Review: @John Murphy FPF Training Concealed Carry: Advanced Skills and Tactics
9/21/19-9/22/19
Location: Racine County Line Rifle Club, Racine, WI
Cost: $425
Prerequisite: some sort of formal firearms instruction
Executive summary: if you carry a gun, this should be the one class you take.
This is a "review" rather than an "AAR," as I am not an operator operating operationally.
Class composition: the class consisted of 11 people the first day (seven men, four women), but only eight on the second day (five men, three women). One active-duty police officer (who also acted as a semi-assistant to Murphy); the rest of us were normal folks. Most of the people appeared to have a decent level of skill; I was probably in the bottom third in terms of skill. Some people always seem to want to know what guns people had: I had a PX4CC, there was one H&K VP9, one S&W Shield, one CZ P07(?), one flavor of S&W M&P (it looked like a compact), and the rest were Glocks of various flavors (mostly 19's, but one dude had a 34). Interestingly, the LEO had her duty .40 Glock on the first day, but her personal XDM 9mm the second day (she supplied her own "kilt in da streetz" jokes).
Weather: sunny and calm during the classroom portion (of course). The rest of the weekend was rain and more rain, varying from sprinkles to downpours. We all looked like drowned rats by the end of the day.
"Know yourself"
Before the class, Murphy (I hope he will forgive me for referring to him as "Murphy") sent us the link to his YouTube videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ju5...L2ROyN-TSdDGLq), with instructions to watch all of them. Murphy expected us to have a grasp on that material, because the classroom portion started right off with us discussing some of the videos and Murphy presenting follow-on material to what we already viewed. His purpose was to acquaint us with the "soft" as well as the "hard" skills that those who follow the "armed lifestyle" need on a daily basis. We also discussed some "post encounter" skills.
After the armed lifestyle discussion, we had a "stop the bleed" instruction, which included tourniquets and pressure dressings. Murphy issued each of us a practice ankle medkit which included a CAT tourniquet and an "Israeli" pressure bandage, which allowed us to practice using both of these items. In addition, for the rest of the class, Murphy expected us to have this medkit on our person at all times, because at any time he might call out "Tourniquet/pressure bandage: right/left arm/leg!" and start counting. We would either have to self-apply the item, or apply it to a partner. If Murphy reached 20 without you having successfully applied the item, he informed you that you had bled out.
The third classroom subject was pepper spray. Murphy had a fairly complete lecture on the strengths and weaknesses of pepper spray, including what it could and could not do, as well as suggested brands. Similar to the medkit, Murphy issued each of us a pepper spray trainer the he expected us to keep on our person. The classroom portion ended with us going outside and practicing using our pepper spray trainers on Murphy (the only time it was OK to shoot him all weekend). With pepper spray available, we also practiced "street encounters" (based on Craig Douglas's "MUC") with either Murphy or a partner. We broke for lunch after this, and it started raining.
"Behold my genius!"
After lunch, we headed to the range. Murphy had us shooting a variety of drills for us to asses our skills, including shooting single shots and groups from one of Murphy's "five starting positions" (at rest, the "bodguard," the "thinker," "shields up," and low-ready). We used VTAC and Murphy's own FPF targets which highlighted the high-center-mass and eye-box areas. Well-know n drills included the "Dot Torture," "The Test," and the "5 x 5."
"Once more for America!"
On day two, Murphy had us put it all together. We started with some more well-known drills (more Dot Torture, a couple FAST's, a Bill Drill, etc.), but then we started encountering Murphy's "special sauce." Remember the medkit? Still in play. Remember the pepper spray? We needed it now. Murphy started having us do drills, but know he started supplying some pretty innovative "cognitive loading" for us when starting the drills to show how this loading affected our time and accuracy. In some cases, the street encounter skills from the first day were the correct answer. In others, we needed pepper spray. In still others, we needed to shoot. In some scenarios, we needed to transition between all three skills, sometimes going back and forth from skill to skill: talk -> pepper spray -> gun -> maybe back to pepper spray. Murphy also had us using the post-encounter skills from day one.
"Dead customers are not repeat customers"
I wasn't sure quite what to expect from this class. I had seen some reviews, so I knew it wasn't just a shooting class. After thinking about it, this class had a little of everything that concealed carriers need to know to successfully go about their daily lives. As and instructor, Murphy can yell and swear like the former Marine that he is, but neither I nor any other student that I talked to detected any malice in it; in fact, much of it was quite humorous. At the final send-off, Murphy showed some serious emotion: he truly wants each of us to be prepared for what would most likely be the worst day of our lives.
I would not hesitate to recommend this class to anyone.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Jeff22
