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Thread: AAR Super Dave Harrington, Combat Speed LLC Combat Speed Pistol July 17/18, 2021 Aca

  1. #1
    Member JEFF_WATCH's Avatar
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    AAR Super Dave Harrington, Combat Speed LLC Combat Speed Pistol July 17/18, 2021 Aca

    AAR
    Super Dave Harrington, Combat Speed LLC
    Combat Speed Pistol
    July 17/18, 2021
    Academi Northeast Salem, CT

    Instructor:
    Super Dave Harrington
    Round count: 850 +/-
    Time: 9:00am – 5:00pm
    Weather: Indoor range.
    ----
    This was a two-day class indoors, so S.Dave had to modify some of the drills as the range space was not his usual outside open space. This review is not a drill by drill breakdown and is not necessary in the chronological order we ran it in. Throughout the two days, S.Dave would mix up the drills from drills to mini-lectures that were relevant to the topic or skill we were working on or about to work on. It was hot and very humid during the two-day class. S.Dave broke often for short breaks as we needed to cool down, rehydrate, and do restroom trips, which we all appreciated.

    Starred off with introductions of S.Dave and each of the students. Who we were? our shooting history, and where we thought our particular skill was. S.Dave wanted us to know each other and our background as we would have to trust each other to be safe and mindful when controlled chaos happened.

    Dave went into a 50 minute detailed in brief on what we were going to be doing, the theories, the skills we would need to possess, and how mindset was all part of the process.
    Dave touched on the following items within the in brief:


    • Situational & tactical awareness
    • Combat marksmanship
    • Principles of combat marksmanship
    • Fighting with firearms
    • Knowing your ROE
    • Self-Analysis
    • Human performance objectives
    • Firearms selection
    • The mechanical knowledge base of your firearms
    • Your knowledge of your ammo & ballistic performance
    • Firearms controls
    • Firearms nomenclature
    • Firearms method of operation
    • Firearms cycle of operation
    • Accelerating learning curve is self-awareness
    • Managing reserve ammo
    • Accuracy equation
    • Marksmanship
    • Principles of marksmanship
    • Mechanics of aiming
    • Calling your shots
    • VDA (vision, decision, action)


    After the lecture, we got our safety and medical brief and we headed downstairs to the range.

    Our basic loadout was 4 standard capacity mags or six (10 round mags). S.Dave runs a hot range. After each drill, you were expected to top off your gun with a full mag to be ready for the next drill.

    Before the drill, S. Dave would explain the drill and then demo the drill. One of the things that I liked about his style... if there was a flyer on his target he acknowledged it and said “Oh Well... I am over it..”

    The class was informally broken into two parts, marksmanship drills, and “cool guy stuff” drills as S.Dave called it. We would be starting and ending the days with marksmanship drills and doing “cool guy stuff” in the middle.

    Our first drill was 10 rounds into a B8 from 15 yards for accuracy, no time limit. It was interesting to see the newer students with less training flying through the drill while more experienced students took their time in the drill. S.Dave would interpret your target and give you constructive feedback and ask if your immediate recall memory could explain why a shot was blown? We did the same drill again, this time shooting it 1 shot at a time. I did better with a constant rate of fire.

    We did a few drills looking for patterns on the target, rapid-firing three standard mags at 10 yards. Concentrating on the sights, recoil management, and trigger press to get combat effective hits. We were instructed to push our limits, I was surprised how few shots were outside the scoring rings on my B8 target. I went pretty darn fast!

    We did some blocks of finding our natural point of aim and point shooting two-handed, strong hand only and then not as strong hand only. Again I was amazed at how accurate I and the students around me were. The target analysis was impressive. S.Dave is big on timing, we worked a lot on finding the correct speed and the correct position of the pistol to break the shot as soon as the sights were where they needed to be on the target.

    In between our marksmanship drills, there was “cool guy stuff”. We ran drills moving and shooting, shooting while moving, shooting from odd positions, shooting from different elevations, firing the gun on a different axis than the normal vertical axis, alternating strong hand shooting and not as strong hand shooting. Getting the gun out of our holster with our not as strong hand and engaging the target….all sorts of interesting stuff. #FUN

    We did a bunch of team drills where your partner was downrange of you and you needed to be switched on and absolutely aware of where he/she were before you mounted your gun and fired at the designated target. Moving forward, sideways, backward, diagonal. It can get confusing to remember the movement pattern, the firing sequence, and making sure your partner was not downrange when it was time to fire at your target. THOSE DRILLS WERE REALLY GOOD! I took S.Dave integrated weapons for urban fighting last year and we did these drills, this year I did so much better with staying calm and not fucking up the pattern. The two drills that come to mind that were challenging were the Iron Cross, where your offside shooting can be very interesting, and around the world, going prone on a concrete slab SUCKED!

