Posted: 4/13/2012 12:21:36 PM EDT
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If anyone's been to SWAT in Utah, or another 'Hell Week' SWAT, how was it? What school did you attend? What to expect etc? |
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Which school in UT? One of 3 I'll be attending. Utah Co, Ogden or DPS/West Jordan (the one I think I'll be going to) Utah County SWAT school is well respected. I have not been but know several officers from my former department that have been. From what I have herd its an ass kicker, full load gear training and not a lot of sleep. I think most departments in the Provo and Salt Lake Valley's are wanting officers they are looking at to attend these schools to be eligible for selection to the teams. I was in Southern Utah and we kinda did our own thing. I just had to go through my own departments SWAT team PT, shoot and training. As time went on we were sent to specialty schools as the budget allowed. |
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Which school in UT? One of 3 I'll be attending. Utah Co, Ogden or DPS/West Jordan (the one I think I'll be going to) Utah County SWAT school is well respected. I have not been but know several officers from my former department that have been. From what I have herd its an ass kicker, full load gear training and not a lot of sleep. I think most departments in the Provo and Salt Lake Valley's are wanting officers they are looking at to attend these schools to be eligible for selection to the teams. I was in Southern Utah and we kinda did our own thing. I just had to go through my own departments SWAT team PT, shoot and training. As time went on we were sent to specialty schools as the budget allowed. Ya, all the schools you're wearing full gear all the time, which is what worries me most with my bad back. I'm in better than average shape. You're story is the same as mine as far as location and everything. What dept? You can PM if you'd like. My thought is I want to learn, not be sleep deprived etc just to be messed with. I went through that in boot camp. Now I feel too old to play a lot of the games, but I'll do what I gotta do. |
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Which school in UT? One of 3 I'll be attending. Utah Co, Ogden or DPS/West Jordan (the one I think I'll be going to) Utah County SWAT school is well respected. I have not been but know several officers from my former department that have been. From what I have herd its an ass kicker, full load gear training and not a lot of sleep. I think most departments in the Provo and Salt Lake Valley's are wanting officers they are looking at to attend these schools to be eligible for selection to the teams. I was in Southern Utah and we kinda did our own thing. I just had to go through my own departments SWAT team PT, shoot and training. As time went on we were sent to specialty schools as the budget allowed. Ya, all the schools you're wearing full gear all the time, which is what worries me most with my bad back. I'm in better than average shape. You're story is the same as mine as far as location and everything. What dept? You can PM if you'd like. My thought is I want to learn, not be sleep deprived etc just to be messed with. I went through that in boot camp. Now I feel too old to play a lot of the games, but I'll do what I gotta do. SWAT school is alot of material to cram into a one week course load and when i went we only did PT for 1 or two hours in rhe morning. Determining if you have the physical ability to be on your agencies swat team and deciding who makes the cut should be done before you go to the school. The school should be for those that were accepted onto the team to learn their roles and whats expected of them. Deliberate sleep deprivation among the students would be counter productive to the goal of teaching and unnecessary. Besides, i dont see tolerance to sleep deprivation as being a necessary skill for swat anyway. Yes, callouts can be long and exhausting and take all day, but that should be a physical stamina thing and not a "go several days without or with very little sleep" thing. Can anybody shed some more light on whether this is a common practice up there and whether swat up there is synonomous with "hell week" as well? |
| While I understand the principle, I think it's pretty idiotic to do a "hell week" or special forces wannabee SWAT school. School is just that....a learning environment. Our school is run for 80hrs crammed into one week. That is still not enough time to get everything in that we need to get in, but it does give them the basics. Depriving them of sleep, physical exhaustion....does nothing to help them learn. This isn't a selection school, it's not a mentally tough school......it's SWAT school. Don't get me wrong we still do a PT test and other physical type events, but they are used in conjuction with team building and range use. |
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I am familiar with two of the three schools, Ogden's Hell Week and West Jordan/DPS JSOG's BTOC.
