For October's drill, my unit we up to the old penitentiary in Santa Fe and got some really good training from the corrections department folks. They gave us training in CQB or close quarters battle training, riot control, and a little bit of infantry training thrown into it all. The prison we were at was the scene of what is called the worst most violent prison riot in the country. It happened in 1980 or 1981 and quite a few folks had been killed. After the prisoners took over one of the cell blocks, they began using blow torches to cut into the cells of some of the prisoners who they felt were snitches. After getting into the cells, the unlucky prisoners were tortured by being cut apart or burned alive. The National Guard had been called out to help put down the riot and this was one of the reasons they were giving us training like this. This was my second time getting this training, so I was pretty much just an observer taking pictures when I could.
The troops are assembled. One of the first things the corrections
officers did was have us all insert a piece of yellow police caution
tape through the chamber of our weapon so they'd know there wasn't
a bolt or possibly a round in the weapon. Safety first!!
Next on the agenda for the day is a taste of 50,000 volts from a taser.
It wasn't a direct contact tase, but they'd have everyone get into a
large circle and hold hands then give the leads to 2 of the troops to
hold and hit the trigger. Even with 25 folks in a circle, you still
felt the electricity in the forearms and wrists. One guy even fell!
And there goes the volts. :-)
Here is a view down one of the hallways in the prison. Myself and
SPC Andrini pretty much wandered around inside while the training
was going on. I have quite a few pictures of the inside of the
jail in addition to pictures of the training. I didn't get down
to the gas chamber this time, but saw it the last time I was here.
After a couple hours of class on how to clear rooms, here they go practicing.
More instruction from SFC Olivas who happens to be an instructor at
the APD Academy and I believe a SWAT team member. That's SGT Buros
bringing up the rear and taking some time to smile at the camera.
In they go into their first room which happened to be the
jail barber shop before the prison was closed down in 1998.
Here is another group waiting their turn to go into a different room.
Practicing going down both sides of the hall with
the point man going down the middle of the hall.
Next was instruction on clearing a room like a cell block with
doors and openings all down the walls. Not very easy actually.
Putting the instruction to use.
On the floor just up and to the left of the green tape you can make
out chips in the floor. This is where several prisoners were killed
by decapitation using a metal tray from the dining facility.
This ended day 1 of the training. On the next day, all of it would be put
into practice when the teams would have to assault the "embassy" and
rescue the US ambassador to Mockistan from a group of terrorists.
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