I'm trying to be better about posting AARs as soon as possible after taking a course. At my age, memories are quickly displaced by really important daily tasks like eating and bowel movements. 
I took the Introduction to Defensive Carbine class with Defensive Solutions, LLC, on Saturday. The weather forecast was for overcast skies, hot, humid air, and a 40% chance of afternoon thunderboomers. Perfect training weather. When I told our son about the weather, he just said, "You have no idea what 'hot and humid' really means." He's stationed at Parris Island, SC. Throw in some sand fleas and he's probably right.
I arrived at the range (a private, outdoor range that has a nice, flat, smooth, grassy surface (no rocks, sand, glass, etc.!) and reaches out to 80 yards. Naturally, I arrived at 8am per the class schedule, only to find that everybody else was arriving at 8:30. That meant that I had plenty of time to haul my gear via a serpentine path through the woods from the parking area and claim an end of a picnic table for my gear. And get devoured by mosquitoes. Many mosquitoes. At least a GAZILLION mosquitoes. Sun screen? Check. Bug repellant: Uhh ... umm ... nope.
When the other 4 students and Norm Hood (instructor for DS) showed up, we hauled their gear to the range. I was surprised that most didn't bring all of the junk that I did.
Admittedly, I brought along 2 ARs, gear belt for mags, drop-leg holster and pistol, cooler with my lunch, water jug, gear bag, ammo can ... and a couple of the guys just had pistols and holsters. And lunch. I felt a bit underwhelmed, but it was all good in the end.
For an intro course, the main objective was learning how to safely manipulate the weapon systems, and that was initiated by making sure all weapons were properly lubed and demonstrating how to field strip an AR -- at least to the level of removing the charging handle and BCG for cleaning and lubrication. Norm went over the basic innards and how the system works, both for the blow-back and gas piston systems.
After going over gear, Norm got us all situated on the 25-yard line to zero our rifles. An assortment of rifles were represented, from a suppressed SBR (Norm's, naturally) to a Ruger gas-piston rifle to a bone-stock AR-15 with iron sights.
We sighted in using a 25yd/100yd zeroing target from AR15.com. It allowed us to sight in from 25 and be on target at 100. Given the limited distance we had to work with, that BZO worked fine. For most of us, a couple inches of holdover in close was all we needed.
Even though I had previously zeroed the Aimpoint PRO on my Colt M-4 at 100 yards, I confirmed that the irons co-witnessed with the dot and made a couple of minor adjustments. Good to go. I was pretty sure that having the rifle zeroed was the least of my worries. Sadly, I was right.
Once we were all zeroed, the training began.
Norm ran us through proper stance for shooting kneeling, as well as various prone positions, moving farther back from the targets. Basics like sight picture and trigger control were emphasized. There was a lot of latitude allowed for our differing physical abilities to get into different positions. Some of us had bad knees or too much "tactical girth" to allow us to efficiently assume some positions. Face it -- we're civilians, not operators. And, surprisingly, we did no off-hand shooting.
We covered malfunctions, but seeing as how the pointy end of a 5.56 round tends to end up right on the primer of a round in the chamber (unlike setting up for a Type 3/double-feed malfunction with a handgun), we omitted that particular exercise in the interest of safety. As often happens in classes, however, one student had a double-feed malfunction on his own, allowing for demonstration of how to clear it.
By the afternoon, the forecast T-storms had dissipated and the sun began to break through and bake us. Combined with the humidity, I felt like I was in a crock pot. I managed to stretch my water supply until the end of the day, but it was close. I thought about sucking on my sweat-soaked hand towel, but avoided that particular technique of recycling.
After more drills -- failure-to-stop and ABC, as well as others designed to get us comfortable with reloading (with and without retention), moving while shooting, etc. -- it was time for the Grand Finale: The Timed Barricade Drill. [OK, so he never actually gave the drill a name, so I did it for him.]
The drill commenced with the student assuming a position of choice from the firing line and hitting a steel plate at 80 yards. Once hit, it's time to move to the next barricade, which was just a piece of plywood mounted vertically, with the target (paper bad guy) about 20 yards away. The goal at this barricade, and with the next two, was to score two good hits from the right side of the barricade, then two from the left.
Now, I would like to interject a point of interest: Because of the introductory nature of the course, a LOT of latitude was given toward the students' particular choices in shooting form. Although we were exposed to various prone positions, Norm did not object to whatever position was chosen by the students, nor was he apparently concerned whether body parts were exposed to incoming fire.
