This AAR is about six months overdue. Nate (VERT) invited me to this course after a series of discussions (arguments) about the merits of NRA training courses on the Indiana Gun Owners Tactics and Training forum. I will find and link the related threads in the report below. He allowed me to come and take the training course for the cost of materials. I rarely refuse free training offers. I also brought my girlfriend to the course (Paid). To give some background on our perspectives; I am a relatively experienced shooter and have taken several training courses in the past from various schools. They are too numerous to list. My girlfriend is quite inexperienced and has only taken two other training courses prior to this: NRA Basic Pistol (2008) and Mindset Labs Intro to Force-on-Force (2013). I shoot frequently and very much enjoy it. She rarely goes to the range and only cares to be proficient because we keep firearms around and because I beg her to come with me. I don’t think she would ever choose to go on her own without my pushing her.
The Basics
Course: NRA Personal Protection in the Home (Class)
Date: 3/23/13
Duration: 1 Day
Location: Sand Creek Conservation Club
Instructor: Nate (VERT)
Assistant Instructors: Craig (CraigH), Gordon, Anthony (Que)
Related Threads
1. NRA Instructors Course
2. Improving the NRA BASIC courses, what could be done?
Summary
This course is roughly half classroom and half range drills. This course was based on the NRA Personal Protection in the Home course material. All aspects of the NRA course manual and slides were not covered in detail. The course also included a short legal lecture by Anthony (Que) which I do not believe followed the NRA course format. The aim of this report is to cover the class as presented by the instructors. I may come back and write up a separate review of the related NRA book. The course also featured a pitch-in lunch with the main course provided by the host. We brought brownies.
Details
Morning Lecture and Slide Show:
The morning block kicked off with an introduction of the instructors and a range safety lecture. Craig is the lead range officer for the class and he took the reins on the safety briefing. The notable highlights: No gun handling unless under direction of a range officer and all drills will be conducted on a cold range. Craig also discussed a first aid plan should a range accident occur. The plan included an on-site trauma kit, a designated care giver, and evacuation to a local hospital. The three NRA firearm safety rules were also presented. 1) Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. 2) Keep the finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot. 3) Keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
After the range rules and safety protocols were established, Nate picked up with a lecture about the ethical responsibility of keeping a deadly-force option and maintaining a defensive mindset. The idea of a gun being a tool of last resort was emphasized and some considerations for the use of deadly force were addressed including religious convictions, moral objections, etc. ‘Be certain of your willingness to exercise this option’ was the message I took away from the lecture. Situational awareness was discussed, and an NRA version of cooper color codes was presented along with a mindset lecture. The final lecture topic for the first session was on psychological and physiological reactions to a defensive confrontation. Reactions discussed at this point were related to the effect during the encounter and included ‘fight or flight’ concept expanded to include a few other options. Body alarm reactions to adrenaline such as tunnel vision, loss of fine motor skills, etc were discussed here as well. In addition to reactions of the defender, some time was devoted to the reaction of the attacker, and what it might take to stop them.
Morning range session:
After the lecture, we all headed to the range to kick off the live-fire portion of the class. The class was organized in two relays, two people per target stand. Each target stand had a bench on which to set your pistol, as no holster was required for the course and no holster work was covered. All drills were to be conducted on a cold range and were pretty regimented. The instructor/student ratio was high and everyone seemed to get plenty of individual attention.
Craig kicked off the range session with a discussion and demonstration of marksmanship fundamentals. You can see his previous training is Gunsite/modern technique-centric by the vocabulary he uses and the drills he runs on the range. He also discussed the allowable positions for the firearms during our time on the range including low ready, sights on target, or in the holster/on the bench. The morning drills were conducted at five yards. We started with firing single shots on a paper plate with an orange paster in the middle. Three of the shooters in class were brand new gun owners. There were a few people with accuracy issues to address, and those people received individual attention during this course of fire. I am pleased to say that my GF, not really being a shooter, was one of the more accurate shooters on the range. It seems all that stuff I’ve been telling her was working well. The class worked through some marksmanship fundamentals then moved to controlled pairs before going back inside for the legal lecture.
