AAR: Crash Shooting, 2-3 June 2018

AAR: Crash Shooting, 2-3 June 2018, Ron Sable, Doswell VA

This was a two day class that covered one handed shooting and entangled gun fighting.

The morning of first day consisted of Introductions, Safety Brief, instruction on how to draw, shoot, and reholster your pistol all one handed. In the afternoon we covered Managing Social Contacts, and various techniques based on Greco Roman wrestling that applied to being in a physical confrontation where the parties are armed.

The second day we had to contend with some heavy rain in the morning, so we started out indoors and expanded upon the Greco Roman wrestling techniques we learned. Once the rain calmed down to a moderate amount we went out to the range and continued building on with the one handed shooting we learned the day before. In the late afternoon we culminated all the training with a final force on force exercise that involved protective helmets and simunition pistols.

The class material was thoughtfully combined from Ron's Special Operations experiences and his extensive training history with Shivworks. I've been to several Shivworks courses and the quality of the material and instruction of Crash Shooting is certainly on par with them. Ron's insights into the topics were very interesting.

In many shooting classes I’ve been to one handed shooting material is presented, but very little time is spent on it. I thought it was really awesome that almost the entirety of the shooting portion of this course was dedicated to one handed work. I feel like it drastically improved my ability in that regard and it fits into the context of fighting as well, where one hand might be occupied with something.

I’ve known Ron for several years, so I was really excited to see that he is offering open enrollment courses. I’d absolutely recommend this course to anyone who is serious about self-defense. I'd also like to thank Keaton Pearson for hosting the course, along with the range facility. High marks all around!

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He have a website?

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Originally Posted by Guerrero

He have a website?

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Good question, not that I know of.

Is that the same Ron that's Craig's wingman when he comes to Virginia?

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Originally Posted by TCinVA

Is that the same Ron that's Craig's wingman when he comes to Virginia?

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Yes, he with us back at AMIS in 2011. And probably a few other too.

He helped out at AMIS in Pittsburgh in 2016. I liked him a lot, and this coursework looks interesting.

I wouldn't hesitate to train with him. Dude knows his shit.

Plus he can see in the dark like a Terminator.

Any whom have had contact with the ECQC material will see familiar content in Crash Shooting; with diverging specifics, some recontextualization, and the specific lens of Ron's professional experience. I believe this comparison to be complimentary to the extreme, and I'm happy to see the realm of true multi-disciplinary training taught anywhere grown true. That said, Crash Shooting brings new and separate material to the weekend, and can stand on its own. One-handed shooting methodology has more relevance than solely when one's other hand is disabled, and I believe Ron has much to offer to optimize that skillset.

(I first met Ron 6-7 years ago, and have bumped into him off and on since then; this is my third year actively pursuing attendance at his coursework, and my first actually making it in.)

Others can describe the coursework better than I; here, I'd rather discuss some instructor-centric remarks. The weather is the enemy, as it often is; and the weekend was a study in contrasts. Ron kept a steady eye on the student body throughout the training weekend, and adjusted activities accordingly. While on one hand, this means that we veered off of his intended plan for each day; on the other hand, he managed student burn-out and avoided temperature-related injuries. TD1 was deliberately ended early - 4 minutes afterwards, and while we were en route to pre-arranged dinner, torrential rain hit sufficient to reduce driving visibility dramatically. Prior to that, TD1 was punishing with the saturation humidity that always builds up before a long-delayed thunderstorm, and working the afternoon grappling material was additionally challenging because of that. TD2 had everpresent rain in varying amounts right up until the last 30-45 min of the day, or so; Ron ensured a steady moderation of speed and pacing on the line, maintaining a safe training environment despite the layers, precipitation, and so forth.

I can not emphasize this enough: TD1's afternoon events had a high suck-factor for all involved from the heat and humidity, but the student body hung with it and Ron kept any of us from hitting the red zone.

TD2's indoor sessions may have been a divergence from the plan; but allowed for many, many, many useful repetitions. There were countless opportunities to get coached as a group, pairing, or individual. Given the medium-sized group of high-energy\high-attention folks that were present, the classroom was always in motion and there was plenty to be gained from it all.

My specific takeaways from the range\equipment-access side of the curriculum are a bit different from that of others, given my eccentricities: relatively slim button-up shirts, and hip-IWB for both weapon and mags. A false grip is the key for me to do an acceptable one-handed garment clearance and then access the weapon; using my social and pinky fingers being the key to clearing the garment prior to reholstering one-hand only. I got some great material and nuances about discretely drawing the weapon; a subject I've seen pop up several places without good service to the matter, prior to this class.

The two folks I ended up round-robin'ing it with for the evos at the end of TD2 brought athleticism and diligence to the material prior to that; so they brought everything they had and there were some unique challenges that went with that. When I was the "good guy," I ran into a new-for-me circumstance in that I had to reorient and hand-switch my NOK not to avoid a take-away or wrist-tie, nor to attack from a different angle; but because my opponent was transitioning to a modified body-lock 'crossing my T' possibly for a takedown but definitely getting both of his hands on my holstered T-gun. Him making that play definitely leveraged some of the additional depth of discussion and extra practice indoors, and it took me from a crappy situation (elbow-pinning for retention) to a rapidly worsening one (elbow-pinning for retention against two hands while attempting to stay standing). Passing the NOK from one hand to another and then being able to clear that arm from the bodylock allowed for me to better stay upright and eventually resquare my hips with said dude; if I'd kept the NOK down low and in the original hand, some combination of undesired things were likely to follow.

Definitely worth the 9.5 hour drive down the day before TD1 and the 6.5 hour drive at the end of TD2; would return and do it again.

For those attending training at the same Doswell site, I'd recommend staying farther south at the hotel cluster in Ashland, VA; there are more opportunities to purchase supplies, food, and other such down there, than in the Kings Dominion area hotel cluster. You may encounter interesting people from all walks of life staying there, as it appeared to be some sort of tourist\traveling season, but that's alright. I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express.

I can't wait to see Ron do more in the open enrollment realms, and look forward to what he has to offer later this year. Whether already a member of the multi-disciplinary community or attending your first class of that sort, I strongly recommend you give Ron's material a go.