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.
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