Well that weekend went too darn fast! I had a great time at the training.
Started off with basic principles and safety. Moved on to controlled pairs, failure to stop (head shot) drills, which he would then throw in every now and then for the rest of the class.
We talked weapons and legal. He stressed the importance of avoidance over and over. We did kneeling drills, multiple assailants, flashlight techniques, etc. We worked on presentation from the holster and different methods of concealment.
A really good suggestion that I had never thought about was with a vest; when wearing a vest for concealment put something heavy, ie cell phone, wallet, in the front pocket on your strong side. Then when drawing, hit the pocket on your way to grab your weapon. A good hit sends the vest back and up due to the weight in the pocket and gets it completely out of the way for drawing.
Another drill we did was with a cell phone (blocks of wood in this case) in hand. He didn't brief us for this like he normally did because he wanted to see what we would do. It was surprising how many people held onto the cell phone while drawing and fireing. His suggestion was to throw the phone at the person before drawing. The normal reaction of a person is to duck or catch/block something thrown at them. This may buy you some time. A good drill and something I never thought about before.
We did malfunction clearing (I hope that if I am ever unfortunate enought to have to use these skills I never have a double feed), as well as hostage situations and odd shaped targets (people hiding behind cover, etc.)
I know that I have missed things we covered and messed up the order we covered them in but it was a great class. I highly recommend anyone to take this class. The facilities are a little sparse, but they are working on that.
The instructor worked with Chuck Taylor for several years as an instructor and has expert ratings with all the schools you could name. He is also an instructor and pilot with the Dept. of Homeland Security so I never felt like I was be trained by a local mall ninja or someone who is clueless about tactics and real world scenarios.
The price was right, $298 for 22 hours(officially) of training with discounts to come if/when you take the course more than once. I have already committed to the advanced course and am looking forward to that in May. Until then I have a lot to keep in mind for practice as well as some good drills I can do at any range.
