AAR: Pistol Shooting Solutions with Gabe White(Who?), McHenry, IL, Jan 2018

[Sal Picante]

"loquacious"

[Sal Picante]

Ok... Now that that's out of my system...

Lemme back up a bit before hitting the AAR and explain some of the reasoning: About a year ago, I challenged my friend Mickey to start using this Wilson Combat BrigTac since he shot it so much better than his glocks. My reasoning was that using gear that allowed him to remove the question of equipment, maybe, just maybe, he could spur his subconscious into internalizing the process of shooting. Then he might be able to take those lessons learned back to any platform. He was game, but called me out on something: I'm a USPSA "gamer guy" that carries a gun that similar to what I use (a little less "refined"), but that I carry it in a manner that I'm largely unpracticed with. E.g. Does AIWB really work for a large Beretta? Am I capable of using it safely? What else do I need to learn/internalize?

That challenge framed it up for me to start using my carry gear in matches and start laying the ground work to host Gabe out at McHenry's Alpha Range. I really started at Frank's Class in July 2016 (just drawing without concealment) Thanks Mickey!


Alright - some numbers and meat and potatoes of the course:

Facility: I'm a member at Alpha Range in McHenry, IL and we were thrilled to host the class at Alpha (Thanks Herb!).
I'm glad that the weather complied - usually it is "IDPA points down weather" (single negative digits), but Friday was sunny, bright and ~40F when Gabe arrived. Saturday and Sunday were both foggy, rainy, but ~mid-40's.


People: Originally, I let people who were VERY motivated to take the class get first crack at it: My long-time training partner & semi-pro senior golfer Kerry, Mickey, CPD SWAT's greybeard_actual, Alex Ro, and a couple other folks (MVS, 45DotACP) who I knew solid enthusiasts. Was a pleasure to meet Navy EOD "delta seal" dude, Donovan. (Follow those folks!)

We had ~14-15 people in the class. Paul wasn't able to join us and Mickey only stayed for the first day (anniversary)

Gear:
Mickey and I ran Beretta G-model pistols. He ran a brigtac and I ran my 92G.
A few folks ran XD's of various types, including my guy Kerry: He's a hellacious gamer with his XDM, but was really seeking to get the knowledge with his XD compact from AIWB. (New skills and new gun, largely)
The rest ran GLOCKs of various kinds.

Interestingly enough, Donovan suffered a cracked Blacklist Industries trigger pin on one of his Glocks (with a fulcrum trigger I think?)

Donovan and Herb both lost the large orange insert on their AmeriGlo Spartan Operator Sights - This isn't a knock, but might want to check your sights and let AmeriGlo know if you're having issues. I used to run the hell out of AmeriGlo sights on my GLOCK. (BTW: I'll be laughing at all y'all while you guys are calling since my high-tech integral front sight with high-visibility enamel white dot is 1.) integral and 2.) maintenance free! )

http://instagram.com/p/BeOX0Axng-l/


MVS ran an red-dotted GLOCK for the reps.

Gabe was shooting a Gen5 G17 with some kind of High-Vis sight. Ran stock mags.

Holsters were a bit of a mixed bag:
Of course, Gabe ran from his Keepers Concealment holster with solid-loop and used JM Kydex pouches with soft-loops.

45dotACP, Mick and I ran AIWB Keepers AIWBs. Kerry shot from some kind of AIWB (gotta get him hooked up with Spencer's gear).

Three others ran from a more traditional SS IWB.

The rest ran USPSA rigs (get the reps) and Donovan ran a drop-leg/battle belt (work)


Impressions:
Simply put, the class was excellent.

All the things I harp on other instructors for not doing I'll STFU here - Gabe was:

• Prepared with a curriculum and had a timer and notes for himself to keep things on track.
• He had written notes for the people in the class - we can now refer back to these things and really cross reference our information.
• He had performance standards and kept a written, detailed log of OUR performance standards - This is really good stuff for him to compile! Ideas/stats about grading/gear/trends in good/inclement situations, etc. I can't wait for him to present findings some time at a conference years from now.
• He let me know ahead of time what he needed to do in the range to keep the class flowing.

The class really does an incredible job of bridging the gap for intermediate-to-advanced shooters.

So often, it seems, that there are defensive pistol classes that just focus on the technical aspects of marksmanship - I mean, I get it, shooting the bad guy makes him go away and that is totally important people to know cold and do on demand in acceptable time limits - however, by the time you've taken 1-2 classes the information kinda just bleeds into restatement of things we've already heard/etc when it is marketed as a "intermediate" "tactical" class.

There needs to be some curriculum that offers good shooters tougher standards and insights into the application of those standards; "tactic" in the purest sense of the word: you're learning a fast draw and movement and shot accountability so that you can react-then-counterattack/assess as necessary.

The class did an excellent job of cover this wide cross section: some folks might need to focus on the aspects of the reps/draws/triggering, but maybe some of the more intermediate folks could really begin to examine the why we're doing this which is presented. I.e. two people can take the class and come away with VERY different messages/homework/etc.


