Yes. That is the new target.Originally Posted by John Hearne
Yes. That is the new target.
In the department of amazing similarities.....
- It's not the odds, it's the stakes.
- If you aren't dry practicing every week, you're not serious.....
- "Tache-Psyche Effect - a polite way of saying 'You suck.' " - GG
So am I correct as interpreting that to mean that they must score 100%, or is it still 90% but only hits in the rings count?Yes. That is the new target.
Outside of a skills-test type prerequisite (because we want to avoid the "those who can't do - teach" pitfall), I think the reps that an instructor course needs should be primarily filled by the students filling the role of students for their classmates or instructors during teach-back practical demonstrations.
If you are at an instructor, your minimum qualification to get in the door is personally knowing the techniques and material; the instructor course is to ensure you are prepared to pass that material on to adult learners, to ensure that you can run a range safely, that you can prepare the logistics of running a training program, and to ensure that you are prepared to answer the "why?" and not just the "how?" questions about firearms and techniques. You should be getting rounds downrange during a class, but in my eyes, it should be to show that you belong in the class; during demonstrations as part of the modules you are presenting to prac-app; and as you role-play a student class for your peers while they prac-app their lessons.
I really appreciated the way the SIG academy ran their instructor development course a decade ago when I took it. They held a high standard for skill, and it was a relatively round heavy course because students did not come with a specific curriculum of material that their agency expects them to have, but they really focused on the "why" behind every item they taught - not in a doctrinally calcified way, but in a "you should seek out training, and ensure that your policies and techniques make sense, and are not just a product of 'we have always done it this way.'" They hit hard on actually preparing a lesson plan and how to cover modules in a course - and they made us demonstrate it as part of the instructor course - all the way down to ensuring that we had our logistics in order for what gear we needed to draw to accomplish the training plan.
I think only only the rings count. Will verify.
We lost two from my class on the shoot-in qual.
I had an ER nurse in a class. I noticed she kept taking all head shots. Her response when asked why, "'I've seen too many people who have been shot in the chest putting up a fight in the ER." Point taken.
GPSTC furnishes ammo for classes; however, they have instituted a new policy:
Students must bring the ammo needed for any “shoot-in”.
They calculated how much they were spending on ammo for students were gone after the “shoot-in”.
I had an ER nurse in a class. I noticed she kept taking all head shots. Her response when asked why, "'I've seen too many people who have been shot in the chest putting up a fight in the ER." Point taken.
Another possible factor, especially if the shooting includes a bull’s-eye course is the GPSTC ammo may or may not shoot to point of aim /be zeroed for the students weapon.
Not really a problem in the typical no cop left behind pistol qualification on a full-size silhouette but it could be a factor in a bull’s-eye course shot on a B8.
The shoot-ins are typically the state qual course or a variation of it. There's not enough difference in ammo to change the POI to miss an 8x10 A-zone.
I had an ER nurse in a class. I noticed she kept taking all head shots. Her response when asked why, "'I've seen too many people who have been shot in the chest putting up a fight in the ER." Point taken.
Agencies often send people to firearms instructor classes for totally illogical reasons. Some guys want to attend because they think it might be neat or because they want to check a box on their career profession plan. Sending somebody who isn’t that interested and/or can’t shoot is a waste of an instructor slot, but it happens all the time.
If you do it right, being an instructor can be hard work and it requires a personal commitment to maintaining your own skills, which is easy if you have genuine interest and damn near impossible if you do not.
Lots of cops go to one instructor class one time once, and never attend much relevant training after that (except for any instructor updates that may be required by the state) and their skills may rapidly become out of date. To be fair, they may still have utility as a safety officer/target scorer.
For most of us, firearms instructing is a labor of love and we never get the time or resources to do more than fight a slightly losing battle to maintain the basic gun handling & marsmanship skills of our students.
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