Urban Shield

[tac40]

With regards to this event-Urban Shield here in the norcal area, Sept 2008. My agency will be involved and I will be a monitor/role player. I've asked mil-spec monkey guys to photograph gears and weapon systems for me as a review what LEO's are using. From HK416, Colt, Bushmaster, S&W AR15,
Sigs, and other various arms. I hope this will be an interesting read when I get going with it. Any suggestion or thoughts let me know.

[Stickman]

Sounds good, I think an overview of the event would be of interest to most people, especially with an emphasis on the weapon systems.

[tac40]

OK here we go, Urban Shield starts next week and we just finished a trial run at
"Schwarzenegger" Hall at UC Berkeley.
My camera will be at the ready and I talked Mil-spec monkey into helping so it should be fun and interesting

[Stickman]

Tell the monkey crew I said hi. Hopefully I'll be able to BS with them a little more at the next SHOT Show.

[tac40]

Urban Shield 2008

This is dedicated to the SWAT officers of the Oakland Police Depart. Their heroism and professionalism spoke volumes on March 21, 2009. Two officers from Oakland Police SWAT made the ultimate sacrifice in protecting their fellow officers and the community they serve while engaging a parolee who had just murdered 2 fellow Oakland officers during a traffic stop. The parolee was recently released from custody and was armed with a pistol and later a rifle. The parolee was later killed in a shootout with the Oakland police SWAT.

In the fall of 2008, I had the privilege to work at the Urban Shield event. My department along with the University of California Berkeley Police Department held a training scenario at the fictitious “Schwarzenegger Hall”. A terrorist group had taken over the building and had hostages; they had already killed a hostage and were attempting to liberate test animals in the building. The tactical teams were to neutralize the threat and save the hostages.

I was grateful to watch and learn from all the SWAT officers. The SWAT teams came from across the United States. Each team had 6 to 8 members. The Urban Shield event took place over a 72 hour period and covered many locations and had various tactical problems thrown at the SWAT officers. This included a nighttime hike across a vast open park space. Under stress and sleep deprivation, the SWAT officers rose to the challenge.

Like our brothers and sisters in the armed forces, firefighters and EMT community, the law enforcement community is truly a “band of brothers”. I saw officers share a bond and loyalty to each other which the general public may never understand. For those who serve, understand the commitment and fellowship. We feel and know; one day we may pay the ultimate sacrifice. For the rest of us, be safe, train and learn so we can go home at night.

The following photos I took during the Urban Shield event depicts the SWAT Team gear selection and set up. The weapons used were all sims guns and ammunition. For those who choose the path of the warrior, take pride in your
brotherhood, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers"-William Shakespeare's Henry V.















Oakland Police SWAT patch

[Stickman]

Sounds good, I can't wait to see the pictures.

[Eric]

Yes...the mob demands photos!

[tac40]

With respect to all SWAT, patrol officers, firefighters, EMT, and military personnels. We can all learn from the incident which unfolded in Oakland, California. As we train, work and fight, we dedicate ourselves to service, family and satifaction in knowing we are the good guys here. Be safe.

[scumhunter]

Pics? Yes please!

[Policetacteam]

That looks very cool! Yes..pics please!!!!

[Stickman]

Did you just upload all those pictures and drop them in an earlier post? Nice pictures, there are certainly a lot of them, and it shows the huge turnout it got.

[tac40]

I have video and more pics. The teams worked hard, perhaps the strongest and most driven team was LAPD SWAT. One of their members received a head wound and continued to fight on, they came out on top.

The sims weapons were mainly Colt AR and HK MP5, these set up were typical of what most teams would use. I wouldn't get into the tactics but each of the teams showed great speed and coordination. There was so much technology there, it was incredible. Think robotics. Alot of digital BDU and new camo wear.

[Stickman]

Think of where we are going to be with Tac Teams and technology in 10 years.....

[tac40]

OPD Memorial patch

Date of incident and the Officer's badge numbers. May they rest in peace.

[Creeky73]

one thing about the events in Oakland that made me furious was the "protests" against the police department right after everything happened. And funny thing, I didn't see Janine Garafalo's big head on tv calling those protesters racist. Not trying to inject politics into this thread, it was just something I had noticed.