www.StevenHarris.net

Since 2003 I have been giving classes to various military organizations and areas of the Department of Defense.  The classes are highly geared towards operator(s) in the field.  The class is given by myself and a proven operator.  This class is hands on and there is a 1 Day Seminar and a 3 Day Workshop.  The workshop ends with a culmination exercise. 

Our students comment that this is the first time they have truly been taught new and original content.  Most classes people in this field take are just a rehash with some improvement on some other class they have already 'endured'.  I am amazed at the number of times teams of students elect to have pizza delivered to the class so they can spend more time in the training area instead of taking the normal hour and a half lunch.

This class is for operators, teams, groups or individuals that will find themselves operating in a non-CONUS environment.   We've taught civilians, grunts, Ph.D Virologist, security contractors and super ninjas.  We cover the use of batteries for your field devices in extensive detail.  You use to be only concerned with 2 things to do your job; bullets and water.  Now you need 3 things to complete your mission; bullets, water and batteries.

Every single type of battery covered is in your hands in the training area.  What is the advantage of each type, size and chemistry, what is its disadvantages, how long they last in storage, in use, in the heat, in the cold, in the wet, in a drawer or in a vibration environment. 

Lead Acid, Gell Cell, AGM, SLA, Car, Marine, Golf Cart, Flooded, Standby, 4D, 8D Batteries, AAAA, AAA, AA, C,  D, CR123, RCR123, N, CR 2032, button cells, BA5590's,5390's ,18650, 14500, 17345, 16340, Carbon-Zinc, Alkaline, NiCd, NiMH, Lithium, Li-ion, Li-Polymer, Zinc air batteries, Aluminum Air Batteries, Nickel-Iron (NiFe) and more.

Your cell phone battery, sat phone battery, laptop battery.  What batteries catch fire like a flame thrower when shot...etc... HUMVEE 24 volt systems, conventional 12 volt systems, inverters, chargers, USB, 5 volts DC, 12 volts DC, 24 volts DC, 120 volts AC, 240 volts AC, Volts, Amps, resistance (is futile) etc...This brief list is just the candles on top of the icing on top of the cake that we teach.

The different groups are especially encouraged to take the classes or to use me for fabricating specific energy devices for your peculiar field needs.  I will rock your world with out of box (hell what box!) thinking and tools.   Whatever you have to power, I can meet your power needs with the signature level you require.  From generators, to exotic batteries to fuel cells (and more) using gasoline, diesel, natural gas, propane, ethanol, methanol, vegetable oil and hydrogen (and many more) I can keep you powered, and do it at the best KISS level possible.  Also, I have excellent references  :)

Want to go to a safe haven or pull out a cache 5 years after it was set up, power up the GPS unit, power up the Iridium phone and call to say, "I'm HERE...come get me."   We teach you that (the battery part).  On the Iridium phone, the lithium ion battery in it, what level of charge would you want in it for maximum battery storage life?  What are the 2 types of batteries you'd use to make up a battery pack that would still be good in 5 to 10 years from now that could power the Iridium and the GPS.  What is the effect of temperature on these batteries and their storage.  The devil is in the details and we teach you the details.

A very significant segment of the class covers how to harvest energy or find energy to recharge batteries.  "Harvesting Energy" from power you can't use or is not portable and changing it into energy you can use and is portable is a whole new concept that we created and we do this with Civilian Off The Shelf (COTS) equipment.  I can give you hundreds of hours of AA battery power for NVG (NODs) in 15 minutes. 

We cover the traditional and field expedient methods powering and charging cell phones and iridium satellite phones.  We cover traditional off the shelf methods, materials and especially the field expedient methods in extensive detail for everything you would have to use to communicate (Cell, Sat, MBITR, GMRS, Ham), illuminate (head lamps, taclights, area lights, PVS-7, PVS-14s etc..) , navigate (GPS) and designate (SOFLAM, SOPMOD stuff / IR lasers).   If its got a battery in it, not only do we cover it, or have it in the class room but I want you to bring yours with you to class.  NOTE:  Please make sure you have training fills in any of your comm gear before bringing it to the class !!   Make sure everything is UNCLASS.

I cover civilian batteries found around the world as well as .mil batteries such as the BA5590 family.  The class covers a lot of details but each section has hard and fast take always for each subject that the student will not be likely to forget.  I bring a pickup full of stuff to each class so the students have a great deal of hands on training.  The class is full of hooking things up, charging, powering, extending power, ultra fast charging, exercises and other things that makes the day exciting and it goes fast.  I give very 'fun' classes and the students are 100% engaged in it.  You will have take always from the class that you'll never forget and we fully teach 2 is 1, 1 is none.  We try to make sure that everything you have backs up everything else, if that means taping AA's together and cutting wire to charge your cell phone, we teach it.  

How do we determine what methods and tools will work for you with energy?
First, we have heavy dialog and as much hands on about YOUR needs, YOUR past experiences and YOUR future requirements.  Stuff has to be accomplished with YOUR timeline and YOUR resources, but we don't do neat things just because they are neat.

We have 3 qualifications tools and methods must pass:
1.  Will it Work.
2.  Is it Necessary.
3.  Can I duplicate it under Stress ??
( I was taught these, I did not invent these 3.)

I understand that while we are in a classroom, and we do a lot of hands on, and we try to do as much field work for culmination exercises but we understand that in the future the student might be cold, wet, in the dark, fatigued, stressed, injured, bleeding, limb broken, under fire and have injured coworkers or principals to be protected while trying to power up an Iridium Sat-Phone, or other communications gear, to make a SITREP or trying to get extracted or to call in the Calvary. 

For the above to work, your comm gear (Sat-Phone/radio), your navigation & position fix (GPS) and your IR beacon all have to be working and they all take batteries and what batteries work when they are as cold and wet as you are, a few years old, and have been bouncing around in pockets for a month.

I do NOT play "Not Invented Here" syndrome.  If someone has a better way of doing something, seen something, heard something, done something then I'm all about it.  I try to teach the best most cutting edge, proven techniques and I keep up with the changes in technology and evolving methods.  These are not your grandfathers batteries. 

Classes are normally given in Virginia Beach Virginia with a GSA approved contracting company.


 

( Email me at  h2fuel (at) mail (dot) com )