Since Que resurrected my first AAR of the training that I took at the Kodiak Firing Range in South Bend with Norm Hood of Defensive Solutions, LLC, it dawned on me that I never followed up with an AAR of the Level Two training. Oops.
I know that an AAR is much more interesting when pictures are included, but we really moved so fast that stopping to take pictures just wasn't practical. I did take some short videos, but I have yet to be successful in embedding them into posts, sorry.
Because some time has elapsed since I took the training, I'm sure some details will be left out. However, I'll try to include the meat and potatoes of the training.
In the interim between Level One and Level Two courses, I have been working as a line coach for Norm at Defensive Solutions, LLC. Basically, just keeping an eye on new students who are there for Intro, Ladies Only and Level One classes, ensuring all safety rules are followed and assisting with the basics like stance, grip, sight alignment, etc.
Working with basic students from all walks of life has been both eye-opening and invigorating. Eye-opening from the standpoint of the weapon systems and gear that students show up with, and invigorating because it's fun to take someone who either knows nothing or knows "everything" and helping them improve their confidence and competence.
There were only five of us in the Level Two class, all line coaches. Therefore, Norm was already intimately familiar with us and with our capabilities and limitations. That made it a fun class, naturally, because we all knew each other and get along fine.
Despite us all being line coaches, we still started out the course with several hours of classroom instruction, dealing more with tactics and movement than range safety.
When we hit the range, we started out with drills that were familiar to us all, since many of them are what we watch when the noobs take the Intro and Level One classes -- precision shooting drills to dial in technique and focus.
Once we were warmed up, out came the timer. Most drills from that point on were timed, which added a measure of stress to each exercise. I think I heard that BEEP in my sleep for the next several days.
We spent the remainder of the 20-hour course practicing shooting from various positions, shooting while moving and engaging multiple targets. A lot of emphasis was placed on assessment of our shooting effectiveness -- were the hits effective (as much as one can assess from shooting cardboard targets) -- and scanning our surroundings.
In Level One training, we were all trained to scan our surroundings after ascertaining that the threat was stopped. We scanned ahead and to the sides, and learned to safely scan what was behind us. Now, however, we were training to scan with purpose -- up close, down low, up high (if necessary), as well as behind, looking for things that are threats as well as things that just aren't right.
We did a lot of low-light shooting and shooting using handheld flashlights and weapon-mounted lights, learning proper techniques for each. We spent a lot of time trying the various historical techniques, seeing what worked the best for each of us. I discovered that it all went out the window and I reverted to some caveman technique with my flashlight in my left hand and my pistol in my right. While it wasn't one of the time-tested techniques employed with success by the FBI or any SWAT units anywhere, it worked for me. Even with Norm and a coach aiming their strobe lights in my eyes and yelling at me while I was trying to shoot.
We took turns setting up the range for each other. While the student shooting had his back to the range, we would move the targets around in different, challenging configurations, each more devious than the previous ones. We had good guys (hostages) and bad guys, and some were capable of movement.
We ran these scenarios both in the light and in the dark. Overall, I'd say that we all were pretty successful in neutralizing more bad guys than good.
By the last couple of hours, we were all getting tired. The last task to complete was a compilation of all that we'd been taught. We were all sequestered away from the range and brought back in twos. We had to work together as a team, supplying covering fire in a coordinated fashion, and advance through 5 different barricades, engaging multiple threats at each one.
The barricades were all different in design and intent -- one was a small window, one was a wall, one was open on the sides, one was stacked barrels -- and if any of our extremities happened to be exposed beyond the limits of the barricades ... well, I'll just say that there was a penalty to pay and leave it at that.
Since I went last, I have no idea what the other students endured. My experience, however, was ... umm ... challenging. I could hear the stifled chuckles from the others who had gone before me. They knew what awaited us.
We were led into the range in total darkness. That alone was disconcerting. Once in position behind the first barricade, the lights suddenly came on and Norm yelled, "THREAT!"
We dropped down behind the first barricade, each engaging the targets in front of us. The only instructions we were given were to coordinate our cover fire and advancement between barricades, and to successfully neutralize the targets in front of each barricade. Easy peasy.
Oh, and Norm had taken all of our extra magazines from us and had placed them elsewhere. Marvelous. (Turns out, he placed them behind the second barricade, and it was up to us to retrieve them and sort them under fire, but I didn't bother to watch where he placed them. First mistake.)
Having successfully moved to the second barricade, we were sorting out our mags and stuffing them into our mag holsters when I became aware of a very annoying sound -- a baby crying. Sheesh ... what now?
I looked over and saw Norm standing next to a CD player that was blaring the annoying noise. He just stood there, smiling.
Clueless as to what a baby crying has to do with shooting from behind barricades, I yelled to my partner, "Moving!" He squeezed off a couple of rounds at the bad guys and replied, "MOVE!"
