It means it's secured, but within reach.
Simunition.
Although it's not lethal, it does require PPE to protect the participants.
There are many shoot houses across the state, but the most publicly available shoot house is at FRC Range in Baton Rouge.
https://www.frcbr.com/shoot-house
I believe they are a site sponsor here.
Expensive is a relative term. Most people spend copious amount of money on junk food and bad habits that will add up to a greater sum that the cost of quality training.
Glorified laser tag? Sounds like you've never experience Force on Force training.
1970's combat experience is great for war stories, but relying on what was done in your early years when you are now eligible for Medicaid is not very wise.
You assume too much. That is a fault you should recognize and correct. You're undoing will be hubris.
I've done plenty of Force on Force training. With MILES equipment, and simunitions. It was very expensive. More than the cost of a few candy bars, but my uncle was picking up the tab at the time.
My combat experience is more recent than you ASSume.
Most FoF uses Simunition, which hits like a very hard paintball (it hurts). It also has similar recoil to real guns. Most popular carry guns or ARs have the ability to be modified to shoot Sim rounds.
Combat experience doesn't help much unless it was recent and relevent. This is something that a lot of people think that just isn't true.
Near you a good place to do it is FRC in Baton Rouge. I believe there are two places in NOLA as well, but I don't recall their names.
First of all.
My one visit to FRC was a very pleasant one. Their facility is very nice, and their employees seemed competent.
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I do not discount the value of training. We trained, in the military, as often as our schedule would allow. For a very good reason. We trained like we fought, and we fought like we trained. Training, for us, paid off in the end. We suffered very few casualties from enemy fire. We inflicted maximum damage on our OPFOR.
Our opponent trained too. In fact, it's said that they trained more than us. They were the elite fighting force of their nation. The Republican Guard. Additionally, they were on home field advantage. In the end, their training didn't help them at all. They died valiantly for their country.
Two stories of training, with two very different outcomes.
I'd choose a successful, seasoned combat veteran any day over someone who's only played games in a sim house. I don't care how long ago that experience was. If a lot of people believe something, generally there's some truth behind it.