AAR: Pistol Shooting Solutions at Columbia, MO
I wanted to take a moment to capture my thoughts before I lose them. There are already a few very well written AARs of Gabe White's class that I think should be read as well.
I should preface this by saying that I have a limited pistol-training background that consists of an 8-hour private lesson with an instructor, an 8-hour Defensive Handgun One type course at a local range and a CCW class. That being said, I do have considerably more experience in attending training for my professional life and many of the principles of putting together a well-taught class are the same, regardless of the subject matter.
- It's my opinion that Gabe truly seeks to provide as much value for his course as possible, and this was very obvious both in the organization of the material that was presented as well as the amount of preparation and angst that went into putting it together. PSS in Columbia was a bit of an anomoly in that it may have been one of the first times where the host of the class was neither a member of the range at which it was held nor a resident of the town in which the range was located. Gabe went to great lengths to ensure that all of the necessary supplies would be available prior to class, that access to the range that morning would be available, etc, etc. There was a level of anxiety that peaked the night prior to the class that made Gabe's desire to host a professional and well-run class very evident. When combined with the back-and-forth emails, texts and phone-calls that happened over the last 6-8 months, it was very clear that Gabe wanted the best experience possible for the students of the class. I haven't seen it taken to this level of dedication in my limited shooting experience and it's usually only there in my professional experience when the course of instruction is provided by a well-financed organization. This was worth calling out.
- Gabe is very passionate about what he teaches and he was eager to pass along the knowledge he has accumulated over the years (he has a pretty thick resume). He was humble to ackowledge that much of what he teaches was in turn learned from other influential instructors, shooters and mentors - many of whom he took the time to name. In an industry full of copy-cats and self-proclaimed experts, this was both refreshing and appreciated, especially since much of the material he presented was unique to the improvements he has made to what he has learned.
- Gabe is a safety nazi, and this is meant in a good way. He instilled repeatedly the responsibility of proper and safe gun-handling and his approach to running a safe line was very well thought-out and efficient. He came with a well organized approach for the application of safety at the class as well as a procedure for handling an emergency should something have happened. We had a class full of safe shooters overall; in fact, I was probably the one whom Gabe had to most correct for holstering too quickly. :(
- As has been noted in other AARs, Gabe has a well-organized approach for teaching the material in his class that follows a building-block approach. He combines technical shooting sessions with dynamic drills to keep the class advancing while also interesting. More importantly though, he includes methods for growing as a shooter well after the class ends. As it's not possible to learn and immediately apply everything that is taught in the class, Gabe does a nice job of explaining how to continue to advance your own ability and expects that students will do this in order to maximize the value of what they've learned.
- The technical sessions were well thought-out. Gabe would start by demonstrating the particular skill to be learned (say the Bill Drill for example) both at a pace that would stretch his ability to guarantee A-zone hits as well as one that would more than likely not. After each run, Gabe would verbalize what he was observing introspectively as a pattern that students could follow to analyze their own performance. Students would then run the drill repeatedly at both excessive and controlled paces to explore their performance limitations and best methods to approach the particular problem. Each student - Gabe himself included - was then timed both for practice and for pin-testing; the results were scored and the targets didn't lie. I found this pattern overall effective both for learning how to improve as well as learning how to learn. Also, it's worth commending Gabe's willingness to put himself under the pressure of the timer in front of his students and let the results be seen by all. Many performance-based instructors won't do that.
- Gabe's presentation on the use of cover was very well done and was supplemented by nicely constructed (and fun) drills to illustrate what was taught. Beyond that though, his enthusiasm and passion for what he calls "Technical Timmy shooting" spilled out during the lecture, illustrating how much he values what he seeks to impart. On a humorous note, Gabe unabashedly refers to himself as the "Timmiest of Timmies".
Random thoughts:
- Consistency of my draw and my ability to press through the trigger at speed are my two biggest deficiencies. Both need work.
- The difference in dedication between even competent shooters and true enthusiasts is apparent when you spend time around the latter.
- Degradation of performance while under the pressure of the timer had an effect on me. Overall I earned a Dark pin but could have earned a Light pin with a little more consistency; Turbo pin performance is currently beyond my level of skill. On several of the drills, I scored a Light pin on one of the runs through only to toss shots and/or muck it up and lay an egg on the other.
- If I happen upon someone who is flanked by innocent no-shoots at ten yards away and to my one o'clock, and if for some reason that person needs to be shot, and if I have the availability to move laterally to three o'clock while drawing and shooting said bad guy - then I'm going to kick his @$$.
- Glock knuckle sucks.
- It was a genuine treat to get to meet with and spend time around the other participants in the class.
- Praise God for the weather outcome. What was predicted to be nasty Saturday ended up being heavy rain early in the morning during the initial safety brief followed by eventually clearing skies thereafter.
