Tremis Dynamics FISH Class — Fighting in Someone’s House
I was lucky enough to get in on the very first Tremis Dynamics FISH class up at the Roll Call facility in Scranton, PA, where they have their own indoor shoot house. If you’re in the supplement industry and reading this, funny enough, the building Roll Call purchased used to be the old Muscle Foods USA building (small world).
What does “FISH” stand for? The Tremis Dynamics FISH class is “Fighting In Someone’s House” — regardless who’s house it is.
The owner of Tremis Dynamics, Garry Marr, was gracious enough to invite me to take this carbine class. If you’re unfamiliar with who Garry Marr is, I interviewed him a little while back, which you can read here.
But before we dive deeper into the Tremis Dynamics FISH class, shout out to Garry Marr and Mike Fiore for snapping the photos used in this article/review. I guess if I want to make this legit, I’m supposed to call it an “After Action Report” (AAR)?
Going into Tremis Dynamics FISH 1, I didn’t know what to expect. Those in the tactical and self-defense world are familiar with CQB (close-quarter battle), which is generally inside some sort of structure (building, vehicle, etc.). In most instances, CQB typically involves running with teammates where you’re not entering something like a structure on your own.
The curriculum in Tremis Dynamics FISH 1 was designed around you being alone and needing to enter/clear a room or structure. Therefore, instead of mirroring CQB, it needs its own specific curriculum and skills and should be looked at more as home clearing rather than CQB, even though some tactics may overlap.
I was then also able to take Tremis Dynamics FISH 2, which was duo entry where you clear rooms with a teammate. You take all of the skills you learn in FISH 1 and now add in movement and communication with a teammate where you need to work together to clear structures while understanding how to safely enter rooms and engage targets.
Furthermore, I jumped in on a FISH 3 workshop up at Roll Call, which was low light/no light with a teammate. It should be noted that workshops are only for those who have taken certain classes that align with the workshop or you are given an invitation to join the workshop. Workshops aren’t really about instruction and are more geared toward getting in reps and improving on your skill than learning more.
But the FISH 3 workshop focused on the use of white light to clear structures in the dark. Before you jump into FISH 3, it is highly recommended that you take FISH 1 and FISH 2 prior to ensure you have the knowledge and understanding of how you will take those skills and put them in action when the lights go out. Clearly, in this class, everything is about the element of surprise and using darkness to help you clear the structure.
Why the Tremis Dynamics FISH Class? What’s the Point?
As you can imagine, fighting in a house is not ideal — regardless of whether it’s your house or someone else’s. In my opinion, there is no “good case scenario” when entering and clearing a home yourself. One of the instructors even described it as being a shit sandwich (which, in most cases, it can be).
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With one-person room/house clearing, you have no one covering your back or being able to fight beside you. When you enter a room, you’re fully committed and need to handle the situation. What that takes is a particular set of skills, strategy, and the ability to understand your list of priorities when entering a room (as well as priorities while in the room, such as threats, people who need help, open spaces, and doors). That’s where the Tremis Dynamics FISH classes shine.
Transitioning from FISH 1 to FISH 2 shows you the advantage of clearing with a teammate or full team. Is there ever really a “good time” to clear a structure? No. Every room is going to be different and every scenario can throw you a different look you never thought of or planned for. That’s why getting in reps in something like the Tremis Dynamics FISH classes are ideal.
Now, before we go on, you’re probably wondering, “Why the hell would I want to walk into a fight in my house or someone else’s house? I’ll just call the police.” While that’s an option, what if you come home from work and your front door is kicked in, and your wife and kids are supposed to be inside at this time? Now what? Are you going to stand there, call the cops, and wait, on average, 8-11 minutes when an intruder could be in your house raping or murdering your entire family? I, sure as hell, am not. I’m going through that door with or without a weapon in hand.
The advantage of fighting in your own house is knowing the layout, where people can hide, etc. If it were someone else’s home, the threat level becomes elevated since you’re going into an unknown structure that you don’t have the layout or tactical advantage of. But the Tremis Dynamics FISH classes teach you how to handle both situations should you need to gain entry for whatever reason and start clearing rooms.
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Other reasons for needing to enter someone else’s home I’ll leave up to your imagination. There are many reasons why you’d need to do so. But again, the goal here isn’t to seek out a problem, but rather, if one presents itself and you need to act, it’s better to have taken something like the Tremis Dynamics FISH class and learned the skills than to simply walk through the door of a home and aimlessly go searching.
Heightened Level of Safety
Being the new guy in a group of veterans of Tremis Dynamics classes, I wasn’t sure what to expect. For starters, everyone in the class was incredibly skilled and down to earth. If someone were doing something wrong, it would get pointed out in a way that wasn’t like they were being scolded. Everyone helped each other so the entire group could learn from their mistakes.
For me, I’ve never needed to do a full pat-down on someone. One of the Tremis Dynamics instructors pulled me over and explained what I needed to know and why it was done the way they teach.
The level of security measures in place was incredible during all of the Tremis Dynamics FISH classes. If anyone was worried about working in a shoot house and the safety aspect, I assure you this was top-notch and extremely safe.
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Starting out each Tremis Dynamics FISH class, you do a self-pat-down to ensure you don’t have any firearms, knives, pepper spray, etc., on you. You then have a buddy do a pat-down on you. And then, an instructor does a final pat-down on you. You obviously keep your rifle with you (no BCGs allowed or ammo).
Let’s just put it this way, if you had something that could injure someone, it needed to go out to your car. And every time you left the shoot house to get something or go to the bathroom, you needed to go through the pat-down process again upon re-entry.