This is not always the case. Were this a more advanced class, I would like to assure the reader that Norm has ways to ensure that any exposed body parts are brought to the students' attention promptly. Just a word of warning for anyone interested.
After engaging the BGs from behind the plywood barricades, the shooters advanced to the next two barricades -- fancy-schmancy wooden forms that have holes of various sizes, shapes and heights -- designed to force students to adopt weird positions and weapon manipulations to make the shots.
Another note for interested parties: I had heard about these barricades before. Real purty, they're painted camo barriers, real objets d'art. We were warned beforehand that if any of us happened to shoot the barriers instead of shooting through the barriers, we would be required to sign and date the damage. The Sharpie was passed around a couple of times, much to Norm's chagrin.
After surviving the barricades, the shooter's last task was to safely transition to his secondary weapon system (we civilians would call that a pistol) and engage the last BG about 7 yards distant. Five good hits were required. I was really surprised how difficult it was to do that simple task after all of the running, diving, and rolling around I had to do. Let's just say that I used more than 5 rounds for 5 good hits and leave it at that.
At the end of the day, I'd say that we all learned a few things, and some more than others. One participant, who questioned why he would ever really need an EBR in the first place (he's quite content to protect himself, his family and his castle with a shotgun and a stash of Glocks), ended the class and donated his unspent rounds into my ammo can. I like that guy.
Norm handed out our certificates and confirmed what we all instinctively knew -- that we are NOT operators now, just because we took an intro course.
Accepting those words of wisdom, we rounded up our gear, still swatting mosquitos all the way. I'd swear that the bug repellant that one student brought and shared really contained mosquito pheromones. Seriously.
So, if you're anywhere in northern IN and want to take a good intro course in running an AR, I'd highly recommend Defensive Solutions, LLC. Norm's a good egg, and has a vast knowledge and experience base in how to efficiently and effectively run lots of various weapon systems. For a one-day course, it was surprisingly complete, and the round count was kept reasonable, protecting my valuable stash of ammo.
Sorry I didn't take more pics to post. Since we were all kept pretty busy watching, listening and shooting, there wasn't much time to take pics.
I took the Introduction to Defensive Carbine class with Defensive Solutions, LLC, on Saturday. The weather forecast was for overcast skies, hot, humid air, and a 40% chance of afternoon thunderboomers. Perfect training weather. When I told our son about the weather, he just said, "You have no idea what 'hot and humid' really means." He's stationed at Parris Island, SC. Throw in some sand fleas and he's probably right.
I arrived at the range (a private, outdoor range that has a nice, flat, smooth, grassy surface (no rocks, sand, glass, etc.!) and reaches out to 80 yards. Naturally, I arrived at 8am per the class schedule, only to find that everybody else was arriving at 8:30. That meant that I had plenty of time to haul my gear via a serpentine path through the woods from the parking area and claim an end of a picnic table for my gear. And get devoured by mosquitoes. Many mosquitoes. At least a GAZILLION mosquitoes. Sun screen? Check. Bug repellant: Uhh ... umm ... nope.
When the other 4 students and Norm Hood (instructor for DS) showed up, we hauled their gear to the range. I was surprised that most didn't bring all of the junk that I did.
Admittedly, I brought along 2 ARs, gear belt for mags, drop-leg holster and pistol, cooler with my lunch, water jug, gear bag, ammo can ... and a couple of the guys just had pistols and holsters. And lunch. I felt a bit underwhelmed, but it was all good in the end.
For an intro course, the main objective was learning how to safely manipulate the weapon systems, and that was initiated by making sure all weapons were properly lubed and demonstrating how to field strip an AR -- at least to the level of removing the charging handle and BCG for cleaning and lubrication. Norm went over the basic innards and how the system works, both for the blow-back and gas piston systems.
After going over gear, Norm got us all situated on the 25-yard line to zero our rifles. An assortment of rifles were represented, from a suppressed SBR (Norm's, naturally) to a Ruger gas-piston rifle to a bone-stock AR-15 with iron sights.
We sighted in using a 25yd/100yd zeroing target from AR15.com. It allowed us to sight in from 25 and be on target at 100. Given the limited distance we had to work with, that BZO worked fine. For most of us, a couple inches of holdover in close was all we needed.