    Most all the drills were off the timer, you were given your time and the goal was to do the drill in less time with better target scoring in the next iteration of the drill. The marksmanship drills targets were officially scored while the “cool guy stuff” targets were just examined for patterns and misses. It’s funny that introducing the “beep” of the timer scrambles most people’s brains, I included. Say the hot word and I am cool and calm, I hear the beep and my mind go DAAAA! Blank! I always tried to be one of the last people to run an individual drill. I wanted as much time to watch others go through and reinforce the drill requirements. (public school education I had)

    S. Dave urged us to be as aggressive as possible when running the “cool guy stuff” drills. Really push ourselves with the speed of movement and cadence of shots. We did a lot of talking about the uses of cover and movement to the next piece of cover to improve your position against your attacker. S.Dave would say, “if you not moving and engaging on your enemy, he is moving and engaging on you…” Gunfighting takes thinking, you must practice the shooting, reloading, malfunctions, so on the worst day of your life those things won’t stress you out and you can focus on muzzle awareness, moving to a better piece of cover, and doing the work of winning the gunfight.

    In one of the movement drills with a partner, I had a light primer strike. I immediately tapped racked, mounted the gun, fired, accessed my hit, noticed where my partner was on the range, and moved to the next position. I remember only thinking about did my shot go where it needed to go? And where was my partner, was I safe to move to the next position? my muzzle orientation. All the other tasks I did without actively thinking about it. It was the first time I actually realized that all the classes and practice I have done had myelinated into my body. LIGHT BULB MOMENT FOR ME.

    We ended the class with a few iterations of Larry Vickers The Test. 10 rounds at 10 yards in 10 seconds on a B8.

    This was my second S.Dave class and it was really good. I enjoyed myself so much more than my first class. The first class was a carbine & pistol class with very high-end shooters and instructors in the class. I struggled to keep up, the class moved very fast and there was a lot more complex “cool guy stuff” drill with both carbine and pistol. I spent the year really practicing and putting the time in for my next time with S.Dave and the hard work paid off. I was so much calmer during the drills and confident in my competence.

    Excellent class, S.Dave has a ton of knowledge and experience to share with his students. He is personable, direct, and has a way of breaking down complicated material into bite-sized pieces for his students to absorb before moving on. His perspective comes from a career in the military SF and years of competitions so as a student I got a different perspective of the material. Most classes ultimately teach the same thing, getting accurate shots where you want them to go in an efficient rapid sequence as well as the gun handling portion. S.Dave has a unique way of getting the information and technique into his students.

    If you have the opportunity to train with Super Dave Harrington you should. Well worth your time and the tuition expense.


    ##
    Last edited by JEFF_WATCH; 07-20-2021 at 03:27 PM.

  2. #2
    Site Supporter Clark Jackson's Avatar
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    Good AAR. Thanks for taking the time to write/post.
    "True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost." -Arthur Ashe

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    Member JEFF_WATCH's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Clark Jackson View Post
    Good AAR. Thanks for taking the time to write/post.
    Thank you! and you're welcome.

  4. #4
    Site Supporter ST911's Avatar
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    Got a lot out of my classes with Super Dave, and he is on my will-repeat list.
    الدهون القاع الفتيات لك جعل العالم هزاز جولة الذهاب

  5. #5
    Member JEFF_WATCH's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ST911 View Post
    Got a lot out of my classes with Super Dave, and he is on my will-repeat list.
    Agree! Mine too.

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    Excellent AAR.

    For some reason, I was a little biased against attending one of Super Dave's classes. No idea why. This AAR completely changed my perception. Sounds like an excellent class.

  7. #7
    Member JEFF_WATCH's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark D View Post
    Excellent AAR.

    For some reason, I was a little biased against attending one of Super Dave's classes. No idea why. This AAR completely changed my perception. Sounds like an excellent class.
    Thank you! It was an excellent class...

  8. #8
    I’ve taken three Sdave classes. It’s cool to be a free American and be able to learn from people like this. He estimated he has over a million rounds through an MP5!, and he’s shot 3 Berettas to destruction. I love how he goes about his day in Florida loaded down with six G17 mags, lol, the wrong guy for a criminal to happen across. He has an Instagram page where he’s been posting training videos if you all are interested.

  9. #9
    Thank you for the AAR. If SD comes back to CT, I may have to make that happen. Sounds like an awesome class.

  10. #10
    Delta Busta Kappa fratboy Hot Sauce's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Williams View Post
    I’ve taken three Sdave classes. It’s cool to be a free American and be able to learn from people like this. He estimated he has over a million rounds through an MP5!, and he’s shot 3 Berettas to destruction. I love how he goes about his day in Florida loaded down with six G17 mags, lol, the wrong guy for a criminal to happen across. He has an Instagram page where he’s been posting training videos if you all are interested.
    He's up to six mags?

    A couple of years ago he told me four.
    Gaming will get you killed in the streets. Dueling will get you killed in the fields.
    -Alexander Hamilton

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