Dave Grossman Seminar

[KneeShot]

Mods; feel free to move to Class AAR's. I put it here because I thought that it relates to Mindset.

I was afforded the opportunity to attend a work sponsored seminar by Dave Grossman, Lt Col (ret.). He wrote On Killing and On Combat and a few others. The setting was intimate 15-25 folks per am/pm. He did two 4.5hr blocks. I read about a 1/3 of On Killing over 5 yrs ago, and On Combat has been sitting on my "to read" dusty shelf. After doing some personal research on-line I read reviews saying some of his stats and studies used in On Killing aren't that reliable, I may have asked him if I looked before the seminar.

Here are some of the things he talked about.

School Massacres being a terrorist priority, used a lot of prior cases starting with Isreal, Beslan, Russia, Norway, etc..

Resiliency, preparedness, mindset, PTS, PTSD and Post Traumatic Growth, anti-war effort supported by main stream media, color codes - physiological conditions/responses, fatigue, breathing techniques, the bottle of water trick, Sheep dog, wolves and sheep, faith and more.

He was energetic, funny, great one liner's, extremely patriotic, supports the 2nd amendment, passionate about CCW, cares deeply about the boys in blue and service members, a man of faith - used biblical references. He brought a lot of different books (also for sale) referencing the books material throughout his presentation. He used huge fat permanent markers and a lot of large paper. The smell and speed of the markers combined with the ripping paper went well with his tempo. Also in use was a modern overhead projector.

His son is an active Combat Controller w/ quite a few tours.
His other son is a gun smith.

My big take aways - we definitely need to arm and lock down our schools, period. I start to feel unimpressed seeing sheepdog T-shirts (right up there w/ Spartan helmet stickers, and tacti-cool stuff on folks who have never served) that it was nice to hear the Sheepdog reference presented from the Horse's mouth. He had my full attention. The bottle of water/breathing trick to calm someone down.

After the seminar my teammate said in a sincere, humorous, motivated tone "I feel like getting a bald eagle tattooed on my face!"

Grossman is a 1911 guy, so I bought the book Sheepdogs - Meet our Nations Warriors for my young kids and I should have also bought the book "Mental Marksmanship". He signed all of our books.

I'd recommend the seminar to any MIL/LE folks and all who care about our Nation and their families. "Be ready to take your part of the world and make it as safe as possible" was something he said.

Question - anyone here ever dabbled in Hojutso? He mentioned it, I've never heard of it before.

It appears he has been on the road doing this for over 18yrs, anyone else sat in on his presentation?

KT

[Lon]

You either love him or hate him, it seems. I've been to his 8 hour seminar. 3 different times. Haven't been in a while - 7 or 8 years?

He also writes science fiction. https://www.amazon.com/Two-Space-War...=Two+space+war

[Randy Harris]

This is a timely topic. I'm signed up for the Sheepdog Seminar in Chattanooga this weekend.

[PNWTO]

I don't like several tenets that he asserts, but would still enjoy one of these. Thank you for the write-up.

[Odin Bravo One]

I only attend when forced.

Ive attended several in the past, and his less than honest approaches to publishing (alleged) research, complete disregard for information that doesn't fit his narrative, and a complete lack of experience in the field he claims to be an expert have him ranked up there with main stream media + Duffel Blog + The Onion.

But that's just me. If someone else finds value, good for them. But I won't waste my time and certainly wouldn't pay any of my money.

[Dagga Boy]

I only attend when forced.

Ive attended several in the past, and his less than honest approaches to publishing (alleged) research, complete disregard for information that doesn't fit his narrative, and a complete lack of experience in the field he claims to be an expert have him ranked up there with main stream media + Duffel Blog + The Onion.

But that's just me. If someone else finds value, good for them. But I won't waste my time and certainly wouldn't pay any of my money.

Yep. He is entertaining and I find him great for getting the non-dedicated to carry a j frame off duty for a couple weeks after the presentation. As far as the technical aspects of efficiently terminating the actions of our enemies....pretty much wrong.

[Doc_Glock]

I only attend when forced.

Ive attended several in the past, and his less than honest approaches to publishing (alleged) research, complete disregard for information that doesn't fit his narrative, and a complete lack of experience in the field he claims to be an expert have him ranked up there with main stream media + Duffel Blog + The Onion.

But that's just me. If someone else finds value, good for them. But I won't waste my time and certainly wouldn't pay any of my money.

I heard him on Seeklander's podcast and he seemed a snake oil salesman to me. I had previously heard good things but was entirely turned off by his not so subtle marketing, and cherry picking of his "facts." Glad to see I am not alone.

[JCS]

I heard him on Seeklander's podcast and he seemed a snake oil salesman to me. I had previously heard good things but was entirely turned off by his not so subtle marketing, and cherry picking of his "facts." Glad to see I am not alone.

He's pretty extreme but I did like when he compared different mass shootings and how guys who had trained were able to make the shots and stop them and others were there but couldn't make the shots.

[Doc_Glock]

He's pretty extreme but I did like when he compared different mass shootings and how guys who had trained were able to make the shots and stop them and others were there but couldn't make the shots.

He definitely has gold mixed in with the hay. Fundamentally, to me, he seemed dishonest I guess using facts and talking points that pleased him or suited his and ignoring those that he disagreed with. I don't mean to be too hard on him because we all do that to an extent. He just rubbed me the wrong way.

[Ed L]

I don't even have the energy to write all of the things I disagree with Grossman on, but at one point he used to advocate gun control, but has since sanitized those comments from his website.

They include:

"Another route to reduced violence is gun control."

"And the more guns there are out there, the more violence there is."

"This virus of violence is occurring worldwide. The explanation for it has to be some new factor that is occurring in all of these countries. There are many factors involved, and none should be discounted: for example, the prevalence of guns in our society."

"Firearms probably will not go away any time soon, but their abuse will almost definitely be strongly influenced by technology that will make guns "keyed" so that they can only be fired by a designated individual and will thereby be useless to all others."

On another note, he is now on the board or perhaps a part owner of Detonics firearms.