CountryBoy19
Grandmaster
This is the training I just took per this thread: https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...headed_downrange_for_a_while.html#post2036116
I'm not sure if Tactical Evolutions is a publicly offered training course or not because our training was geared toward DoD personnel going into a war-zone. The entire training team is ex Special Forces guys, mostly Seals, from all around the country. This leads me to believe that they only come together to provide specific training to groups like ours. However, Morris Dynamics in Evansville is owned and operated by Gary Morris who heads up Tactical Evolutions training.
The training was top-notch. These guys are or were real-world operators and they know their stuff, and they do a very good job of teaching it.
Gary has a self-defense/martial arts studio and he did a very good job of showing real-world, practical self-defense tactics without firearms (hand-to-hand combat). They provided excellent first-aid training. And they did excellent at the range training.
I don't have any gripes about anything at all except one little bit at the range.
We did the range training at Redbrush Rifle Range in Newburgh. The rifle range is approximately 350 yards long from what we were told, but the longest distance we shot at was 50 meters. Targest were 50 meters from firing line, backstop 300 meters behind the targets. Here-in lies the problem. At some stages we were shooting prone headshots 10 yards from the target. Looking line-of-sight beyond the target not only were out bullets passing over the backstop, they were passing at least 250 feet over the tops of the trees that were growing on the backstop area. I brought this to the attention of Gary and he didn't seem concerned.
Fast-forward to the next day. A board member of Redbrush came to the range. He was curious about our training class because he hadn't been made aware that there was a class going on. Gary Morris is a member there and he just contacts the safety officer and maybe the president? to let them know when he needs to rent the range and conduct a class. I guess they don't pass that info along to the board and/or membership. Anyways, the board member mentions how they've had incidents before where cows in the field behind the backstop have turned up dead, and they've found bullets lodged in the trees above the backstop.
Now, fast-forward to the class starting again. We're back at shooting prone headshots from 10 yards. I bring this up to Gary's attention again. I said, "Per the conversation with that board member at lunch time do you really think it's safe to be shooting like this? Our rounds aren't only going over the backstop, they're going well over the trees, likely going for miles." Gary's response was, "I don't know who that guy was at lunch, I've been a member her for X years and I've never met him. I've been told that this range is safe. I don't mean to dismiss your concerns, but what we're doing is safe."
The thing that is noteworthy here is that #1 the "board member" had keys to buildings on the premises that I would assume normal members don't have access to. #2 he took the time to clean the bathrooms up and pick up some trash around the place etc. #3 Gary admittedly has NEVER attended a Redbrush meeting except when he was first joining the membership so of course it is very likely that he has never met the board members.
I am not writing this to bash Gary or those of Tactical Evolutions/Morris Dynamics because the training was definitely high-quality, I'm writing this because I think there was a blatant safety violation that they ignored even when brought up to them. We had a safety talk every morning where they stressed to "know your target and what is behind it" yet they ignored that very rule when it was convenient for them.
I later looked up the range on aerial photos and it is true that "there isn't much" beyond the range but it does appear that there is at least 1 industrial area (quarry, mine etc) and a few houses within 3 miles down-range.
I'm frankly at a bit of a loss for words. Did I do wrong to continue firing even though my gut instinct told me it wasn't safe?
I'm not sure if Tactical Evolutions is a publicly offered training course or not because our training was geared toward DoD personnel going into a war-zone. The entire training team is ex Special Forces guys, mostly Seals, from all around the country. This leads me to believe that they only come together to provide specific training to groups like ours. However, Morris Dynamics in Evansville is owned and operated by Gary Morris who heads up Tactical Evolutions training.
The training was top-notch. These guys are or were real-world operators and they know their stuff, and they do a very good job of teaching it.
Gary has a self-defense/martial arts studio and he did a very good job of showing real-world, practical self-defense tactics without firearms (hand-to-hand combat). They provided excellent first-aid training. And they did excellent at the range training.
I don't have any gripes about anything at all except one little bit at the range.
We did the range training at Redbrush Rifle Range in Newburgh. The rifle range is approximately 350 yards long from what we were told, but the longest distance we shot at was 50 meters. Targest were 50 meters from firing line, backstop 300 meters behind the targets. Here-in lies the problem. At some stages we were shooting prone headshots 10 yards from the target. Looking line-of-sight beyond the target not only were out bullets passing over the backstop, they were passing at least 250 feet over the tops of the trees that were growing on the backstop area. I brought this to the attention of Gary and he didn't seem concerned.
Fast-forward to the next day. A board member of Redbrush came to the range. He was curious about our training class because he hadn't been made aware that there was a class going on. Gary Morris is a member there and he just contacts the safety officer and maybe the president? to let them know when he needs to rent the range and conduct a class. I guess they don't pass that info along to the board and/or membership. Anyways, the board member mentions how they've had incidents before where cows in the field behind the backstop have turned up dead, and they've found bullets lodged in the trees above the backstop.
Now, fast-forward to the class starting again. We're back at shooting prone headshots from 10 yards. I bring this up to Gary's attention again. I said, "Per the conversation with that board member at lunch time do you really think it's safe to be shooting like this? Our rounds aren't only going over the backstop, they're going well over the trees, likely going for miles." Gary's response was, "I don't know who that guy was at lunch, I've been a member her for X years and I've never met him. I've been told that this range is safe. I don't mean to dismiss your concerns, but what we're doing is safe."
The thing that is noteworthy here is that #1 the "board member" had keys to buildings on the premises that I would assume normal members don't have access to. #2 he took the time to clean the bathrooms up and pick up some trash around the place etc. #3 Gary admittedly has NEVER attended a Redbrush meeting except when he was first joining the membership so of course it is very likely that he has never met the board members.
I am not writing this to bash Gary or those of Tactical Evolutions/Morris Dynamics because the training was definitely high-quality, I'm writing this because I think there was a blatant safety violation that they ignored even when brought up to them. We had a safety talk every morning where they stressed to "know your target and what is behind it" yet they ignored that very rule when it was convenient for them.
I later looked up the range on aerial photos and it is true that "there isn't much" beyond the range but it does appear that there is at least 1 industrial area (quarry, mine etc) and a few houses within 3 miles down-range.
I'm frankly at a bit of a loss for words. Did I do wrong to continue firing even though my gut instinct told me it wasn't safe?
