Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1542142
ladder, up which the boarding team climbs one by one to search. Then CQB begins, extremely hard in the maritime environment: nar- row passageways, many compartments, many doors, the ship rol- ling on the swell, engines humming from the engine room… it's hard to control the chaos. You have to decide, moment to moment, how to enter, where to exit, whether to call someone for help… and then the stairs start. Literally and figuratively. The stairs on a ship are the toughest part—this is usually where someone gets hurt, you have to think above all. Because VBSS requires thinking, lots of it, and the instructors make sure to punish its absence; this is not a jolly shoot-'em-up from a western. I've attended, I believe, six VBSS courses organized by Barracuda Elite and Formoza RIB and I still want more. Each edition of this unique tactical course in Europe begins the same way, the group of trainees is first handed to Andrzej, such a nice, unassuming guy… until the training starts and he shows what he can do, all with a smile while sweat runs off the students. Yes, we're at the warm-up stage now: close-quarters fighting and we- apons in confined spaces. Meanwhile two of the biggest grumps: Eddie, a legendary guy who looks like a cross between an old-school navy wolf and a hardened SEALs type, and HerrFlik — an even bigger grump (to this day I don't know what he did in his youth… now he shoots sniper rifles at distan- ces most people couldn't run without losing their breath; or couldn't run at all) unfurl the caving ladder. I'll note right away that they do it slowly… giving Andrzej time to wear everyone out. And so we move on to caving ladder training: on the one hand the du- llest part of the course, and on the other, without it there's no further fun (just thinking about climbing it weeds out half the applicants— those who aren't frightened by it get to see what the first half were scared of). Climbing the caving ladder, operating the pole (a kind of "fishing-rod" used to hook the ladder); for now we practice on land, drawing curious looks. WEEKEND UNDER THE SIGN OF PASKUDA TRAINING