Honest Opinions Wanted on Instructors

[hickorystick]

Im from southern Indiana and I would greatly appreciate your experienced thoughts on who are the top, multi talented, reality based firearms instructors in Indiana or the surrounding states. Looking for the right person, or persons to possibly mentor under.No sales gimmicks Please, just the truth. Thankyou

 

[esrice]

What specifically are you wanting to learn?

 

[N8RV]

I think that you'd probably get some helpful replies if you were to expand a bit on what you mean by "mentor under." What is your goal -- personal training or becoming an instructor? Flesh it out a little with your hopes and dreams and maybe others can chime in with helpful responses.

Welcome to INGO!

 

[dnurk]

My guess would be how to get most quickly to 50 posts since there are other posts on the first page of this subsection asking for advice/input on trainers.

 

[hickorystick]

I don't mean to waste you gentlemens time here, so I'll get right to the point. Im interested in: self defense with handgun, rifle, shotgun, safety, situational awareness, adaptive thinking, self sufficiency, simple motor movement force of aggression, and reality based home defense for families. I could go on but these are some of what im going to start with. In regard to the mentor question, any time that you can study under an experienced mentor your ability for success, growth, and learning is much higher.That is why I am looking for a mentor. Some men are not interested in this, and that is fine, everyone is different. Mentorship used to be the norm in our culture and we have largely gotten away from it,what a shame.It is beneficial for everyone to be mentored and be a mentor in life and when I find the right individual they will not be disappointed, I'll make sure of that. Have a Good Un and Thanks for the questions. I apologize for the poorly written reply,not enough time or space to explain well.

 

[cedartop]

Nothing wrong with having a mentor. Many Instructors had their own. IMHO their are two things you are looking for. 1) This one is obvious, you want the person to know what you want to know, and be willing and able to impart that knowledge. 2) You want that person to share the same core values as yourself. To me at least, this is pretty important as well as being somewhat difficult. You don't want to have to hide every time your mentor makes a fool out of him/her self. There are some people out there who fit the first category pretty well, but fall down in the second. Of course, that might not be important to you.

It is unlikely you will be able to find this person just by others recommending them. We all have different priorities and personalities. You are going to have to get to know some possible candidates. This may include ponying up and paying for some classes with different instructors. Think of it as an interview process. I wouldn't dare tell you a name as it would be very hard for my advice not to be self serving. Probably the closest I have to a mentor right now would be my fellow instructor Randy Harris. He is the most rounded person I know in the fighting arts, as well as being a good friend.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

My guess would be how to get most quickly to 50 posts since there are other posts on the first page of this subsection asking for advice/input on trainers.

For what it's worth, If hickory is who I think he is, you are mistaken.

 

[hickorystick]

My guess would be how to get most quickly to 50 posts since there are other posts on the first page of this subsection asking for advice/input on trainers.

Not to be rude by any means dnurk but your guess would be wrong. Having high post numbers is not high on my priority list, matter of fact I could care less about the numbers. Having a high post count doesn't mean that a man knows anything either. Yes I read the other posts before my initial post. I thought this was the Tactics and Training thread, and the other posts and replies were not that detailed. Figured men like yourself were on here to try to help people out, not cut them down. There are also other instructors in Indiana and Kentucky that I know of that I didn't see mentioned. Just looking for answers dnurk I apologize if it caught you wrong. You can't judge a book by its cover.

 

[esrice]

Im interested in: self defense with handgun, rifle, shotgun, safety, situational awareness, adaptive thinking, self sufficiency, simple motor movement force of aggression, and reality based home defense for families.

Ok that helps.

Have you trained in any of those areas before? How would you assess your current skill level?

 

[Jackson]

The places I've seen this, generally it happens over time after a student has taken several classes from an instructor. It seems to happen over time rather than being something agreed to up front. I would second the above advice about taking several classes from different schools and getting a feel for different instructors. With the diversity of information you are looking to learn, you will probably need to focus on bigger, established schools.

 

[hickorystick]

Nothing wrong with having a mentor. Many Instructors had their own. IMHO their are two things you are looking for. 1) This one is obvious, you want the person to know what you want to know, and be willing and able to impart that knowledge. 2) You want that person to share the same core values as yourself. To me at least, this is pretty important as well as being somewhat difficult. You don't want to have to hide every time your mentor makes a fool out of him/her self. There are some people out there who fit the first category pretty well, but fall down in the second. Of course, that might not be important to you.