As I covered his advance, I was too engrossed in engaging the targets from behind the barricade to notice that, on top of the barricade was -- a baby. In a shallow box. On a rug.
"GET THE BABY!" yelled my partner. Realizing that this doll is supposed to represent a real baby, and grabbing it by the arm and simply yanking it down from the barricade would be unacceptable, so I carefully lifted the entire package -- box, rug and baby -- down from the barricade to safety.
For some reason, I never even saw the sticks of dynamite and timer that were under the baby and the rug.
"BOMB!" said my partner as he grabbed the dynamite and threw it downrange. I picked up the baby in a survivable fashion (although not likely recommended by Parents magazine, I'm sure) and countered with "Moving!"
The incessant baby howling continued as we moved to the last barricade, one composed of several large, plastic barrels and a simulated stairway. As I fired through a hollow barrel on its side, I was surprised at the concussive pressure that even a 9mm makes. Lying on my side, engaging two targets at different distances through the barrel, still clutching the baby in my arm, I realized that the baby's crying had stopped.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" came the command. "Exercise is complete. Safely recover the weapons to your holsters."
The Peanut Gallery continued to chortle at my performance. According to them, when I discovered the baby, I not only retrieved it but also touched the bomb in the process. I had no clue.
Norm wrapped up the class in a skull session where we discussed what we learned and how well we employed our new skills in the various scenarios, including the barricade/screaming baby drill. I think we were all impressed with the tunnel vision that we experienced as the adrenaline started flowing, and how our decision making ability quickly became overloaded under the induced stress. To varying degrees, we all suffered from it.
Given that the most likely circumstances where we citizens would ever need the skills that we learned would be in the home, I personally would have benefitted more from learning some room-clearing techniques instead of shooting from behind barricades (especially while caring for a screaming baby!). However, there's only so much time in a class. I'm sure that a group of us who have already survived Level Two could easily arrange a special class with Norm to go through the Shoot House using clearing techniques.
My assessment of Norm and Defensive Solutions, LLC, was spot on. He's a good guy, a great instructor and has become a good friend. As I have watched various videos, whether here on INGO, on YouTube or on DVD, it is reassuring that the techniques that I see from those disparate sources -- Magpul Dynamic Series, Sig Academy, James Yeager, etc. -- all mimic the techniques that I've learned from Norm. While there are subtle differences, to be sure, the essentials are all the same and work to reinforce each other.
If you're looking for basic or advanced defensive handgun training in northern Indiana, I continue to feel that you can't go wrong with Defensive Solutions, LLC.
And no, that's not a paid endorsement. I work for free.
I know that an AAR is much more interesting when pictures are included, but we really moved so fast that stopping to take pictures just wasn't practical. I did take some short videos, but I have yet to be successful in embedding them into posts, sorry.
Because some time has elapsed since I took the training, I'm sure some details will be left out. However, I'll try to include the meat and potatoes of the training.
In the interim between Level One and Level Two courses, I have been working as a line coach for Norm at Defensive Solutions, LLC. Basically, just keeping an eye on new students who are there for Intro, Ladies Only and Level One classes, ensuring all safety rules are followed and assisting with the basics like stance, grip, sight alignment, etc.
Working with basic students from all walks of life has been both eye-opening and invigorating. Eye-opening from the standpoint of the weapon systems and gear that students show up with, and invigorating because it's fun to take someone who either knows nothing or knows "everything" and helping them improve their confidence and competence.
There were only five of us in the Level Two class, all line coaches. Therefore, Norm was already intimately familiar with us and with our capabilities and limitations. That made it a fun class, naturally, because we all knew each other and get along fine.
Despite us all being line coaches, we still started out the course with several hours of classroom instruction, dealing more with tactics and movement than range safety.
When we hit the range, we started out with drills that were familiar to us all, since many of them are what we watch when the noobs take the Intro and Level One classes -- precision shooting drills to dial in technique and focus.
Once we were warmed up, out came the timer. Most drills from that point on were timed, which added a measure of stress to each exercise. I think I heard that BEEP in my sleep for the next several days.
We spent the remainder of the 20-hour course practicing shooting from various positions, shooting while moving and engaging multiple targets. A lot of emphasis was placed on assessment of our shooting effectiveness -- were the hits effective (as much as one can assess from shooting cardboard targets) -- and scanning our surroundings.
In Level One training, we were all trained to scan our surroundings after ascertaining that the threat was stopped. We scanned ahead and to the sides, and learned to safely scan what was behind us. Now, however, we were training to scan with purpose -- up close, down low, up high (if necessary), as well as behind, looking for things that are threats as well as things that just aren't right.
We did a lot of low-light shooting and shooting using handheld flashlights and weapon-mounted lights, learning proper techniques for each. We spent a lot of time trying the various historical techniques, seeing what worked the best for each of us. I discovered that it all went out the window and I reverted to some caveman technique with my flashlight in my left hand and my pistol in my right. While it wasn't one of the time-tested techniques employed with success by the FBI or any SWAT units anywhere, it worked for me. Even with Norm and a coach aiming their strobe lights in my eyes and yelling at me while I was trying to shoot.
