Unleash Your Inner James Bond
You’re sitting in your chair listening to the conference speaker drone on when WHAM! The door to the room is kicked open and six rifle-toting men in black ski masks march in. Amid the spray of gunfire, everyone hits the floor except one of your group—he is attacked and dragged from the room as a hostage. Panic situation? For weaker men and women, perhaps, but your nerves are steady as a rock, because you’re in your third day of covert ops training, and have been prepped in how to keep your cool during hostage taking, terrorist activity, hand-to-weapon combat, and other Rambo-esque skills. You know that now’s the time to implement your hostage-recovery strategy. Let’s roll!
The adventure begins as soon as you arrive at Tucson International Airport, where you’re instructed to meet a beautiful blonde at the airport lounge. Using coded language, she will transmit to you the instructions for meeting your transport to the former CIA training facility in the desert. Your 2- or 3-day package is no luxury spa: Rooms are comfortable but spartan, meals are filling but not gourmet, and your day begins at dawn whether you’re ready or not. Attendees (no more than 20 are admitted per session) can expect a full slate of training in the activities that would come in handy in a terrorist attack or military coup: gunning a fast-attack vehicle down a dirt road, close-quarter handgun training, martial arts, and high-speed evasive driving.
The highlight of your training comes in the aforementioned hostage-taking situation. You have just a few hours to determine the terrorists’ hideout location, arm yourself with paintball weapons, develop a tactical strategy, and move in for hostage rescue operation without getting “killed” or losing the hostage.
If this is all sounding a little like Bond, James Bond, it’s no accident. The men behind Covert Ops sport resumes with years of real-world experience in international “situations” such as espionage with the Green Berets in Southeast Asia, African mercenary operations, seventh-degree black belt karate training, and Navy SEAL experience. It might seem intimidating, but if some mano-a-mano action is what you need to inspire your business colleagues or to make it through another weekend with your family, consider one of their group packages.
Covert Ops ( 800-644-7382; www.incredible-adventures.com/covert1.html).
When to Go: Whenever the international situation becomes dangerously unstable.
Tucson International Airport.