rob_s
11-17-08, 09:07
My girlfriend of 3.5 years just finished her first handgun class this past weekend. The class was LADIES ONLY HANDGUN with Randy Cain of Cumberland Tactics (http://cumberlandtactics.com/index.htm) and was held at the Southern Exposure Training Facility (http://www.southernexposuretraining.com/) in Lakeland, FL. The course description from Randy's site is as follows
Women can do anything the men can do, sometimes better.
They have an open mind, they listen, and they don't bring preconceived and sometimes misguided notions to the table. I find that women can make great students.
This class is virtually the same as Tactical Handgun Basics, but without all the testosterone pollution in the air. ;)
The 2-day course is adapted to address a few issues specific to women, such as carrying a handgun in a purse, and holster selection based on individual body types.
Ammunition Requirement: 400 Rounds.
Anyone that knows anything about women, teaching, or both, knows that women don't tend to respond very well to the boyfriend/husband/brother/father instruction model. They are too emotionally tied to the relationship, too concerned with disappointing the "teacher", and often won't express questions or concerns in that environment. Randy's Ladies Only class eliminates that issue. Also, Randy has a female AI on the line to address any women specific types of questions. Not to mention that Randy himself has done enough of these classes to be able to anticipate just about any issue that may come up.
TD1 began with the students arriving at the range. There were 19 women in this class, and I would guesstimate that at least 3/4 were accompanied by their menfolk. We all arrived at the range by 8:30, the men hung around until about 10, and then we were banished so that the women could begin shooting. We returned at 4:30 to pick them up and a large group of us went to dinner.
My girlfriend was exhausted, and in looking around the table at the other women, I could tell that many of them were too. At breakfast the next morning we found out that many skipped the dinner because they were simply too tired. Those of you that have trained before understand this completely. For most of us we do not spend 8 hours a day outdoors on our feet. Add in to that a stressful learning situation, holding a 2 lb object out at arm's length all day, and trying to absorb all that information and a full day at the range can be taxing.
TD2 was handled much the same way, but ended with group photos, handing out of certificates, goodbyes and exchanging of emails with new friends, and everyone went their separate ways.
The drive home was really the best part of the whole weekend for me. She had so many questions about tactics, gear, mindset, technique, it was fantastic. Randy covers the condition levels (white, yellow, etc.) as well as discusses things like books from the likes of Jeff Cooper. My girlfriend already wants to pick up a couple of Cooper's books, was talking about what we can do to raise her son's awareness level out of white, etc.
Interesting too was her already heightened sense of situational awareness. When we pulled in to get gas on the way out of town, there were two shady characters parked at the pump in front of us. When I got done and we were pulling out, she started discussing them, why they looked shady, what she would have done if something had happened, etc. I also helped out in pointing out some cues that she may have missed (like the fact that two guys were stopped at a gas pump, outside the car, but not pumping gas) and it was a good opportunity to expand on what she had already learned.
This class has also clearly helped in her comfort level around all sorts of firearms in general, and her Glock in particular. She went into the class completely cold having never fired a pistol, and with her only range time limited to my AR and the 10/22 we bought her son earlier this year. Her confidence level was through the roof at the end of TD2 compared to the start of TD3.
So, get your womenfolk trained! If you love them, and care about them, it should be just as important to you to get them some quality training outside of you flapping your gums at them. When we signed her up for this class a year ago it was mostly out of fun, but with the changing times I think it's a mandatory skillset that she needs to have but will hopefully never use.
As usual, Randy is an instructor without equal. The man is a TEACHER above all else, and I will put his skills as same up against anyone I've ever come across from kindergarten through graduate school, and every piano, tennis, golf, etc. lesson in between. His patience (especially in a class full of 19 women of various skill sets) is un paralleled.
