Podcast: Interview with Eric Perez, Director of Trango USA

Trango USA and Modular Training Infrastructure

Background and Experience

Eric Perez, Director of Trango USA, brings extensive experience from military service and the private training sector. He joined the Marine Corps in 1997 and served four years with FAST Company (2nd FAST, 4th Platoon), conducting two significant operational deployments. His first deployment to Japan focused heavily on training exercises, where he served as a Training NCO for his platoon. His second deployment took him to the Middle East (Bahrain, Qatar, and Yemen), again in a training NCO capacity. With nine months remaining in his enlistment after returning from the Middle East, Eric was assigned to his unit’s S3 shop (Operations and Training), where he coordinated training logistics – the foundation of his professional commitment to systematic training.

The USS Cole bombing in October 2000 served as a pivotal moment in Eric’s understanding of training’s real-world significance. As a 21-year-old corporal, he was part of the reaction force with a platoon averaging 19-20 years old, 70% of whom were on their first deployment. Despite extensive pre-deployment training in convoy operations, security protocols, and tactical procedures, neither the unit nor the ship anticipated the attack. However, the systematic training preparation proved invaluable: the team successfully managed vehicle movements, personnel safety, and the recovery of 17 deceased sailors while protecting both the ship and other assets with limited resources. This experience reinforced Eric’s conviction that rigorous, well-designed training directly translates to operational effectiveness and personnel safety.

Following his Marine Corps service, Eric joined FATS Firearms Training Systems (later known as Meggid and then Inveris), starting in an entry-level position assembling office weapons. He progressed to the Installation and Training division, traveling extensively, from Chile and Argentina to Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, to install training systems and observe how different organizations approached tactical training. This global exposure proved transformative, revealing that training methodologies vary significantly based on operational environment, equipment differences, applicable regulations, and organizational culture. Crucially, he learned that different approaches aren’t inherently wrong or right; they reflect adaptation to specific contexts. This experience established a foundational principle: effective training requires understanding and adapting to customer needs rather than imposing standardized approaches.

Modularity in Training: Addressing Real-World Challenges

Eric identifies several critical training challenges that Trango Systems addresses through modular design. First is access: many units face months-long waiting lists for quality shoot house facilities, which can conflict with deployment schedules or training windows. Second is versatility: training facilities must accommodate live fire, simulation, dog handling, and various tactical scenarios without extensive reconfiguration. Third is practicality: instructors often juggle training responsibilities with other duties, making rapid setup essential. Fourth is durability: training facilities undergo intensive use and require materials that can withstand thousands of rounds without deterioration, splinter hazards, or ricochet dangers.

Trango’s modular approach addresses these challenges through lightweight, reconfigurable components. Unlike competitors’ wooden panels (which are heavy, cannot be used outdoors, and require extensive setup) or rigid plastic systems, Trango’s system enables configuration changes “on the fly.” During ammunition loading or tactical briefings, instructors can modify room layouts without rebuilding entire structures. A two-room configuration with a center hallway can be instantly reconfigured into left or right bedroom layouts by repositioning just two panels—a process that typically requires minutes rather than hours.

Panel-O-Foam Technology 

For their modular system, Trango uses closed-cell foam construction with hard-shell plastic edges – Panel-O-Foam, manufactured exclusively for the Company. The closed-cell foam provides flexibility and lightweight durability that allows the material to be abused, thrown, stacked, and maintained even after thousands of rounds. The hard-shell plastic exterior provides rigidity and impact resistance. Critically, when struck by bullets, Panel-O-Foam punches clean through without ricocheting, splintering (unlike wood), or creating secondary hazards (unlike hard plastics that bow or fragment). The material is sufficiently forgiving that it “seals back up” after impact, allowing extended operational life.

This material consistency extends across Trango’s product lines: walls, barricades, targets, and furniture all utilize Panel-O-Foam construction, ensuring cohesive functionality and performance across the system. The material’s adaptability enables dual-use capability: facilities can function as live-fire shoot houses or simulation environments and remain usable on flat ranges. Four years of intensive use with thousands of rounds demonstrates the material’s durability. Notably, Panel-O-Foam floats, enabling maritime training applications.

The Instructor Experience and Operational Impact

Eric’s customer interactions reveal common pain points among trainers: instructors typically hold multiple roles beyond training, creating scheduling constraints. Rapid setup capability is therefore essential. Traditional systems require multiple personnel, ladders, hand tools, and specialized equipment, often consuming full days or extended hours. Trango systems can be configured in a very limited time, from minutes to a few hours, depending on the structure, by minimal staff. The efficiency gains are profound: instead of instructors remaining until 7-8 PM reconfiguring equipment for the next day’s training, they can finish at 4-5 PM and transition to family time or other responsibilities. Daily training syllabi can be adapted throughout the day, beginning with center-room instruction, then reconfiguring for left-bedroom scenarios, then right-bedroom scenarios, without operational interruption.

Eric emphasizes that realistic training environments enhance learning. Rather than asking trainees to imagine furniture placement in empty rooms, Trango’s integrated furniture catalog enables fully furnished, realistic settings that improve tactical immersion and decision-making under realistic conditions. Combined with barricades and realistic targets, this approach eliminates generic rope-room substitutes and enables trainees to practice against scenarios matching real-world environments.

Strategic Positioning

Trango Systems positions itself as fundamentally addressing training infrastructure limitations through modularity and adaptability. Eric’s conviction, acknowledging his bias as director, is that Trango represents the most effective solution in the market, particularly for organizations requiring flexibility, rapid configuration, durability, and instructor efficiency. The company’s product ecosystem, unified through Panel-O-Foam construction and modular design principles, enables customers to build comprehensive training infrastructure matching their specific operational contexts and constraints.