Defensive Training Group: Something a little different in preparedness training

When it comes to preparedness sites, the world is often divided into “guy sites” and “mom sites.” There are the sites that are heavy on gear and combat theorizing. Then there are sites that are heavy on family, food, and first-aid (and not the type of first aid involving highly specialized blood-clotting agents and treatments for sucking chest wounds).

I recently heard about Defensive Training Group. DTG puts the emphasis elsewhere, where I haven’t heard it before — on neighborhoods and those who might find themselves leading neighborhood protection teams when TSHTF.

I “met” Tom Randall when he joined The Zelman Partisans (thank you, Tom). Turns out he’s one of the partners in DTG and he gave me a look at the place.

There is, naturally, a lot of “guy-ness” to neighborhood protection (with no offense to the women — of whom I know many — who are at least as interested in guns and strategy as they are in domestic matters). And those who serve as instructors and curriculum creators for DTG are heavy on the military background. Tom describes their overall expertise like so:

Career military, well-trained in survival, small unit tactics, and teaching skills used in two Southern Association of Colleges and Schools credit granting institutions. The former, being the USAF Security Police/Forces Academy; the other being a USAF mid-level leadership & management in-residence course.

10 years on staff between the two institutions; the remainder of the career, ‘doing the job’ including several ‘high speed’ assignments. DTG staff are degreed, serious students (much more important than holding a degree, but a degree indicates ‘staying power’) who’ve been under my supervision for the last 10 years as apprentice instructors (learning the most efficient methods for transmitting knowledge from one human being to another) and as ‘survivalists’, learning the tricks of the trade including anything ranging from rubbing two sticks together to make a fire to small unit tactics and local community defense strategies.

So yes, you know where the initial emphasis is. But neighborhood protection also means things like ensuring that everybody is either taking care of themselves and others or being taken care of in some way. Neighborhood preparedness is inherently well-rounded preparedness.

So while the three-year old site as yet doesn’t have a lot of material about the more peaceable, domestic parts of preparedness, it does recognize everyday preparedness as the subject for future developments. Already, it features lessons on winter camping, neighborhood patrolling, and home DIY emergency drills that families can participate in.

DTG is also unique in being directed at those who either want to be — or might end up being — leaders. “Force multipliers,” in Tom’s point of view. DTG is directed at those who might end up not only leading, but teaching, others under hard circumstances: “Those who prep and learn now will be the local community subject matter experts as many people will finally ‘get it’ and be very sincere (because their lives are in imminent jeopardy) in their desire to learn, no matter how steep the learning curve happens to be during circumstances.”

DTG has both a blog, accessible to everyone, and a paid membership area where much of its expertise is archived in an online classroom. Plans (not yet finalized) are to conduct webinars and add more training videos. They offer a very small line of preparedness products, with emphasis on those that the site’s partners and adjunct instructors have personally tried.

Still growing, but definitely an interesting site to watch.