Special thanks as always to Irv of Southern Exposure for putting on these classes, and his wife Watfa for all her attention to the ladies and her work as Randy's AI. Better people you would be very hard pressed to find, and their obvious commitment to helping people get the skills they want and need is amazing. Training at Southern makes you a part of the family, and Irv and Watfa are definitely the parents of that family, with all that that implies.
Women can do anything the men can do, sometimes better.
They have an open mind, they listen, and they don't bring preconceived and sometimes misguided notions to the table. I find that women can make great students.
This class is virtually the same as Tactical Handgun Basics, but without all the testosterone pollution in the air. ;)
The 2-day course is adapted to address a few issues specific to women, such as carrying a handgun in a purse, and holster selection based on individual body types.
Ammunition Requirement: 400 Rounds.
Anyone that knows anything about women, teaching, or both, knows that women don't tend to respond very well to the boyfriend/husband/brother/father instruction model. They are too emotionally tied to the relationship, too concerned with disappointing the "teacher", and often won't express questions or concerns in that environment. Randy's Ladies Only class eliminates that issue. Also, Randy has a female AI on the line to address any women specific types of questions. Not to mention that Randy himself has done enough of these classes to be able to anticipate just about any issue that may come up.
TD1 began with the students arriving at the range. There were 19 women in this class, and I would guesstimate that at least 3/4 were accompanied by their menfolk. We all arrived at the range by 8:30, the men hung around until about 10, and then we were banished so that the women could begin shooting. We returned at 4:30 to pick them up and a large group of us went to dinner.
My girlfriend was exhausted, and in looking around the table at the other women, I could tell that many of them were too. At breakfast the next morning we found out that many skipped the dinner because they were simply too tired. Those of you that have trained before understand this completely. For most of us we do not spend 8 hours a day outdoors on our feet. Add in to that a stressful learning situation, holding a 2 lb object out at arm's length all day, and trying to absorb all that information and a full day at the range can be taxing.
TD2 was handled much the same way, but ended with group photos, handing out of certificates, goodbyes and exchanging of emails with new friends, and everyone went their separate ways.
The drive home was really the best part of the whole weekend for me. She had so many questions about tactics, gear, mindset, technique, it was fantastic. Randy covers the condition levels (white, yellow, etc.) as well as discusses things like books from the likes of Jeff Cooper. My girlfriend already wants to pick up a couple of Cooper's books, was talking about what we can do to raise her son's awareness level out of white, etc.
Interesting too was her already heightened sense of situational awareness. When we pulled in to get gas on the way out of town, there were two shady characters parked at the pump in front of us. When I got done and we were pulling out, she started discussing them, why they looked shady, what she would have done if something had happened, etc. I also helped out in pointing out some cues that she may have missed (like the fact that two guys were stopped at a gas pump, outside the car, but not pumping gas) and it was a good opportunity to expand on what she had already learned.
This class has also clearly helped in her comfort level around all sorts of firearms in general, and her Glock in particular. She went into the class completely cold having never fired a pistol, and with her only range time limited to my AR and the 10/22 we bought her son earlier this year. Her confidence level was through the roof at the end of TD2 compared to the start of TD3.
So, get your womenfolk trained! If you love them, and care about them, it should be just as important to you to get them some quality training outside of you flapping your gums at them. When we signed her up for this class a year ago it was mostly out of fun, but with the changing times I think it's a mandatory skillset that she needs to have but will hopefully never use.
As usual, Randy is an instructor without equal. The man is a TEACHER above all else, and I will put his skills as same up against anyone I've ever come across from kindergarten through graduate school, and every piano, tennis, golf, etc. lesson in between. His patience (especially in a class full of 19 women of various skill sets) is un paralleled.
Special thanks as always to Irv of Southern Exposure for putting on these classes, and his wife Watfa for all her attention to the ladies and her work as Randy's AI. Better people you would be very hard pressed to find, and their obvious commitment to helping people get the skills they want and need is amazing. Training at Southern makes you a part of the family, and Irv and Watfa are definitely the parents of that family, with all that that implies.