The following is my AAR from a recent Carbine 2 course held by Performance On Demand Shooting

1) Provider: Performance On Demand Shooting
2) Owner: Adrian, Mike, Pete
3) Phone / Web: 608-512-8061 / http://www.podshooting.com/
4) E-mail: info@podshooting.com
5) When: June 9, 2017
6) Where: Dane County Law Enforcement Center, Waunakee, WI
7) Accommodations: N/A
8) Gear used: DPMS Oracle Upper with Midwest Industries Super Slim Handguard, built Bushmaster lower, Vortex Crossfire 1-4x scope, Proctor sling, various makes of magazines, and Mako carbine magazine pouch. Glock 19 with Inforce APL light, KT-Mech Defender Holster, Uncle Mike’s Kydex pistol magazine pouch, factory Glock 19 and MagPul GL9 magazines, Wilderness instructor belt, and shooter produced reloads.
9) Cost: $125.
10) Did weather adversely affect training: No
11) Instructors’ Competence: Instructors’ skills and ability to apply them exceeded my own, of course.
12) Instructors’ Ethics: Outstanding
13) Safely Conducted: Yes
14) Condition of Equipment: Outstanding
15) Food: N/A
16) Number of overall firearms’ related training classes for myself: Student – 14 (2 as host), Range Assistant/FoF Role Player – 3
17) Certificate issued: Yes
18) Training time: 8 hours
19) Written training plan: Yes Followed: Yes
20) Instructor to student ratio: 3/16
21) Round count: 268 carbine / 26 pistol
22) Recommended: Yes
23) General comments: This is my fifth class in three years with POD. If that wasn’t enough endorsement let me add the following anecdote. When Mike noted he was hosting Pat McNamara in late 2017 I asked the POD team when their schedule would be released because I wanted to take POD’s Carbine 2 in 2017 before any other carbine classes. So, yeah, I’d rather, and did, take POD’s Carbine 2 over Pat McNamara’s course.

I was apprehensive about my performance in the course due to some eyesight issues and knowing POD demands accurate shooting. Specifically, I expected we’d run the 300 point aggregate; a 100 yard prone, 50 yard kneeling and 25 yard standing course of fire. When I took POD’s Carbine 1 in 2014 I used a $30 red dot and held my own including taking top shooter on some drills. Now, with a more pronounced astigmatism the sight picture with a red dot is something akin to two meatballs from two to seven o’clock with spaghetti and sauce mixed around them. Adrian recommended an RDS over a 1-4x scope by a slight margin, but I decided on the 1-4x scope with the etched reticle to negate the astigmatism affects. It did do that, especially so in the brighter sun, which also helps. There is some give and take here, though. I don’t and cannot engage the closer on stuff as easily or quickly. I’ve experienced that on the VTAC 1-5 Drill and it was evident on the second application drill we did. On the first rep I just couldn’t find the -0 zone in the scope to engage quickly or accurately enough.

We started with shooting tips for prone and moved on to the obligatory 50-yard zero. While a time sink it is required and I think it doubles as a shooter skill-level gauge for the instructors. We did 5 reps or so of 5-shots. We moved on to prepping for the 300-point aggregate with positional shooting tips. They covered points that I’d forgotten over time. It was at this point that I regretted forgetting my note book in my range bag. Still apprehensive about shooting well, which is good as it applies a level of pressure to perform through, I scored a 284. My biggest problem with the 300-point aggregate is my inability to count the number of rounds I shot, even when I load my mags to 10 (and then don’t trust my loading) so I dropped 2-3 points for an extra shot.

We moved on to a drill called Blazing Saddles which is about changing gears and using offset under pressure of time; fast, slow, fast, slow. I liked it. I’ll steal it. Static immediate action malfunction clearance was covered for when “click” not “bang” is encountered. Somewhere shooting cadence was worked in. I’m absolutely horrible at that and actually got worse the longer we went… Pistol transitions were covered and then we shot a drill incorporating them, Off the Hook. That was a good one also. Stealing that too… We moved on to moving and shooting and shooting and moving. The next subjects were two low barricade positions and what they called “junkyard” prone (carbine oriented horizontally on top of a barricade to minimize your profile). Then we moved into the five carbine malfunctions and The Three Little Kittens malfunction drill. I don’t work malfunctions enough and this was great practice with the pressure of Pete driving me and my classmates looking on. Finally, we moved on to the comprehensive exercise which incorporated many of the day’s manipulations. That is the kind of shooting I live for.

There were some REALLY good shooters in this class. The thing for me with these classes is this; I’ve done almost everything in them. Prone, kneeling, standing, multiple targets, moving and shooting, shooting and moving, malfunctions, transitions, 9-hole barricade, junkyard prone, 70-yard stages with movement, etc. I’m not saying I’m great at them. In fact it seems I need more maintenance in my shooting than many of my peers do. However, what I don’t get when on my own or shooting an event on a squad is the watchful eyes of Adrian, Mike, and Pete and reminders of the solid techniques from them…and the demand for accuracy. It’s here that I note there are three instructors; three instructors at a price-point about $75 per day cheaper than many solo instructors charge. Adrian made a comment at the post-class dinner that they have chosen to focus on “fundamentals and handling”. To me
this is exactly in line with the name, “Performance On Demand”. I’ve used the words “perform” and “demand” throughout the AAR to describe the class without intentionally forcing their use. The reasons, by now, should be obvious. That’s what I get from POD classes.

Class administration was excellent; start, breaks, lunch, and time, overall, were well managed. The class was relatively local and the cost was very reasonable. While I’d consider POD a regional trainer at this point I believe they should be considered a destination trainer – a group shooters travel to for training. I thoroughly enjoy spending a day shooting with Pete, Mike and Adrian. Whether good-naturedly poking fun at each other or, gently, the students they make the classes fun while still being very, very competent at teaching firearm handling skills. They are articulate, are responsive to communications, communicate well when doing so, and present a professional business front