Seymour Training Opportunity - Tactical Response

[Bart]

Hello INGOers, I just wanted to let you know about some upcoming training in Seymour IN. The Seymour Police Department is once again hosting two Tactical Response classes in September.

This year we are dong Fighting Pistol on Sept. 25 and 26. It will be followed by Advanced Fighting Pistol on Sept. 27 and 28. As always, any upstanding citizen, cop, or military member is welcome to attend.

I know a few of you guys took fighting pistol last year. If you thought that was a good experience, you will be blown away by advanced fighting pistol. This is top notch training gentlemen, and ladies. Anyone who owns a gun for protection should take these classes.

You can sign up for one or both classes at www.Tacticalresponse.com. Check out their web site for more info. Also, check out www.getoffthex.com for course reviews.

Bart

 

[Britton]

I'll be there with my two oldest sons, I'll be helping them load mags while they train. Look forward to seeing them train under excellent instructors.

 

[troy_mp]

REAL life insurance.

Folks,

I took Tactical Response's "Fighting Pistol" last year in Seymour, IN. I unreservedly recommend the class as REAL life insurance.

Here's the review of the class as posted on LiveCloud, (i.e.), Tactical Response's website. You can see other reviews there of the various Tactical Response classes taught in Seymour over the years.

One of my favorite, oft quoted, admonitions re: responsible gun ownership comes, as many of you know, from Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper ... "Owning a handgun dosen't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician." With that in mind do yourself, your family and your community a favor and get to this class.

"Posted October 05, 2009 03:12

Tarantino 'neath the Bodhi Tree or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the World's Most Dangerous ATM.

Abridged assessment: First rate. Attend, you’ll be much better for it.

Unabridged assessment …
For what it’s worth, I consider "Fighting Pistol [Mobile]" and "The Fight - Force on Force Scenarios [Mobile]" two sides of the same token. A token that buys you your first trip on the life-long learning express that is responsible and effective handgun ownership/innocent life preservation. As such I've combined the two classes into one for purposes of my After Action Report (AAR).

WHAT was taught:
1.) "Fighting Pistol [Mobile]": (a/k/a: How to drive a pistol like 'ya 'gots some damn sense.) Tactical Response

and

2.) "The Fight - Force on Force Scenarios [Mobile]": (a/k/a: How the 'rubber' of the aforementioned 'driving' lessons meets the 'road' of life.) http://www.tacticalresponse.co...urse.php?courseID=80

WHERE it was taught:
Seymour, Indiana, USA. "Fighting Pistol [Mobile]" was graciously hosted by the Seymour Police Department at the Seymour Police Department Shooting Range within the Freeman Field Airport complex. "The Fight - Force on Force Scenarios [Mobile]" was held at an undisclosed government location craftily disguised as the abandoned area 'out back' of the local 84 Lumber.

I'd driven down from Indianapolis, IN for the four days of training, (i.e.), two days for "Fighting Pistol [Mobile]" and two more days for "The Fight - Force on Force Scenarios [Mobile]" . Interestingly enough I'm originally from near the Seymour, IN area and graduated from Seymour High School. It was a nice opportunity to visit my family, (free room and board 'doncha know) and spend some time with equally motivated/engaging course classmates.

I'd heard about the Tactical Response courses via the Indiana Gun Owners (INGO) website, (i.e.), INGunOwners - Indiana Gun Owners Community. Bart Bevers, one of the Seymour Police Officers, is a member of INGO. One of his postings highly touted the Tactical Response training approach as he and other members of the department had taken courses with Tactical Response.

WHEN it was taught:
"Fighting Pistol [Mobile]" was 9/19/09 - 9/20/09.
"The Fight - Force on Force Scenarios [Mobile]" was 9/21/09 - 9/22/09.

WHO taught it/attended it:
Tactical Response trainers ... James Yeager, ‘Aussie Brian’, ‘Diesel Brian’, ‘Real Estate Mike’ and ‘Peace Officer Ian’ [sorry I didn't get everybody's last name 'fellas. Maybe in the interest of maintaining plausible deniability per any future inquiries as to whereabouts that's not such a bad thing. By contrast ... James is so high profile, read raging hemorrhoid, there's little sense in trying to safeguard his identity since I'm sure he's in the 99th+ percentile on so very, very many sh*t lists by now.

]

In attendance were folks from all walks of life ... Information Technology workers like myself, Police Officers, folks in the Executive Protection game, Small Business Owner, ER nurses and even an ER Physician. ER personnel are a lot like handguns ... better to have one around and not need him/her than to not have one when you need 'em.

WHY I took it:
Having recently renewed/upgraded my concealed carry permit to "lifetime" status, my genuine thanks to my home state of Indiana for that option, I decided I could learn a thing or two about being a better armed citizen and would hopefully have some fun to boot.

