Students from the Command and General Staff Officers Course participated in a non-lethal weapons range at the Lansing Correctional Facility Range on April 14. The range experience with administrative and logistical support from the 15th Military Police Brigade was part of an electives course in non-lethal weapons offered to CGSOC students.The course was originally designed as an elective for the Army War College by the Applied Research Laboratory at The Pennsylvania State University and the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate at Quantico, Va. It is the fourth year the course has been taught at CGSC. The intent of the course is to give officers an additional tool that can be used in different situations.”Non-lethal weapons were available downrange,” said Army Lt. Col. Donald Bishop, CGSOC instructor for the course. “We didn”t think about them. Commanders and planners were unfamiliar with them and units had not trained with them.” He said going forward to a time when missions will be conducted in a variety of environments non-lethal means have to be considered. Retired Marine Col. Scott Buran, Penn State instructor for the course, noted that non-lethal weapons are always employed with lethal over-watch.
