Counterstrike®
Be ready for every scenario your team could face.
The system that lets every rank and discipline rehearse the integrated response together, as often as they need. Counterstrike is a hands-on functional exercise: your team works a real scenario on an environment map, using resource chips, markers, and ICS vests as the incident develops.
Counterstrike is used by hundreds of agencies nationwide to rehearse the integrated response, from first call through last transport.
Two ways to run Counterstrike
Run it on a ready-made environment map, or go digital with Counterstrike Terrain. Same resource chips, same scenarios, same method. The only thing that changes is the map.
Counterstrike Terrain™
Most teams rehearse on generic maps that look nothing like the places they protect. Counterstrike Terrain turns any map or floor plan into a full-size training surface, so your team trains on the actual streets, schools, and facilities in your own jurisdiction.
It runs every Counterstrike active shooter, complex coordinated attack, and reunification scenario, on the exact location your team would respond to.
Or run it on a ready-made environment map
Pre-printed maps, ready out of the box, no computer required. Three sets, each built for the scenario your team is preparing for.
Build the core active shooter response your whole team has to get right.
Includes: one double-sided environment map
Explore Basic BrochureScale up to multiple shooters across multiple sites, coordinated from one command picture.
Includes: two double-sided environment maps
Explore CCA BrochureControl a school violent event and reunite every student with their family, from threat through reunification.
Includes: three environment maps
Explore Reunification BrochureResource chips, markers, and ICS vests are shared across the entire Counterstrike line, including Terrain. Existing kit owners never pay for duplicate pieces. Eligible for grant funding.
Practice the response, not just the plan
Every agency has a plan for a violent event. Counterstrike is how your team actually rehearses it, together, before the day it counts.
Every agency has a plan for a violent event. Counterstrike is how a team rehearses that plan together, in a room they already have, before the day it counts.
- Every kind of incident. Active shooter, coordinated attack, school reunification: the same system runs them all. Practicing the full range is what readies a team for whatever the call turns out to be.
- As many run-throughs as it takes. It is built for repetition, so the response can be rehearsed again and again without standing up a full-scale exercise.
- Nobody responds for the first time on the day. The decisions get made and the handoffs get practiced in advance, so the day it counts is not the rehearsal.
Find your situation, find your Counterstrike
Every Counterstrike trains the same integrated response. What changes is the scenario it is built for. Find the row that sounds like your team, then follow it to the set that fits.
Swipe to compare all four
| What your team needs to train for | Basic Active shooter | CCA Coordinated attack | Reunification Schools and reunification | NewTerrain Your actual locations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Get law, fire, EMS, and command running one coordinated active shooter response | ||||
| Complex coordinated attack, more than one location | ||||
| Reunite every student with their family after a school violent event | ||||
| Train on the actual streets, schools, and facilities in your jurisdiction | ||||
| Run it out of the box, no computer required | ||||
| Download the Brochure | Brochure | Brochure | Brochure | Brochure |
Terrain trains on your own actual locations and uses a laptop you supply. The three map sets run with no computer, right out of the box. Eligible for grant funding.
The same promise, every scenario
Every run-through builds a sharper, faster, more coordinated team, ready before the call comes.
Plan
Work the incident from a common operating picture and pressure-test the branches of your response plan before it is needed.
Prepare
Train every rank and discipline together, so the integrated response is rehearsed, not improvised, on the day it counts.
Practice
Run it again. And again. Portable, repeatable practice builds the muscle memory that saves lives.
Counterstrike is used in NCIER training
Counterstrike is the hands-on exercise inside NCIER’s Train-the-Trainer courses. Get certified to teach the integrated response, run Counterstrike with your own agency, then stress-test the whole system in full-scale simulation.
ASIM Basic Train-the-Trainer
Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM) is the national standard for integrated active shooter response. The 8-hour Train-the-Trainer course builds your own internal ASIM instructors, so you teach to one standard on your own schedule instead of waiting on outside vendors. Counterstrike Basic is the hands-on exercise that brings it to life.
Explore ASIM Basic Train-the-TrainerASIM Advanced
ASIM Advanced uses Counterstrike CCA for the coordinated-attack exercise, then puts the whole team inside full-scale 3D simulation on the NIMSPro™ 3D Simulation System. Up to 60 responders run ten complete incidents from first call to last transport, stress-testing the integrated response at operational tempo.
Explore ASIM AdvancedSSAVEIM Train-the-Trainer
School Safety and Violent Event Incident Management (SSAVEIM) is purpose-built for K–12. Counterstrike Reunification is the hands-on exercise used in the SSAVEIM Train-the-Trainer course to rehearse both the response and the reunification that follows.
Explore SSAVEIM Train-the-TrainerStill deciding? We'll help you choose.
Tell us about your agency and an NCIER team member will help you match the right Counterstrike to how you train, and to the grant funding that can pay for it.
Frequently asked questions
The basics agencies ask before they choose a Counterstrike.
What is Counterstrike?
Counterstrike is a professional training system from C3 Pathways that lets a whole response team rehearse a violent event together before it happens. Teams work the incident hands on, using resource chips, markers, and ICS vests on an environment map, to practice the integrated response across law enforcement, fire, EMS, dispatch, emergency management, and school administration.
What is the difference between Counterstrike Basic, CCA, and Reunification?
Each one runs the same integrated response on a different scenario. Counterstrike Basic trains the active shooter response. Counterstrike CCA trains a complex coordinated attack across multiple sites. Counterstrike Reunification trains a school violent event through both the response and the reunification of students with their families. All three use the same resource chips, markers, and ICS vests.
What is Counterstrike Terrain?
Counterstrike Terrain is the digital version of the system. It turns any map or floor plan into a full size training surface, so a team can rehearse on the actual streets, schools, and facilities in its own jurisdiction. It runs the same scenarios as the printed environment maps and works with a laptop you already own.
Who uses Counterstrike?
Counterstrike is used by law enforcement, fire, EMS, dispatch, emergency management, and school administrators, and by hundreds of agencies nationwide. It is built to train the whole team together, so every rank and discipline rehearses the same coordinated response.
Who is NCIER?
NCIER, the National Center for Integrated Emergency Response, is the services division of C3 Pathways. It delivers the professional development, exercises, implementation, technical assistance, and Train-the-Trainer courses agencies use to put the integrated response into practice. Counterstrike is the C3 Pathways training system, and it is the hands-on exercise used inside those NCIER courses. Both come from the same organization: C3 Pathways builds Counterstrike, and NCIER teaches the response your team rehearses with it.
How does Counterstrike fit into NCIER training?
Counterstrike is the hands on exercise inside NCIER’s Train-the-Trainer courses. Counterstrike Basic is used in Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM), Counterstrike CCA in ASIM Advanced, and Counterstrike Reunification in the SSAVEIM course for schools. Agencies can get certified to teach the response and then run Counterstrike with their own teams.
Can grant funding pay for Counterstrike?
Yes. Counterstrike is eligible for grant funding. To find the set that fits your agency and the funding that can pay for it, request information and the C3 Pathways team will follow up.
Plan. Prepare. Practice.
Counterstrike is the professional training system from C3 Pathways, used by hundreds of agencies nationwide to rehearse the response before the day it counts.
Not sure which version fits your mission, your facility, or your budget? Our team will help you match the right Counterstrike to how you train, and to the grant funding that can pay for it.
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