Hostage Situation Training

Hostage situations can take many forms, depending on a variety of factors. One of the most impactful factors is the type of hostage taken. Professional criminals are usually the easiest to deal with since they have a plan and some demands that the negotiators use to build some sort of rapport with them. Psychopaths and unplanned hostage situations are usually a bit harder to deal with, since they don't have any clear demands, and can be more unpredictable. Hostage situations involving terrorists are the most challenging to deal with since the terrorists are usually very devoted to their causes because of their ideologies. Add several other complications of a realistic hostage situation to the mix, and you have one of the most challenging crises military officials have to deal with.

So, a hostage situation requires the coordination of trained negotiations, psychologists, military special forces to be dealt with successfully. Negotiators need to know what to say to keep the hostage-takers engaged, and how to talk them down. Military officers need to isolate the situation and special forces need to come up with plans to intercept the hostage-takers without putting lives at risk. Above all, the officers in charge of the situation must make difficult decisions, according to the evolving situation, and prevent any disasters.

Hostage situations are extremely complex, and there are literally no practical training exercises that can prepare all these people to effectively and efficiently counter such situations. Of course, military forces have certain training programs, which teach their officers about de-escalation and other important skills that may be required to deal with a hostage situation, and negotiators and tactical units have their specific training as well. However, nothing can replace the value of actionable experience.

This is where virtual training simulators can be very helpful. Many people have the misconception that such virtual shooting simulators can only be used to train marksmanship, however, in reality, they are very versatile, and have thousands of scenarios and simulations that can be used to provide army officers with actionable experience in dealing with a wide variety of crisis situations.

Similarly, hostage situation training exercises allow military forces entities to train together, in a safe, yet very realistic environment. These training simulators work using branching decision trees and actually respond to the actions of army officers so that they can understand the consequences of their actions. Moreover, these simulations allow experienced hostage negotiators and trained psychologists to review the performance of officers and negotiators involved and help them improve their crisis intervention skills.