The whole story is being reported in this week's Marine Corps Times by my colleague James Sanborn. But, here are my thoughts on the Marines' full fielding based on conversations with some well known trainers, as well as my own use of the Blackhawk SERPA holster.
It's great that the Corps acknowledged the ageing design of the old M-12 holster and is replacing it so that Marines can stop spending their own money to get a decent retention holster. But buying a Level 2 SERPA for every pistol in the Corps' inventory is, at best, controversial and, at worst, dangerous.
Aside from the obvious example of Tex Grebner shooting himself while drawing from a SERPA, there are other concerns about the safety and performance of the SERPA holster. Tex's shooting could have been avoided with proper training, but the fact remains that a fairly experienced shooter faced with only self-imposed stressors shot himself on the draw. Sure, this could have happened with any holster, but I can't ignore the holster's design relying on the trigger finger for activation as a strong contributing factor.
Aside from the safety issue, there is a common thread of concern about pistols getting stuck in the holster. A roll in the dirt, gravel and even snow, get debris under the spring-loaded retention release button, jamming it closed and imprisoning the pistol. Kyle Lamb, former SFO-D member and president of Viking Tactics, tells me that he's seen it jam in his classes, "when you get dirt in the mechanism it doesn't work... It takes 2-3 guys pulling up on the gun to get it out of the holster."
Here's a video from 2005 of instructor Craig Douglas (A.K.A. Southnarc) from ShivWorks stopping a close quarters fighting class as a student and instructors struggle to free a training gun from a SERPA holster that was exposed to loose dirt.
[brightcove video="1155868233001" /]
Granted, Blackhawk did open the channel up a bit to allow trapped debris an easier path to exit, but doesn't that allow an easier path to entrance, as well?
Who fights in dirt like that, some might say. So, a little Google-foo brings up the same issue but this time it's in snow. I found this 2010 video on YouTube user Sturmgewehre's "Military Arms Channel" and it demonstrates how easily the release mechanism can become jammed with fluffy white stuff. Skip to 1:46 for the goods.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxpXUN4bMb4=1m48s[/youtube]
I don't see why Blackhawk doesn't cover the release button with a flexible cover to keep debris out. Boom. One problem solved.
I can maybe understand individuals buying SERPAs and taking them into combat after recognizing and training to overcome the quirks of their operation. But, this is a system that demands a lot of training. Giving them to everyone in the Corps without a strong training program in place to teach and reinforce the muscle memory required for safe use in stressful situations is asking for trouble.
Lastly, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering how Safariland's holsters fared against the Blackhawk.
SYSCOM told Marine Corps Times the Blackhawk SERPA was selected after a series of tests to include integration and interference evaluation, dry-fire drills and live-fire drills but they didn't elaborate on the other competitors nor the program requirements.