Then when it comes to safety, eye protection is needed if anyone in the class uses UTM rounds instead of lasers during those exercises. And then, you need to either have ASTM F1776-rated headgear during the force-on-force exercises, or you can borrow headgear that Garry can provide for students. Additionally, during force-on-force, when UTM rounds are used, you will want to cover all bare skin, which means long pants, long sleeves, and gloves.
Each Tremis Dynamics FISH Class Utilizes the Mantis Blackbeard System
For those of you who have never heard of the Mantis Blackbeard, I did a full review of their Mantis BlackbeardX AR15 Dry Fire System that you can read here.
While the classes allow for the use of a SIRT laser bolt, by far, the better option is the Mantis Blackbeard System (the original or the X). And for those who have laser cartridges, those are NOT permitted for use in class. Essentially, what the Mantis Blackbeard system allows is for their Mantis BGC to be turned into a laser, and it allows you to reset your trigger every time without having to run the charging handle (on the Mantis, the charging handle is non-functioning).
The majority of the exercises in each Tremis Dynamics FISH class will involve the use of laser trainers, with the addition of some UTM rounds for certain exercises, such as force-on-force. For anything where UTM rounds are used, a specific UTM conversion kit is used with your rifle to allow simunition rounds to be fired out of your personal rife.
Related Article: Mantis X10 Elite: The Most Comprehensive Shooting System Ever
Tremis Dynamics FISH Class Breakdown
Being that this was the first Tremis Dynamics FISH class ever, things may change and evolve with time. Therefore, the class breakdown may change from what is mentioned below.
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Also, I’m not going to give away too much info below, as I don’t want to give away everything in the Tremis Dynamics FISH class, where you wouldn’t need to take the class. That said, I highly recommend you take the class and gain all the knowledge firsthand.
FISH 1
The very first class (Tremis Dynamics FISH 1) will teach you everything from the use of angles when applying a pie technique with doors and openings, how to pan through an entry, how to work varying terrain in a home, and more. All this is work to be done as a “single player” in the scenarios. You are in control of everything and working alone to solve the problem.
Majority of the day is force on paper with the inclusion of UTM rounds to close out the day, clearing the entire structure yourself and shooting specified “threat” targets. To make things interesting, in the scenarios and exercises, there will be “no shoot” targets that you need to be able to identify and not shoot. You will need to move through the entire shoot house and put accurate hits on the dedicated “threat” targets.
You can say this class is like popping your structure-clearing cherry. But once you get a taste of the class, you’re going to want to take the rest (they’re that good).
This introductory Tremis Dynamics FISH class is what sets the stage for all the others. Trying to clear a structure or your home without learning these techniques and tactics will not end well for you, in my opinion. Everything you learn in this class has backing and not a “do it because I said that’s how you do it” mentality. I asked a ton of questions and both Garry and Mike were awesome with breaking things down to help a civilian like me understand the reasoning of why we do things a certain way.
I left this Tremis Dynamics FISH class with a lot to work on and practice at home. Lucky for me, I have the Mantis Blackbeard to turn my home into my own shoot house using a laser and in a safe environment. Being able to practice what I learned here has allowed me to progress and prepare myself for each Tremis Dynamics FISH class that followed.
FISH 2
Tremis Dynamics FISH 2 is an extension of FISH 1 where you’re going to learn all about the advantages of working with a teammate when clearing rooms and homes. The strategy here is much different from what was in FISH 1 and can make things a little easier when trying to cover a room since there are multiple people potentially getting into the fight to overpower a threat (or threats) in a room or structure.
In this class, you’ll utilize the Mantis Blackbeard laser systems again, along with the use of UTM rounds. To end the day, you’ll focus on force-on-force, turning paper targets into live actors in room-clearing scenarios.
I will say this, after taking Tremis Dynamics FISH 1 and then the FISH 3 workshop, I went into FISH 2 more confident than I did in previous classes. Additionally, thanks to working on my skills in my own home by utilizing the Mantis Blackbeard, my performance in Tremis Dynamics FISH 2 was much more fluid and direct. My shot placement was better, my room clearing was smoother and more efficient. And overall, I felt much more comfortable. That is, until we got to the force-on-force portion.
If you’ve never taken a force-on-force class or used it in training, everything you’ve learned and practiced (while still is in play during such training) tends to fall apart as soon as projectiles are shot at you. And, no, this isn’t airsoft, UTM rounds definitely don’t tickle and they will leave you with marks that will take some days to heal. When you get an adrenaline dump during force-on-force, it’s common for some to get tunnel vision and miss key things when clearing rooms and structures.
Personally, I think force-on-force in each Tremis Dynamics FISH class is vital. You get to see where you fail when in an active scenario. Everyone can clear a room with a laser, but when things get shot at you that hurt, you’re going to learn you need to move your feet and not forget tactics when clearing structures.
Would I Recommend You Take a Tremis Dynamics FISH Class?
Absolutely! And without hesitation. You will learn so much from each Tremis Dynamics FISH class that it’s unbelievable. Leaving the classes, everyone was excited (yet, tired after a long day) to learn more and go practice the exercises they ran through during the classes.
Garry Marr and Mike Fiore are incredible instructors, and I like the fact that he can apply humor into his curriculum and not make it dry and boring. If you can get to one of his classes, you won’t regret it.
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But if you have any questions about the Tremis Dynamics FISH classes that I can answer for you based on my personal experience, feel free to reach out.
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