Ravus TASC 26-003

Ravus TASC write up.

 

Man, what a great class! There's nothing better than well versed instructors and immersive training. Let's start with the Ravus definition of TASC:

 

TASC is a high-level, three-day educational operation culminating in Asymmetric Warfare training with a fully immersive experience. Students will live, eat, sleep, breathe, and operate in a simulated contested environment utilizing role players, fully accessible buildings, access to the city, battlefield effects, operational bases, vehicles, and a multitude of other facets to create the most realistic immersive training environment on the market to date. This is the 'Robin Sage' for the unrestricted. 

It is one of the leading courses in the market, aligning with Ravus Solutions' "Educate - Train - Perform" methodology. 

 

Summed up: TASC is an intense, three-day military-style training experience that puts participants in a realistic simulated conflict zone. Students live and operate in the field, completing missions, navigating hostile situations, and interacting with role players in real buildings and urban environments. With vehicles, simulated combat, and realistic scenarios, it's designed to test teamwork, leadership, decision-making, and problem-solving under pressure. Think of it as a military special operations training exercise made accessible to civilians. Guerilla warfare.

 

I won't be telling you exactly what happened because 1: I don't want to ruin it for students and 2: its part of the experience. I won't give away any details!

 

Was the course worth the fee? YES absolutely

 

Will the new higher fee be worth it? YES and there may be more cool things going on with the higher fee. I dont know HOW they got all this insane stuff going on in the class for the low prices we paid. As of right now, the new course will be 1400$.

 

Did you use all the items in the packing list? No. I wish I was able to do more with some of the stuff I brought. I also brought some extra things not on the packing list (hacking stuff, drone, etc)

 

The instructors gave us a huge heads up that communications will make or break the exercise. I took that personally and brought all my HAM and GMRS radios and my Meshtastic devices. For some reason, handing these devices out for use, some students didn't want them and that reason is unclear. Maybe they didn't understand how important comms would be, maybe they didn't like me? Not sure but that was a mistake. We had good comms with the people that utilized them 100% of the time.

 

The instructors: seasoned operators with EXCELLENT teaching skills with great explanations. They are also patient. That being said, this is a VERY high pace environment. Expect to receive OPORDRs and commanders intent, then to formulate your entire plan and METT-TC within 30 minutes. Expect that to happen and roll out that gate shortly after, expect that 5 to 8 times a day. Instructors are very reasonable when it comes to writing it out in crayon for those with limited exposure to high risk environments.

 

The classroom portion was informative and detailed, also fun which broke up the class a bit so it's not death by power point.

 

Possibly strange (maybe negative?) feedback for instructors: telling someone to face outward (dont fucking look back here) then talk and demonstrate something was kind of funny (to me anyway) but may have been difficult for the innocent to understand.

 

Also, instructors assumed all students had 0 combat experience. Personally speaking, instead of assuming, it should have been asked as most situations with actual force on force have great take-aways and lessons learned. I also believe in sharing legit stories and keeping the memory of those passed alive. I do however know how short on time we were and students may not have been comfortable talking about their personal experience. So I get it.

 

The lessons: there were a lot. Different doctrine to focus on, different methodologies, different skills, etc. The course is about working with a team, finding one another's strengths and weaknesses, and pushing on. Some took the lessons personally, some noted them and moved on.

 

Important note: you didn't just sit in the woods. You didn't just clear rooms. Nope. You were in the woods in formations moving to objectives. You were in a vehicle doing vehicle interdiction and engaging targets on the move. You were bounding to a building. You were running with NODs on engaging targets. You were sitting in a surveillance state, observing movement.

 

Get some good boots and good comms, a willingness to suffer with friends, and you will be all set. Night vision was a big help, rain gear too, and don't forget: COMMs! I was able to do this as an overweight dude getting back in shape with a broken foot. If I can do it, you can too. Always a student willing to suffer.