glock_forty5
04-02-09, 20:05
Sunday - March 29, 2009 9am to 9pm
Sorry for the delay and I hope my AAR is not too much of a ramble.
Tom Perroni is the main instrctor, the guest instructor for this class was a convoy escort contractor straight from the sandy place, his name was Russ. This is my second time taking this course and I cannot recommend it enough. I have taken the 5 day Carbine operators course from Blackwater and this course is covers almost all the same material and some new material in one day! This makes for a very intense but doable day. It is perfect for (and designed for) the beginner to seasoned shooter. The pace starts slow, new info for the beginner and a refresher for the experienced. The skill mix is good as it is refreshing to hear some of the questions a new guy would ask about something I never thought of before as well as the operators sharing their real world experiences. I am a basics kind of guy anyway and always look to re-enforce my foundation. In my AAR, I will give the highlights of the classroom instruction and a little more detail about instruction on the range. Sorry no pictures, there were some contractor guys in the class although they were friendly and very helpful I did not want to freak them out with a camera. Maybe I was being paranoid but better to err on the side of caution and I had my hands full as it was.
The day started with 3 hours of classroom. Tom very efficiently covered the following:
•Safety
•M4 Carbine
oComponents
oFunction
oMaintenance
oAccessories
oSights and sight picture (Tom is an Iron Sight proponent)
•Stance and positions
•Mindset
•OODA Loop and Condition Colors (I am tired and do not remember the correct terminology)
•Transitions
•Get off the X (shoot, move, shoot, move etc…)
•Kit
•Set expectations for the range
To the farm!
The range was recently improved by a very large bulldozer. Planned gravel courtesy of a well known security contractor was yet to be applied so we were still shooting from the field which was more than adequate. The rain had stopped and we had sunny skies for most of the day.
Drills started as followed (at least to the best of my recollection):
1.Zero check – this drill was used for the students to check zero, shake out the jitters, and for the instructors to help those that needed to sorting out.
2.Sighting confirmation fall back – this drill started as a conga line at the 25m mark, the shooter would engage a reduced sized IPSC steel target with 2 rounds then fall back 10 meters (weapons hot). Once everyone finished at 25 m and fell back to the new line at 35m, the drill started again. During the drill if a student ran dry he would call cover and the student behind him would proved cover until he could get his gun back up. I will not go in to all the range commands but needless to say we did a lot of communicating throughout the day. This drill continued until we were way over 100m. This drill helped establish communication between the shooter, instill confidence in the shooter that he could hit the target (Tom was patient with those that needed patience and “dynamic” with those that need it). U did not rotate back until Tom got his hits.
3.Serpentine Drill – These Drills focus on navigation while firing. The shooter is staged in front of 5 or 6 barrels lined up heading down range spaced 4-5 feet apart. Upon start, the shooter navigates the barrels while providing a constant rate of fire on a steel target. This is tricky as moving improperly will cause the sights to bounce and result in a miss. The shooter was to call for cover and transition to his back up (side arm) until cover fire was being provided then seek cover behind a barrel and get his primary back up. Once the primary was back the shooter would call out UP and remain in position until he heard UP as a response. This was a great drill.
4.Transition Drills – Self explanatory, Tom put some polish to everyone’s transitions. Everybody was faster and more accurate after each got their corrections (corrections were more shooter specific).
5.Turning Drills – The shooter was oriented left, right, or away from the target. When a threat was called, the shooter yelled out contact ______ (what ever direction the targets were oriented to them) then turned and engaged. Good drill that taught the shooter the correct way to move his feet to face the target, get the rifle up without sweeping anyone, and how to get a good sight picture to ensure a hit.
6.Box Drill – This was another movement drill. 4 barrels were set in the shape of a square (ok more like a trapezoid). The shooter started walking down the left side of the box while providing a constant rate of fire, then turn to the right to walk across the front, then walked backwards up the right side, and finally transitioned to the support shoulder and walked the back side of the square (the class was all right handed). Reloads were the same as in the Serpentine Drill.
7.Speed Drill – The shooter would engage a B27 type target (silhouette) at very close range (7yds or less) with 6 shots rapid fire (IPSC shooters think Bill Drill) and then engage an 8” steel plate at 35+yds. This was a good drill that made the shooter transition from rapid fire to engage an immediate threat to making a more precise shot.
8.Load out = time to fight demonstration – The guest instructor had one student get online 25m with a load out of Six 30round mags, Three 15 round pistol mags. The lesson had the student engage the steel with a constant rate of accurate fire while the class timed him. He was completely empty at the 4 min mark (by the time he transitioned to his sidearm fatigue set in and the accuracy was suffering). He was completely out, not a round left to fire. The moral of the lesson was that with his load out, at 1 min 30 seconds he needed to make the decision, can I win this or do I need to fall back. Now most of the students were running 5 – 6 mags on their body with one in the rifle, this was a comfortable load out for the class. The instructor would run 10 mags on his body when he was doing convey escort in Iraq. The point is know where your decision point is with your load out so you do not get caught short.
