By C.J. Songer

They dive out of burning buildings. They rappel off steep cliffs. They drive like maniacs on the freeways or the streets of the city, crashing into big rigs and buildings with abandon. They can fall in twenty, thirty, forty different ways so as to please the director and not get hurt (much), and in their spare time-they sign up for shooting classes from the National Sports Shooting Foundation?

Well, yes. These aren't just any women, these are the ladies of the SWAMP-the Stunt Women's Association of Motion Pictures, an organization that's been in existence since 1967. Its members put in a lot of their own time training in various fields: horseback riding, gymnastics, kickboxing, rollerblading, fencing, motorcycles, SCUBA diving, and fire burns, to name only a few. Why? Because they want to be the best-no, scratch that, it's because they want to be the best of the best. As Susan Purkhiser, four-foot-ten and maybe a hundred pounds, told me, "We're all Type A's here."

Katie Rowe was the designated SWAMP Event Chairperson who put together this three-day gun seminar for the group. She was the engine, the motivating force. At six-foot-two, fit and blonde, she'd be an imposing figure in any setting, but dressed in camouflage fatigues with a SWAT-style thigh holster rig, she's stunning. Why did she set this up? "I went to the first NSSF movie industry seminar last fall."

The fall seminar that Katie mentions was part of a Media Program event organized for the National Shooting Sports Foundation by Michael Bane, veteran writer, and the producer, among other things, of Shooting Gallery, a new weekly television series this season for The Outdoor Channel. The seminar was held August 18, 2003, at the Oak Tree Gun Club in Newhall, California, and was one of several outreach programs hosted by Michael and the NSSF around the country last year for the purpose of helping to educate writers, directors, producers and other movie industry people in the proper use of weaponry. The reasoning is that if someone (i.e., the National Shooting Sports Foundation) provides an enjoyable and well-taught, hands-on learning experience for members of the media, it can counter some of the stereotyped "bad gun" notions these people might have. Pretty good reasoning! Peggy Tartaro and the Second Amendment Foundation have been doing the same thing, very successfully, with their gun seminars for mystery writers for the past four years. (See the Women & Guns January/February 2004 issue for more details on that.)

Back to Katie, though: "I'd owned guns for about ten years, and have always loved shooting. I'd just gotten busy with other things, lazy, et cetera, and hadn't been to the range as regularly as I'd like to do, so I thought the movie seminar would be a good way to get back into it. I spent a great day with the awesome group of folks from the NSSF. Then I went out for the second day of more fun and games and ended up doing some brainstorming with the gangso we were off and running with the idea of the November SWAMP/NSSF seminar."

"My original thoughts were that as stuntwomen, we're always looking to improve our skills, to make ourselves more marketable. By becoming skilled with guns, we could go after more of the stunt jobs traditionally taken by men-soldiers, cops, snipers, SWAT teams, and bank robbers-as well as the newly-exploding female action heroine jobs-the 'Charlie's Angels/Kill Bill/Karen Sisco' stuff-and look good doing it! No more finger on the trigger, shooting sideways nonsense. Since very few women have much military or law enforcement experience like many of the men in our business do, we could focus on the basics and the tactical shooting techniques, as well as the on-camera glamour stuff."

Michele Waitman knows something about on-camera glamour-she stunt-doubles for Sarah Michelle Gellar in "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer."

"Had you had any gun training before this?" I asked her, and her answer was quick and definite: "None whatsoever."
In fact, she had a fear of guns, she says. One of the reasons she signed up for the seminar was that she wanted to feel more comfortable around them. Her husband grew up with guns, back in the Midwest, and she felt she should learn more about them, the more so because they have children now, and there were a number of questions she had about safety. What better place to get answers than a hands-on experience where she could see for herself?

As it happens, Nancy Thurston, five-foot-one, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, with a gleaming bright smile, had gone shooting a few times before this; she has a cousin who owns guns. She hadn't gone very often, though, just now and then to get a feel for it. "You never know what you're going to be called on to do in stunt work," she said. "That's what's exciting about it: one day you're tumbling, the next, you're on fire." She had enough gun handling under her belt to fake it, she thought, if she ever had to use a gun on film, but when Katie Rowe proposed the seminar idea, Nancy signed right up to learn more.

