Post Your Training Experiences: Read the Rules Before Posting

[SoonerBJJ]

I am an Okie currently transplanted in Texas. I have trained with multiple out-of-state schools but one of the best I've worked with happens to be coming to Oklahoma in January 2007.

I took Combative Pistol 2 with Tom Givens of Rangemaster in April 2006. It was possibly the most well-rounded course I've taken and was an awesome experience. Tom gives very good talks on mindset and personal tactics as they apply to a defensive context. His block on the Miami FBI and North Hollywood shootouts is a unique offering that is a complete eye-opener.

About 80% of the 20 hours is spent on the range and covers a vast amount of content from basic marksmanship to movement drills, weak/strong hand and injury drills, longer distance shooting, barricade work and much more. He throws in an occasional competitive angle that is fun while applying a little bit of pressure. There is also a low-light shooting session on the first night that introduces the various techniques commonly used and offers the opportunity to experiment to find what is most useful. Tom's take will bust some commonly-held misconceptions about low light shooting.

This isn't much of an AAR but I thought so much of this course that I'll be trying to make it to Hinton to repeat it when Tom comes to Oklahoma.

[tacmedic]

THIS IS A COPY OF MY POSTING ON TDSA's SITE:

This weekend my wife and I attended TDSA's urban rifle course for the first time and I am still buzzing from the adrenaline...wide eye, slack jawed, and absolutely dumbfounded at how much we learned and how much we improved in our skills with a rifle. The instructors at TDSA are AMAZING!!!

My wife had never fired an M4/AR before. Now she can make ALL her hits from any range or position of her choosing to gain the tactical advantage. Standing, kneeling, prone, modified prone, scuba prone, right or left handed doesn't matter she'll nail you. I am so incredibly proud of her.

They had me shooting better with my left (formerly untrained side) than I could with my right side before taking this course. In one weekend they taught me more about manipulating and employing my rifle than I learned in 10 years of military experience (9 of them in Special Operations) and two years as a reserve deputy and SWAT Paramedic. NO LIE!

Every student out there got personal one on one teaching from all five of the instructors who were able to immediately diagnose and correct any errors made by the students. Each student was also pushed to their personal limits and well beyond. Students were never compared or contrasted against one another and instructors were generous with praise for a job well done. The excitement for their student's growth and improvement was genuine and their attitude and professionalism was absolutely contagious. This caused the students to rapidly form a very positive cohesive bond. It was incredible to watch, if one student yelled RED he was immediately covered by another student and usually more than one without any prompting by instructors. Students coached, supported, and praised each other even offering constructive criticism without anyone ever feeling embarrassed or ashamed. I have seen groups who have trained together for years who were not so supportive of each other.


Safety was the number one priority and out of such a large group of shooters there was not a single safety violation. Because of the atmosphere the instructors created and out the students respect for the instructors and one another there was never a single solitary second of lax muzzle discipline.

As TDSA joins with USSA I am both excited for the future and a little sad to see TDSA as I have come to know it go away. But I will tell you this, I don't care what name they go by or the specifics of their geographical location my family and I will continue to train with Marshall, Eric, Billy, Patty, and Travis so long as they are willing to teach.

USSA, you’re getting one hell of a group of instructors who are gifted shooters, gifted teachers, talented and motivational leaders, as well as moral role models. Our indebtedness, respect, trust, and loyalty lies with each of them individually and not to any organization or affiliation.

With our utmost gratitude,

Jeff & W.

[GMThunder]

I guess I really need to check this forum more often,

I took Marshall's AP1 aswell and am already getting funds together to take it again. Marshall teaches a top-notch course and is completely professional the entire time aside from a good sense of humor. Like many have said previously there are no ego issues whatsoever and student's errors are highlighted and corrected if you take their instruction.

One of the best testimonials I heard was from a guy that drove overnight from Montana? (I think) to be in our class. Regardless, he had named off a ton of classes/names from which he had received training from all over the country. He said Marshall's class was more informative than 99% of the classes he had taken and he called off some big names. That to me was quite impressive.

[AgentJBOND]

I took Will Andrews's 4-hour Pistol Skills 2 class at H&H for $60. Will gave a sales pitch during my SDA instruction at H&H, and Pistol Skills 2 is the entry level course after SDA. This was my first weapons training, so I have nothing to compare it with, but it certainly seemed like a good value.

Classroom
The first hour and a half was classroom time. Will reviewed and restated fundamental rules of weapons safety and communicated his philosophy emphasizing situational awareness to avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Finally, he demonstrated the grip and stance he wanted us to learn and explained the reasoning behind it. Will was very relaxed (he loves to laugh) and the classroom presentation flowed well. It was immediately apparent that he spent time developing the structure of his lesson.

Range
Next, it was off to the range. Will and his two assistant instructors opened the H&H pistol range and placed targets on stands (no swaying on the regular range clips) with a paper plate in the center of each. We started at longer range (20yds?) and gradually moved the targets closer (3yds), with individual suggestions made between each 5 shots as necessary. He taught a couple of methods to increase shooting speed, and gave us ample opportunity to practice them. Will also demonstrated a basic weapon-retention technique, then he ended with practice suggestions and a short summary of what goes on in Pistol Skills 3.

