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Thread: "super" Dave Harrington class in Ohio

  1. #11
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    To say the guy is intense, is an understatement. Had I known what I was signing up for, I wouldn’t have, but I’m glad I did. The class was good, I learned more than I could absorb, but I didn’t really consider it much “fun”, and there was no relaxing. I’ve trained with Rogers, Hackathorn, and a couple other not so well known, and the physical and mental intensity level of this class isn’t even in the same zip-code, no, Its not even in the same hemisphere.


    During drills, he’s everywhere and doesn’t miss ANYTHING. He brought a couple things to my attention that I don’t know how the **** he noticed. Lets just say he never had to tell me the same thing twice.


    There are no laid back funny stories, no down time, when the carbine is slung up YOU MAINTAIN POSITIVE CONTROL OF THE WEAPON! – meaning your hand is on the pistol grip and your finger indexed over the trigger guard, ready to go. And YOU ALWAYS MOVE WITH A LOADED WEAPON. And when you have positive control – make damn sure you are watching your muzzle.


    IMO, as a “teacher”, I think Super Dave, not so much. He’s too hyper, too involved, and talks way too much. He (admittedly) goes off in tangents, that my little attention span could not follow(I wasn’t the only one). He would do everything except get to the point, and when he got to the point, you completely forgot what the **** the point was supposed to be. Luckily, during individual communication, he made the point very clear. As I said above, he never had to tell me the same thing twice.

    You’ve heard the saying those who “can’t”, teach.
    Well, Super Dave can actually “do”. I have never seen an instructor do as much shooting as Dave. Dave can shoot, and then it was up to us to follow his example. Well, his example as a guideline and it was somewhat at our discretion to MAKE A ****ING DECISION.
    You should already know what to do because when its time in Dave’s class, you better be ready to MAKE A ****ING DECISION!. There is no spoon feeding how to do anything.
    Not much to say that can explain what it was like. Pay total attention at all times, and everything is important. In regards to the little things, there are no little things

    It was obvious to me I lacked in the shooting while moving gunteam drills, and Dave let me know it when he caught me looking everywhere except watching my team members six. Information overload – walking backwards in the dark against someone I don’t knows back, while moving towards another team coming from the opposite direction also shooting at the same targets; I had reached my comfort level and saturation point by then for the day.

    It was a lot, compressed into what seemed like a little time. It was two full days, and nights. Lots of pistol shooting, which was excellent and what I was hoping for. I put 1500 rounds through my pistol, over 1000 rounds on the first day. I took 25 1911 mags and still had to stuff mags at every opportunity. My RRA ran like a champ. I got several nasty looking bruises on my inner thigh, but I’m now able to chamber a round 1 handed (even with Novaks).
    My suppressed SBR ran like a champ. Steel at night, 25yds away is pretty cool – like little fireworks with all the sparks. I did pretty good except for the team stuff, and I never got the level of individual attention some others received, or as Dave would say – “Gave him the opportunity to excel” .

    At the end of the class I got a “Good effort dude” from Super Dave which I really appreciated. Little things I picked up that I forgot, have been popping into my head ever since I left the range, so I’ll have bunches to pull from my tool box next trip to the range.

    It was a pretty wired together group, several SWAT guys who worked well together. I don’t recall a single weapon going down, or insufficient gear issues. Everyone in this class had more than a couple classes from the other “big guys”. When he told everyone to raise their carbine, then drop it on the stones no one hesitated. All knew the difference between a toy and tool. I also noticed the lack of extensive cool guy gear. In the other classes, there were usually several who are dressed up in every piece of gear they can attach to themselves. These guys just seemed to be wearing what they needed.

    By the way, stay away from his truck.



    It was cold, but luckily no wind. Most all of the shooting was done in a pit with almost 360 degrees of blasting berms.


    The pit was interesting at night with no wind. The smoke just hung and it was pretty hard to see.







    I dont rememeber what hes saying to me, but I can tell by his posture its a good conversation(no eye contact). It probably started with "What you got goin on there dude?".





    So thats why I had to bring a bag of rubber bands.




    Attempt to go through SD, or go around? MAKE A DECISION!


    Sure looks simple....







    Souviner T-Shirt

  2. #12
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    Good review Steve and would have to agree with what you said.

    Hey BL, I heard you DIDN'T stay away from the truck.



    C4

    P.S. Oh, forgot to mention Steve that you were only 15 minutes from my shop! Give a brother a call the next time your in town!
    Last edited by C4IGrant; 11-11-06 at 08:28.

  3. #13
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    BL may have gotten close, but one guy sat on the bumper, once.

    Had you only been 5 minutes away, it still would have been too far. After each day I was drained

  4. #14
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    Thanks for the post. Dave's mellowed over the last couple of years believe it or not.

    We've got him in Atlanta next weekend. I know he'll be bringing the firehose.

    Definitely stay away from the truck.

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigbore
    BL may have gotten close, but one guy sat on the bumper, once.

    Had you only been 5 minutes away, it still would have been too far. After each day I was drained

    Roger and understand on being drained.

    So someone actually sat on the bumper??? I am surprised no one go hurt.


    C4

  6. #16
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    Great review and pictures Steve!

    You don't realize it yet but you'll be remembering things for a long time to come. While SD's style is...odd, you learned more than you realize and in a twisted way that proves that he's a very good instructor. I was still mulling that class over three-four weeks later.

    I loved the physical aspect of his class and believe it or not I had fun in a sadistic sort of way

    I look forward to another opportunity to train under SD.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigbore
    moving gunteam drills [...] walking backwards in the dark against someone I don’t knows back, while moving towards another team coming from the opposite direction also shooting at the same targets
    Sounds mighty unsafe. I don't know if this class was advertised as suited for civilians, but am I the only one who thinks that team (larger than two) drills make absolutely no sense in a civilian class? "Civilian" may be defined here as a good portion of law enforcement officers too.

    IMHO all it does is promote unsafe movement and muzzle control while people stumble around in teams. Weapon handling and tactics may be different from the things suited for the lone "operator". So, even with this being an advanced class, I would rather go home and have practised the techniques suitable for me under a watchful eye longer, than learn dozens of techniques of very limited value to me.

    Besides- and this is a general observation from social/group psychology- forming a team with guys who will never act together is a waste of time since the experience can't be transfered 1:1 to other teams or generalized.
    my enmity is only against Tyranny, where ever I find it, wheter in Emperour, King, Prince, Parliament, Presbyters, or People.
    Richard Overton, 1646

  8. #18
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    The class was requested by a local SWAT team. Most all the class was LE or Military. I was just along for the ride. The team members in the class I'm sure appreciated and will apply what they learned.

    I totally agree with you on team training, and the application of, for folks(like me) who have no team.

  9. #19
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    Cato - It sounds like the class Steve attended was similar to the one I took.

    We had a SEAL Team guy, a Force Recon Marine, a .gov guy and several Police officers. They probably got a lot out of the team stuff and those of us like me, Grant and yrac still learned something that we might not otherwise learn. Whether or not we'll ever use those skills isn't important; trigger time is trigger time, it's all GOOD.

  10. #20
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    That's why it's important for the host to vet out the students. Instructors at this level are very good at assessing the skill level of the students. As well any student that doesn't feel comfortable with a drill should cowboy up and take a break. I've seen guys sit out drills they weren't comfortable doing and nobody knocked them for it or felt less about them for doing it. Quite the opposite actually.

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