What a weekend! The past weekend was spent in Chilliwack at an abandoned prison for my DC5 Tactical Firearms training course. Chilliwack is a town approximately 1 hour (highway speed) outside of Vancouver, so I was up quite early to make the 10:30am start time for the course. It’s a scenic drive and it was quite nice to play tourist in my own backyard. It’s quite a shock still to see so much of the beautiful mountains and raging rivers so up close.
It was also rather odd to see so much livestock running around everywhere. The only cows I see in Vancouver are the human variety. It seemed like everybody owned a horse and I’ve never heard so much country music blaring loudly out of cars as I have in Chilliwack.
The abandoned prison we used as our training camp was a minimum security prison for low-risk inmates and was located another 20 minutes outside of “downtown” Chilliwack. We took over this little serene area armed to the teeth, much to the surprise of some of the locals 
I’ve fired many weapons on set, but this was a great opportunity to get some real technical hands-on firearms experience. Day one focused on firearms safety and learning about the different types of firearms: handguns (Ruger .357 magnum revolver and Beretta 92F 9mm semi-automatic), rifles (Remington 308 sniper), Sub-machine gun (MP5), assault rifles (AK-47, M16 A2) and the shotgun (Remington 870). Everyone was given an opportunity to learn how to safely handle a firearm, load and unload and fire off a few rounds 
It wasn’t all so serious though, we had ample time to goof off. Move over Harry Potter!!!
After the first long day of firearms training ended around 8pm, it was time to get some rest before the real tough tactical training took place the next day. A lot of the attendees chose to rough it and camp out at the prison. With no running water (aka: no showers and flushing toilets) this city-boy booked a hotel back in Chilliwack. Nothing fancy, but the Rhombus hotel had clean rooms and a bonus with a swimming pool and jacuzzi. My roomie and I took a dip in the pool and jacuzzi then headed out to grab some pizza and wings, washed down with beer, before our snoring competition started
Apparently Chilliwack was host to a “Horseless Carriage” festival and I got to take a few photos of the classics in the hotel parking lot before checking in. The Rhombus also had the weirdest water feature which was the view from the hotel room.
Up early the next morning, armed with an Iced Capp from Tim Horton’s, off we were back to the prison for our tactical training. We were split into 4 teams (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta), I was assigned to Charlie team and our team was dubbed “Whopper Heads” for some strange reason. I dunno, the name was given to us by the trainer, Ron Blecker. Maybe he was craving some Burger King. There was also an all female team, Team Thong. Since there was no kitchen I guess it was fair to put the women to work
Yes, women with guns!!!
The tactical training started out with our teams going through the prison barracks and learning how to safely clear each building with minimal risk to our teams and eliminating any potential threats. It is known as Close Quarter Battle (CQB). This is basic training for all SWAT and special forces. The training culminated in a full-on team assault of a large two-level structure, with a myriad of irregular rooms, nooks and crannies. We were outfitted in full gear and each team was armed with two shotguns and the rest MP5′s. Once inside, we were blinded by darkness, assaulted by loud music and worst of all, hit badly by our own nerves. On our first run, our team lost everybody but one and failed to clear the structure. I died because I forgot to take the safety off my shotgun 
The second run was much better and we had two casualties, but we managed to clear the structure. The third and final run we had only one casualty but missed one well-hidden target. Very, very tricky. We did very well considering we had only one day’s practice and our team had some very inexperienced members. I managed to survive two of the three runs (I remembered to take the safety off my shotgun ).
I learned so much through this tactical firearms training and I had an absolute blast. It was a not only a great way to learn some valuable skills but also a great way to team build and get to know some of the other people in my agency. Here’s a video of me firing off three rounds from the Remington 870, 12 gauge shotgun.
Posted on July 17th, 2007 by Leo
Filed under: Lucid Thoughts
I heart guns.
I did that room clearing exercise before. Armed with airsoft weapons but shooting at live targets.
Where did you do the exercise? Who was the instructor?
We used real weapons loaded with blanks, so live targets were out of the question as there is still debris being propelled out of the barrel. Our instructor was an Army Ranger SOCOM team leader and left the US Army after 18 years of service.
haha i love how he tells you to pay attention when you’re loading the shotgun
And the effect of the photo of the women running around.. they are transparent! Ghost like!
I was trying to communicate with the guy operating my camera. He already fucked up by failing to record me on the sniper rifle and the 9mm handgun, so I wanted to make sure he had it working properly. Besides, shotguns are easy to load, I can do it blindfolded
I thought there would have been a bit more kick back on the shotgun. You sporting any bruises at all?
Team Thing, FTW!!! That looks like hella fun. I wanna try!
I meant “Thong”.
Looks like you had a pretty fun time. Like Stephen, I would have thought there would be more kickback with the shotgun although I’ve never fired a shotgun so I don’t know the first thing about it.
*Stephen W. & Derek – Proper firearm form really comes into play here, I had it properly supported against the crook of my shoulder for stability like I would hold a rifle. Plus, we are firing 1/4 blanks, which would have much less kickback than live ammo.
No bruises, although I am sporting several new mosquito bites.
Looks like a great weekend Leo. Nice photos of the scenery and ladies! Makes me want to go out to a shooting range!
[...] Leo Chiang recently took a trip out to an abandoned Chilliwack prison to partake in some intense firearms training. He shot off some guns and had a heck of time. Although it may sound out of place, he even had a [...]
[...] picked his up in the “Weapons” category as a result of his post about tactical firearms training. Until it falls off the front page, I’m sure I won’t be able to view Leo’s page [...]
[...] gun enthusiast is constantly hammered with the importance of gun safety: Always assume a gun is loaded until YOU ensure that it is clear and safe, control muzzle direction [...]
Looks cool! Far better than watching t.v. !
[...] most of us but finished off nicely with the timely arrival of several big budget movies with heavy military/SWAT emphasis. The new year looks promising with the continued filming of Watchmen and I’m already [...]
hey i was just wondering, where abouts in chilliwack this abandoned prison camp is?
It’s been so long I can’t even remember. Apparently they have torn down all the buildings now so we haven’t been back.