Even though I had previously zeroed the Aimpoint PRO on my Colt M-4 at 100 yards, I confirmed that the irons co-witnessed with the dot and made a couple of minor adjustments. Good to go. I was pretty sure that having the rifle zeroed was the least of my worries. Sadly, I was right.
Once we were all zeroed, the training began.
Norm ran us through proper stance for shooting kneeling, as well as various prone positions, moving farther back from the targets. Basics like sight picture and trigger control were emphasized. There was a lot of latitude allowed for our differing physical abilities to get into different positions. Some of us had bad knees or too much "tactical girth" to allow us to efficiently assume some positions. Face it -- we're civilians, not operators. And, surprisingly, we did no off-hand shooting.
We covered malfunctions, but seeing as how the pointy end of a 5.56 round tends to end up right on the primer of a round in the chamber (unlike setting up for a Type 3/double-feed malfunction with a handgun), we omitted that particular exercise in the interest of safety. As often happens in classes, however, one student had a double-feed malfunction on his own, allowing for demonstration of how to clear it.
By the afternoon, the forecast T-storms had dissipated and the sun began to break through and bake us. Combined with the humidity, I felt like I was in a crock pot. I managed to stretch my water supply until the end of the day, but it was close. I thought about sucking on my sweat-soaked hand towel, but avoided that particular technique of recycling.
After more drills -- failure-to-stop and ABC, as well as others designed to get us comfortable with reloading (with and without retention), moving while shooting, etc. -- it was time for the Grand Finale: The Timed Barricade Drill. [OK, so he never actually gave the drill a name, so I did it for him.]
The drill commenced with the student assuming a position of choice from the firing line and hitting a steel plate at 80 yards. Once hit, it's time to move to the next barricade, which was just a piece of plywood mounted vertically, with the target (paper bad guy) about 20 yards away. The goal at this barricade, and with the next two, was to score two good hits from the right side of the barricade, then two from the left.
Now, I would like to interject a point of interest: Because of the introductory nature of the course, a LOT of latitude was given toward the students' particular choices in shooting form. Although we were exposed to various prone positions, Norm did not object to whatever position was chosen by the students, nor was he apparently concerned whether body parts were exposed to incoming fire.
This is not always the case. Were this a more advanced class, I would like to assure the reader that Norm has ways to ensure that any exposed body parts are brought to the students' attention promptly. Just a word of warning for anyone interested.
After engaging the BGs from behind the plywood barricades, the shooters advanced to the next two barricades -- fancy-schmancy wooden forms that have holes of various sizes, shapes and heights -- designed to force students to adopt weird positions and weapon manipulations to make the shots.
Another note for interested parties: I had heard about these barricades before. Real purty, they're painted camo barriers, real objets d'art. We were warned beforehand that if any of us happened to shoot the barriers instead of shooting through the barriers, we would be required to sign and date the damage. The Sharpie was passed around a couple of times, much to Norm's chagrin.
After surviving the barricades, the shooter's last task was to safely transition to his secondary weapon system (we civilians would call that a pistol) and engage the last BG about 7 yards distant. Five good hits were required. I was really surprised how difficult it was to do that simple task after all of the running, diving, and rolling around I had to do. Let's just say that I used more than 5 rounds for 5 good hits and leave it at that.
At the end of the day, I'd say that we all learned a few things, and some more than others. One participant, who questioned why he would ever really need an EBR in the first place (he's quite content to protect himself, his family and his castle with a shotgun and a stash of Glocks), ended the class and donated his unspent rounds into my ammo can. I like that guy.
Norm handed out our certificates and confirmed what we all instinctively knew -- that we are NOT operators now, just because we took an intro course.
Accepting those words of wisdom, we rounded up our gear, still swatting mosquitos all the way. I'd swear that the bug repellant that one student brought and shared really contained mosquito pheromones. Seriously.
So, if you're anywhere in northern IN and want to take a good intro course in running an AR, I'd highly recommend Defensive Solutions, LLC. Norm's a good egg, and has a vast knowledge and experience base in how to efficiently and effectively run lots of various weapon systems. For a one-day course, it was surprisingly complete, and the round count was kept reasonable, protecting my valuable stash of ammo.
Sorry I didn't take more pics to post. Since we were all kept pretty busy watching, listening and shooting, there wasn't much time to take pics.
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