Well... in response to drop bear's repeated comments about scenario training, like HERE, I thought I'd discuss scenario training a bit. Too be fair -- drop bear is far from the only person who has misunderstandings about it; his posts were just the trigger.
Lots of people do what they call "scenario training" something like this: "OK, guys, let's do some scenarios. H'mmm... Fred, you be the attacker. You stand over there, and you're going to mug Amy here. Amy... you protect yourself. Set? OK -- go!" and Amy walks up to Fred, who proceeds to grab her and she does one of their grab defenses, breaks his grip, and everyone applauds. Or maybe something goes a little wrong, and everybody laughs... Fred may or may not really try to hold her, or grab her in a way to force her to defend effectively... I guess, in a very strict sense, this is a scenario exercise. They did create a scenario. But there was no real effort to do anything to make it much more realistic than a routine partner drill.
Done right, scenario training is hard work. You start by defining the purpose, goal, or intent of the exercise. Then you develop a situation that allows the students to practice the lesson of that goal. You provide your role players with guidance for how to interact with the students. You need an observer/controller/evaluator who will watch the scenario as it goes along, and intervene if it gets out of control or guide the students to reach the training goal. You need to define how much resistance, in what forms, will be presented. That might range from "no physical contact" all the way to simulated use of lethal force, with things like marking cartridges or Airsoft-type guns.
So, let's look at that mugging scenario again, and try to do it better. What's our goal? Let's keep it broad: respond to an attempted robbery, looking for demonstration of skills like deescalation, and appropriate use of force. We'll give our role-player mugger a training knife, have him set up in the area (maybe have several role players out and about to set the stage a bit...) and give him a bit of a script. He's to confront the student, and demand money. At first, he's only to imply that he's armed -- but if they challenge him verbally or physically, he's to present and employ the knife. If they turn and run, he doesn't chase. If they call for help, the other role players in the area will run away "in terror". If they reach physical defense, the safety monitor or evaluator is to watch them, and intervene to prevent serious injury, but the "mugger" is to try to stab the student. What do we want to see from our student? Best of all: pick up on the role-players conduct, and avoid him entirely. OK, we're going to force them to encounter the guy in this scenario, so we'll take that one off the table. If they surrender their money and leave -- they're out. But the evaluator should discuss risks of surrendering, dangers of going with an attacker, etc. It's a "win" solution -- so we'll stop on that. If they resist -- did they try to escape, or try to "fight?" Break down why, and repeat if they fell into a sparring/fighting situation rather than an escape, having coached them to escape, not fight.
Another sort of scenario training builds on skills as you develop them. I'll use room clearing for police or military as an easy example. If I'm teaching a group of recruits how to clear a room... I'll present the material as a lecture/demo. I'll explain how to do it, then use an instructor partner, and demonstrate clearing a room. (There won't be any surprises in this one; it's a demo of the "right" way.) Then the recruits practice. At first, there are no surprises. They're coached in areas that they are missing, and guided on how to do it. As their familiarity with the exercise increases, new wrinkles are thrown in. Hidden areas in a room, closets, people hiding behind doors or other places. In the end, the drill might take place in a shoot house with shoot/don't shoot targets, multiple rooms, role players... The final exercise can be really complex with a lot of things to deal with.
Lots of people do what they call "scenario training" something like this: "OK, guys, let's do some scenarios. H'mmm... Fred, you be the attacker. You stand over there, and you're going to mug Amy here. Amy... you protect yourself. Set? OK -- go!" and Amy walks up to Fred, who proceeds to grab her and she does one of their grab defenses, breaks his grip, and everyone applauds. Or maybe something goes a little wrong, and everybody laughs... Fred may or may not really try to hold her, or grab her in a way to force her to defend effectively... I guess, in a very strict sense, this is a scenario exercise. They did create a scenario. But there was no real effort to do anything to make it much more realistic than a routine partner drill.
Done right, scenario training is hard work. You start by defining the purpose, goal, or intent of the exercise. Then you develop a situation that allows the students to practice the lesson of that goal. You provide your role players with guidance for how to interact with the students. You need an observer/controller/evaluator who will watch the scenario as it goes along, and intervene if it gets out of control or guide the students to reach the training goal. You need to define how much resistance, in what forms, will be presented. That might range from "no physical contact" all the way to simulated use of lethal force, with things like marking cartridges or Airsoft-type guns.
So, let's look at that mugging scenario again, and try to do it better. What's our goal? Let's keep it broad: respond to an attempted robbery, looking for demonstration of skills like deescalation, and appropriate use of force. We'll give our role-player mugger a training knife, have him set up in the area (maybe have several role players out and about to set the stage a bit...) and give him a bit of a script. He's to confront the student, and demand money. At first, he's only to imply that he's armed -- but if they challenge him verbally or physically, he's to present and employ the knife. If they turn and run, he doesn't chase. If they call for help, the other role players in the area will run away "in terror". If they reach physical defense, the safety monitor or evaluator is to watch them, and intervene to prevent serious injury, but the "mugger" is to try to stab the student. What do we want to see from our student? Best of all: pick up on the role-players conduct, and avoid him entirely. OK, we're going to force them to encounter the guy in this scenario, so we'll take that one off the table. If they surrender their money and leave -- they're out. But the evaluator should discuss risks of surrendering, dangers of going with an attacker, etc. It's a "win" solution -- so we'll stop on that. If they resist -- did they try to escape, or try to "fight?" Break down why, and repeat if they fell into a sparring/fighting situation rather than an escape, having coached them to escape, not fight.
Another sort of scenario training builds on skills as you develop them. I'll use room clearing for police or military as an easy example. If I'm teaching a group of recruits how to clear a room... I'll present the material as a lecture/demo. I'll explain how to do it, then use an instructor partner, and demonstrate clearing a room. (There won't be any surprises in this one; it's a demo of the "right" way.) Then the recruits practice. At first, there are no surprises. They're coached in areas that they are missing, and guided on how to do it. As their familiarity with the exercise increases, new wrinkles are thrown in. Hidden areas in a room, closets, people hiding behind doors or other places. In the end, the drill might take place in a shoot house with shoot/don't shoot targets, multiple rooms, role players... The final exercise can be really complex with a lot of things to deal with.