HOW it was taught:
The Tactical Response trainers are big movie buffs. Keeping with that notion/flavor ... from "The Untouchables" - 1987 per The Untouchables (1987) - Memorable quotes

"Malone (Sean Connery): Why do you want to join the force?
George Stone (Andy Garcia): To protect the property and citizenry of...
Malone: Ah, don't waste my time with that bull****. Where you from, Stone?
George Stone: I'm from the south-side.
Malone: Stone. George Stone. That's your name? What's your real name?
George Stone: That is my real name.
Malone: Nah. What was it before you changed it?
George Stone: Giuseppe Petri.
Malone: Ah, I knew it. That's all you need, one thieving wop on the team.
George Stone: Hey, what's that you say?
Malone: I said that you're a lying member of a no good race.
[He cuffs Stone across the face. As he draws back his arm again, Stone presses a gun under his chin]
George Stone: Much better than you, you stinking Irish pig.
Malone: Oh, I like him."

Don't let that spook you though. You'll see why/how it's worthwhile below.

***************************************************************************************************************

Troy Murray-Plumer here. For the benefit of my fellow classmates on the aforementioned dates; (d/b/a: John Wilkes Booth courtesy of the ever-benevolent/sharp-tongued Mr. Yeager who stated that “three names” was a common trait among murderers)

So, let's start with my wacky title for this AAR. Why "Tarantino"? What's the "Bodhi Tree"? And why am I (Troy) ripping off the subtitle of the movie "Dr. Strangelove"?

Tactical Response head honcho James Yeager is a Tarantino fan. In that respect the old adage of "Birds of a feather flock together" is applicable. IMHO, while James may not be on Quentin's speed dial they are for all practical purposes 'brothers from alternate mothers'. Simply put ... abundantly and equally profane yet profound; by turns vexing and entertaining.

The Bodhi Tree is the purported location of enlightenment for Siddhartha Gautama. The geographical point at which 'Mr. Buddha' became "awakened".

So imagine instead of a serene cloth swaddled shaman of the near-east you found black shark-skin suited Quentin Tarantino sitting no less serenely beneath that Banyan tree all set to give you the 411-smackdown on how to extrude high velocity lead down a short tube at whatever current piece of nastiness harboring murderous intent you happen to be faced with and you'll have my point.

As to why I'm "ripping off", kinder souls might say paying homage to, the subtitle from the movie "Dr. Strangelove ... while one might think that there'd never be anything loveable about thermonuclear devices and/or ATMs located in exceedingly 'dodgy neighborhoods they'd be missing the deeper lessons to be had. Namely, human nature is such that we tend to learn our deepest most abiding lessons not from our successes but from our failures.

Once one comes to appreciate that transcendent realization, (i.e.), that we often learn best from failing despite good faith efforts to succeed, one can learn to love the process of acquiring these hard won insights. For the love of St. Michael don't take a willy-nilly approach to the deployment of nukes or, like Mary Poppins, go toodling into a gang infested neighborhood looking to pull wads of greenbacks out of a machine. These are merely analogies for the purpose of illustrating deeper truths by way of simulated exercises. Act the 'knob and you'll die.

Moving on; looking at the "equipment list" of what to bring to class per http://www.tacticalresponse.co...urse.php?courseID=73 you'll see item #1, right at the tippy top folks, is "One (1) open mind". Part and parcel with that notion I'd add as a cautionary note, don't let your feelings get hurt. Separate the 'wheat' that is the useful info. that's being imparted from what often may feel like the 'chaff' of, shall we say, very direct speech.

To quote another movie, one of my 'faves, (i.e.), "A Christmas Story" per A Christmas Story (1983) - Memorable quotes ...

"Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] In the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan."

"Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master."

At times James can come across as over-bearing. This doesn’t come as any news for either James nor those that know him. In fact, he was open and candid about the fact when asked. I appreciated that.

For me what worked was to realize that while some comedians "work blue" that doesn't make them any less humorous. And great humor always comes from a place of great truth and insight. Such was also the case for the training James gave.

As a counterpoint to James, the other instructors, (i.e.), ‘Aussie Brian’, ‘Diesel Brian’, ‘Real Estate Mike’ and ‘Peace Officer Ian’ played a bit more of the "good cop". It's a welcomed and ultimately beneficial balance. Sort of like the character of "Gunny" in the preparedness novel "Lights Out" by David Crawford per http://www.survivalmonkey.com/...ightsOut-Current.pdf. "Gunny", like all good drill instructors, alternately verbally assails and sagely commiserates/compliments his charges so that they each learn how to retain the lessons of not simply survival but victory amid the pressure(s) of what may prove to be real-world/life-and-death struggles.

