Hostage Rescue
The 4-Day Hostage Rescue Course is an intensive tactical training program built around modern hostage rescue doctrine and the principles of the High Threat system. Designed for SWAT and tactical operators, the course focuses on planning, coordination, and execution of deliberate hostage rescue operations with an emphasis on intelligence-driven decision-making and positive resolution outcomes.
Description
This 4-day Hostage Rescue course is a comprehensive program built on the principles of the High Threat system. Successful hostage rescue operations are driven by tactics, techniques, and principles that are established, trained, and integrated by command staff, crisis negotiation teams (CNT), and operators in support of SWAT’s life-saving mission.
Students will be introduced to hostage rescue procedures, tactical operations center concepts, CNT procedures, and hostage rescue tactics and principles utilizing best practices and industry-accepted standards. Intelligence gathering and the safety of all involved are central to the decision-making process and tactical approach.
Unlike many hostage rescue courses that focus primarily on entry techniques, this course emphasizes the entire event and the goal of achieving a positive resolution. Training progresses through tactical doctrine, individual skill development, small unit tactics, and full-team integration. Students will train in entry procedures, movement techniques, single- and multi-room operations, multiple entry points, stronghold and mobile rescue options, security operations, and hostage/suspect handling.
Students will learn the phases of deliberate hostage rescue through planning, rehearsal, movement, intervention, and withdrawal. The course includes compressed Simunition® scenarios, live-fire validation drills, and—depending on host capabilities—linear entries and hostage rescue operations involving vehicles.
Topics Covered
- Hostage rescue doctrine, TTPs, and operational concepts
- Deliberate and emergency entry procedures
- Rapid deployment and response techniques
- Breaching tactics and concepts
- Live-fire exercises
- Individual operator skill development and movement
- Decision-making exercises (DMEs)
- Multiple-officer, small-unit tactics, and full-team scenarios
- Stealth and covert movement to breach and to contact
- Phases of deliberate hostage rescue operations
- Roles, duties, and assignments
- CNT and Tactical Operations Center (TOC) responsibilities
- Operations involving known and unknown floor plans
- Ballistic shield deployment during hostage rescue operations
- CQC principles within hostage rescue operations
- Suspect mitigation, hostage control, and withdrawal techniques
- Technical equipment usage during hostage rescue operations
- Linear and vehicle hostage rescue scenarios
- Force-on-force scenarios and decision-making exercises
- Transition drills between hostage rescue and barricade situations
- Tabletop exercises
- Incident debriefs
- Deliberate action missions and immediate action drills
- Contingency planning methodology
- Liability considerations and case law
Student Equipment
- Ballistic helmet
- Ballistic body armor or plate carrier
- Eye protection and hearing protection
- Duty radio
- Gas mask
- Gloves
- Groin and neck protection
- Primary weapon system (rifle) with sling
- 500 rounds of rifle ammunition
- Secondary weapon system (pistol)
- 300 rounds of pistol ammunition
- 1 NFDD per student if trained/certified
- Notebook and pencil
- Bolt blocker or chamber flag
- SIM / UTM weapons and/or conversion kits with magazines
- 250 rounds of NLTA ammunition
Prerequisites
Must be Law Enforcement only.