Elle Alexander, a tall, rangy blonde with a quick sense of humor, got her start in the stunt world by answering a casting call for the Wild West Stunt Show at Universal Studios. "Blind luck," she said. There were hundreds of people there, trying out, and she was picked. She'd never shot before that, but over the course of a seven-year run, she learned to handle a Ruger 6-shot revolver, a double-barreled shotgun, and a Winchester rifle. She'd wanted to go with Katie to the first NSSF seminar, but hadn't been able to manage the time off, so when the second opportunity came by, she took it. "I think it's very needed for stuntwomen in the industry," she said. "We learned an incredible amount, and it was so much fun!"

The class took place over a three-day weekend, November 14th, 15th and 16th, at Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises out in Norco, California. That's the End of Trail range, for those of you who know Cowboy Action Shooting. It's a great facility, with lots of small separate ranges and a wide variety of targets. We had beautiful, clear weather, other than the slight threat of rain, and it was a prime time, shooting.

Michael Bane has assembled a great lineup for these NSSF ventures. His group varies a bit, depending on who's available each time, but for this particular weekend, NSSF flew in Chris Edwards, who is Glock's Director of Law Enforcement Training, and also Director of the Glock Shooting Sports Foundation (GSSF, a sister-member of the NSSF). Glock was willing to provide all of the training handguns, ammo and shooters' gear for the women to wear (Glock 17s, 9mm ammunition and Kydex/Velcro SWAT-style thigh holsters.) As Katie said, "Glock gave us some fantastic support, supplying not only most all the guns, but the fabulous Chris Edwards. Chris made sure everyone ended the first day feeling comfortable and safe handling the guns (and were pretty darn accurate, too!). The first question everyone asked me at the next meeting afterwards was, "Can we get Glocks??" Chris is getting us a great deal, and so the SWAMP Shooting Team is born"

Not to be outdone by Glock, Bill Murphy was there representing Surefire. Surefire was supplying flashlights for the women for the low light and nighttime portions of the shooting schedule. Murph has spent twenty-four years in Southern California law enforcement, is an FBI-certified firearms instructor, runs a weapons-training company (Firearms Training Associates) in Yorba Linda, California, and has been a Range Master at Gunsite for many years. Truly a qualified trainer! "I was amazed by how well the ladies did," Murph told me afterwards, "and how quickly they picked everything up. Obviously, their abilities in other aspects carry over."

Along with Chris and Murph, we had Dave Arnold, who'd flown in from Virginia with his training partner, Des Donnelly. In his day job, Des is a Lieutenant in the York County Sheriff's Office. Dave Arnold is one of the founders of the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA), and is renowned as a personal firearms instructor, as well as being the captain in charge of personnel and training at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail.

After the class, I asked Dave to write a few words about his take on the seminar. Here's what he said: "The SWAMP weekend was one of the most enjoyable teaching experiences I've had in over 30 years of providing instruction. All of the participants were highly motivated and several traveled long distances each day to the range. I know many of them adjusted work schedules to attend the training. We were dealing with a group of exceptional athletes who, by the nature of their work, are able to take direction and perform the required actions. The group was able to quickly grasp the basic concepts of handling a firearm, and the instructors were then able to quickly work on refinements and 'tuning up' the marksmanship skills. All of the participants asked very good questions, indicating how rapidly they grasped the subject matter. I think the only problem we encountered was having the stunt women allow the instructors to have a break!" Yes, I think he liked it...

Angi Kelley, who'd been one of the instructors at the earlier NSSF Media program in August, is a two-time National Champion, shooting a Glock in the stock gun class of practical pistol competition. She's a tactical trainer for Wackenhut Security in Tennessee, which, among other things, provides security for the Oak Ridge nuclear facility. A formidable woman!
We also had Lisa Farrell there from Northern California. Lisa's a revolver enthusiast who won her first World Championship at the International Revolver Championships this past year in Morrow Bay, CA. She's got an eye for detail and a love for the sport, so she's a natural when it comes to training other people.

On Saturday and Sunday, Michael brought in Mike Dalton, who's well-known to the shooting world. He's a nationally recognized practical pistol champion, and is in demand as a trainer for civilians and police alike. He and his partner, Mike Fichman, run the Steel Challenge, the world speed-shooting match that's held annually out in Piru, California, so he came along to help get the SWAMP women up to speed. We also had Bruce Gray on tap for the weekend to teach "sniper rifle" during the SWAT portion of the course. Besides being actively involved in Olympic handgun shooting, Bruce has a reputation as an innovative gunsmith and an all-around great guy.