9.Suburban Drills –
a.Run up – The shooter started 50’ away from a barricade set 12’ in from of the suburban. Upon start, the shooter ran as fast as he could to the barricade and engaged a B27 target (simulated immediate threat) at 7 yards with 6 rounds. The shooter then moved to the suburban and engaged steel targets 25m from over the hood, through the windows and from behind the back. Yes the suburban took a hit on the window trim.
b.Approach using block as cover – Shooter would approach the suburban from 50’ away keeping a steady rate of fire on the steel targets. The shooter transitioned when the rifle went dry and used the engine block and disk brakes as cover to reload (same commands and cover fire as in previous drills).
c.Deploying as a team – This drill was done with empty rifles and we never did shoot it hot. The skill mix was too varied and safety comes first. The guest instructor had the class get in the suburban and practice deploying as a team. Topics included how to take the seatbelt off if it was used, how to deploy, who goes where and why. Sorry for the high level explanation but there was a lot of confusion (as there would be in real life) so I considered this drill as exposure to what I do not know how to do.
10.Night shoot – Light discipline was the key. A threat was called, the shooter would acquire his sights, hit his light, serve up the target, kill the light, and move. We did the drill with both primary and secondary. FYI, it is good to practice with your lights, a few guys had ADs with their lights and it gave their position away.
I am sure I left a few things out but this should paint the picture.
Conclusion: From my point of view, there are many benefits of training with Tom. Excellent training, guest instructors with varying background (observation based on the two classes I have attended), Intense pace, he will find your comfort zone and push you right out of it, and breaking my training scars (too much 3gun games). Also, it takes me less than 2 hours to drive to his school, the one day format is easier to work in to my schedule, and it is a bargain $150 for 11 hours of instruction!
Tom had a question for the class at the end and I will post here. He wanted to know how can he attract more students? He had 15 students signed up but only 6 showed (he held the class anyway, class act). My thoughts were that ammo was hard to come by, others thought it could be scheduling and that more than 30 days notice was needed. Any ideas? I ask from a purely selfish point that I want him to succeed so I can continue to take classes from him (and yes, I would take this same class from him again, at least two more times this year, most likely more).
John
Link to Tom's next course http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=28361
Sorry for the delay and I hope my AAR is not too much of a ramble.
Tom Perroni is the main instrctor, the guest instructor for this class was a convoy escort contractor straight from the sandy place, his name was Russ. This is my second time taking this course and I cannot recommend it enough. I have taken the 5 day Carbine operators course from Blackwater and this course is covers almost all the same material and some new material in one day! This makes for a very intense but doable day. It is perfect for (and designed for) the beginner to seasoned shooter. The pace starts slow, new info for the beginner and a refresher for the experienced. The skill mix is good as it is refreshing to hear some of the questions a new guy would ask about something I never thought of before as well as the operators sharing their real world experiences. I am a basics kind of guy anyway and always look to re-enforce my foundation. In my AAR, I will give the highlights of the classroom instruction and a little more detail about instruction on the range. Sorry no pictures, there were some contractor guys in the class although they were friendly and very helpful I did not want to freak them out with a camera. Maybe I was being paranoid but better to err on the side of caution and I had my hands full as it was.
The day started with 3 hours of classroom. Tom very efficiently covered the following:
•Safety
•M4 Carbine
oComponents
oFunction
oMaintenance
oAccessories
oSights and sight picture (Tom is an Iron Sight proponent)
•Stance and positions
•Mindset
•OODA Loop and Condition Colors (I am tired and do not remember the correct terminology)
•Transitions
•Get off the X (shoot, move, shoot, move etc…)
•Kit
•Set expectations for the range
To the farm!
The range was recently improved by a very large bulldozer. Planned gravel courtesy of a well known security contractor was yet to be applied so we were still shooting from the field which was more than adequate. The rain had stopped and we had sunny skies for most of the day.
Drills started as followed (at least to the best of my recollection):
1.Zero check – this drill was used for the students to check zero, shake out the jitters, and for the instructors to help those that needed to sorting out.
2.Sighting confirmation fall back – this drill started as a conga line at the 25m mark, the shooter would engage a reduced sized IPSC steel target with 2 rounds then fall back 10 meters (weapons hot). Once everyone finished at 25 m and fell back to the new line at 35m, the drill started again. During the drill if a student ran dry he would call cover and the student behind him would proved cover until he could get his gun back up. I will not go in to all the range commands but needless to say we did a lot of communicating throughout the day. This drill continued until we were way over 100m. This drill helped establish communication between the shooter, instill confidence in the shooter that he could hit the target (Tom was patient with those that needed patience and “dynamic” with those that need it). U did not rotate back until Tom got his hits.
