This is my After Action Report for the Handgun Technique Course by Precision Response Training http://www.precisionresponse.4t.com/ for this past March 28-29, 2014:Overall:This was an excellent handgun training course with Thomas Howard (aka "jthhapkido" on this forum) whose purpose was two-fold: "1) to give students instruction and practice at common handgun techniques used in practical applications of shooting, and 2) students will complete a handgun qualification test to rate their skill level and give them a measurable goal for the future." His two-fold purpose is carried out through 5 objectives...enroll in the course for those.
I don't always give an "excellent" rating to a course and/or course instructor. As a university professor, my standards for both are high (and maybe higher than they should be, but that's the way that it is for me). Having participated in various handgun training courses in other states as well as Nebraska and having had instructors with national reputations and others with regional or more local reputations, the excellence for both this course and this instructor lies in the fact that the course met and exceeded its outlined purpose and objectives AND, although there were seven participants in the course with the one instructor and an assistant, the entire time for me felt as though there was individualized instruction taking place...and it was that latter experience that made my personally expended time, effort, and costs (which were reasonable) definitely worth the while and then some.
He exhibits excellent qualities of a professional instructor/teacher who is very willing to share his experiences, knowledge, and skills with the participants. He is very enthusiastic and passionate about what he does as well as how his students perform. Hands down, Thomas is a phenomenal instructor!
March 28 - 6:00pm-9:00pmThe evening classroom portion involved both discussion and dry-fire. The instructor and the class spent 3 hours of reviewing the fundamentals of handgun technique, which laid the foundation for all else to follow for the next day's range portion of the course. About 2.5 hours of this classroom portion was active dry-fire training with literally hands-on and personalized attention/instruction.
This was a good class size of 7 registrants for Thomas to literally provide first hand instruction of each of us while all of us were on the line doing various repetition dry-fires simultaneously.
He very clearly demonstrated and covered the rationale for each aspect of technique fundamentals ranging from formulating your "platform" (grip, stance including head to feet posture), efficiently and effectively drawing your handgun, efficiently establishing front sight focus early on after the draw and through execution of the trigger press, effectively performing trigger prep to understand and know your handgun's mechanics, employing that trigger prep during the extension of your handgun as your front sight is established and maintaining that trigger prep subsequent to the execution of the trigger press, efficiently performing tactical and emergency reloads, and establishing a mindset of knowing what you are doing and what you are going to be doing next.
For me, and I imagine for most others if not all others in the classroom, there were some paradigm shifts of engrained techniques. As the instructor had noted, though, we all could stick with our respective techniques, but we would probably become capped in our progress and performance of whatever our respective personal objectives were relative to what we wanted to happen with our current handgun techniques (competition, self-defense, etc). The instructor impressed upon us efficiency, efficiency, efficiency with effectiveness interspersed throughout....AND, as aforementioned, establishing a mindset of knowing what you are doing and what you are going to be doing next.
While driving home as well as when sitting in a recliner in my living room afterwards with the lights off while everyone else was asleep, I literally was reviewing in my mind all of what had just transpired as I was doing my best to decelerate both my mind and body in anticipation of the next day's activities on the range.
March 29 - 8:30am-4:30pmThis day-long range portion of the course involved 8 hours of not just throwing 400 rounds of ammo down range. In essence, the range time was used for the live-fire applications of what we learned regarding the fundamentals from the prior evening plus additional live-fire skill training. There was an hour lunch break during which Thomas was most willing to continue to discuss the topics on hand...or anything else for that matter.
There were numerous live-fire drills involving paper and steel targets. Thomas, as per the prior evening, was very calculating and methodical in the day's curriculum.
We opened with a "diagnostics" shooting that included shooting different portions of a target from the Position # 4 (handgun extended with proper stance, grip, sight picture, and, of course, our respective handgun's trigger prep), from the draw single shots, from the draw two shots, and from the draw and transitioning from one target to the next. Other courses I've attended also included an opening "diagnostics" shooting, but, for the most part, the diagnostics/instruction was brief and more for assessing one's accuracy. In this class, however, the instructor took the time to explain the rationale behind each exercise and how we as individual shooters can do a self-analysis with this same exercise regarding the fundamentals that were introduced the prior evening.
Some of the subsequent range exercises...I can't tell all...you HAVE to take the course
included: 1) shooting a steel plate (red dot on white) over and over as the instructor would do an assessment and correction of our fundamentals AND how he would have each of us learn to do an appropriate self-assessment...based on the fundamentals; 2) shooting multiple steel targets with transition drills with the emphasis on
efficient transitions...it sounds and seems so simple, yet it is amazing how all of us (even the experienced "gamers"
), learned from this exercise; 3) various re-load drills, again with an emphasis on efficiency while maintaining the fundamentals...and since we were employing two lines of shooters, the non-shooters were paired to help assess the shooter, which was a great learning experience for both the shooter and the non-shooter; 4) incorporation of movement of your position from one target to the next and the next, etc...all while maintaining appropriate body posture to efficiently return to the appropriate stance and subsequent trigger press...and maintaining accuracy on the target; and 5) strong-hand shooting at steel individually while the group did an assessment of each shooter relative to what they saw and if there was anything that could be improved regarding the fundamentals.
The day at the range concluded with a Nebraska LEO Qualification for which those who successfully passed will receive a certificate for their self-defense portfolio....don't know what that is?...well, then, you should be taking this class as well as a legal aspects class on using lethal force.
ConclusionOne couldn't help but walk away from the course having gained some knowledge and experience of areas of their shooting in which he or she could improve based on the fundamentals presented during the classroom portion and applied as well as
emphasized during the range portion on an individualized basis. Also emphasized was having a heightened awareness of one's geophysical presence and focus of where you are located relative to the target/perpetrator, and where you are moving (if moving) relative to the target/perpetrator so that you are maintaining proper overall platform to efficiently engage the target/perpetrator at the appropriate location. There was not a dull moment during either portion of the course, and there were a plethora of learning moments. I am looking forward to applying the fundamentals to dry-fire and live-fire, and then subsequently applying them to my upcoming competition shootings in the coming months...and hopefully NEVER having to be in a self-defense incident, but if so, employing what I've learned so that I am the one coming home to see my loved ones and to sleep in my own bed.
If it isn't evident by now, I am highly recommending this course to everyone who has an open mind to learn and to improve. The instructor has a vast amount of knowledge, experience, and skills that he is willing to share, and the proof is in the pudding if anyone has ever had the opportunity to witness him shooting at various competition venues. This was not the first class that I have taken with him, and it will not be the last....I highly value life-long learning.