Rounding out the crew, we had Mike Black, who's a twenty-five year police veteran in suburban Chicago, and the author of two mysteries, A Killing Frost and Windy City Knights. What did he think of the seminar? "These SWAMP gals really proved their mettle," he said. "It was an intensive and exhausting weekend of shooting and instruction in SWAT tactics, but they caught on to everything really fast. They were some of the best students I've ever had. There was no quit in any of them, and their skill levels were nothing short of phenomenal by the end of the course."

The first order of the day on Friday, though, was to get everybody sorted out and comfortable with their gear. In many classes, the shooters typically spend half a day or more in a classroom setting, doing paperwork and learning safety rules. Here, the notion was to have them up and running (safely) in as short a time as possible. It's what Michael Bane calls "saturation training." He feels that people learn best tactilely-hands-on instruction, in other words, and the women seemed to prove that out.

"No, I'd never done this before," LaFaye Baker told me. "Never. In fact, I was scared to even shoot." She's a confident, no-nonsense woman, in appearance, at least, so that seemed odd. "Well, someone could take the gun from me and shoot me-I mean, if you don't have the training." And how does she feel now? "Oh, I like the Beretta." [The Beretta was one of a variety of other guns offered for the women to try.] "And the sniper rifle," she added, "because of the lens-thing, the scope on it." "What I liked," she said, "what I really liked was that all the instructors were very patient. They weren't in a hurry to rush you, there was a lot of individual help. And I really liked that the women there [Angi and Lisa] were so experienced and skilled-I like to see that women can show other women how to be capable."

Cheryl Lawson-Bucher is a stunt-double for Carla Gugino, the female lead in the new hit TV show, Karen Sisco, about a gal who's a U.S. Marshal, and who, therefore, carries a gun. This, too, was Cheryl's first time getting any real weapons training. "I've done some [scenes] for the movies," she said. "They go over the safety rules, but I've never been very confident in that department. I've always had a little bit of a fear of guns, which is not a good thing to have in the work that I'm in." The confidence that she learned in weapons-handling on the range, though, has spread over into other things. Her husband owns a handgun. "Now I don't fear that it's such a danger." She recently auditioned for a role as a police officer in Hostage. "I used all the techniques we learned in the class-being alert and pieing the corners, doing the mag changes, everything. No, I didn't get the part, but I was one of the final three in the call-backs! And there'll be other roles."

During the three days of the seminar, the women primarily learned weapons manipulations on the Glock 17s, but at various points, they were given other guns to try. Because this was a SWAT-oriented class in that the stuntwomen were interested in knowing the mechanics and the whys and wherefores of some of the police actions they might be asked to perform for stunt jobs, Friday afternoon was devoted to a variety of subguns and carbines. The ladies were divided into smaller groups, and while one group was practicing with the Glocks on a side range on steel poppers, the other group learned to shoot AR-15s and MP-5s (and to look good doing it...). Everybody seemed to particularly enjoy going full-auto. After a very practical lecture from Bill Murphy on alternate uses of flashlights, Friday evening was spent learning standard flashlight techniques combining the Glocks and the new Surefire E-2 Executive lights. The stuntwomen handled things smoothly, and Murphy was pleased. "It's not just how they did on the range," he said to me later. "The most dangerous time for females is going to be the evening or low-light situations. With the awareness these ladies now have about flashlights as defensive tools, they're a lot safer already. They know how to eliminate some of the dangers of the night."

On Saturday, the curriculum called for more weapons manipulations, including loading on the run, use of cover, and shooting while going from standing to kneeling. The SWAMP women were given the opportunity to try out a Smith & Wesson 627 Revolver in .38 Special, a Colt 1911 in .45 ACP, an S&W J-Frame snub nose .38 Special, and an S&W .22 auto. Bruce Gray had arrived, so he took a section of the class off to a separate range to try precision rifle shooting, using his Remington 700 in .308, with the scope on it that LaFaye ended up liking so much. She wasn't the only one. "We have two of the sniper targets we shot with Bruce Gray from eighty-four yards hanging in our office window, bullet holes autographed by the SWAMP members. It was awesome," according to Katie Rowe.

