A lot of people are unimpressed with him as he has both no combat experience and no competition experience. Also, when he was in the military, he wasn't in a unit well known for their gun handling like say CAG, DEVGRU, MARSOC, AMU, etc.Originally Posted by 1776United
#RESIST
None of that matters to me as he can (apparently I assume) shoot, what gets me is that he's a celebrity before everything else. He doesn't do what he does to coach people first and foremost. You go to Costa when you need a flamboyant action movie actor, not to learn.
Semper Gumby, Always Flexible
Nor has he any LE experience, AFAIK. And that is what a good instructor needs to impart on all the insurance salesmen, hardware store clerks, young and old urban professionals, and other totally non-gun-experienced students who make up the majority of these classes. Fantasy Gun Camp, a'la Yeager and some others, is great fun to those who have never "been there"... although from some of the videos I've seen, its a miracle none of those folks have shot each other yet... but it is of practically zero value to a serious person looking to improve his skill and learn how to fight one-on-how-many? on the street.
This exactly describes my pal. He wanted to learn better how to shoot, and how to actually GTF outta Dodge if possible, instead of doing a bunch of two-man fire team attacks. There was a lot of that... dunno, maybe that's all Costa knows to present, or perhaps he thinks it is what most students want. Whatever. He certainly did my pal no favors, and took a lot of his money for almost no return. He did cut back the round count on Day Two and Three... my pal shot just over 2K total rounds.
And BTW... there were twenty-FOUR students, not twenty-two.
.
In and of itself, a larger class size does not break an event if students are safe. It can remain educational as well, if the instructional design is geared toward that number. I discussed one possible construction in a Vickers AAR:
I've also seen this in other commercial, LE, and mil training. It does require the student (and/or student-partner) to be more involved in their own learning. Students should also be aware of what their experience will be. If they were expecting a lot of 1:1 time or other individualized feedback, even classes with 8-10:1 ratios still may not deliver a lot of that. It's not a tutoring session, it's a class.Throughout the class, he used varied instructional methods for high quality adult learning. A good example of this is the use of large group coaching, instructor demonstration, student demonstration, student performance of the drill, then group review/remediation. Doing so is both a good management tool for this student:instructor ratio and promotes interactive learning. Additional on-line 1:1 coaching was saved for students with particular needs.
The other reality is that it's meeting the needs of the folks that are signing up for straphanging, certificate collecting, blog and gunzine articles, and facebooking. Complaints are loud on the net, and can be valid, but I believe are still the minority report.
This. Depends on the design, students, and objectives. Some drills are ammo eaters. Admittedly though, the open enrollment classes that eat round counts like that in a quality, purposeful way would be the exception not the rule.
الدهون القاع الفتيات لك جعل العالم هزاز جولة الذهاب
*cough*TLG Shoot*cough*Not THAT is a great idea!
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Last edited by BaiHu; 10-21-2016 at 09:14 AM.
Fairness leads to extinction much faster than harsh parameters.
As long as we are going to dogpile Costa, my thought is I would be more likely to go to him to learn how to trim a beard than press a trigger. On the other hand, he would be a natural for the new SA Saint promo video. Is he tall enough to have been in the Coast Guard?
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
I agree. Seems like we are experiencing forum group think that would lead one to think that somehow shooting more is bad.
Are there diminishing returns between round 100 and round 1000? Yeah, probably, but that doesn't mean round 1000 was a waste.
A small class (i.e. Not waiting on another relay) shooting mostly steel (i.e. Not pasting/rehanging targets) can go to 1000 rounds pretty easily.
Or you can have a large class with two relays, do some ball and dummy drills, listen to war stories, get a AK history lesson, take a long lunch and let the instructor tell you that no learning occurs after 3 pm. Then you'll shoot about 300 rounds.
I know which I prefer.
Caveat- Those Magpul videos showed some mag dumps that probably were not an efficient use of ammo, and I don't know much about Costa so I'm not defending him.
I've experienced probably all possible variations on round counts and pacing.
Most of my experience into higher round count instruction has been positive. Certain conditions which seem to facilitate high round counts include:
utilizing steel targets
overall general class competence
running relays
high instructor energy level
The instructor energy level is hard to pin down, but it can have quite an uplifting effect on student energy levels.
I've had instructors who insisted that people were "smoked" after only 350-400 rounds at 3pm on an 8am start.
I didn't feel fatigued, but I trusted the instructors judgement at the time.
I realize now the instructor was smoked, not the students.
Low energy.
Last edited by Jay Cunningham; 10-21-2016 at 10:11 AM.
Lots of great points in both of these posts! Lots of agreement here.
Technical excellence supports tactical preparedness
Lord of the Food Court
http://www.gabewhitetraining.com
We actually found shortness to be an asset when doing boardings. I'm 6'3" and still have a lump on my head from banging it on a hatch coaming whilst being "dynamic."
Last edited by Lester Polfus; 10-21-2016 at 11:48 AM.
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