It is unlikely you will be able to find this person just by others recommending them. We all have different priorities and personalities. You are going to have to get to know some possible candidates. This may include ponying up and paying for some classes with different instructors. Think of it as an interview process. I wouldn't dare tell you a name as it would be very hard for my advice not to be self serving. Probably the closest I have to a mentor right now would be my fellow instructor Randy Harris. He is the most rounded person I know in the fighting arts, as well as being a good friend.

Very helpful and honest, Thankyou for taking the time to write this.

 

[hickorystick]

Ok that helps.

Have you trained in any of those areas before? How would you assess your current skill level?

Yes ,safety,situational awareness,adp. thinking,self sufficiency,and rifle I have had formal class style training. The other areas have been self inflicted training myself and with peers. I am a jack of all trades type guy, and am no expert at any one thing. I want to grow past that and amp up my skill set and teaching abilities to help others grow as well. I don't know where this will take me, but it is the path my life is being led down. I have fought this off for a long time, because of life,family and multiple other things. Its time for me and many others to engage ourselves and this culture. As a wise Appleseed friend of mine once said"Its time for us to get off the Couch and do something about It", even though I don't spend much time there. To answer your question about my current skill level is a somewhat loaded question for me to answer. In the self defense and gun world humbly I'll do my best and say that self suff. adaptability,sit aware,and thinking I would be above average slightly. My day job, and self teaching lends to these skill sets. In the other topics I would personally say that I am average even though some may disagree that know me. The reality is I need more good training,instruction and growth. Hope that explained a little more and wasn't to confusing. Thanks for the interest.

 

[HICKMAN]

What training have you taken so far?

Our area isn't a real hotbed for training, given our location in the state.

There are a couple of Combat Focus Shooting instructors down towards the Evansville area and we have Fortress Defense Consultants and Suarez Internation up in Rochester that host classes regularly. Boone County Sheriff Ken Campbell hosts GunSite course up in Lebonon. There are several who go down and train with Tactical Response in Camden, TN.

As far as mentors go in our area, it's hard to say.

 

[MangoTango]

It seems to me to tackle of your requests it is hard to find one person to fit the bill. Maybe surrounding yourself with like-minded people will cover your growth as a person and then taking the time to evolve what you need to know by taking some classes with people who specialize in certain areas.

I like to us force on force training (Mindset Labs here in Indy, The Fight at TR), reflect on what occurred during the scenarios, write down the gaps and then train in those areas. I am willing to spend my time and money traveling to fill these gaps. We have been very lucky in Indiana to be centrally located and have had a lot of great trainers travel though and teach at different locations within the sate. Some of the recommendations have already been made in addition to the gun world we also have teachers in wilderness survival, long distance travel (ruck work), medical (GSW, beyond the golden hr and SHTF) and these have all been in the last year. We also have some great BJJ in Indy and the surrounding areas. Sometime I need live fire sometimes not. If you are flexible with your training you will learn material when you are most ready to learn it and will absorb it better. Taking 10 live fire courses in a row may get old if you shoot at paper targets but if you still cant hit the broad side of a barn you may need a few more live fire but with a different instructor. My 2 cents.

 

[Win52C]

" Having a high post count doesn't mean that a man knows anything either." That's for sure the truth!!

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Are you willing to travel to Scott Co? I know a guy who can help you, but he's not running a school or the like. He trains folks because he enjoys it, and usually only has 2-3 at a time at most. If you're willing to travel, PM me, and when I talk to him next week I'll see if he's got any interest in taking someone else on at the moment. If so, I'll have you send me your number and you two can see if you are a fit for each other at the moment.

 

[cardio1]

I don't know if I'm helping or not but here goes:
Evansville: Hard Target Training/Guy Minnis owner and a good teacher along with a staff of former Marines and Seals on fundamentals of pistol, rifle, close quarters etc
Gunsite Links/James Trochman owner, one man op who is very thorough with fundamentals and mindset
Terre Haute: RangeTime LLC/ Cory and Erika seem to follow the James Yeager school of training
I have taken classes from all 3. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses but you learn something from any good instructor.
YMMV

 

[hickorystick]

I've talked with a few guys that have led me in the right direction with what I'm wanting to do. I also appreciate you alls suggestions and knowledge that you have shared with me from your experiences. Thanks and have a Good Un!