September 14-15 – Tactical Pistol, Kent WA

Sept 21-22 – Mechanical/Ballistic Breaching, Mt. Vernon, WA

Oct. 19-21 – Carbine/SubGun User, Spokane, WA

Oct. 22-23 – Tactical Pistol, Spokane, WA

Nov. 16-18 – Hostage Rescue, Spokane, WA

Dec 14-16 – SWAT Team Leader, Spokane WA

I’m starting to fill the 2016 calendar now, if your agency wants to host training, contact me ASAP to set dates.

I was having a conversation recently on social media about how to prepare for a gunfight. Absent being in one, how do you know if you are prepared? Even if you do get a gunfight as a cop and win, were you really prepared, or just lucky? A world champion could also be killed by a very untrained dude, luck works in both directions. But I want the luck margin to be as narrow as possible, meaning I want my skill as high as possible so luck has as little to do with the outcome as possible. Being good with a gun isn’t same as being ready to use that gun at the decisive moment.

Skills. These are just basic gun skills performed at an extremely high level of efficiency and competence. It is accuracy done very quickly, first show from the draw, follow up shots, manipulations, malfunctions and so forth. It’s not being satisfied that I can do it, it is continually working where I am doing it subconsciously and on demand. Cold or warmed up doesn’t matter. Shit just happens like my heart beating.

Drills. I add in drills to test the skills. Huge body of data out there on some industry standard drills. I want to shoot those and see how I stack up to others on the accuracy done quickly side of the house. Examples would be an El Prez, Bill Drill or Half & Half to name a few. I consider these “Low-Level” drills, it’s not because they’re easy, its because I know exactly what I need to do, when I need to do it. For an El Prez I know I’m going to draw, fire 6 rounds at 3 targets, speed reload, and then do it again. There is no thinking required IF my skills are solid. I just have to do it without missing. “High-Level” drills are blind drills. This means I shoot some type of drill where the order of the targets engaged is prescribed by a stimulus during the draw. Or, my magazines get loaded by a range partner who puts in a dummy round at an unknown location, or forces a reload that I don’t know about. I could do this with an El Prez as an example. I will load your two magazines with the twelve rounds required. But rather than go 6 and 6, I might give you 4 and 8 or whatever. I don’t tell you, now lets see how that reload goes. Or I might toss a dummy round in there. Was the immediate action subconscious or did you have to stop and think about it?

Scenarios are usually best using marking cartridges and OPFOR. Now I am testing the above against a human adversary. This is as close as we are gonna get to a gunfight. Since you were happy with 8″ circle accuracy live fire, how is that translating to the moving target that is shooting back? Nobody wants the bees, so when you start getting stung, do you just shoot back like a damn spaz, or can you force your mind to forego the hits you are taking to make well aimed shots to the box or head? During this whole process, did you notice cover was two steps to the left, there was another person in the room, your partner transitioned to pistol because of a rifle malfunction or whatever. If you aren’t picking all these things up with a paint cartridge, then you aren’t ready young Paduwon. And to be clear, one training class isn’t going to cut it. You must constantly be working the mental aspect, just like skills and drills.