Combat Carbine, Saturday October 24, Carrollton GA

[roadsterjosh]

cmshoot This class was so much fun. I look forward to taking more with you and Jeff, and hopefully the rest of your cadre. You present information and challenges in such as way that is very engaging and entertaining. I know for me I was able to gain more than a few tools to add to my toolbox.
I also loved running the serpentine drill the way you presented it. It was eye opening to have gun fire presented that way. Too bad the others in the class weren't up for it. Better for us that were in for the challenge.

 

[Smoothie]

Yeah, still haven't mentioned that particular drill to the wife...

 

[roadsterjosh]

My wife was curious about it, she knows with my hopefully upcoming career change I will be exposed to some dangerous things. Anything that can harden and hone my senses, and ready me for the added pressure is a good thing.

 

[roundhouse]

My wife was curious about it, she knows with my hopefully upcoming career change I will be exposed to some dangerous things. Anything that can harden and hone my senses, and ready me for the added pressure is a good thing.

It's not as easy as you think

Thursday night was senior prank night at my sons (a senior this year)school
So I expected for our house to get rolled

Was dozing but heard the car pull up
5 or 6 squealing teenage girls bail out and start tossing the charmin

I was expecting them and was sitting in the third floor deck with the water hose

It was really hard to hit em
Having five or six screaming people running all over the yard was very challenging to hit one

 

[roadsterjosh]

That kind of soft target is a good thing. Lol

 

[MRH]

cmshoot This class was so much fun. I look forward to taking more with you and Jeff, and hopefully the rest of your cadre. You present information and challenges in such as way that is very engaging and entertaining. I know for me I was able to gain more than a few tools to add to my toolbox.
I also loved running the serpentine drill the way you presented it. It was eye opening to have gun fire presented that way. Too bad the others in the class weren't up for it. Better for us that were in for the challenge.

Yeah, still haven't mentioned that particular drill to the wife...

Haha...It isn't the most comfortable feeling in the world, but neither is a gun fight...After Shep reminded me he has been shot at numerous times I could not back out. I was glad we did that drill.

 

[spavent]

cmshoot
I also loved running the serpentine drill the way you presented it. It was eye opening to have gun fire presented that way. Too bad the others in the class weren't up for it. Better for us that were in for the challenge.

Personally think that's a pretty lame statement dude. I did notice that several of the guys opting in were first time trainees while several that opted out were more experienced shooters. I agree it's fun and a bit of a rush. I have been shot (not shot at) and blown up, and risk is a numbers game and risk only needs to be taken when there's something to be gained from it. (i.e. team cohesion). What do you think about a drill that half of a class opts out of because of safety concerns and the instructor doesn't modify the drill to include other paying students? Myself not included in the paying, for the record. Either way it's pretty LAME for you to say that "others weren't up to something" to make yourself feel cooler. I guarantee once you get more professionalism under your belt you may not think like that.

 

[roadsterjosh]

I think you are being hyper sensitve, and reading into a statement a little too much here. It was not an implication of some of the others weakness. The fact that the more "professional" members of this class were unwilling to trust in the judgement of the instructors is unfounded. There were people in the class that I would have been uncomfortable shooting so close to my person, but there are certain risks is everything life throws our way that we must overcome.
You can feel that my statement was lame, and take it however you choose. I am perfectly comfortable with the fact that I chose to do something that was unsettling, and can honestly say that there was never a moment that I was unsafe either by my own actions, or the actions taken by the other willing participants in the drill. I don't feel "cool" because I chose to trust that the instructors felt the class was capable of running the drill this way, nor do I care if anyone behind the anonymity of the internut feels I am cool. I wanted to get as much as was offered in the class, and felt that I had when all was said and done.

 

[cmshoot]

Let's calm down guys.

The Serpentine Drill is a valid drill that I did not invent. I've shot it in several classes around the US (Gunsite, Blackwater, Thunder Ranch) and in classes taught by instructors such as Ken Hackathorn. The difference between the other courses where I shot it and mine is that I make mine optional. Everywhere else I've been there was not an option, it was automatically assumed you would shoot it.

Not everyone is going to like every drill in every class that I teach. Yes, most of the students pay to be there and as such ALL the drills are optional. I will not make alternate drills to fit folks that do not care to shoot a regularly scheduled drill. If you don't like the drill, sit it out. That's your option.

Some of the students that opted out of the serpentine drill in this class have shot it before in previous courses........a couple of them have shot it with me more than once. They have their reasons for opting out this go-round.

There is a list of reasons why I run the serpentine drill......I went over it in the course and explained why I do it. I will continue to run the drill and it will remain optional.

 

[cmshoot]

One of my primary reasons for the running the serpentine drill as I do is to help reinforce the fact that the real world does not have a 180 degree firing. The 180 degree firing line is a training scar that gets reinforced every single time you go to the range.

There have been numerous documented instances where subjects did not fire in a real-world situation because, and this is their actual quote, "there were folks DOWN RANGE". Don't let that stop you when the chips are down. Have confidence in your abilities and do what needs to be done.

Someone smarter me than me said, "You can't make your ass go where your head ain't already been."