"My father was a world-renowned African safari hunter," said Spice Williams, red-haired and energetic. "I grew up in the '50s with all his guns and trophies around, and learned to shoot a .22 rifle at coffee-cans at a very young age." Her dad died, though, when Spice and her sister were seven. Years later, she told me, as a musician on the road, she bought herself an old Remington .22, and shot coffee-cans off posts set up in the back acres of a friend's ranch. She and her husband are vegans, totally against hunting, but, "Damn, it's fun to shoot a gun!" She'd never had experience with handguns before the seminar, other than the ones on movie sets, where the prop people are insistent that no one can touch the guns between takes. That's, obviously, for very good safety reasons, but it doesn't give one much chance to practice. "I'm always cast as witches, bitches, alien creatures or biker broads-the bad girls," Spice laughed, "so I figured it was okay to hold the [handgun] like an idiot." But now she's finding that she'd like to learn more about it. "It's fascinating."

Lori Seaman got her start with long guns, too. About twenty years ago, she joined a Western stunt group that traveled to various states doing live shows. The two brothers who organized it taught her how to shoot a rifle, and she became Calamity Jane. "No, really. There was an Annie Oakley, too. It was mostly shooting up in the air, blanks-but we learned to load our own blank ammunition between shows." She got busy doing other things after that, not least of which is running the Motion Picture Driving Clinic, a stunt driving school in Palmdale, California, that she owns and operates with her husband, Rick Seaman. But when the chance to learn handguns and SWAT techniques was offered by SWAMP, she was there. "I'd heard about it from Katie and it sounded good."

"I wasn't sure what I'd gotten myself into, trying to organize this," Katie said, "but the NSSF is one of the most professional organizations I've ever worked with. We had an unbelievable three-day event."

On Saturday, the women learned tactical weapon craft in the range shoot house. They were able to practice techniques for approaching a building the way an officer serving a warrant would, and then they learned the different techniques necessary for conducting a building assault as a member of a SWAT team. They did house clearings in groups of four, using both a dynamic entry and a slow search method (ones where the suspects know you're coming in, and ones where they don't.) Angi and Des, ably assisted by Mike Black, demonstrated proper room clearing techniques, and also the fine art of handcuffing a suspect, street arrest procedures, pat-downs and the like. The ladies spent the rest of Saturday afternoon back on the square ranges, either with Bruce and the precision rifle, or with the other instructors, learning to work with each other as partners while shooting on the move. "Cover me, I'm down." "Clear left." "Clear right."

Sunday was the Big Day. The women spent the morning learning the methods that an officer would use when approaching a vehicle for a "regular" traffic stop, the different techniques for a known-felon stop, and then the procedure they'd employ for approaching a vehicle as a member of a SWAT team on a full-out vehicle assault. Very dynamic!

After lunch was the Steel Challenge, also known as Run 'N Gun, or practical shooting. The girls shot three stages of fire, using IPSC competition rules. They were shooting steel targets for time, using cover, loading on the run, testing their own application of the skills they'd spent the weekend learning.

"It was so exciting," Katie Rowe said. "To see everyone compete the last day in our 3-stage steel challenge and to see how much they'd improved in such a short amount of time while all the other group members cheered them on-that was really a great experience!"

Was it worth it?

"It was awesome," said Nancy.

"Tripped me out," said LaFaye, "to see everybody out there, shooting."

"Exciting," said Cheryl. "I feel really good about it."

"It was great," Michele said. "So much hands-on training, all the great instructors. Now when I watch a film and see them use a technique, I think, 'I know how to do that!' My whole family's interested."

"They actually had to kick us out the last day," Katie said. "We stayed until we had cleared Bill Murphy's truck out of ammo that night, which was about ten p.m. Bill was holding a class for five guys that evening [but he'd said we could stay]. We would watch them, let them finish, then move five or ten yards back from where they were shooting and do the same drills. Like Annie Oakley said, 'Anything you can do, I can do better...'"

And I think that says it all!

For more on SWAMP, visit their website: www.stuntwomen.com

About the author:
Mystery writer C.J. Songer is the author of two books, Bait and Hook, visit her website at cjsonger.com