TRAINING | Varangian Services

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Bodyguard/Executive and VIP Protection

Varangian also offers training to those seeking to enter the profession, to experienced professionals looking to increase their knowledge and skills, and often to business executives looking for skills to ensure their own survival, especially those working in foreign countries. As EP agents, emphasis is placed on avoiding confrontations and, when necessary, using the minimal amount of force necessary to ensure a client’s safety. This training includes specialized work in:

Surveillance, Counter-Surveillance and Protective Surveillance;
Immediate Action Drills/Skills;
Close Quarters Unarmed Combat – to include Hand-to-Hand Combat; Weapons Disarming; Improvised Weapons; Multiple Attacker Defense; Groundfighting;
Close Quarters Firearms – handgun, handgun carry/placement and deployment, weapon retention, assault rifle, transition and reverse transition skills;
Moving Through A Crowd;
Advance Work;
Development and Maintenance of Intelligence files;
Operations Planning;
Law with regard to use of force and use of deadly force, concealed carry of a firearm, statutory regulations on knives and other weapons;
Psychology of an Assailant/Assassin;
Barricade/Hostage Negotiations, Negotiations with the Mentally Ill; K&R Negotiations;
CPR/AED/First Aid for Adults, Children, Infants; Advanced Bleeding Control;
Tactical Combat Casualty Care/TCCC (CUF – Care Under Fire).

Emphasis is placed on avoiding confrontations, de-escalating threatening situations, and, when necessary, using the minimal amount of force necessary in resolving threats while ensuring the safety of the client.

Active Shooter Response for Schools and Businesses

“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2016 report, in today’s workforce, the incident of an armed intruder is 30 times more likely than a fire, 60 times more likely than a climactic event, and 125 times more likely than a chemical spill. Yet for many workplaces, it is the incident that employees are the least prepared to handle. No one wants to imagine their workplace in such horrific danger, but the reality is that employers must do their best to train employees to handle such a situation.” (see below)

Over a half-million workers miss an estimated 1.8 million workdays each year due to workplace violence, resulting in more than $55 million in lost wages. Annual comprehensive cost to businesses, including estimated losses, is now $130 billion, up from $36 billion in 1995 (https://alertfind.com/workplace-violence-statistics/).

An April 2020 publication revealed the following data:

Workplace violence injuries are on the rise.
The third leading cause of death for workers in the healthcare and professional services industries (education, law and media) is due to workplace violence.
$121 billion annual losses are attributed to workplace assaults.
$3 or more is saved for each dollar invested in workplace safety.
Out of all mass shootings since 1966, 25% occurred at workplaces.
70% of all active shooter incidents are within a commerce/business or educational setting.

https://www.ravemobilesafety.com/blog/latest-workplace-violence-statistics

Today, in America, employers have a duty to see that their workers receive training in how to respond to acts of workplace violence, particularly active shooter attacks. Beginning in 2016, OSHA mandated such training for all companies:

Though OSHA does not have any specific guidelines for active shooter training courses, they have recognized the importance of preparing workers for these types of incidents. The courts and OSHA alike hold employers responsible for preventing workplace violence under the General Duty Clause, which states that employers must maintain a workplace free from recognized hazards causing, or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to workers.

In 2017 OSHA released a directive titled “Enforcement Procedures and Scheduling for Occupational Exposure to Workplace Violence” to OSHA inspectors, in order to start implementing proper workplace training for violent events.

Though OSHA does not yet have specific requirements for active shooter response training, it’s clear that employers are responsible for putting in place some sort of plan and training program to help employees understand what to do in this type of situation.

See https://www.esafety.com/osha-training-expectations-for-an-active-shooter-incident/

Nowhere is this threat greater today than in American schools. Based upon exhaustive research of all 297 mass attacks or attempted attacks on US schools between 1996 and 2018, conducted by school safety expert Molly Jeffress, BA, MS, published in 2019, a school without an assigned police officer or armed security professional is 465 times more likely to be targeted for a mass shooting than those with security professionals present every day.

Whether a school has a school resource officer (SRO) or armed guard, or not, faculty and staff must still be trained, knowledgeable, alert and responsive to a threat to the school and children. This information comes in two forms: (1) education on the history of attacks in the US, types of shooters, numbers, tactics based on shooter profiles and numbers, mentality, goals and ultimate results; and, (2) physical training in tactical responses, to include shelter in place, lockdown, lock out, evacuation and self-defense, particularly weapon-disarming techniques, submission and control of attackers. The same is true for all workers, staff, business managers and executives in companies throughout America.

HERO - Hospital Emergency Response Operations

Hospital and medical facility workers are among the most assaulted of any profession in the United States. This course is specifically designed for armed hospital security officers who can be trained to form Hospital Emergency Response Operations (HERO) teams for immediate response to active shootings and other extreme tactical threats.

In 2016, the New England Journal of Medicine published a comprehensive review of “Workplace Violence against Health Care Workers in the United States”. The review included data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing healthcare workers are nearly four times as likely to require time away from work as a result of violence as they are because of other types of injury (the most common being back injuries, needle stick injuries, exposure to blood and body fluid, and smoke inhalation).

The review also reported that, although employees in the healthcare and social assistance sectors account for 12.2% of the working population (and despite there being the potential for under-reporting in other industries), nearly 75% of workplace assaults occurred in a healthcare setting.

Among other recent workplace violence incidents:

80% of Emergency Medical Services personnel have been attacked by patients.
Homicide is the second leading cause of workplace death for home healthcare workers.
78% of Emergency Department physicians and 100% of Emergency Department nurses

have experienced violence from patients within the last year.