Legal Lecture:
The legal lecture was presented by Anthony (Que). He is an attorney, or has at least been to law school. I didn’t know that prior to attending this course. I thought he was just a famous YouTube personality. He has a very active and vibrant presentation style and really gets your attention. The NRA slides were not really used during this part of the lecture. It seemed he went a little off-script at some points. He covered things like the definition of “curtilage”, what “reasonable” means, and what to say when you call 911 and the police arrive. Que really used some interesting examples to push students to find their line in the sand and figure out what they can and can’t, or will and won’t do. I don’t want to give too much detail, but this was one of the more interesting, and entertaining parts of the course. It seems lunch was in here just after (or just before?) the legal lecture. I didn’t take a specific note on when lunch occurred. Probably because I was busy eating.
When Que finished, Craig stepped up to the plate to discuss cover vs concealment, and some basic principles related to the use of cover. This is the first place where the “in the home” part of the course was brought in to play. Some different kneeling positions were introduced. After this quick classroom session we headed back out to the range for the afternoon range session.
Afternoon Range Session:
The afternoon range session started out working from simulated cover at 7 yards. We did a couple strings leaning out around the cover and firing at the paper plate. The on-range lecture included notes on how many rounds to shoot which lead in to the “nonstandard response” drills that were to come. The basic threat scan was also brought in to play at this point. Most of the drills for the rest of this session were “nonstandard response” drills at various distances between 3 and 7 yards. The concept of seeing as much of the sights as necessary at a given range and speed was presented and explored with these drills. The range session capped off with a 1” dot drill for marksmanship work.
I would describe pretty much all of the range drills in this course as marksmanship drills. There was not much focus on gun handling skills or reloading, and no coverage of malfunction clearance, moving with the gun, or alternative ready positions. I do believe reloading was covered as a discussion point on the range, but I did not take note of any drills specifically covering reloading the pistol.
Afternoon Classroom Session:
The afternoon lecture covered a pretty wide range of topics. This is where the “in the home” portion of the class really comes in to play. Topics include setting up the home with advantageous landscaping, exterior and interior security features, safe rooms, making a plan, and what to do when the police arrive. The emotional aftermath of a defensive situation was discussed. Some considerations for selection of a firearm and appropriate ammunition were presented along with firearm storage considerations.
My Thoughts:
I really thought the instructors did a good job with this course. They encouraged interaction and kept everyone’s attention during the classroom instruction. Significant individual attention was provided on the range, with every student receiving suggestions, critiquing, and encouragement regardless of experience level or performance. I think this is important, especially in a class geared toward inexperienced shooters. Often times the better performing students are left to their own devices while focus is paid to those who need more help. Here, everyone received instruction.
The instructors did a good job with the course material and stayed mostly within the confines of the NRA curriculum. If I remember right, there were some things from the book which were not presented in class in detail. There were some ideas and concepts from the book which I disagree with. I don’t recall anything from the class with which I had a big disagreement. It might not be the exact material I would present, but it wasn’t bad as-presented. If I were going to rename this course, I might call it “Introduction to practical marksmanship with a broad seminar on self-defense topics.” This is a slow-paced course, especially the range sessions. Drills were regimented, low-speed, and static. The classroom portion covered a lot of ground, from legal considerations to pistol selection. Most of it was an introduction of topics rather than an in-depth treatment.
To get back to the arguments in previous threads referenced above: Is this class worth taking? Maybe. That depends an awful lot on what the student’s wants and needs. I would not say I benefitted much from the range drills. Some aspects of the lecture were thought provoking, especially the legal portion. Would I recommend the course? If a gun owner came to me for a class recommendation has some experience, comfortable with basic marksmanship and gun handling, and enjoys shooting, but wanted specifically to increase skill with the pistol, this probably wouldn’t be the course I would recommend. If the person coming to me for a recommendation is a new gun owner, not comfortable with their marksmanship or gun handling, and is new to general self-defense topics, this may be a good fit. My girlfriend, who is not much of a shooter, liked the pace of the range drills. She got tired of shooting toward the end of the class and I ended up shooting her strings and mine. Many of the topics presented in the lecture portion were new to her. Even if we don’t agree with everything exactly as presented, she’s thinking about topics she otherwise would not have been considering.
I have been in a faster-paced class where a new gun owner appeared to be very uncomfortable with the pace and progression of the class. He was nervous and uncomfortable the first day and he did not return on the second day. Now, this was a much more aggressive and fast-paced class than NRA PPITH. The class was just not the right fit for this student. Unfortunately, that experience may have turned the guy off to training completely, or even to gun ownership. There’s no way to know. I would bet he’d have been just fine in this NRA course, and maybe it would be just the kind of training wheels he needed to get off on the right foot. The bottom line is there are all kinds of students out there. Some need or want to digest the information at a slower pace, or in smaller bites. For those students, this class may be what they need.
