2014 PDN Training Tour Update 5/12

All right today the Personal Defense Network training tour has finished up a two day carbine class, combat focus carbine. Obviously we broke out our CMMG rifles here. We're at Slytac Training Concepts. This is a closed facility used for professional training only. That doesn't mean that obviously people interested in home defense like we had in this class with the rifles or people interested in concealed carry can't come out here, just means that it's not a public range.

So you can't come out and just shoot randomly. They've got some amazing base. They've got some great facilities. They even have a shoot house because they have a lot of armed professionals that train here as well. So law enforcement, federal law enforcement and that's really what this facility was built for.

They also have teamed up with a local central Ohio company named Armada, who I've known for a number of years since I do a lot here obviously in Ohio as well. And they're running all their marketing and doing all their classes out here as well. So if you're in the Midwest, if you're in central Ohio especially if you're an armed professional looking for a great facility to train at highly recommend this one. The class that we just finished up, it's our typical combat focus carbine but this class was a two day. Now normally on the tour, I'm only running one day rifle classes.

I do have a few other two day classes. I ran one in here in Ohio, just a couple of weeks ago before going over to the NRA convention and then I ran this one. So having two back to back in close proximity was really awesome. I normally just run that one day class and the two day class gives us a lot of opportunity to experiment with a lot of different unorthodox shooting positions and shooting around the vehicle. The ports that they have built here are a perfect example of the kind of thing you can use to train, to get in the positions where you'll need to do something other than be on balance leaning forward and shooting.

Not just going to a kneeling or going down to the ground but actually getting into some of these off angles and getting into some of these oddly shaped ports. Now let's be understanding of why we're doing this. We're not doing this in case we have to shoot through some oddly shaped port in a home defense situation. There's really three types of angles you could have to shoot around that you need to know the offset of your rifle. You need to know the difference between where the optic line is and where the bore line is and how to maneuver around different types of optic obstacles.

Those three types of obstacles that you could face are gonna be vertical like the sides here or the side of this port. Horizontal like here and here, or diagonal. And if you have some awkwardly shaped obstacles you have to shoot around, then you need to remember that you can't just clear the muzzle or the optic. You have to clear both the muzzle and the optic. So moving around obstacles, we use the car, we go under the car, we open the windows, we go through the windows, we use the car as a brace.

We do a lot of different things in this class. So the combat focus carbine class, any good solid home defense, close in self-defense rifle class maybe a patrol rifle class should really involve a lot of work around obstacles especially when you get to that second day. So we did a lot of that. Right now what we're gonna do is we're gonna hear from Paul Carlson and Joe Ball. Now, Joe Ball has been a student of mine.

He was just recently in one of Paul's classes. And Paul runs Safety Solutions Academy which is a great resource for information. He travels all over the country now but he got started here in Northern Ohio. And he's gonna talk to Joe a little bit about what it's like to go through the class that he went through, why training is important and especially talk about the Personal Defense Network training tour. As for me, I'm off to Illinois.

This is a great year in Illinois. Everybody's celebrating Concealed Carry being legal there now. Finally the last state to have some provision for Concealed Carry permits. And I'm running two back-to-back Combat Focus Shooting pistol classes. I'm sure full of new CCW permit holders or people who are interested in getting their permit.

You'll still have plenty of time to get involved in the Personal Defense Network training tour, of course because Illinois is barely halfway across the US. I'm still in the Midwest. I'm heading West. Our other instructors are busy all over the place. Courses this month in New York, in California, in Texas.

I know we have some courses going on in Florida and of course right here in Ohio as well. As well as my stops in Illinois and Minnesota coming up before the end of the month. And then I continue to head West. I think I'm also gonna be in Wisconsin coming up pretty soon. So take a look at the tour, personaldefensenetwork.com.

The complete schedule is there. And as always free videos, free information free articles coming to you every week featured from a lot of our contributors. Check them out online. Hey folks, Paul Carlson from Safety Solutions Academy. I'm here today with Joe Ball of GunTeachers Institute over in Toledo, Ohio.

And we just wrapped up a two day combat focus shooting program, as part of the Personal Defense Network tour. Wanted to give you an opportunity to see what it is that Joe thinks about the combat focus shooting program, about Safety Solutions Academy and about the Personal Defense Network. Well, the two day at camp focus shooting course, number one, been one that I've been wanting to take a long time. I've followed the Combat Focused Shooting program and Rob Pincus for many years. Never had an opportunity to actually attend the class myself.

So we decided to bring the Combat Focus Shooting class to our area. My number one goal for that was to bring it to my students or anybody else in the area that would be interested in having training like that. And so I got the opportunity as well to go through the class and kind of see the concepts in action and actually learn them for myself. And I tell you, it's changed my mind about a lot of things and also made me understand more what I've been hearing all these years and put it into actual context. I got the opportunity to train alongside some of my students, which is something that a lot of trainers I don't think do on a regular basis but I got to jump right in the mix with them get picked apart on a few things and grow.

And it was a certainly beneficial thing for me. It's important for them to not only learn new concepts maybe also learn some of the things that I taught them were congruent with what's taught in the Combat Focus Shooting program already. That kinda solidified that information for them from another out-- When I originally contacted Rob about setting up a class or classes up here, the original plan in my mind was to have Rob come up and teach the Combat Focus Shooting class. And then he made mention that he was gonna maybe to have one of the Combat Focus Shooting instructors come and do the CFS class. And he would come at a later date for an APH class.

So that was cool. And then he shot out this name to me, Paul Carlson. And I didn't know who he was, didn't know him from Adam. And so I started doing some research. Found that hey, this guy is a pretty knowledgeable person from what I can see.

Can't wait to meet him. Like to lead everybody kind of with just a couple of points when it comes down to training. The gun is not enough. The little card in your pocket is not enough. Never quit striving for excellence in whatever you do.

We had a conversation at dinner last night and I made mention that we're never always ready after I shared an experience with the class that I had personally. And I believe that we're never always ready. And I guess that kinda raised my eyebrows. You know, we wanna make ourselves as ready as we can be. And through that, we have to get training.

We have to gain knowledge. And training's not always just going to spending your money on training classes. Training can come from a lot of different avenues. Seek those out, learn what those good avenues are and apply them to yourself and make yourself better. Not only just in defensive shooting but also in your life and tune in to what the Personal Defense Network is doing.

What Rob Pincus and all the other contributors are doing. They are a wealth of knowledge. That's where I would tell you to get a lot of your knowledge. There's other avenues out there but it certainly is a great resource for people. So pay attention to what they're doing because I think it's certainly been beneficial for me.

It's beneficial for my students and I push them to go to that--