Jason A. Knowles, CEO
Hard Target Security Group
August 21, 2009
Depending on the size of your vessel and your wallet you may not be able to hire Security Professionals for your protection. You may be looking for training solutions as an alternative. Hard Target Security Group (HTSG) provides training for the captain, crew and families in modern techniques for vessel defense including how to avoid unwanted boarding’s. The current standard in training the crew the Vessel Security Plan (VSP) is better than nothing, but for most it is a mere walkthrough of the VSP. Adding Reality Based Training to your preparation will be the catalyst for success in an essential element of survival called stress inoculation.
First let’s examine what Reality Based Training is. The goal of this type of training is to mirror reality and by doing so induce live stress into the individuals involved. You want the students, in this case Captain and crew, to execute the Vessel Security Plan in a controlled yet realistic role-player scenario. This way, their first dry run is not the actual life and death situation. You want them to experience reality safely and successfully as many times as possible, and ideally you would want them to conduct the training on the vessel they work on. Reality Based Training in the maritime environment should be training that is designed to test and evaluate your VSP, crew responses, and individual performance under life like stress with minimal consequences.
