Shooter’s Symposium 2019. April 4-7. Eagle Lake, Texas. Part 2, 3

[thuong2lan]

My thoughts on my first two classes will be on this post, with my last class on the next post.
Day 1 (Friday. 2pm-10pm): Aaron Cowan’s Force on Force (FoF)

Aaron spoke to us for several hours on interactions or situations that people commonly encounter violence. The lessons from this presentation were:

• You cannot prepare for everything
• You CAN prepare a few phrases that should apply to most situations. These phrases should be rehearsed so that they come automatically and without thinking. The more you think about what to say, the more distracted and vulnerable you will be. Reserve your cognitive attention to threat assessment.
• Eye contact. Brief eye contact and an acknowledging nod can be helpful in showing unknown contacts that you are aware. The gesture is neutral and disarming. However, you also do not want to keep eye contact too long as some may see that as a challenge or threat.
• Watch for furtive glances. If your unknown contact is looking around while approaching you, then prepare for imminent action.
• After the eyes, watch the hands. The eyes may give you clues to intent, but the hands are the actual threats. Hands reaching back, hands in pockets, etc
• Flashlight. This is your most important preventive tool. Use it to preemptively illuminate dark spots, around your car, alleyways, etc. This became evident during our FoF scenarios when proactive use of my flashlight defused some situations. Shine it at the waist line when encountering an unknown contact and at the face if you sense impending conflict.

After the verbal instruction, we had a break and were oriented to usage of the simunition glock pistols and protective gear. The scenarios were designed by Aaron so I will not be describing them in any detail. Each scenario had 4 “volunteers”. One was the “good guy” and three acted as either bystanders, bad guy, or both. Once the scene acted out, then Aaron would debrief the participants. The three volunteers would then stay, and Aaron would reset the scene for the next good guy. This would cycle until everyone had a role as the good guy. Some scenarios ran long while others were over quickly. The setting was outdoors with a makeshift structure that could represent anything from a convenience store, a garage, a restaurant, etc. In retrospect, I would volunteer for every scenario as you were able to learn from everyone’s reaction since you sat in on the debriefs. If you didn’t volunteer at all (other than acting as the good guy), then there was a lot of sitting around waiting for your turn to run the scene. We ran scenarios in daylight, twilight, and at night.

I did not fire my sim gun even once in any of my scenarios. I was able to recognize the threats early and either defused or evaded before any conflict arose. I suppose that is the best outcome. The class ended around 10 pm and I retired to my tent, showered, and slept soundly. Others went to the main lodge as there was a free open bar and a firepit. This class was the least active with the waiting for your turn. I will definitely volunteer more next time.



DAY 2: Red dot with Scott Jedlinski

Scott had two four-hour blocks (8AM-12, 2-6PM) that can be taken individually, consecutively or on separate days. Block 1 was red dot fundamentals and Block 2 was red dot advanced. Block 1 was transformational for me. My learning points:

• Grip change. Previous grip was thumbs forward pressing down on the accelerator ledges of my G19X.
• Thumbs: Scott suggested a thumbs upward where the support thumb was resting or even pressing in on the slide. The dominant thumb also angled upward and should be relaxed. To paraphrase renowned shooter Jerry Miculek, you should be able to shoot well even if you did not have thumbs.
• Little finger: The most important finger was the little finger of the support hand. This little guy had the task of clamping down on the bottom of the grip to counteract the upward movement of the slide in recoil.
• Support palm: The thenar eminence of the thumb rode high on top of the polymer ledge. Scott admitted that this position often overrode the slide lock release and your slide will not lock back when empty. For him, however, this disadvantage was minor compared to the greater leverage gained. He reasoned that if you cannot stop your threat with 15+ rounds of accurate fire, then you have bigger problems than the slide not locking back.

Although awkward at first, I adopted this new grip and noticed the following;

• My red dot moved less. The red dot jumped less and was more centered up and down in the RMR window.
• My wrist felt less tension and I could acquire my red dot more consistently.
• I was able to shoot faster.

I am not sure that all these improvements could be entirely attributed to the changed grip, but I performed better than with my old grip. For example, I was able to perform his 3&2 drill in 2.06 seconds. The drill is to draw from concealment at 3 yds, place three shots to the A-zone torso and two shots in a 3 x 5 card on the head. I did this in 2.06 seconds and saw my dot each shot. I could not do this before his class. For reference, the par for his black belt patch is 2.0 seconds!

• Liquid Chalk. Scott introduced us to a product called Petzl liquid chalk, and it was amazing. A little squirt in your palm and once rubbed in, it increased your grip traction tremendously. Rock climbers use this product. Scott rubs this in before he leaves the house every day. I have purchased this since the class and it clearly gives you more traction when gripping your pistol.
• Presenting the gun. Scott advocated clearing your cover garment and drawing the pistol to near eye level as fast as you can regardless of distance. Slow down only as needed to fine tune your sight picture depending on the distance. For example, if you are at 5 yds and less, then a perfect sight picture is not necessary, and you may continue fast. At 25 yds, however, you will need to slow down for the more accurate sight picture with the RDS or irons. But don’t slow down until the gun is at eye level. This makes sense of course but even after I heard it, I found myself slowing too early (during the draw process) rather than when the RDS was at eye level. I did not make Scott’s 25-yard standard, which is to draw from concealment and place an A-zone torso shot in 1.5 seconds or less. Bottom line: draw and present fast, slow only as needed for sight accuracy depending on distance.

Block 2 (Advanced Red Dot) was a four-hour class after lunch. It was like block one with more advanced drills towards the end. Although the material was 80% redundant, I needed the repetition to reinforce what I learned in the morning. Sometimes, you hear different pearls that were not absorbed the first time. Patches- Scott has a nice patch for students after his class. If you take both blocks on the same day, then you receive one patch. If you take these blocks on different days, then you receive one for each day. I would not have taken these on different days just for the patches but something to know for the patch collectors.