Instructors - help writing a basic POI

[Wake27]

The rod and gun club that I am a member of here is almost entirely made up of bench-rest type shooters. We do have a slightly more dynamic program that has been on and off over the last few years that is currently called the marksmanship program. It used to be called defensive shooting, but the guys running it got in trouble and it was shut down, so when they brought it back, they also renamed it. It’s basic function is to provide what is now known as the MP 101 course, which is strictly a certification course of fire that members must complete in order to be allowed to draw from the holster.

Long story short, I seem to have more professional training than any other member that has shown a willingness to be involved, and therefore I am technically the “marksmanship coordinator” for the club. I have a basic POI for 101 that I think works well enough. However, I’d like some help for the 201 POI, which is supposed to focus heavily around the VTAC barricade and SLIGHTLY more complex drills. Basically, both programs are just setup as a list of drills that build on each other, I just don’t have a ton of things for barricade work that can provide variation.

I can get a single person handling a weapon pretty well and achieving decent accuracy but I’ve realized that it gets exponentially harder for every additional person that you are trying to coach at the same time. This is a pretty general question, but I’m hoping that members who have been in my shoes before will realize what I need help with even though I may not really be able to explain it. I think the structure of a program of instruction for 3-5 people is what I’m really lacking. I’ll definitely include what I currently have and some more details tomorrow, just figured I’d get the ball rolling now while I’m thinking about it.


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[26 Inf]

You are experiencing the same problem that every instructor that actually wants to instruct, rather than be a range watcher, faces at some point - span of control.

You can normally divide your attention between two shooters with acceptable safely and effectiveness, beyond that it gets problematic. For your '201' as a solo instructor I would limit the class to 6, work with two, have two on deck as safety observers, and two prepping in the ready area.

At some point you may decide they have become proficient enough that you can work three shooters. Make sure your safeties are paying attention, and use some type of system to make sure you work with each shooter.

As for drills - can they move on the range? are you working with metal or paper? can the targets be placed at differing ranges, or are you limited to a static target line?


ETA: Make sure everyone understands your methodology. I try to make it clear to the shooters that I don't spend a lot of time with that they are doing good, and another shooter needs help more than they do. In doing that make sure that every shooter gets 'some' individual attention, even if it is to compliment them on something they are doing correctly. Two-way brief backs to the group as a whole are also important.

[Wake27]

You are experiencing the same problem that every instructor that actually wants to instruct, rather than be a range watcher, faces at some point - span of control.

You can normally divide your attention between two shooters with acceptable safely and effectiveness, beyond that it gets problematic. For your '201' as a solo instructor I would limit the class to 6, work with two, have two on deck as safety observers, and two prepping in the ready area.

That sounds like a much better method than what I had originally envisioned of 3-4 going at the same time. I've controlled a lot of shooters before, but not in this type of setting and I definitely underestimated the differences.

Our biggest limiting factor is that we have to use Army ranges, which means dealing with range control. For those of you that haven't had that pleasure, range control is made up of civilians that often will do whatever they want. They're typically very restrictive and don't follow their own SOP. Therefore, we can only shoot at paper targets and no movement whatsoever. That's actually how the last guys got in trouble.

As far as what the POI actually looks like, it basically starts with a diagnostic shoot of five rounds of pistol, slow aimed fire. This is done one at a time so I can get a general idea of where the students are at. Then it moves on to the bill drill and following that, Yam's 4+4. The plan is to run everybody through once without a timer and then a second time with the shot clock. Then we move on to Yam's 4+4 with a rifle, then the TMACS transition drill and the RB1 ORT. After the weapon transition drills, we move to target transitions with the four 7s. And that's all I really have at the moment.

Because we're shooting alongside of a normal range day for the club, leaving all of the targets at seven yards is the most time efficient, though it is also a limiting factor. I do think I should include a 25 yd slow aimed fire competition at the end, just haven't yet. As you can see though, there is nothing barricade-specific. I've worked off of barricades, but never with formal drills like those above. The only one that really comes to mind is shooting a target from every position on the VTAC (I think its called the 9-hole?) and incorporating at least one reload in there somewhere.

[BrigandTwoFour]

Wake, I'll help as much as I can with the POI and methodology stuff.