Conclusion
The class ran 1/2 hour long, which Will said is normal. To me, this is basically 1/2 hour of additional training/practice for free, and I was glad to stay the extra time. I used 100 rounds of ammunition in total, but had there been fewer people to take turns shooting, I might have used closer to 200.
The class did seem large, but I was able to learn more by walking around to listen in on Will's advice to other shooters. I also felt that I got Will's full attention when he addressed my shooting or my questions.
All in all, I had a lot of fun and learned a new way to shoot. Thanks to Will's instruction, I am able to structure my range sessions to become a better shooter.
Pistol Skills 3 here I come!

[Chuck S]

I took the SDA instructor course at Shoot-N-Iron in March/April. The following is my opinion. I would not take any other classes there. If you were to cut out all the "war stories" and the different sales pitches for the other classes offered there, you could have probably cut the class length by half. Now having been a professional instructor in the Army, I understand the usefulness of war stories. You can definately overdo it though.
The training didnt seem to "flow" all that great either. Like they werent all that prepared for it. First time giving it obivously. Of course, most of that could be attributed to the courseware.
Actual scheduling of the class was pretty bad. A couple of hours of classroom Friday night. Saturday was cancelled due to weather. Of course a lot of us were in from out of town, staying in hotels. They didnt notify me until I got to the facility Sat morning of the cancellation. Had to return a month later to finish the course. Spent 4-5 hours on that Saturday standing in the rain (not sprinkle, cow pi$$ing on a flat rock rain) trying to get through the course of fire. That was a struggle for all. Then more classroom. Sunday was supposed to be more range, but range was deemed to be not necessary. We were all still waterlogged from the previous day so that was no big deal.
The instructors seem to be great guys that know their stuff.
Caveat- This is my sole "training session" as a civilian (excluding the SDA class). My only experience that I have to compare this to is numerous classes, both as student and instructor in over 23 years service in the Army. So I suppose that this could be considered "the norm".

[Soulman]

accidently posted, sorry

good info though

[tdavis]

Sorry for the delay! After a few technical difficulties the video has finally been posted....you can see it here:

CQT Class Highlight Video: http://www.tdsatulsa.com/

Video link is at the top of the home page, can't miss it!
CQT Class Image Gallery: Gallery Links

A few screen shots from the video:









Sorry for the delay!

[kgull85]

Cool, thanks for posting it.

From looking at the contact range firing, I would guess that you would advise not to use a ported handgun for concealed carry?

[Michael Brown]

Cool, thanks for posting it.

From looking at the contact range firing, I would guess that you would advise not to use a ported handgun for concealed carry?

I'm forced to carry one at work, but if I had my choice I'd use a standard barrel.

I've done the course with the ported gun but its a little unpleasant.

Michael Brown

[Glock 'em down]

I'm forced to carry one at work, but if I had my choice I'd use a standard barrel.

I've done the course with the ported gun but its a little unpleasant.

Michael Brown

Hey MB, I've never owned a Glock "C" model. Does the porting "really" help that much with follow up shots and double taps? I mean, is it worth burning your face and ruining your night vision?

[Michael Brown]

Hey MB, I've never owned a Glock "C" model. Does the porting "really" help that much with follow up shots and double taps? I mean, is it worth burning your face and ruining your night vision?

It helps but it hurts more IMO.

It's not a worthwhile tradeoff to me.

Michael Brown

[Glock 'em down]

Hey Mike, doesn't TPD issue you guys that damned Safariland 070 SSIII holster? The kind that you have to enter your Social Security # (hence the model being named the SS) and fingerprint clearance to draw your weapon? Or do they issue the model 295? And if I were you, I'd slip a regular barrell into that G22! I mean...who's gonna know?

[Michael Brown]

Hey Mike, doesn't TPD issue you guys that damned Safariland 070 SSIII holster? The kind that you have to enter your Social Security # (hence the model being named the SS) and fingerprint clearance to draw your weapon? Or do they issue the model 295? And if I were you, I'd slip a regular barrell into that G22! I mean...who's gonna know?

They do issue the 070. Personally I think its the best LE holster out there.

Someone would know if I had a different barrel in there if I shot someone.

Michael Brown

[tams72]

TDSA is definitely for me...have had a couple of Marshall's classes and it has helped my more than I can say...of course I have the benifit of shooting with all of the guys at local matches too and they are still helping me even there. I love each and every one of them...Mike Brown included...If you ever have a chance to take any of the classes offered by any of the Tulsa crew please do...it is well worth the travel from OKC, or anywhere,...I can go into a situation (am in law enforcement as well as competition shooting) and know that with the training I have received I have a better knowledge base to pull from instead of the VERY terrified person I was about 3 years ago. I did not even want a gun in my home and they have helped by giving me knowledge. All of which I pass on to my kids (10 & 12). Respect...trust...are just a couple of words I can say about these guys...hope to be right beside them someday...(maybe a little ahead ...)

[SMS]

Just finished up the 2-day Assault Response Training out there....all I can say is it sure is refreshing to engage in some training that acknowledges the harsh reality of personal protection.

If you are lookin for some politically correct, clean and sexy training then this isn't the school for you. It's down and dirty, stick the gun in the SOBs face and finish the fight he started kind of training.

Good even split between range time and knocking each other around on the mats working simple, effective and easy to retain hand-to-hand drills (with and without weapons).

The instructors gauged our ability in the beginning and the pace/scope of the training was adjusted based on that assessment. War stories were saved for the breaks and lunch time...and never got a sales pitch for another class.

If you don't want to get bruised up and maybe catch an occasional elbow to the jaw....stick to the narrow lane courses.