EAG Tactical Carbine Operators Course, Kathleen, FL 11-13 Dec 09

[RogerinTPA]

The class was held at Southern Exposure in Kathleen, FL, North of Lakeland. The weather was overcast and the temp was in the 50's for the first day, but in the high 70's and low 80's for the next two days. The host, Irv, has provided an excellent training facility, that is well maintained, has one long rifle range with 3 side bay pistol ranges, and a covered staging area. The rifle range, can go back as far a 400 yards if necessary. It is one of the most well groomed outdoor shooting ranges I've been to and is my "Go To" Range, for quality firearms instruction. I saw a lot of familiar faces from previous instruction, met some new folks and many M4C members (the usual suspects). The class was full with folks on a waiting list. I also like thank the following sponsors for the nice gifts they contributed to the course, of which I personally own lots of their gear: Bravo Company (and for the T&E weapons), Magpul, LaRue Tactical, and Slip 2000 weapons lube.

Pat Rogers, what can I say?

Calling him an excellent Instructor, would be an understatement. I've been trying to snag his course for quite a while, and finally got the opportunity this weekend. His "colorful" explanation, descriptions and banter, were classic, and were equally enjoyable. His AI Mike, also has in-depth knowledge and equally "colorful" explanations and humor. I fired one of EAG's T&E weapons, a BCM CFH Middy, with T-1 Aimpoint and Vtac sling, with my Pmags, shooting Wolf, with no ammo issues I might add. Pat was gracious to have some of the students run those T&E weapons, throughout the 3 day course, one with over 26,000 rounds through it.

TD1:

Pat started with a safety briefing, and then proceeded to brief us on the purpose of the course, which is a Fighting Carbine course and his methodology, followed by an in-depth weapons parts 'show and tell" covering several generations of Mags, RDSs, and Magnified Optics, broken AR parts, expected life span on certain parts (according to Crane), etc... It was a very knowledgeable briefing to say the least. We proceeded to zero our weapons at the 50 yard line, then go through a series of drills (Failure, ASR, Navy) at various ranges from the 50 down to 3 yards.


TD2:

Covered another briefing, then back on the range with more of the same from TD1, malfunction drills ad-nauseam, Transition drills, Box drills, then adding "turn and shoot", "move and shoot" drills, shooting the Failure drill, while advancing on the targets, following a couple of Navy drills, standing 5 rounds, mag change, 5 rounds kneeling, mag change, 5 rounds prone, in under 25 seconds, then the MEUSOC qual, a Timed event, which involves running, shooting from the stationary after the run, then shoot on the move, under a timer, in prep for the record fire on TD 3. The Navy and MEUSOC Drills were performed several times.

TD3:

Involved another briefing, followed by more of TD1 & 2, followed by record qualification on both the Navy and MEUSOC Drills, then finishing off with Ocular Shooting, covering the front end of the RDS, while accurately engaging your target, then turning the Dot off, while using the RDS as a large rear sight while accurately engaging the target.

Their were not too many weapon issues that I witnessed, except for one of the students using one of the T&E weapons of another manufacturer, a piston, that had various issues for the entire class. My BCM CFH Middy, ran like a champ for the entire class, with only one double feed from a bad mag, which I quickly replaced. I had some reservations with using the Aimpoint T-1, because of the 4 MOA dot prior, but was glad to see it was mounted on my T&E weapon and use it for the 3 days. The 4 MOA dot is a Non issue and a great little RDS. I'll be getting one in the very near future. I learned a ton of new TTPs to be a more effective shooter in both carbine and pistol. Everyone present were very good shooters in there own right. Everyone came away with additional skills and high praise for Pat and Mike. I would highly recommend getting in a class or two with Pat Rogers and EAG Tactical. If you get the chance, check out Southern Exposure online and sign up for class schedules and updates. Pics to follow...





















Next three pics, the "Crescendo of Death". You turn and shoot (a ASR Drill, 7 rounds to the body as fast as possible) only when you see the person in front of you move.







Let's see how many recognize this movie: The person, who lost his leg to an IED, rigged this on his prosthetic.....Yes he is shooting it!








Recognize the movie now?