3.Serpentine Drill – These Drills focus on navigation while firing. The shooter is staged in front of 5 or 6 barrels lined up heading down range spaced 4-5 feet apart. Upon start, the shooter navigates the barrels while providing a constant rate of fire on a steel target. This is tricky as moving improperly will cause the sights to bounce and result in a miss. The shooter was to call for cover and transition to his back up (side arm) until cover fire was being provided then seek cover behind a barrel and get his primary back up. Once the primary was back the shooter would call out UP and remain in position until he heard UP as a response. This was a great drill.
4.Transition Drills – Self explanatory, Tom put some polish to everyone’s transitions. Everybody was faster and more accurate after each got their corrections (corrections were more shooter specific).
5.Turning Drills – The shooter was oriented left, right, or away from the target. When a threat was called, the shooter yelled out contact ______ (what ever direction the targets were oriented to them) then turned and engaged. Good drill that taught the shooter the correct way to move his feet to face the target, get the rifle up without sweeping anyone, and how to get a good sight picture to ensure a hit.
6.Box Drill – This was another movement drill. 4 barrels were set in the shape of a square (ok more like a trapezoid). The shooter started walking down the left side of the box while providing a constant rate of fire, then turn to the right to walk across the front, then walked backwards up the right side, and finally transitioned to the support shoulder and walked the back side of the square (the class was all right handed). Reloads were the same as in the Serpentine Drill.
7.Speed Drill – The shooter would engage a B27 type target (silhouette) at very close range (7yds or less) with 6 shots rapid fire (IPSC shooters think Bill Drill) and then engage an 8” steel plate at 35+yds. This was a good drill that made the shooter transition from rapid fire to engage an immediate threat to making a more precise shot.
8.Load out = time to fight demonstration – The guest instructor had one student get online 25m with a load out of Six 30round mags, Three 15 round pistol mags. The lesson had the student engage the steel with a constant rate of accurate fire while the class timed him. He was completely empty at the 4 min mark (by the time he transitioned to his sidearm fatigue set in and the accuracy was suffering). He was completely out, not a round left to fire. The moral of the lesson was that with his load out, at 1 min 30 seconds he needed to make the decision, can I win this or do I need to fall back. Now most of the students were running 5 – 6 mags on their body with one in the rifle, this was a comfortable load out for the class. The instructor would run 10 mags on his body when he was doing convey escort in Iraq. The point is know where your decision point is with your load out so you do not get caught short.
9.Suburban Drills –
a.Run up – The shooter started 50’ away from a barricade set 12’ in from of the suburban. Upon start, the shooter ran as fast as he could to the barricade and engaged a B27 target (simulated immediate threat) at 7 yards with 6 rounds. The shooter then moved to the suburban and engaged steel targets 25m from over the hood, through the windows and from behind the back. Yes the suburban took a hit on the window trim.
b.Approach using block as cover – Shooter would approach the suburban from 50’ away keeping a steady rate of fire on the steel targets. The shooter transitioned when the rifle went dry and used the engine block and disk brakes as cover to reload (same commands and cover fire as in previous drills).
c.Deploying as a team – This drill was done with empty rifles and we never did shoot it hot. The skill mix was too varied and safety comes first. The guest instructor had the class get in the suburban and practice deploying as a team. Topics included how to take the seatbelt off if it was used, how to deploy, who goes where and why. Sorry for the high level explanation but there was a lot of confusion (as there would be in real life) so I considered this drill as exposure to what I do not know how to do.
10.Night shoot – Light discipline was the key. A threat was called, the shooter would acquire his sights, hit his light, serve up the target, kill the light, and move. We did the drill with both primary and secondary. FYI, it is good to practice with your lights, a few guys had ADs with their lights and it gave their position away.
I am sure I left a few things out but this should paint the picture.
Conclusion: From my point of view, there are many benefits of training with Tom. Excellent training, guest instructors with varying background (observation based on the two classes I have attended), Intense pace, he will find your comfort zone and push you right out of it, and breaking my training scars (too much 3gun games). Also, it takes me less than 2 hours to drive to his school, the one day format is easier to work in to my schedule, and it is a bargain $150 for 11 hours of instruction!
Tom had a question for the class at the end and I will post here. He wanted to know how can he attract more students? He had 15 students signed up but only 6 showed (he held the class anyway, class act). My thoughts were that ammo was hard to come by, others thought it could be scheduling and that more than 30 days notice was needed. Any ideas? I ask from a purely selfish point that I want him to succeed so I can continue to take classes from him (and yes, I would take this same class from him again, at least two more times this year, most likely more).
John
Link to Tom's next course http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=28361