I'm currently do training as a profession, though in the technical realms. Prior to my current gig, I was a nuclear weapons officer in the Air Force. I spent eight of those 10 years as some form of instructor, with the latter half being almost entirely under the Air Force's training command, where I earned Master Instructor certification.

Blah blah blah..qualifications, blah blah blah....I'm just getting across that I know the pain and I would like to help.

I think you have a good base to build from. Is this all pistol work? How does the progression look from your 101 course?

[Wake27]

Then it moves on to the bill drill and following that, Yam's 4+4. The plan is to run everybody through once without a timer and then a second time with the shot clock. Then we move on to Yam's 4+4 with a rifle, then the TMACS transition drill and the RB1 ORT. After the weapon transition drills, we move to target transitions with the four 7s. And that's all I really have at the moment.

The quoted part from post three is where we move into rifle, but its not a ton.

I've only run this once, with three people attending. It was ok, but it didn't feel as structured as I'd like and I wasn't sure how many times to repeat the drills/when to move on to the next one. I guess it'd be helpful to establish some type of standards, at least for each shooter there.

The 101 is very similar, except that we do 1+1 drills instead of 4+4s, and the TMACS transition is there but not the ORT or any target transition drills. The big difference is that I don't really do any coaching. The club's intent for it is to see if members can be trusted to safely use a holster without direct supervision. As long as there are no safety issues, I go straight through it until its complete. I've run a few more people though this than the 201 and its easy to keep on track and progressing since the only thing I'm concerned with is safety. Personally, its hard for me not to correct some major issues, but every now and then we get well-trained LE/mil guys that just want to be able to do holster work on their own (I was one at some point), and therefore I don't want to delay the rest of the group. The 201 is really the first time I actually coach them.

[echo5whiskey]

Wake, did any of the stuff I sent you last time come in handy for what you needed? I still have some old stuff that's a little bit more advanced, if you want it; albeit, it is from around nine years ago, so you'll still probably have to tweak it a little. Also, still in Hawai'i?

[BrigandTwoFour]

I suppose the first question you need to answer is what is the overall objective? When someone successfully completes the course, what do you expect them to be able to do? I like to write those objectives out. The usual format is CBI (Condition, Behavior, Standard). What are the circumstances they will be expected to perform under? What is the task they will have to accomplish? To what standard must they perform to be successful?

For example,

From a standing "surrender" position with hands in the air, draw firearm and place six shots in the 'A' zone of an IPSC target in no more than three seconds

Once you list out those objectives, you work backwards to figure out the supporting behaviors, like the draw, sight alignment, trigger control, and recoil management. Each of those become the supporting objectives (and lessons) building towards your overall objective.

[Diamondback]

Hope you'll forgive a non-instructor (though I did do some casual tutoring back in college) for chiming in, but I seem to recall Mas Ayoob back in the LFI days would sometimes assign teaching lower-level classes to his higher-level students as part of their coursework, so maybe once you have a handful of experienced students you've worked with maybe leverage them as a "training cadre" or similar force multiplier.

[Wake27]

Wake, did any of the stuff I sent you last time come in handy for what you needed? I still have some old stuff that's a little bit more advanced, if you want it; albeit, it is from around nine years ago, so you'll still probably have to tweak it a little. Also, still in Hawai'i?

That stuff was for something completely different so I hadn't even thought of it. I'll have to go back through my inbox and see if I still have it. And yeah, still in Hawaii for now.

I suppose the first question you need to answer is what is the overall objective? When someone successfully completes the course, what do you expect them to be able to do? I like to write those objectives out. The usual format is CBI (Condition, Behavior, Standard). What are the circumstances they will be expected to perform under? What is the task they will have to accomplish? To what standard must they perform to be successful?

For example,

From a standing "surrender" position with hands in the air, draw firearm and place six shots in the 'A' zone of an IPSC target in no more than three seconds

Once you list out those objectives, you work backwards to figure out the supporting behaviors, like the draw, sight alignment, trigger control, and recoil management. Each of those become the supporting objectives (and lessons) building towards your overall objective.

All of the drills have standards, maybe I should pick one of the culminating drills to narrow down as being the overall course objective. They're already kind of built as a progression so it would make sense to do it that way, and would maybe place a bit more emphasis on achieving that goal.


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