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charlie lairson
07-22-08, 11:23
I have always searched out relevant trainers with real world experience. One of the criteria that I require is that the instructor is someone who has been paid to carry a firearm for a living and has deployed those firearms in as many types of environments that are relevant to what I do. Pat Goodale of Professional Firearms Training has all of that in spades. His background and training model is exactly what I am looking for in a trainer. One of the things that stands out in the recent 2 day handgun CQB class I took July 11-12 in West Virginia, was that he stays “mentally agile.” He reviews police shootings, interviews operators when they arrive CONUS, and adapts his training to what is actually happening in the trenches. There was no fluff in this class, just usable skills done in light, retreating light and no light.

PFT’s facility is quite large and allowed the class to be broken into two relays and have two different drills being run simultaneously. One drill included a drill where a student was standing 21 feet from a steel .25 scale torso. An instructor stood 21 feet to the left of the student and behind them with a “shock” knife. The knife delivered a shock that felt much like a slice and the student was required to deliver two hits on steel before being “cut” from the knife. The drill had to be started in the holster and was initiated by the attacker’s aggressive movement towards the student. A variation of this was conducted with a moving advancing target with three balloons as the target area.

PFT’s facility allowed an academic and practical examination of handguns against various parts of a vehicle. Students were allowed to shoot into and out of the vehicles windshield. This allowed an observance of the deflections that occur on projectiles when impacting glass. Additionally each round was followed as much as possible through its path inside the vehicle. We were able to recover several of the rounds and examine them for damage as well as an expansion that did or did not occur.

Pat additionally encouraged students to fire into the vehicle from different locations that were commonly used locations of “cover” to examine how rounds would perform. Shots were taken from broadside into doors, from the roof and also into the trunk compartment. Several students utilized various loads to evaluate terminal performance through intermediate material. The results were interesting and were immensely valuable.

Drills progressed with a numerous moving target engagements from lateral movers and advancing targets with the re emergence of my favorite training aid, the “shock” knife. The shoothouse was also used in a “you just woke up” scenario starting with you in bed and hearing a noise in your home.

There was so much shooting and different drills that I can not cover them all here. I can’t say enough about PFT and Pat Goodale. The class was amazing and highly recommend PFT without hesitation.

http://www.pgpft.com

charlie lairson
07-22-08, 11:26
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll6/Eagle-Industries/pic4.jpg

Pat giving instruction to the class

charlie lairson
07-22-08, 11:28
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll6/Eagle-Industries/pic2.jpg

Justin Walker shooting from inside the vehicle.

charlie lairson
07-22-08, 11:29
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll6/Eagle-Industries/pic1.jpg

Bullet fragment pulled from target after shooting it through a vehicle windshield.

charlie lairson
07-22-08, 11:31
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll6/Eagle-Industries/pic5.jpg

Pat showing the class how rounds act against a vehicle.

charlie lairson
07-22-08, 11:32
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll6/Eagle-Industries/pic6.jpg

Chungo kill car!! Shooting from the roof into a target in the drivers seat.

charlie lairson
07-22-08, 11:35
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll6/Eagle-Industries/pic3.jpg

Ben Lenett solves shooting problem. A balloon is suspended in one of three locations on the 3D target. Shooters have to shoot the balloon to get it to fall. Problem is... you dont know where the balloon is!!

charlie lairson
07-22-08, 11:38
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll6/Eagle-Industries/pic9.jpg

Shooter Guy at the begining of the charging target drill. Target charges shooter and the shooter has to shoot out one of the three balloons before you get shocked with the knife.

charlie lairson
07-22-08, 11:40
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll6/Eagle-Industries/pic8.jpg

Jeff Mervis solving the same drill

charlie lairson
07-22-08, 11:44
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll6/Eagle-Industries/pic7.jpg

Yours truly, trying not to shoot one of the hostage targets!!

Blake
07-22-08, 12:30
Excellent AAR. I am unfamiliar with Mr. Goodale, but this seems like a very practical course. Excellent learning points with shooting from/at vehicles, as well as the knife exercise. Thanks for sharing.

charlie lairson
07-22-08, 12:42
Below are some comments from my friend Jon, who attended the course with me. We exchanged several emails back and forth and below are his comments on the course. Thought you all would like to see his thoughts as well.

My observations:

1) Reality based, real-world threat and aggressively paced training. Utilizing many of the best offensive and defensive curriculums to move the student rapidly through stress elevated scenarios.



2) Vast majority of the students used Glock’s this ensured minimum amount of down time for weapons malfunctions, high round count first day with lots of magazine changes and draws. Emphasis on fast hits and repeated follow-up shots that would be required of 9 mm in confrontations.



3) Several “hands on” encounters with live holstered weapons, in retrospect I was rather leery about these evolutions however, there arrives a point in training where if the “pucker factor” is not up then it is quite likely you are not being pushed. For me if I am not being pushed retention of information is dubious at best.



4) Bottom line; mission focused essential training that is “mentally agile” if you want to line dance with a weapon in your hand go someplace else, if you want to learn to fight and win at close quarters in demanding situations go see Pat Goodale.

Jay Cunningham
07-22-08, 14:45
moved to TCA forum...

Looks/sounds like a valuable training opportunity.

GLOCKMASTER
07-22-08, 19:02
Charlie great review and thanks for the pictures. It is good to see PG is doing well. I have attended two of Pat's classes in the past. One being his pistol the other was his carbine course. I was also impressed with Pat and his teaching style. He is a heck of an instructor and a great resource that IMHO is often overlooked by some folks.

Plus the surrounding terrain is absolutely gorgeous.

Ben Lenett
07-26-08, 22:22
This was an excellent course and Pat is a first rate instructor. His background combined with his ability to impart knowledge to the student puts him on the short list of instructors for certain.

Every drill run had a purpose and this purpose was explained in great detail, so every student involved was able to get the most out of it.

I can without hesitation recommend Pat Goodale to anyone considering seeking reality based training.

Stay safe.

Ben

jwalk84
08-06-08, 20:09
I just wanted to add my thoughts about the class. As both Charlie and Ben have stated this was an excellent class. Pat and his crew put on an amazing course that I would recommend without hesitation to anyone.

The drills and exercises ran in the course were all designed on how to win a gunfight. Pat's layering approach to instructing allowed everyone, no matter what the background, to get a grasp on the drills and be successful.

One of the things I liked was the fact that we shot some of the same drills during the day and then shot the same drills at night to show the shooters how their skill level and performance changed.

If you are looking for real world training from an instructor that has real world experience you need to take a class from Pat Goodale and PFT. It was one of the best classes I have taken.

Justin

JohnN
08-06-08, 23:37
Very informative AAR guys, thanks, could you go into a little more detail as to loads used and results on the cars and windshields?

Ben Lenett
08-15-08, 23:01
Very informative AAR guys, thanks, could you go into a little more detail as to loads used and results on the cars and windshields?

John:

Unfortunately we are not going to be able to put that info on the forum. Even though anyone with access to a scrap yard could figure it out for themselves, we do not want the "bad guys" to get a leg up on those in harms way.

I am sure you understand.

Stay safe.

Ben