Report on the VII. SEC-tember, 9th – 14th September 2008, Budapest

People from all over the world have been preparing for the SEC-tember 2008 event, after having experienced or heard about its success from the past years. This year again, the 7th SEC-tember became a huge success, while concentrating on personal protection between a vehicle and a building – which tackles one of the most challenging tasks of today’s close protection officer.

On the line up as instructors was an international team, each selected for their special skills and knowledge on their own subject and field:

• Master Teacher Manny VALENZUELA, USA, VIP Protection - Emergency Evacuation Techniques for Open Areas & Confined Spaces
• Master Teacher Miklos VARGA, USA / Hungary, Escorting
• Master Teacher Rony KLUGER, Israel, Krav Maga
• Master Teacher Didier COPPENS, Belgium, Urban Close Combat
• Master Teacher János HAJDÚ, Hungary, Combat shooting
• Master Teacher Lajos TURAI, Hungary, Bomb-disposal techniques
• Special Invitation: Mr. Dorian BEERENS, Belgium, TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care)
• Special Invitation: Mr. Eric DUYSHAVER, Belgium, TCCC

Traditionally SEC-tember announced beautiful weather for the training, and so, the sun was shining on the afternoon of Tuesday, 9^th September. The students started arriving, some by plane, some by car, but all with their motivation for participation in their hands.

A very international crowd of students arrived from countries such as: Belgium, France, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the USA. Students, that are also instructors in their country and all active in the business of close protection, were selected by the IBSSA to improve their skills, their communication and their abilities to protect lives.

On the first day, after Prof. George Popper welcomed all participants and Dr. Valér Dános ret. police brigadier-general, Director of Law Enforcement and Crime Prevention Institute of the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement has opened the training officially, the group was divided into teams that would work together all week long. This allowed for the instructors to adapt the courses accordingly, in order to teach all participants something new, and to broaden their horizons.

The training started every day at 06.00h with the morning ‘wake-up’ gymnastics based on the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) method of training. This immediately set the mood of professionalism and serious work within the participating groups. Training would only end around 22.00h in the evening, with small breaks to replenish the calories.

The self-defence part of the training concentrated on situations in which force needs to be used in saving your own life, or that of your VIP or “Package” as Master Teacher Manny Valenzuela referred to it. The self-defence classes were extremely hard, but our Master Teachers showed the students such techniques that are simple but highly effective and they used the prior martial arts experience of the students to highlight trouble spots for more efficiency in the practice of their profession.

The VIP Protection and Escorting part concentrated on smaller groups, 1 to 3 man formations. As this is the common way of working in Europe, this appealed to a lot of students, as the things taught could be directly implemented to their daily situations at home. Most groups noticed, that working together with different nationalities (different languages) and thus different techniques, there was a lot to be learned from each other.

As each year, the mental aspect of the job was highlighted at the International Training Centre of the Hungarian Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement under the supervision of experienced trainers of the academy. Students were given the opportunity to train their skills in a tactical house after which the scenarios were discussed and analysed, not only tactically but also the mental effect of such a confrontation.

Much needed life saving techniques were taught during the TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care) lessons. Techniques taken from the military were adapted to civil life to create a stream of events meant to save lives in the field. Acronyms such as MARCH (Massive bleeding, Airways, Respiration, Circulation, Hypothermia) came by under the expert supervision of teachers Dorian and Eric from Belgium. All participants highly appreciated the new approach to life saving moves, due to its efficiency and ease.

Last but not least the professional bodyguards were allowed to learn and undergo new shooting techniques and to use these techniques in real life based scenarios using SIMunition and live rounds on targets to practice their accumulated skills. Again it was shown and demonstrated that if a weapon is not handled correctly, it might become a burden instead of a tool during a close protection mission. At the end of the course all students had the opportunity to participate in several challenges testing their knowledge and skills in the close protection world. This amounted to a lot of fun and laughter and serious thinking about the need for even more and further training.

During the 7^th SEC-tember – as usually – Candidates of the training seminar had the possibility to receive International Qualifications of IBSSA, depend on the recommendation of the Master Teachers Team of the seminar and the successful exam in front of the Teachers.
This very successful 7^th SEC-tember blessed with a newly graduated Instructors team for IBSSA, and some candidates were qualified and elevated to higher ranks:

• Mr. Ladislav HÁZIK (Slovakia) Instructor of VIP Protection
• Mr. Zoran MACELE (Slovenia) Instructor of Shooting
• Mr. Gergely MÁRKUS (Hungary) Assistant Instructor of Self Defence
• Mr. Mitja ZNIDARIC (Slovenia) Bodyguard – Advanced level
• Mr. Darjan HARC (Slovenia) Bodyguard – Basic level
• Mr. Aleksander KNAVS (Slovenia) Bodyguard – Basic level
• Mr. Ivan HUJBERT (Slovakia) VIP Protection, Basic Escorting
• Mr. Ladislav HÁZIK (Slovakia) Basic Escorting
• Mr. Tamás SPONGA (Switzerland) Basic Escorting
• Mr. Dejan SPRINCNIK (Slovenia) Basic Escorting
• Mr. Zsolt MÁTRAHEGYI (Hungary) Basic Escorting
• Mr. Mihály MIZSÁNYI (Hungary) Basic Escorting

During the official Closing Ceremony of the event Prof. George POPPER – President of IBSSA handed over the IBSSA Certificates of Participation to the attendees of the training seminar. The IBSSA Master Teachers’ Team also congratulated all participants.

The IBSSA President announced the next program – the Award Ceremony and handed over the certificates to the best participants with the assistance of Mr. Manny VALENZUELA, Mr. Didier COPPENS and Mr. Lajos TURAI:

“Best Students in BOMB-DISPOSAL TECHNIQUES of VII. SEC-tember” 2008 Budapest / Hungary
- Mr. Ladislav HÁZIK (Slovakia)
- Mr. Ivan HUJBERT (Slovakia)

“Best FIGHTER of VII. SEC-tember” 2008 Budapest / Hungary
- Mr. Ladislav HÁZIK (Slovakia)

“Best BODYGUARD of VII. SEC-tember” 2008 Budapest / Hungary
- Mr. Kamil STRYCKO (Slovakia)

Thanks to the Master Teachers’ Team and also our staff for their excellent work and care for the success of the VII. SEC-tember. Special thanks to the members of the Organising Committee for their hard work and especially thanks to Head organisers Mr. Csaba KERTÉSZ – Chairman of the IBSSA Hungarian Section and Mr. János HÜLBER for the great and successful organisation of the course.

At last we express our thanks to the sponsors and supporters of the VII. SEC-tember training:
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS GROUP (USA)
ALEX Co. (Belgium)
LABOREXPERT Ltd. (Hungary)
RAV Zrt. (Hungary)
IN-KAL Security Group (Hungary)

The SEC-tember event proved once more to be a much-needed yearly seminar, already now, people are preparing for next year! We are looking forward to see you all and your people next year at the exciting SEC-tember training.


IBSSA HQ