Ogden's Hell Week is just that a week of hell. No sleep, a ton of PT, and a load of mental and physical punishment. For example, you may be ordered to run up a mountain to find a shiny red rock. They will tell you that you can't miss it, but when you drag your sorry ass up there you can't find the shiny red rock. That's because there is no red rock so you can plan on making a return trip to the top of the mountain. If you make it through the week you are rewarded with a barbecue, new T-shirt and the satisfaction that you made through that beast. BTOC- is more oriented toward training you to function within a team. You can plan on 1-2 hours of daily PT, and the basics you need to know to function on your team. The days are long, but you will get a few hours of sleep, so you can retain what is being taught. BTOC is a good school for new SWAT officers. |
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I am familiar with two of the three schools, Ogden's Hell Week and West Jordan/DPS JSOG's BTOC. Ogden's Hell Week is just that a week of hell. No sleep, a ton of PT, and a load of mental and physical punishment. For example, you may be ordered to run up a mountain to find a shiny red rock. They will tell you that you can't miss it, but when you drag your sorry ass up there you can't find the shiny red rock. That's because there is no red rock so you can plan on making a return trip to the top of the mountain. If you make it through the week you are rewarded with a barbecue, new T-shirt and the satisfaction that you made through that beast. BTOC- is more oriented toward training you to function within a team. You can plan on 1-2 hours of daily PT, and the basics you need to know to function on your team. The days are long, but you will get a few hours of sleep, so you can retain what is being taught. BTOC is a good school for new SWAT officers. Great info, thanks. Ya, I just don't get why you'd sleep deprive someone and play the games when you're there to learn. So no BBQ or t-shirt at BTOC, huh?  Damn.
The way I see it it if your dept is sending you to be on the team (which I already am), go there to learn. I did the boot camp, MP academy, the police academy, the corrections academy etc. I'm hoping my days of being f'd with are over. ha |
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I am familiar with two of the three schools, Ogden's Hell Week and West Jordan/DPS JSOG's BTOC. Ogden's Hell Week is just that a week of hell. No sleep, a ton of PT, and a load of mental and physical punishment. For example, you may be ordered to run up a mountain to find a shiny red rock. They will tell you that you can't miss it, but when you drag your sorry ass up there you can't find the shiny red rock. That's because there is no red rock so you can plan on making a return trip to the top of the mountain. If you make it through the week you are rewarded with a barbecue, new T-shirt and the satisfaction that you made through that beast. BTOC- is more oriented toward training you to function within a team. You can plan on 1-2 hours of daily PT, and the basics you need to know to function on your team. The days are long, but you will get a few hours of sleep, so you can retain what is being taught. BTOC is a good school for new SWAT officers. Sounds like one big dick measuring contest. |
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I am familiar with two of the three schools, Ogden's Hell Week and West Jordan/DPS JSOG's BTOC. Ogden's Hell Week is just that a week of hell. No sleep, a ton of PT, and a load of mental and physical punishment. For example, you may be ordered to run up a mountain to find a shiny red rock. They will tell you that you can't miss it, but when you drag your sorry ass up there you can't find the shiny red rock. That's because there is no red rock so you can plan on making a return trip to the top of the mountain. If you make it through the week you are rewarded with a barbecue, new T-shirt and the satisfaction that you made through that beast. BTOC- is more oriented toward training you to function within a team. You can plan on 1-2 hours of daily PT, and the basics you need to know to function on your team. The days are long, but you will get a few hours of sleep, so you can retain what is being taught. BTOC is a good school for new SWAT officers. Sounds like one big dick measuring contest. It's not. I have been thru Ogden's hell week, and Salt lake city Swat as well. I did this when I was stationed up there when I was in the military. Both great schools. Although when I was at Ogden it was the cross at the top of the "mountain", there was no red rock. Best training I ever had. The only major difference between the schools, is that at Salt Lake City, you swim more than you run. It's easier on the knees, and I went around this time frame (april) too. Both schools had great instructors, and stressed teamwork. Shot about 700 rounds of pistol and 500 of rifle. Please for the love of god Have EVERYONE clean their guns after you finish shooting. They will check them every morning. We got about 4-5 hours of sleep every night. Pro tip= sleep every chance u get. |
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While not a SWAT School....I attended Direact action Resource Center (DARC) Counter Terrorism for LE. This clas was brutally long and very high stress. We had about 95 hours that week with the majority of it in battle gear (plate carrier/tac vest, ammo, helmet, and about 80% pro mask). I will say that you need to keep hydrated and have plenty of electrolytes and protein snacks on hand. Gotta keep fuel in your body even if you dont feel hungry. Remember, stay focused, stay motivated, and be a face in the crowd.