We took turns setting up the range for each other. While the student shooting had his back to the range, we would move the targets around in different, challenging configurations, each more devious than the previous ones. We had good guys (hostages) and bad guys, and some were capable of movement.
We ran these scenarios both in the light and in the dark. Overall, I'd say that we all were pretty successful in neutralizing more bad guys than good.
By the last couple of hours, we were all getting tired. The last task to complete was a compilation of all that we'd been taught. We were all sequestered away from the range and brought back in twos. We had to work together as a team, supplying covering fire in a coordinated fashion, and advance through 5 different barricades, engaging multiple threats at each one.
The barricades were all different in design and intent -- one was a small window, one was a wall, one was open on the sides, one was stacked barrels -- and if any of our extremities happened to be exposed beyond the limits of the barricades ... well, I'll just say that there was a penalty to pay and leave it at that.
Since I went last, I have no idea what the other students endured. My experience, however, was ... umm ... challenging. I could hear the stifled chuckles from the others who had gone before me. They knew what awaited us.
We were led into the range in total darkness. That alone was disconcerting. Once in position behind the first barricade, the lights suddenly came on and Norm yelled, "THREAT!"
We dropped down behind the first barricade, each engaging the targets in front of us. The only instructions we were given were to coordinate our cover fire and advancement between barricades, and to successfully neutralize the targets in front of each barricade. Easy peasy.
Oh, and Norm had taken all of our extra magazines from us and had placed them elsewhere. Marvelous. (Turns out, he placed them behind the second barricade, and it was up to us to retrieve them and sort them under fire, but I didn't bother to watch where he placed them. First mistake.)
Having successfully moved to the second barricade, we were sorting out our mags and stuffing them into our mag holsters when I became aware of a very annoying sound -- a baby crying. Sheesh ... what now?
I looked over and saw Norm standing next to a CD player that was blaring the annoying noise. He just stood there, smiling.
Clueless as to what a baby crying has to do with shooting from behind barricades, I yelled to my partner, "Moving!" He squeezed off a couple of rounds at the bad guys and replied, "MOVE!"
As I covered his advance, I was too engrossed in engaging the targets from behind the barricade to notice that, on top of the barricade was -- a baby. In a shallow box. On a rug.
"GET THE BABY!" yelled my partner. Realizing that this doll is supposed to represent a real baby, and grabbing it by the arm and simply yanking it down from the barricade would be unacceptable, so I carefully lifted the entire package -- box, rug and baby -- down from the barricade to safety.
For some reason, I never even saw the sticks of dynamite and timer that were under the baby and the rug.
"BOMB!" said my partner as he grabbed the dynamite and threw it downrange. I picked up the baby in a survivable fashion (although not likely recommended by Parents magazine, I'm sure) and countered with "Moving!"
The incessant baby howling continued as we moved to the last barricade, one composed of several large, plastic barrels and a simulated stairway. As I fired through a hollow barrel on its side, I was surprised at the concussive pressure that even a 9mm makes. Lying on my side, engaging two targets at different distances through the barrel, still clutching the baby in my arm, I realized that the baby's crying had stopped.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" came the command. "Exercise is complete. Safely recover the weapons to your holsters."
The Peanut Gallery continued to chortle at my performance. According to them, when I discovered the baby, I not only retrieved it but also touched the bomb in the process. I had no clue.
Norm wrapped up the class in a skull session where we discussed what we learned and how well we employed our new skills in the various scenarios, including the barricade/screaming baby drill. I think we were all impressed with the tunnel vision that we experienced as the adrenaline started flowing, and how our decision making ability quickly became overloaded under the induced stress. To varying degrees, we all suffered from it.
Given that the most likely circumstances where we citizens would ever need the skills that we learned would be in the home, I personally would have benefitted more from learning some room-clearing techniques instead of shooting from behind barricades (especially while caring for a screaming baby!). However, there's only so much time in a class. I'm sure that a group of us who have already survived Level Two could easily arrange a special class with Norm to go through the Shoot House using clearing techniques.
My assessment of Norm and Defensive Solutions, LLC, was spot on. He's a good guy, a great instructor and has become a good friend. As I have watched various videos, whether here on INGO, on YouTube or on DVD, it is reassuring that the techniques that I see from those disparate sources -- Magpul Dynamic Series, Sig Academy, James Yeager, etc. -- all mimic the techniques that I've learned from Norm. While there are subtle differences, to be sure, the essentials are all the same and work to reinforce each other.
If you're looking for basic or advanced defensive handgun training in northern Indiana, I continue to feel that you can't go wrong with Defensive Solutions, LLC.
And no, that's not a paid endorsement. I work for free.