Day One:
The class started general shooting, discussions about sights, shot calling, triggering, the draw (excellent on so many levels, not just for AIWB, but IWB, etc) moved into dry techniques and then encompassed drills that rep'd that in. The first performance standard was the bill drill.

http://instagram.com/p/BeNtYhxHK9u/


We moved on from there to cover transitions and then broke into the failure-to-stop drill.

My first Bill Drill was a little cautious and was 2.27 from concealment... Just .02 over the limit. All the other runs were all Turbo.

http://instagram.com/p/BeOhUHiHr7n/


I wasn't able to apply, at speed, Gabe's gripping method and reverted to clawing away at my stomach to obtain a master grip.
Learning how to do the draw, better, is worth the price of admission alone.


http://instagram.com/p/BeMmnaenx7A/



Day Two:
We started with the Immediate Incapacitation drill as a warm up and moved into the lecture portion on shooting while moving.
This was, simply put, incredible. Personally, I've never tried it. Never thought it was possible. This segment, again, was worth the price of admission.

Gabe lead us one-by-one through the drills and there was some down time to dry fire, eat donuts, and chat. (BTW - I'm the proud creator of the hashtag #donutsforpeakperformance - my gift to all of you!)

http://instagram.com/p/BeLepZHHAaN/


After one-on-one was concluded, we setup the range to run a few relays. Great footage here - goal was to get first hit/experiment with the technique:

http://instagram.com/p/BePSzeJnZQH/


http://instagram.com/p/BeQgK1uHgva/


After a brief break, we were back on the range to shoot some movement drills, examine the use of cover and shoot the final performance drill, the split Bill Drill:

http://instagram.com/p/BeOg3rEl99K/


http://instagram.com/p/BeOity5nMOU/


We finished up with an incredible segment on "bunkering" (from the paintball term) which roots in find-fix-flank-finish and is a totally 100% legit thing for the concerned citizen to know... Especially for a gamer like me trying to convincingly make the transition to "tactician" I personally, really really really needed to hear this. Honestly, I like guns and etc, but I'm pretty far from an "operator". There are lot of concepts that Paul is trying to beat into my head about self-preservation, etc. I'm getting there.
This final segment was a huge eye-opener and, again, on its own would be worth the price of admission.

The days closed with some awards and admin: everyone in the class walked away with an award!!! I earned a Turbo Pin, shooting 7/8 drills on that level.


Constructive Feedback?
Perhaps, I'd offer two items of minor practical concern:
1.) Gabe, you cram a lot in and you're a 10000% forward kinda guy, but learn to gather the group, take the ears off and create an environment for people to really stop, take their ears off and listen to you. That kind of break where you force people close to listen, may have huge potential on saving your vocal cords and getting people to key in.
2.) Learn to condense/summarize some thoughts - you're a highly intelligent person, but might actually need to dumb some of the phrasing down and streamline a few talking points. Honestly, something like Toastmasters may help.


That's all I got... Turbo Pin #4, "Tiger", out:

http://instagram.com/p/BePSix1HKJ4/


http://instagram.com/p/BeQj8YGlwAL/

[GJM]

Great review!

[Cheap Shot]

Wait. What?

No one said there would be donuts!

[LSP552]

Outstanding AAR. Thanks!

[Mr_White]

Wow, Les, I deeply appreciate you taking the time to articulate all that. Thank you!

And congratulations on your outstanding performance in class and taking home Turbo Pin #4! That is cool you chose the tiger.

[JHC]

That movement stuff was my favorite part across all the outstanding stuff. Love those man vs man vids!

[MVS]

So I was just going through my 13 pages of notes to get started on my AAR and found that much of them are typed up much neater than my Swisherglyphics in the handout from Gabe.

My take is a bit different than Les's. Not that I found the class any less stellar than he, I didn't, but we were coming at it from different positions. He as a gamer, myself as a Timmy. It has only been recently I have discovered gaming to try and improve my skills. This was the aspect of the class I appreciated the most, the technical aspect. Just tonight I was already working some of the dry drills. As to the movement and cover sections, I thought they were very well done, but that is actually stuff I have quite a bit of experience with.

On the movement, Gabe has managed to do something I haven't seen before by putting all of the common types of movement together seamlessly. I have trained in the different ways with different instructors, but most preferred one method over the others and shunned the ones they didn't use. Gabe finds a place for each and optimizes them. I very much like how he took what I know as dynamic movement (he calls it shooting on the move in an open space), and adds accuracy with fore and background awareness and accountability. This was largely what I found lacking in my previous instruction in this area. To do this he has to take a lot more personal time with each student. I think it pays off. He explains how using this method is not only situationally dependent but also dependent on the self awareness of the users skills. This is one of the other things that has previously been glossed over seeing people bust off the X and throw rounds down range thinking that act in itself was accomplishing the goal.

[Mike C]

@Les Pepperoni you should have lead with the photos of the doughnut on whoever's instagram page that was. They are freaking epic. Great review man, big congrats on the Tiger Pin.

[NickDrak]

I really should have went to this😢