Al l that being said, I do believe this class leaves significant holes in what I consider to be essential martial gun-handling and shooting skills. So while it may be a starting point for a neophyte, it should not be the ending point. And I don’t think it is advertised or marketed as such (at least by these instructors).
The Basics
Course: NRA Personal Protection in the Home (Class)
Date: 3/23/13
Duration: 1 Day
Location: Sand Creek Conservation Club
Instructor: Nate (VERT)
Assistant Instructors: Craig (CraigH), Gordon, Anthony (Que)
Related Threads
1. NRA Instructors Course
2. Improving the NRA BASIC courses, what could be done?
Summary
This course is roughly half classroom and half range drills. This course was based on the NRA Personal Protection in the Home course material. All aspects of the NRA course manual and slides were not covered in detail. The course also included a short legal lecture by Anthony (Que) which I do not believe followed the NRA course format. The aim of this report is to cover the class as presented by the instructors. I may come back and write up a separate review of the related NRA book. The course also featured a pitch-in lunch with the main course provided by the host. We brought brownies.
Details
Morning Lecture and Slide Show:
The morning block kicked off with an introduction of the instructors and a range safety lecture. Craig is the lead range officer for the class and he took the reins on the safety briefing. The notable highlights: No gun handling unless under direction of a range officer and all drills will be conducted on a cold range. Craig also discussed a first aid plan should a range accident occur. The plan included an on-site trauma kit, a designated care giver, and evacuation to a local hospital. The three NRA firearm safety rules were also presented. 1) Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. 2) Keep the finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot. 3) Keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
After the range rules and safety protocols were established, Nate picked up with a lecture about the ethical responsibility of keeping a deadly-force option and maintaining a defensive mindset. The idea of a gun being a tool of last resort was emphasized and some considerations for the use of deadly force were addressed including religious convictions, moral objections, etc. ‘Be certain of your willingness to exercise this option’ was the message I took away from the lecture. Situational awareness was discussed, and an NRA version of cooper color codes was presented along with a mindset lecture. The final lecture topic for the first session was on psychological and physiological reactions to a defensive confrontation. Reactions discussed at this point were related to the effect during the encounter and included ‘fight or flight’ concept expanded to include a few other options. Body alarm reactions to adrenaline such as tunnel vision, loss of fine motor skills, etc were discussed here as well. In addition to reactions of the defender, some time was devoted to the reaction of the attacker, and what it might take to stop them.
Morning range session:
After the lecture, we all headed to the range to kick off the live-fire portion of the class. The class was organized in two relays, two people per target stand. Each target stand had a bench on which to set your pistol, as no holster was required for the course and no holster work was covered. All drills were to be conducted on a cold range and were pretty regimented. The instructor/student ratio was high and everyone seemed to get plenty of individual attention.
Craig kicked off the range session with a discussion and demonstration of marksmanship fundamentals. You can see his previous training is Gunsite/modern technique-centric by the vocabulary he uses and the drills he runs on the range. He also discussed the allowable positions for the firearms during our time on the range including low ready, sights on target, or in the holster/on the bench. The morning drills were conducted at five yards. We started with firing single shots on a paper plate with an orange paster in the middle. Three of the shooters in class were brand new gun owners. There were a few people with accuracy issues to address, and those people received individual attention during this course of fire. I am pleased to say that my GF, not really being a shooter, was one of the more accurate shooters on the range. It seems all that stuff I’ve been telling her was working well. The class worked through some marksmanship fundamentals then moved to controlled pairs before going back inside for the legal lecture.
Legal Lecture:
The legal lecture was presented by Anthony (Que). He is an attorney, or has at least been to law school. I didn’t know that prior to attending this course. I thought he was just a famous YouTube personality. He has a very active and vibrant presentation style and really gets your attention. The NRA slides were not really used during this part of the lecture. It seemed he went a little off-script at some points. He covered things like the definition of “curtilage”, what “reasonable” means, and what to say when you call 911 and the police arrive. Que really used some interesting examples to push students to find their line in the sand and figure out what they can and can’t, or will and won’t do. I don’t want to give too much detail, but this was one of the more interesting, and entertaining parts of the course. It seems lunch was in here just after (or just before?) the legal lecture. I didn’t take a specific note on when lunch occurred. Probably because I was busy eating.