The annual incidence of physical assault in a psychiatric setting is 70%.
Among nursing homes with dementia units, 59% of nursing aides reported being assaulted

by patients weekly and 16% daily.

46% of nurses reported some form of workplace violence during their five most recent shifts.
Between 2000 and 2011, there were 154 shootings with injury either inside or on the grounds of American hospitals.

Among workplace shootings 2018-2019, it is worth noting that only four of the hospital shootings were included in the FBI's “Active Shooter Study” published in 2018. This is because the majority took place on hospital grounds, while those that took place inside an Emergency Department or on a ward were the result of the shooter removing a firearm from a security guard or law enforcement officer. This is another example of how the latest workplace violence statistics can create a misleading picture of violence in the workplace.

https://www.ravemobilesafety.com/blog/latest-workplace-violence-statistics

This course gives historical accounts of active shooter events and how they relate to hospital settings. Security officers are taught the latest response to active shooter techniques in an effort to safely and effectively deal with an attacker. Officers are given the most current information on domestic and foreign attacks on hospitals and what lessons were learned from them. Upon completion of the course, each professional is trained in, both, the academic and tactical skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to properly and accurately assess threats and respond in an efficacious tactical manner, in addition to being trained in several practical exercises that realistically simulate different types of attacks. The realism of this training becomes a valuable asset to the HERO team members and prepares them for actual attacks.

The HERO training program has been developed from the lessons learned from the careers in Special Forces (SF) and other elite military units of many individuals from numerous countries, as well as intelligence, U.S. law enforcement professionals, including command staff, SWAT operators and leaders. Both during, and after, professional service, these men were called upon to train police, SWAT, military and professional security operators in different industries and countries, including the United States. Thus, the information provided seeks to be the best in terms of team composition and selection, physical training, tactics, innovations, outside-the-box thinking, weapons, movement, IADs, equipment, and leadership that are the most useful and applicable to American HERO teams to enable them to deal with the most extreme threats to hospitals.

Anti-Terrorism

This program is exclusively for law enforcement, government and military professionals. Information can be provided upon request.

Medic Training

First Aid, CPR and TCCC trainings are provided by top, certified, expert instructors who have operated in high risk operations in the US and abroad, including such high-threat zones as Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and Syria. Training includes: CPR/AED/First Aid for Adults, Children, Infants; Bloodborne Pathogens; Oxygen for FA; and Advanced Bleeding Control. Varangian’s primary instructor is an instructor-trainer through Medic First Aid and can certify others to be course instructors as well.

Small Unit Tactics

This program presents the critical close-quarters skills necessary for small units to be able to meet the demands of a dynamic, hostile, confined environment when confronting numerous threats. Small unit configurations, close-quarters firearms, less-than-lethal (LTL) deployment and cold weapons techniques, weapons disarming, improvised weapons, building and room clearing, immediate action tactics (withdrawal), second story building entry and ascension, prisoner securing, hostage rescue, and hand-to-hand combat are all critical skills essential for any team to survive and succeed in this environment.

Emphasis is placed on avoiding confrontations where possible, de-escalating threatening situations, and, when necessary, using the minimal amount of force necessary in resolving threats while ensuring the safety of everyone.

Prison Special Response Team Tactics

This program presents the critical close-quarters skills necessary for small prison guard teams to be able to meet the demands of a dynamic, hostile, confined environment when confronting numerous threats. It was designed to allow special response teams to quickly and successfully address the high-risk threats of maximum-security prisons. Small unit configurations, close-quarters firearms, less-than-lethal (LTL) deployment and cold weapons techniques, weapons disarming, improvised weapons, building and room clearing, immediate action tactics (withdrawal), second story building entry and ascension, prisoner securing, hostage rescue, and hand-to-hand combat are all critical skills essential for any team to survive and succeed in this environment.

The training is based on the REACT (Rapid Engagement and Close-quarters Tactics) system originally designed for U.S. military and special operations units that operated in tight confines in buildings and houses within the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. It was adopted by certain U.S. Army Special Forces teams in the build-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom, earning its creators certificates of appreciation from the Special Forces Group, and therefore is based on combat proven close-quarters handgun and carbine techniques, integrated with hand-to-hand combat skills. Many SWAT teams across the country have since been trained in it.

Defensive Tactics (DT or H2H/hand-to-hand combat).

Skills covered:

Hand-to-Hand Combat – movement, realities of combat vs. sport fighting or martial arts; open hand striking; closed fist striking, kicking;
Weapons Disarming;
Weapons Retention;
Knife Fighting;
Improvised Weapons;
Multiple Attacker Defense;
Trapping;
Throws and Takedowns;
Groundfighting;
Groundfighting Against Multiple Attackers;
Submissions.

Close Quarters Combat Firearms Training

Skills Presented:

Indexing and high speed drawing;
Improving speed for first round fired;
Firing from Full Retention Position – prevents disarms;
Firing from Partial Extention;
Firing from Full Extension Position;
Transitioning from Full Retention to Full Extension and back;
Movement while firing;
Firing as a team while maneuvering;
One-hand firing;
Off side firing;
Firing from behind and around cover;
Ground maneuvering and firing from various prone positions.

Foreign Travel Survival

This training is designed to prepare individuals traveling abroad to serve as their own bodyguards, recognizing that the most important function of protection work is anticipating, recognizing and avoiding threats. Encapsulated into 20 critical rules for threat avoidance and response, this course offers common sense and easy-to-remember principles for avoiding being targeted by criminals, recognition of having been targeted, and tactics for evading threats. Ideal for women, students and business executives travelling alone in foreign countries.

Varangian Security Services

INTEGRITY, COMMITMENT AND SERVICE.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING