International Personal Self-Defense Blog by Robb Hamic

Firearm Instruction.......... Stay ahead of the curve

We have all heard the same old arguments about shooting stances and methods for a very long time. Do we teach weaver, isosceles, point shooting versus sight alignment and sight picture.If we consider all of the latest information available regarding the physiology of stress and how it relates to our bodies during a dynamic critical incident, it seems that we must also evaluate how we teach today’s warriors as it relates to stress under fire.  Many studies have shown that when placed under an extreme amount of stress, our bodies will react in a somewhat predictable way to protect itself. Some examples of these reactions are; the startle flinch, tunnel vision (the rise of visual acuity), auditory exclusion, lowering of center of gravity, facing the stimulus (indexing the threat), eyes opening wide (both eyes) to focus on the threat. It has been since the mid seventies and the beginnings of the dash cam videos that we have been able to see actual shootings and the chaotic way that they play out. It is unrealistic that we see anyone involved actually stand in a perfect weaver stance, focus on the front sights, squinting one eye, and squeeze off a controlled pair. It is shown repeatedly, assailants and officers, shooting seemingly uncontrollably with poor grip on their guns while running backwards towards some sort of cover or at least away from their opponent.We know that when confronted with a threat, our body is naturally going to lower its center of gravity, orient towards the threat, hands will move up to protect our head, and eyes will both open wide and focus on the threat (the startle flinch). Why then would we train students to blade off thirty degrees from the target and close one eye to focus on the sights. We as Professional Firearm Instructors have a duty to be the most informed people on the training range. We carry such an important load of responsibility when it comes to training people to win an encounter involving firearms. 

 

Always a student.. Combat Focus Shooting Instructor Development

 I spent four days in Virginia Beach attending an instructor development course taught by Rob Pincus, founder of I.C.E Training Company and the Combat Focus Shooting (CFS)™ program.  My expectation was to improve my skills as a firearms instructor and to better learn Rob's method, which is gaining popularity in the civilian, military and law enforcement sectors.  

I heard that the course was difficult and that many of the   instructor candidates failed to achieve completion of the subjective teaching test and the written exam.  I met Rob a year before at Blauer Tactical's Summer Camp, hosted by self-defense expert Tony Blauer.  I immediately identified with his theories about effectiveness in gun deployment and I read his book Combat Focus Shooting and watched his DVDs.  I knew that something had happened after I read the book the first time as I started sharing the concepts with my firearms students the next day on the range.  I observed them learning faster.  That was a clue. 

 I contacted Rob for some clarifications and critiques via e-mail (half expecting no response from him).  He produces several TV shows and travels across the world teaching people CFS.  He not only responded, we started an exchange.  I had to remind myself that we are in the "pay me now" age and I was talking with one of the industry's leading experts and he never asked anything of me except clarity and integrity in my teaching his concepts to my students.  I was not a CFS certified instructor, just a gun instructor that wanted more options for my students.  He knew that and helped me anyway with no real expectation that he would ever see a profit from me.  That speaks to his integrity and professionalism.

I signed up for the Combat Focus Shooting instructor development class and traveled to Virginia at an expense.  I have high expectations for instructor development classes but they are rarely met.  I have been a semi-professional student of self defense for the last seven years, attending, I don't know how many schools.  I think many of the instructors from the various schools have read the same book on how to conduct class and training.  Powerpoint presentations, lots of end-user type of performance, lots of breaks and long lunches.  Early dismissal on the last day of class is a staple of most of the instructor development (ID) schools that I have attended as a cop or privately.  Rob broke the paradigm.  Plain and simple.

There was one part day spent at the range to experience the material as an end-user, with instructor level critiques included and the rest of the training was in the classroom focusing on REAL INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT.  Real is defined as 15ish hour days with more lecture and material than I have ever seen in one course.  Discussion, hard questions and study.  After dinner the time was usually around 11 PM.  It was study time until around 1:30 AM each night.  No time for hanging out and relaxing, which is common-place for most ID classes.  Class would start again early in the morning.

It was apparent that Rob had created something entirely different as I looked around me at the other students.  I would describe the group as diverse and successful instructors, some were high level operators.  No slackers or people that obviously didn't fit in, which is usually the case with most ID classes.  The curriculum was highly researched and intuitive, just like CFS.  Rob really placed a high standard on the instructor knowing the cause behind the effect and he was not satisfied with a word that you said versus with it really meant.  Example:

Tunnel Vision: This is a term that I have been taught and said many times without knowing its true meaning or survival positive for the end user.

Correct terminology: In the context of a dynamic critical incident, there are several internal factors   that happen to you such as a rise in visual acuity towards the center of your field of vision. (this might be what some people refer to as Tunnel Vision but can't really explain).

I am proud to have taken this course and I will continue my training with Rob.  I will continue my research and application of my skills to teach students how to be more efficient in dynamic critical incidents by using intuitive actions that take less time, effort and energy.  There is value in these concepts and I know my students want to be exposed to this learning.

Rob set the bar pretty high as a teacher and for my future expectations for Instructor Development schools.  My evolution continues.

Robb Hamic is a professional firearms teacher who resides in Austin Texas.  He provides instruction in intuitive shooting methods in Austin and surrounding areas on a private or semi-private basis to individuals.  He is a Certified Law Enforcement Trainer (CLET) and trains agencies across the United States in today's most up to date use of force options.  Robb also trains military units.  For further information contact him at 512-284-0087 or WEBSITE.

    

FBI: Law Enforcement Agencies must bridge learning from Academy to on-going training for officers.

Police Recruit Training
Facilitating Learning Between the Academy and Field Training- FBI Repot
By Steven Hundersmarck, Ph.D.

Police recruit training occurs across multiple learning activities; it begins in the classroom and ends with hands-on field experience. Many assume that such training is both progressive and congruent. Within six to eight months, cadets enter and leave the academy classroom to take part in field training. This transition involves consciously leaving behind past experience and identity as a cadet, becoming part of a new organization, and building a new identity as an officer. Therefore, learning is not part of a linear process but, rather, must be extended across the academy and into field training. Although much of the related literature has focused on learning within each independent activity with the belief that individuals will transfer knowledge, there is a growing awareness that organizations should concentrate more on how learning extends or generalizes across activities, as well as how to facilitate it.

The author gathered data from a study he conducted in Michigan in a regional police academy and during field training in a mid-sized department that employs over 200 sworn officers. He selected 10 cadets quasi-randomly based on their prior police experience and whether they were employed by a department before entering the academy. During the 16 weeks of classes, the author observed these participants and collected data from them during structured interviews at various points. He also interviewed academy personnel and instructors, attended a number of classes, and studied daily recruit life.

During the second phase of the research project, the author followed two of the original 10 recruits into the field training program. He rode with them and their training officers, recorded 13 hours of training discourse, and transcribed them into 49 pages of dialogue. He then coded the dialogue to determine if recruits and field training officers discussed academy learning and to establish what teaching techniques field training officers used to teach recruits.