When Que finished, Craig stepped up to the plate to discuss cover vs concealment, and some basic principles related to the use of cover. This is the first place where the “in the home” part of the course was brought in to play. Some different kneeling positions were introduced. After this quick classroom session we headed back out to the range for the afternoon range session.
Afternoon Range Session:
The afternoon range session started out working from simulated cover at 7 yards. We did a couple strings leaning out around the cover and firing at the paper plate. The on-range lecture included notes on how many rounds to shoot which lead in to the “nonstandard response” drills that were to come. The basic threat scan was also brought in to play at this point. Most of the drills for the rest of this session were “nonstandard response” drills at various distances between 3 and 7 yards. The concept of seeing as much of the sights as necessary at a given range and speed was presented and explored with these drills. The range session capped off with a 1” dot drill for marksmanship work.
I would describe pretty much all of the range drills in this course as marksmanship drills. There was not much focus on gun handling skills or reloading, and no coverage of malfunction clearance, moving with the gun, or alternative ready positions. I do believe reloading was covered as a discussion point on the range, but I did not take note of any drills specifically covering reloading the pistol.
Afternoon Classroom Session:
The afternoon lecture covered a pretty wide range of topics. This is where the “in the home” portion of the class really comes in to play. Topics include setting up the home with advantageous landscaping, exterior and interior security features, safe rooms, making a plan, and what to do when the police arrive. The emotional aftermath of a defensive situation was discussed. Some considerations for selection of a firearm and appropriate ammunition were presented along with firearm storage considerations.
My Thoughts:
I really thought the instructors did a good job with this course. They encouraged interaction and kept everyone’s attention during the classroom instruction. Significant individual attention was provided on the range, with every student receiving suggestions, critiquing, and encouragement regardless of experience level or performance. I think this is important, especially in a class geared toward inexperienced shooters. Often times the better performing students are left to their own devices while focus is paid to those who need more help. Here, everyone received instruction.
The instructors did a good job with the course material and stayed mostly within the confines of the NRA curriculum. If I remember right, there were some things from the book which were not presented in class in detail. There were some ideas and concepts from the book which I disagree with. I don’t recall anything from the class with which I had a big disagreement. It might not be the exact material I would present, but it wasn’t bad as-presented. If I were going to rename this course, I might call it “Introduction to practical marksmanship with a broad seminar on self-defense topics.” This is a slow-paced course, especially the range sessions. Drills were regimented, low-speed, and static. The classroom portion covered a lot of ground, from legal considerations to pistol selection. Most of it was an introduction of topics rather than an in-depth treatment.
To get back to the arguments in previous threads referenced above: Is this class worth taking? Maybe. That depends an awful lot on what the student’s wants and needs. I would not say I benefitted much from the range drills. Some aspects of the lecture were thought provoking, especially the legal portion. Would I recommend the course? If a gun owner came to me for a class recommendation has some experience, comfortable with basic marksmanship and gun handling, and enjoys shooting, but wanted specifically to increase skill with the pistol, this probably wouldn’t be the course I would recommend. If the person coming to me for a recommendation is a new gun owner, not comfortable with their marksmanship or gun handling, and is new to general self-defense topics, this may be a good fit. My girlfriend, who is not much of a shooter, liked the pace of the range drills. She got tired of shooting toward the end of the class and I ended up shooting her strings and mine. Many of the topics presented in the lecture portion were new to her. Even if we don’t agree with everything exactly as presented, she’s thinking about topics she otherwise would not have been considering.
I have been in a faster-paced class where a new gun owner appeared to be very uncomfortable with the pace and progression of the class. He was nervous and uncomfortable the first day and he did not return on the second day. Now, this was a much more aggressive and fast-paced class than NRA PPITH. The class was just not the right fit for this student. Unfortunately, that experience may have turned the guy off to training completely, or even to gun ownership. There’s no way to know. I would bet he’d have been just fine in this NRA course, and maybe it would be just the kind of training wheels he needed to get off on the right foot. The bottom line is there are all kinds of students out there. Some need or want to digest the information at a slower pace, or in smaller bites. For those students, this class may be what they need.
Al l that being said, I do believe this class leaves significant holes in what I consider to be essential martial gun-handling and shooting skills. So while it may be a starting point for a neophyte, it should not be the ending point. And I don’t think it is advertised or marketed as such (at least by these instructors).
