Instructor: Aaron Cowan from Sage Dynamics
Class: Home Defense
Location: MTAC in Muncie
This was a 2 day class focused on Home Defense that incorporated force on force elements.
Day 1: The first couple of hours were class-room based with a thorough lecture on important home defense concepts. After that it was out to the shoot house for a low light lesson. Aaron proceeded to demo hand held and WML systems, explaining effective ways to use them in the home. Next was a lesson on room clearing and entry. Since this class was focused on home defense, it was 1 man room clearing. By the end of day 1 we were room clearing with weapon of our choice (Pistol or AR) in a home environment against 2d targets.
Day 2: We started scenario based training. Each student takes turns being a "good guy" in his house, while role-players(other students) would then enter into the mix and play out the scenario. I won't give any spoilers but I did get shot both as a good guy and a roleplayer
. Each student got to do 4 runs as a good guy, this was a smaller class (6 people). On larger classes he said each student usually gets 3 runs as the good guy. There were countless opportunities to play as the bad guys if desired. After you finished your scenario you could watch other student's scenarios unfold from the cat walk above. It was very interesting to watch other students go through as the same scenario never played out the same way twice. Some of the scenarios were done under regular lighting conditions, others in low light.
This class taught me quite a bit about shooting under stress, for instance I don't remember seeing the sights on my pistols on any of the shootings which I hear is common. Also light control under stress while moving and shooting isn't as easy at it sounds.
This class wasn't high stress due to the instructor, rather the stress comes from the unknown of having to face down crazy home invaders with unknown intentions. I wasn't sure how Aaron would be in person based off his youtube videos, but he was a very laid back guy. He was more than willing to answer any question students threw at him and enjoyed sharing his knowledge. He seemed to genuinely enjoy being in the class and interacting with us.
Also worth noting, the fun factor in this class was extremely high. There was a little down-time when waiting for your turn to come up, but afterwards being able to watch others (atleast at MTAC) was great. Given the opportunity I would take this class again. Shooters of any skill level will learn something about themselves when placed in stressful force on force situations.
Class: Home Defense
Location: MTAC in Muncie
This was a 2 day class focused on Home Defense that incorporated force on force elements.
Day 1: The first couple of hours were class-room based with a thorough lecture on important home defense concepts. After that it was out to the shoot house for a low light lesson. Aaron proceeded to demo hand held and WML systems, explaining effective ways to use them in the home. Next was a lesson on room clearing and entry. Since this class was focused on home defense, it was 1 man room clearing. By the end of day 1 we were room clearing with weapon of our choice (Pistol or AR) in a home environment against 2d targets.
Day 2: We started scenario based training. Each student takes turns being a "good guy" in his house, while role-players(other students) would then enter into the mix and play out the scenario. I won't give any spoilers but I did get shot both as a good guy and a roleplayer
. Each student got to do 4 runs as a good guy, this was a smaller class (6 people). On larger classes he said each student usually gets 3 runs as the good guy. There were countless opportunities to play as the bad guys if desired. After you finished your scenario you could watch other student's scenarios unfold from the cat walk above. It was very interesting to watch other students go through as the same scenario never played out the same way twice. Some of the scenarios were done under regular lighting conditions, others in low light.This class taught me quite a bit about shooting under stress, for instance I don't remember seeing the sights on my pistols on any of the shootings which I hear is common. Also light control under stress while moving and shooting isn't as easy at it sounds.
This class wasn't high stress due to the instructor, rather the stress comes from the unknown of having to face down crazy home invaders with unknown intentions. I wasn't sure how Aaron would be in person based off his youtube videos, but he was a very laid back guy. He was more than willing to answer any question students threw at him and enjoyed sharing his knowledge. He seemed to genuinely enjoy being in the class and interacting with us.
Also worth noting, the fun factor in this class was extremely high. There was a little down-time when waiting for your turn to come up, but afterwards being able to watch others (atleast at MTAC) was great. Given the opportunity I would take this class again. Shooters of any skill level will learn something about themselves when placed in stressful force on force situations.
