AAR - Handgun 3, Fundamentals of Movement - Keith Tyler, Albany OR May 19 '19
I meant to get this up sooner. This was a USPSA / IDPA oriented class (more the former than the latter, but I saw some IDPA regulars in class). I used my Elite LTT and a pretty standard USPSA gamer rig - DAA belt, five mag carriers, comp-tac int'l dropped and offset holster. Holster is the 92A1 model and works with my LTT and my old FS.
TL; DR I took this class, the third I've taken from Keith, was challenged and learned i am capable of accomplishing some tasks I would have thought impossible. Basically, if i'd known before the class what we'd be doing, I'd have not even signed up because I would have felt it was too far beyond my skills. There were times during class I thought, how can i possibly do these drills? Yet, I did. Now, I may well take this class again in future as I gain confidence and skill, so that I can get more out of it, but what better testament to a class or instructor can you give than this? I know many of you wouldn't be challenged in the same way I was, because you're more advanced and actually comfortable running with a firearm in your hand, shooting on the move, and so on, but when I went in I wasn't at all. I've still got lots to do but now I've seen it can be done and even I can do it.
I've offered AAR's of the other two classes I took with Keith above.
After the usual safety briefing we covered various ways of exiting a shooting area. Different kinds of steps were covered and practiced - step outs, step backs, crossover steps. As was typical in the class and with Keith, we did all of these dry before we went live.
Then we covered entering a shooting area, and setting up when you're there, when you're covering a medium to long distance; different ways to move laterally, how to get your body slowed efficiently and safely, different ways to move forward.
Then, it was on to movements when it's just a short distance between shooting positions - crossover hops, step out hops.
We did drills where there were a number of color coded shooting apertures, and Keith would tell you in advance what color to do them in. You had to put together running, setting up, and exiting in a safe manner while hitting the targets.
Later, we covered shooting on the move - when does it make sense, how to do it. I learned that sometimes you can isolate your upper body a bit as you move, if you bring the weapon in just slightly over your normal stance. I seriously didn't think I would hit anything during the drills related to this and building on this, yet...I did.
As normal with Keith, it was a full day of instruction, and we expended a lot of ammo. Somewhere between 400 and 500 rounds. since movement was involved, it was pretty physical and one could see folks getting tired late in the day.
Keith is an excellent instructor with a good sense of humor and a good sense of when to tease or cajole and when to offer a good word. If you get a chance to train with him, even those of you who are way more advanced than i am (which is a great many of you), I think you'd find it worth your time and money.
I definitely hope I can continue to train with him as my experience and confidence improve.