No matter how trivial you may think something is, it will probably save your life. Give a 110% in training and you'll give a 110% kicking in doors. Be safe brother...... |
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Which school in UT? One of 3 I'll be attending. Utah Co, Ogden or DPS/West Jordan (the one I think I'll be going to) I did the Ogden Metro SWAT hell week in 1996. It was great training and a sucktastic week. Basically, sunday is registration from around 0800 to 0900, then go to the fire tower obstacle course. Run it repeatedly until lunch. Break from lunch hour or so. Go to range. 1 hour for supper. Back to tower for team movement drills. Around 2200 begin evening movement exercise until the wee hours of the morning. This ends the easiest day. day two 0600 or 0700 PT, go to training area until lunch 1 hour break for lunch new training area. One hour break for supper new training area. Go to bed between0200-0400. Repeat until thursday where you start at the same time but stay out until 0600 or so. Break for a couple hours final range, run through the park carrying people (including through the pond) and competitions until around 1400. We lost one guy from my squad due to injury on day one(fucked up knee). My squad almost lost a second (me) due to pre-existing injury to the gun hand and fucking up an ankle on day two. Take motrin. Pro tip. Plan on lots of pushups and time in the dieing cockroach. Missing targets or hitting hostages is frowned upon(it sucks when you are shooting with your non-dominant hand due to an injury). Yes, you will shoot with your mask on. Protip two:Only wear what you really have to on day one. It is expected you will have the same exact gear on for the rest of the week. You can add to this for say drills requiring a mask but you can NOT be below what you had through the obstacle course. So if you feel macho wear the brainbucket and ceramic plates but your week will REALLY SUCK. Don't feel like you are wussing out. Not even the SF guys wore full armor. Protip three do not blow off the recon assignment. 1 they add the information you gather to their intel files. Two one of the houses belongs to one of the team members and they will know you blew it off. Your public ass chewing in front of the other three teams will be memorable. All in all it was the best training I have had in over 20 years in LE and 15 in the Guard. I highly recommend Randy Watts school for wayward cops. |
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Which school in UT? One of 3 I'll be attending. Utah Co, Ogden or DPS/West Jordan (the one I think I'll be going to) Utah County SWAT school is well respected. I have not been but know several officers from my former department that have been. From what I have herd its an ass kicker, full load gear training and not a lot of sleep. I think most departments in the Provo and Salt Lake Valley's are wanting officers they are looking at to attend these schools to be eligible for selection to the teams. I was in Southern Utah and we kinda did our own thing. I just had to go through my own departments SWAT team PT, shoot and training. As time went on we were sent to specialty schools as the budget allowed. We had a couple guys from Utah County's team in the Ogden course. IIRC I have one of their tshirts somewhere. |
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I am familiar with two of the three schools, Ogden's Hell Week and West Jordan/DPS JSOG's BTOC. Ogden's Hell Week is just that a week of hell. No sleep, a ton of PT, and a load of mental and physical punishment. For example, you may be ordered to run up a mountain to find a shiny red rock. They will tell you that you can't miss it, but when you drag your sorry ass up there you can't find the shiny red rock. That's because there is no red rock so you can plan on making a return trip to the top of the mountain. If you make it through the week you are rewarded with a barbecue, new T-shirt and the satisfaction that you made through that beast. BTOC- is more oriented toward training you to function within a team. You can plan on 1-2 hours of daily PT, and the basics you need to know to function on your team. The days are long, but you will get a few hours of sleep, so you can retain what is being taught. BTOC is a good school for new SWAT officers. Sounds like one big dick measuring contest. Nope. It is one rough fucking week that shows you your limits and your capabilities. It also stresses attention to detail and pushing yourself to complete the mission. |
