2008 was an incredibly busy year for I.C.E. Training Company, Rob Pincus and our Regional Representatives. Courses were conducted in over 50 locations in the United States and Europe, over one dozen new training videos were taped for the Personal Defense DVD Series and Rob teamed up with Mike Janich and Michael Bane to create the first season of The Best Defense TV Show.

Of Course, 2008 started with the announcement that Valhalla would return to its original business plan of being a private facility for the exclusive use of its members and guests of Elk Mountain Resort. This lead to the formation of I.C.E. Training Company as a subsidiary of I.C.E., LLC, Rob Pincus’ consulting company to continue offering the training programs that had been advertised under the Valhalla banner since 2003. John Brown and Jeremiah Miles remained at Valhalla and also served as staff instructors for I.C.E. at various locations around the US.

As part of the re-branding of the training programs, Rob Pincus personally taught at over 35 locations from Reno to Orlando and Houston to New Hampshire. “There was an explosion of interest in hosting courses after the announcement that or programs were going to be available on the road throughout the entire year,” says Rob, “it resulted in a significant increase in the number of students we worked with in 2008.”

Several students were able to train with I.C.E. for the first time simply because they did not have to pay for travel and lodging to attend courses. I.C.E. offered a music tour style T-shirt created by CFS Instructor Shawn Ostrander listing over thirty cities in which the CFS course was taught in the US and Europe during the calendar year. Training was also conducted at several conferences in 2008, including the IALEFI ATC, SWAT Round Up, 1 inc to 100 Yards, New York Law Enforcement Expo and the Rangemaster Conference in Memphis, TN.

I.C.E. Training took its time finding a logo that represented the company well, but in August the I.C.E. Triquetra was announced and it has been well received. In fact, during the Instructor Conference in Houston, 4 attendees got triquetra tattoos! The triquetra has been used to represent the bringing together of three things or concepts for centuries. In this case, the solid ring with “Integrity, Consistency, Integrity” further symbolizes the coordination of the companies three guiding tenets. I.C.E. now offers hats, t-shirts and Underarmor™ products with the new logo.

The first half of the year featured a concentration of Instructor Development courses that included the first Combat Focus Instructor courses in Europe and several law enforcement agency certifications. Orange County (FL) Sheriff’s Office, South Wales (UK) Police, Bavarian Polizei, Chicago Police Department and several other agencies have now joined some of the early adopters and integrated or fully adopted the Combat Focus training methodology. Over 20 new instructors were certified from 6 different countries. Another highlight of the instructor program in 2008 was the first annual CFS Instructor Conference held in Houston during the month of October. 2009’s Instructor Conference will be held in Farmington, New Mexico and hosted by Blacksheep Tactical Training.

Rob Pincus also conducted training in two new countries during 2008, Czech Republic in both March and November and Bermuda in September. Aegis Akademie, headquartered in Praque, hosted several courses including Combat Focus Carbine and Executive Protection Fundamentals and Rob was invited by Cartier to conduct a teambuilding event on a beach in Bermuda. This unique teambuilding event was facilitated by Jesse Woody and Skipper Hughes of Primal Fitness. Jesse, whom Rob met at a Blauer Combatives Camp in 2007, was one of the founders of American Parkour and Skipper recently took 5^th place in the World Freerunning Championship. The three instructors lead the Cartier wholesale team through a series of instructional blocks designed to help them become more athletic and negotiate various obstacles efficiently. These blocks of instruction were followed by a team obstacle course competition.

The Regional Representative Program that was initiated in 2008 will allow an even greater number of students to attend Combat Focus Shooting and other I.C.E. developed courses with certified instructors at quality venues. There are currently 8 regional representatives in 6 states and 4 European countries, with additional reps expected to be added in 2009.

In addition to the new titles released in the Personal Defense Video Series, including Extreme Close Quarters Shooting, Training in Context and Defensive Firearms Use in Public, I.C.E. did an extensive amount of television work as well. Rob Pincus was featured as a subject matter expert in 3 segments during the second season of Weaponology on the Military Channel and was joined by CFS Instructors Colin Tinnin, Paul Haberstroh and Brad Schuppan for a special episode of Shooting Gallery, which will feature the Combat Focus Shooting Program and air on Outdoor Channel in March of 2009. The opportunity to create that episode was facilitated by the time that Rob spent with Michael Bane working on the new TV Show The Best Defense, also for Outdoor Channel. On The Best Defense, Michael Bane has teamed up Rob and Mike Janich to cover the fundamentals of technique, gear and concepts that can make people safer under a variety of circumstances. The show is supported by a blog at downrange.tv and an upcoming book by Rob and Mike expanding on the first season’s topics. The Best Defense begins airing next month! The Personal Defense Video series was also expanded to include a non-firearms branch featuring guest instructors such as Tony Blauer and Mike Janich.

While the majority of the courses taught this year were Combat Focus Shooting, over half of the CFS courses also featured at least one day of Advanced Pistol Handling and the list of courses offered also included Officer Survival, Instructor Development, Church Security, Executive Protection, Precision Rifle, Women’s Assault Prevention, Carbine and Active Shooter Response. In addition to these offerings, 2009 will see the return of the popular Extreme Close Quarters Tactics course to the calendar also!

This recap of 2008 would certainly be incomplete without mentioning the addition of Wesleigh Brown and Jace Miles to our I.C.E. family. Both John and Jeremiah’s new additions are healthy and doing well. Also on a family note, the success of I.C.E. Training Company in 2008 would not have been possible without the logistical and administrative efforts of Grit Salewski who keeps all the paperwork straight, facilitates all of the I.C.E. Store business and does countless other things to support the company. She even got to spend some time on the range, including a precision rifle session with Clint Smith while out at Thunder Ranch!

We look forward to another great year in 2009!