Last October I was fortunate to have been part the 4th ITS Muster and Skill-Set Development Excursion. Bryan Black and all the great people at ITS Tactical put together 4 days packed with instruction, skillset development and practice, and camaraderie that I haven't seen since the military.
This year, Muster introduced a scenario-based element that attendees has to live and participate, with a pre-determined cover for status and cover for action that played into everything they did. It was amazing.

I presented on Red Teaming and the Adversarial Mindset, and on OSINT and Digital Tradecraft. I was also going to present about Social Engineering but we didn't have time for that one.

Muster was really packed with surprises, and some of those involved keeping the attendees ready for anything at any time. So, more than once - and as part of the scenario - they were just put on alert and sent patrolling into the woods of rural texas.

Before I continue, here are the two presentations I gave on Muster (as PDFs).

I rather you go to ITS Tactical and read there their AAR, but I wanted to show you some of the pictures from the Muster.

If you have the chance next year, go for it. It is a great opportunity to learn new skills, to be with really cool people and just know that you can count on them to go through this. Ask my friend CC Chapman, who attended this year.

Here are some pictures of the Muster.

Brian Green, from the Backpacking Blog explaining the art of packing.

Matt, from SEREPick, showing vehicular entry techniques.

During arts and crafts, Bryan Black explained how to create dead drop locations. Some of the guys were very creative. Can you say fake poop?

John, from Tyr Group, blending in during chow. You don't want to find John at night, in the woods.

Bryan and Caleb, from Lone Star Medics, getting ready for the student's stalking. I joined them and we stalked them at 0400 (4AM). Some things are better left unsaid...

Like I said, some things are better left unsaid...

During John's class on ghillie suit construction and concealment.

Matt from SEREPick teaching lock impressioning. It was a fantastic class.

Here's my key copy...

New rules sometimes are added for a reason... Come to the Muster next year and know why...

During the final exercise, the attendees were pushed to use everything they have learned. This was on my station, the nuke. 2 out of the 4 teams missed it.