This is not to say that any of the instructors are all 'this' way or 'that' way. Like all of us they're admixtures of gruffness and grace. To their credit they each seemed to know which to apply and when.

To their everlasting credit one of the concepts repeated on the range, in the classroom and in the handouts was that none of us should see Tactical Response as the be-all/end-all in training. Rather we should see Tactical Response as a “piece of the puzzle” and seek out additional training from others who in turn will provide the other “pieces”.

I think this notion speaks volumes as to the maturity, decency and stewardship of Tactical Response toward their area of expertise. In this day and age, especially in this economy, it’d be easy to downplay the notion that in order to achieve mastery we should seek out multiple teachers. Tactical Response didn’t do that either overtly or on the sly. They were quick to share their ‘rolodex’ of quality instructors and their schools.

All the points on the "equipment list" in preparation for attending the courses per http://www.tacticalresponse.co...urse.php?courseID=73 are spot on and leave you wanting for nothing. In hindsight I'd have put my kneepads on from the get go. Doing so would've saved me from grinding my knees into spent shell casings when we moved to that portion of the firing positions.

One more thing that would've helped me a great deal would've been to be in better shape. At 5'11" and 235 lbs. I'm about 70 pounds over my recommended weight and I'd not kept my muscles toned.

As such I was quite stiff in the legs for days 2 through 4. Not the end of the world. Not even a debilitating distraction with each fresh hit of adrenaline from the Force on Force scenarios. Still, I didn't do myself any favors.

On the upside the experience of feeling old and fat has caused me to renew my physical training and dining habits. As a result in the intervening days between those classes and this writing I've dropped a few pounds and am beginning to tone up. A nice side benefit to my feeling that my 'buttocal region was dragging. See, we really do learn a great deal from our failings.

Looking back over my notes here are a few of the stand-out points. Again, these are from my notes so the folks at Tactical Response have the ultimate say as to whether or not I'm giving you a bum steer. If so, we'll all learn something more amid my potential "failure".

These notes are certainly not all inclusive, just a few of the points that struck me as highlights.

*.) "Fight, Asses, Scan, Top-off." Learn it, live it, love it.

*.) Four cardinal rules of safe gun handling:
1.) Assume every gun is loaded.
2.) Never point your gun at anything you're not willing to obliterate.
3.) Never put your finger on the trigger until your sights are on the target and you've decided to shoot.
4.) YOU are responsible for where your round(s) land. Know your target and what's beyond it.

*.) Four key elements for justifiable use of lethal force in the protection of an innocent:
1.) Imminent, (i.e.), immediate, threat of grave bodily injury. I like to add "... and or death" just
to drive the gravity of the situation home. Really just "... threat of grave bodily injury" would be
sufficient as it would be inclusive of "death".

2.) Intent: By words or deeds does the person in question demonstrate that they intend "grave bodily
injury"?

3.) Ability: By number of attackers, weapon, size of attacker or strength of attacker vs. your lacking
in any of these areas does the person in question have the ability to make good on their demonstrated
intent?

4.) Opportunity: Can the person in question actually make good on their demonstrated intent and ability
right now? For instance, threatening you via phone is NOT sufficient cause to hunt them down.

For what its worth, I've incorporated saying these things to myself after each cycle in the dry-fire practice exercise recommended on page 28 of the "Tactical Response: Fighting Pistol" bound study guide.

*.) The "Tactical Response: Fighting Pistol" bound study guide is great. Chock full of info. that’s relevant and well organized. In addition to covering all the material presented in lecture and on the range it includes many fine articles that are left to us to read on our own. One criticism, if possible print them using a non-running ink as the rain that occurred during our session caused the text on mine to get a bit streaked. Still legible, but when you've got such valuable info. that you'll ideally use like a well worn reference book it'd be nice if it were a bit more durable.

*.) Very, very important to recognize that the skills imparted by way of all training are perishable if not practiced "routinely, relevantly and realistically". As an ongoing classroom-esque augmentation toward honoring those commitments, (i.e.), not a substitute for range time, before I attended the classes above I got the Tactical Response DVDs "Fighting Pistol" via http://www.tacticalresponsegea...=99&products_id=2343 and "Shooting Missology" which, oddly enough as of this writing, I don't see via http://www.tacticalresponsegea...th=99&sort=2a&page=1 or http://www.tacticalresponsegea...th=99&sort=2a&page=2 nor via an online search of the site using "Shooting Missology". I'm sure someone from Tactical Response can/will address that.

The DVDs are great. They, in addition to the two recommended books...

