Real life Training

Great article and it's about time.

That said, gun-FIGHTING as referenced in the article will never catch on. I know, I've been tilting at that windmill for six years and overall it has been a waste of time.

Some here are familiar with firearms training (classes) and some aren't. For those who are unfamiliar I will explain.

Fight training, whatever the type shouldn't us happy. For the most part fight training is rigorous, you get bumps and bruises and sweaty and dirty and sometimes a little bloody. But who wants to that, not very many. Tk mentioned Suarez classes, I agree with him. They do the full range of firearms training and for the most part their classes are usually very well attended, except for two. The Suarez Force On Force and 0-10 classes. They draw people but not as many. Wanna know why, you get bruised and sweaty and dirty and sometimes a little bloody. FOF, if it's done right, is as close to a real fight you can get and still go home relatively unscathed when it over. What are you thinking when you leave a FOF class, "I sure did get killed a lot", only an idiot would be happy and feeling good leaving a class with that thought running through their head. If you are serious about self defense that "I sure did get killed a lot" will grab hold and won't let go. You learned how not ot get to killed but it will take work. After that, when you go to the range, the whole stand in one spot and don't move kind of shooting won't get it done for you. You learned quickly, as TK said, you have to move.                                                                                                                                                             

I used to ask people what they learned in a self defense firearms class and to show me how it would save their life. The typical answer went something like "I kept most of my shots in the middle of the paper" or "we did this shooting drill.........", after a year or so I quit asking.

If you come out of a firearms class that purports to teach self defense and someone asks you "What is the most important thing you learned in class" and you don't answer "Don't get shot" your class has focused on the wrong thing.

Just ot be fair, I don't blame the instructors, instructors teach what people are willing to pay to learn. If the class isn't fun they won't go. Not many people wnat to pay hard earned money and not have a good time. Most instructors have an LE background, they've rolled around with BG's in the filth and know what fights really are. They also know that if they try to teach that, they won't have any students, or at least not very many.

                                                                                                                                                                    Of course, this is not to say that the standard issue firearms classes aren't valid, they are. They sharpen our technique and we can focus without having to worry about an opponent. But ocassionally, we need to go out and get a little bruised up.