Questions

Straight answers.

What units ask before they send a team, and what donors ask before they give.

If the answer you need is not here, ask us. We would rather answer it directly than have you guess.

Coming to train

Who can attend?

Anyone serving in the military or law enforcement in a role that calls for this training. Local, state, and federal agencies, and military units at any level, active and reserve. You can come as a unit sending a team, or as an individual if your unit cannot send you.

Does it really cost nothing?

Yes, and there is no catch in the wording. Travel, lodging, meals, equipment, and ammunition are all covered. You are not asked for a registration fee, a deposit, or a contribution. Donors pay for the course so the people attending do not have to.

How do you know I am who I say I am?

We ask you to reach us from a unit or agency email address, or to send something on letterhead. That is the whole bar. We are not trying to make this difficult, but we do need to know who is on the line.

How long is a course, and how many people are in it?

Five days on the ranch, with ten to twelve officers per cohort. Small enough that nobody hides at the back and everyone gets real trigger time.

We aim to run a cohort every month. How many we actually run depends on funding and how many seats are filled.

What will I actually train on?

We start with precision marksmanship: fundamentals rebuilt from the ground up, advanced wind management, ballistics, equipment optimization, urban and rural tradecraft, and troubleshooting a problem that will not solve itself.

Recovery, nutrition, and sleep are taught as part of the course rather than left to chance. See the training for the full picture.

Do I need to bring my own rifle and kit?

Talk to us. Equipment is covered, and part of what we teach is getting real performance out of the kit you already have, which for most units is the only kit they are going to get. Tell us what you are working with when you apply.

Where is it?

1,500 acres of private high desert in New Mexico. We do not publish anything more specific than that, for reasons that will make sense to you. Anyone with a real reason to know exactly where they are going is told directly.

Are you adding other disciplines?

Yes. Close-quarters work and advanced pistol and carbine are next, which is what law enforcement asks us for most often. They arrive as the calendar and the funding support them.

Support

Can I donate now?

Not through this site yet. We are standing our giving up properly rather than quickly, and we would rather do it once and do it right. If you want to support the mission now, whether that is funding, a lot of ammunition, gear, or a corporate sponsorship, start a conversation and we will take it from there.

Where does the money actually go?

Into running courses. Ammunition first, because it is the constraint everything else waits behind, then travel, lodging, meals, and equipment for the people attending, then instruction.

For scale: the open market charges an individual around $2,500 for a course of this kind, plus roughly $1,500 in ammunition and thousands more in required equipment. Donations are what turn that number into zero for the officer attending.

Can I donate ammunition?

Yes, and it is genuinely useful. What helps most is a manufacturer or distributor who can commit a single large lot: one consistent lot does far more for a training calendar than scattered small shipments. Ammunition has handling rules and paperwork attached, so start with a conversation and we will work it out properly.

Can I donate gear or optics?

Yes. Glass, packs, and equipment that hold up under hard use. It stays with the program rather than with any one trainee, so it keeps working for every cohort after the first. Tell us what you have.

Do you take monthly giving, or have suggested amounts?

Not yet. No recurring giving, no suggested amounts, no corporate matching. All three are worth building and none of them are worth faking. If momentum makes them useful we will add them.

Can my company sponsor?

Yes, and it is our second priority after direct funding. You can underwrite a whole cohort, back one discipline across the year, or fund the ammunition line. Start with the one-pager, then talk to us.

About the organization

Who runs Polaris?

Founders are all military veterans with combat experience. The board is made up of former special operations personnel, senior members of the intelligence community, veteran law enforcement officers with deep training backgrounds, and senior industry representatives: former USMC Scout Snipers, US Army, FBI, and agency investigators.

Why are there no names on this site?

Several of the people involved still work in roles where a public profile would be a liability, and several of the units we serve would rather not be identified either. It is not modesty. It is the same operational discipline we teach.

Are you affiliated with a particular branch or agency?

No. We work with anyone serving in a role that needs this, and we are deliberately careful never to frame the readiness gap as any one branch or agency failing. Budgets are set far above the people living with them.

How is this different from paying for a commercial course?

Two things. It is free to the people who attend, which is the entire point. And special operations veterans teach alongside our instructors, so the people who learned these lessons at real cost hand them directly to the people about to need them. That reconnection is as much the mission as the marksmanship.

What happens after the course?

The mentorship does not stop at the gate. Part of why we teach professionalism, leadership, and network-building early is that an officer twenty years into a career should still be able to pick up the phone. More on why we work this way.