0-5ft Gunfighting Louisville KY August 28-29 (Knob Creek)

**B+Shooter** · 07-30-2012, 05:45 PM

Okay, I will get this ball rolling since I'm sure there are other students just waiting to jump in once the thread gets started.

This past weekend the first 0-5ft Gunfighting class in Kentucky was hosted at Knob Creek Range south of Louisville taught by Randy Harris. The weather was very cooperative (aside from the sunburns) and the facilities seemed to facilitate the course material very well.

The students covered a large range, ability, and skill level. This represents not only shooting ability, but also martial skill, as well as life experiences. We were graced by not only quality SI alumni, but also two other quality instructors who came down to enhance the curriculum with their knowledge. Michael Swisher and John McCreery came down to turn Kentucky into a true regional hub for Suarez International training!

Many of the students had varied backgrounds in different fighting styles, which gave opportunities to see some different solutions to winning the fight. During the weekend, one thing became apparent- MA training alone doesn't fully prepare you to win; neither does firearm training alone. This class taught us an important lesson: the pistol can't be every answer to every situation, you better be prepared to do what it takes to gain the advantage.

Randy's usage of the acronym PESTS EAT FAST was visited and revisited all throughout the course. The more and more scenarios we conducted, the more it all came together.

The course took the best elements of CRG/ACRG, and FoF and implemented them to make more sense. This class filled in some of the "dirty details" of how you would win a fight from a position of disadvantage. Multiple FoF drills and some discussions/demonstrations built our confidence for fighting "in the hole".
The second day filled in many of the scenarios with some additional skills that made sense, giving us the tools to more effectively deal with attacks. We then proceeded to the range to conduct some live fire exercises that dovetailed perfectly with rest of the 0-5ft Gunfighting curriculum. We worked through a lot of pistol access and shooting that was frankly pretty awesome!
We got to shoot in ways that I could never imagine prior to training with SI instructors.
As I would expect from an advanced SI course, all the students came with good CRG skills, as the targets reflected. I was happy to see that my shots groups didn't expand (too much) even when the drills became increasingly difficult. I have reached a new level of comfort and proficiency with my pistol that I don't think I could otherwise reach.

I look back at this weekend and try to relate this 0-5ft Gunfighting class to prior training from the military/civilian shooting schools. It seems that in advanced classes from other schools, this two day course would have been summed up with one set of "block and rock" drills. Any other organization that doesn't teach this level of material should be embarrassed. There is no substitute for this training.

**chipw** · 07-30-2012, 07:20 PM

Hands down the BEST class ive ever taken. I cant wait to do it again. Seriously, Im taking 0-5 again the next time its comes near me. Its that good.

**SeanH844** · 07-31-2012, 07:13 AM

First, thanks to Randy for a great class, B+Shooter for hosting, and my training partner, Lee and other’s for all the help and encouragement.

This was a class where I was at great risk for being….”That Guy.” I’m 61 years old, slender build and never will be the most athletic guy in the room. When the first guy I meet is 6’2”, twenty years younger, solid muscle, with an MA background, you start asking yourself, “Why am I here and how badly am I going to be beaten up?”

The why actually, is very simple. I am more likely to be selected by a bad guy than the guy who is stronger and heavier. As Randy said, Mugger’s don’t have 401K’s and health insurance. They are not looking for a fight. They are looking for a quick score. In my mind that makes a class like 0-5 more important for me than the guy with a strong MA background. I don’t want the first time I get mugged to be on the street. Yes, this is a classroom situation… Yes, nobody really gets hurt…. But it is the closest thing I have yet to experience and doing it here beats doing it for the first time in the streets. I died a bunch of times. But I also had my successes and learned more about what works for me.

This is a class EVERYONE needs to take. There were times even the guys with MA experience had problems. Multiply that fora guy without their experience. This class has something for everyone.I think it is one of the more important classes in the SI curriculum. Yes, you get bruised… rolled on…. And tossed onto the ground. Stock up on ibuprofen. And, to quote Randy, "Don't quit fighting. Once you quit, you're dead."

And now the bad news, Randy. I feel this is a class you don’t take just once. This one needs to be taken again. So…. If you are willing to put up with me, I hope to see you again.

Sean

**Randy Harris** · 07-31-2012, 08:02 AM

Awesome! Looking forward to it Sean...of course the next one will be a little closer to home for you.....

I'm gonna try to put up some pics tonight and hopefully John will get some pics up too.

**John McCreery** · 07-31-2012, 09:08 PM

I love this class. It is my second time through it and continues to show me where I need to improve. If you do not enjoy a bruised ego, stay home! This class allows you to sharpen what you are good at and begins the process of developing skills around the holes you have in your tool box.

I can not say enough about this group. There was some serious skill amongst this group. Everyone shared, analyzed and pushed to make the group better. The "old" guys showed that you are never too old and a few aches and pains are worth the skills and knowledge. Sean, I'd take you over many 20 somethings I know when push comes to shove.

Day one

Started with some simple stress inoculation. Just some simple shoving. This lead to working on body mechanics and alignment to make our structure stronger. On the flip side, learning this lets you deconstruct your opponent.

Randy reviewed his excellent PEST EAT FAST material. We then worked on the PEST part of this. Everyone learned a "fence" and how to move away/around people when they try to interview you during target selection.

We transitioned to airsoft drills and how to move with a take off. Pretty amazing, even when you know someone is going to move, if they do it right, still almost impossible to hit them on the first shot.
Mike Swisher and I even played with having the muzzle pressed against our mask.

After lunch we worked on dealing with being grabbed, knocked to the ground, people inside your guard, mounted and tackled. Next came scenario training. How to deal with multiple attackers with knives. How to deal with a knife attacker and you are on the ground.

Day Two

A nice extensive review of day one. This helped ingrain some of the info. As Randy pointed out, it is waaay better to have these scenarios play out before you have to deal with them for real. Along these lines, this class gives solid, basic skills that will keep you from over thinking and freezing from trying to analyze 132 techniques.

The ground work was crazy simple and effective. When Mike and I first did it, people didn't believe we were moving each other off so easily from a mount position.

Knife and gun disarms came next. Randy kept these simple. You realize there is not a great way to do knife disarms. Latch on and impart serious violence.

Live fire drills were after lunch.

We worked Turkish get ups and integrated a gun into recovering from the ground.

All the angles were worked along with transition from one hand to the other to allow the body to move smoothly. Randy had a great method to work some of our grappling into the live fire portion. There was work on your strong hand being disabled or trapped and how to draw and fight with the opposite hand. I really like working on how to keep the gun in battery when pressed in tight against the bad guy. Randy taught us how to use our hand and forearm to keep the gun in battery. Randy and I demonstrated how a grabbed and firmly held semi-auto will only fire one shot. Nope, it didn't rip my hand off! The "murphy" drill, where we fire through a t-shirt, simulating a botched draw, was an eye opener also. We wrapped up the live fire with some ground shooting. Between the knees, turkish get ups and from on our back and over the head.

Thanks to Randy Harris for another great class and to Jeff for getting us into a great facility.