*.) Surgical Speed Shooting" by Andy Stanford via http://www.tacticalresponsegea...=99&products_id=2854

and

*.) "Principles of Personal Defense" by Jeff Cooper via [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Personal-Defense-Jeff-Cooper/dp/B000XGQBY0/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1"]http://www.amazon.com/Principl.../ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1[/ame]. This may also be available via Tactical Response's Gear site at [ame=http://www.tacticalresponsegear.com/catalog/index.php]Tactical Response Gear[/ame] but I wasn't able to find it among the other media.

... left me feeling like I was able to get much more out of the courses as I'd studied all of them prior to attending. James and others may now be shaking their heads in wonderment as to why I didn't perform even better as a result, but I felt I would've been far worse without them.

*.) “Front sight, front sight and front sight.” Concentrate on the front sight. Smoothly pull the trigger back. The "Tactical Response: Fighting Pistol" bound study guide, on-range instruction and the DVDs mentioned above were all great tools at reinforcing this CORE concept and it’s finer points.

I don't mean to give the sense that I'm paying short shrift to "The Fight - Force on Force Scenarios [Mobile]". I'm of the mind that in some ways that the less that is said the better so as to preserve the experience for those who'll go. I will say that I have a great deal of admiration for ‘Aussie Brian’, ‘Diesel Brian’, ‘Real Estate Mike’, ‘Peace Officer Ian’ and fellow classmates that on a rotating basis also acted as role-players. Those folks worked their butts off as they had to give their all in each repeated scenario in order to make it as worthwhile as possible for the attendees.

James wasn’t idle either as he answered a great many questions on topics ranging from relevant books with which to flesh out our personal defense/preparedness libraries to instructions on treating injured folks. Additionally he acted as an aggressive prosecutor in a mock courtroom scenario. I also liked our each individually completing After Action Reports at the conclusion of each scenario. These make for fine take-aways for further practice and analysis.

The scenarios are very well geared to what we'd been taught by way of "Fighting Pistol [Mobile]" and as a result really drove those lessons home. In the way of an inside joke to those that have attended "The Fight - Force on Force Scenarios [Mobile]" let me close by saying that I'm either 'gettin a new pickup truck or learning to become a master mechanic 'cuz it sucks long, hard and deep to keep breaking down in 'dodgy neighborhoods.

Take care all!

Troy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: troy_mp, October 10, 2009 23:55


**********************
I've 3 names. Ergo ... I'm a 'killa. [Yeager logic ;-)]

"The next best thing to knowing is knowing how to find out." Samuel Johnson "

 

[Bart]

Thanks for posting that Troy.

 

[theweakerbrother]

I know an INGO'er who took this last year. I'd love to attend this year.

 

[Sailor]

I took the class the same time as that serial killer Troy.

Its a great mindset/skill education.

Do it.

 

[VERT]

I really want to take this course. Last year did not work for me because of financial obligations. This year is no better since the wife is now unemployed; however, I think I am wearing her down. Hopefully she will give in soon.

On a serious note.....I live in Seymour. Just a couple of miles from Freeman field to be exact. If any INGOer's are planning on taking this course, I would be happy to let you stay at my house for the duration of the training. I do not have much room in the house, but I do have a small popup camper that I would setup in the driveway. It is air conditioned and has a fridge and stove. Sleeps a couple of adults, three if you want to share a bed. It is not much but it is comfortable and might save somebody a few dollars on a hotel.

 

[Fenway]

Nice offer! +rep

 

[U.S. Patriot]

Was interested until I saw $400.

 

[Bart]

Sign up WeakerBrother, I promise you won't regret it. I took fighting pistol in 2005 and my brother took it last year. Life changing for both of us.

 

[Shay]

Was interested until I saw $400.

How many $400 guns have you owned?

 

[U.S. Patriot]

How many $400 guns have you owned?

I do not have $400 plus the cost of ammo to drop on two days of training at the moment.

 

[troy_mp]

Thanks for posting that Troy.

Bart,

My pleasure sir!

Take care,

Troy

 

[troy_mp]

I took the class the same time as that serial killer Troy.

Its a great mindset/skill education.

Do it.

. Good to hear from you man. It was indeed a very fine experience.

 

[rockhopper46038]

This has me sorely tempted...

 

[Bart]

Its money well spent Rock Hopper. Come on down. (by the way, I get nothing personally by promoting this class)

 

[Sailor]

Its money well spent Rock Hopper. Come on down. (by the way, I get nothing personally by promoting this class)

Except that warm fuzzy feeling knowing more dudes out there have some great training.

 

[VERT]

Well the wife has officially made up her mind. Class is a no go for me again this year. The $450 for the class maybe, but not in addition to all the ammuntion. She agrees it sounds like a great course, just a little too much right now. Darn. But she says you guys are welcome to visit.

 

[Bart]

Has anyone else signed up yet? There are still openings.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

Wish I could attend. I just do not have $450 or 1,000 rounds of ammo. Maybe next year.