. Another thing I would say, is that I felt just as naked as he looked. I wasn't. All he saw was a few light flashes and muzzle-blasts. He said he never had a target. I could see all of him crouched in there, once I made my move after taking away as much space from him as I could.
Point 3: They are easy to see, and allow you to focus on the target more, I find.
Anyway, that concluded 14 hours of training on Day 1. I was tore up. It really was mentally and physically exhausting, and I had been awake for 24 hours, now, roughly. I looked so bad that the hotel clerk (in New Orleans, no less) asked me 3 times "Are you okay?" when I was checking in near midnight. Wow. Even with simguns, it takes a toll on the psyche.
Day #2 began at 9 am the next day. It incorporated all of the things learned during Day 1, but it added "do not shoot yet's". For example, people you have confronted which are neither "no-shoots" or "badguys" that need to be shot. These were "random persons". In real life, they could be the drunk who stumbled into the wrong house. The 16 year old who got 1 digit off on a girl's address that she texted him and slipped in the wrong window...or they could be violent criminals. You were not told.
Let me also stop right there, and make note of something that Southnarc pointed out. A lot of people here in "E-land" say "They are in my house, I can and will kill them." Well...okay. Legally, yes you might be able to. However, what normal, properly adjusted human being is going to shoot a 16 year old who is obviously scared to death stuttering and has his hands out, etc. trying to do anything BUT get shot, and feel good about it? Same for someone drunk and throwing up on your hardwood floor. You think they deserve to be shot for that? Answer it in your head.
Okay...so you have these "don't shoot yet's" Loose in the house. How do you deal with them. Well, once we confronted them, we held them at gunpoint. Not too close...but not so far that they felt they could dart/run. We then issued verbal commands, which resulted in them being "pinned" in place (if you have someone kneeling, shirt over their head, ankles crossed, hands full of the back of their shirt-collar, facing away from you, it's HARD for them to do anything super fast.)
These were all "dry" drills. No ammo.
Our final evolution that day focused on tying EVERYTHING together. We were given a scenario involving a "do not shoot yet", a "badguy", and "a family member".
The "don't shoot yet" in that scenario (we were not told this, this is how it occurred) was discovered first, and was moderately compliant. However, before you could get the "don't shoot yet" pinned and inspected, the "family member" began yelling "HEEELLPPP!" from down the hall past the "do not shoot yet". You had options: Shoot the "do not shoot yet" even though you don't know who/what they are, and then address the family member's issue/assailant, or run past the "do not shoot yet" and address the issue.
*Pause*
In some states, it is legal to shoot the "do not shoot yet". In others, that would be considered murder, especially if no weapon were found on them, further, what does your own morality dictate?" Food for thought...
*Resume*
The "do not shoot yet" ended up having a gun. Noone (self included) shot the "do not shoot yet" that I am aware. We yelled "DOWNDOWNDOWNDOWN" and freight-trained past them, and immediately entered the room to cut off the "do not shoot yet's" line of site. My personal failure here, was that when I did this, I was shot at and yelled at by the assailant in the room with the family member. I ducked back in the hall to seek cover, and the "do not shoot yet" shot me in the back multiple times---I had COMPLETELY forgotten about them (nor did I look over my shoulder as I ran to the yelling "family member"...another mistake). I believe this happened to more people than it didn't, and is serious sobering food for thought about how we "tunnel vision" in on things. Not only that, but I had completely lost initiative in the room with the family member because now the assailant knew where I was coming from, and that I would be back if his buddy didn't kill me. I did immediately re-enter the room and we fired at each other from 12' or so away. Neither of us scored hits. Again, sobering. This person is a former Ranger and current SWAT member with hundreds of hours of training.
That concluded the course, after a discussion of the final scenario. There was a ton of material, and a ton of exercises. I honestly feel like if I did the same course again, I would get just as much from it the second time.
The one thing that I cannot stress enough, is that clearing a structure by yourself, even when you know the lay-out, is NOT EASY OR SAFE! Unfortunately, sometimes you have to do what must be done, and I feel that AMIS by Shivworks is the best possible way to put more tools in your toolbox.
I was introduced to the course by Advantage Group Training, and have taken previous courses arranged by them. Some companies have 1 or two products that are great, but the rest of the stuff they put out is "meh", but Advantage Group has consistently delivered a premium product. I had no idea who/what Shivworks was until this course, and signed up for the course based on my previous association with Advantage Group and their reputation. As far as I am concerned, if their name is attached to it, it's going to deliver. Not "rock-star" or "feel-good" deliver where the training is simple and the bar low and only shoulder-pats are handed out, but the kind of deliver that makes you a more competent person and better problem solver. AMIS was no exception, and I highly recommend it, as well as the other courses hosted by Advantage Group.
http://www.advantagegrouptraining.com/
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