Advanced CCW Training 07-20-08

[Diamond Jim]

It has been about 48 hours since I took the Advanced CCW class. I am still trying to process all the information, details, thoughts and emotions this class will instill in you.

Having never took the class before, I really did not understand the dynamics of the totality of the experience. I thought I did. I was wrong.

The premise of the class is to subject you to real life shooting/non shooting situations. Until they develop Star Trek's Holograms, this is as real as it can get. The situations you are presented are seemlessly interactive, and will change depending on how you react to any situation. The stress is real. You must make split second decisions. How did you talk to the person of interest? Did you make clear commands? How did you react, did you do nothing, shoot, miss, wound, or kill? If you shot, did you shoot late, early, why did you shoot? As a result of your actions, the scenario will change. How does this affect you thinking, actions? Were there other people in the scenario? Where are they? Are they armed, witnesses,or loved ones? You fight to avoid tunnel vision, sometimes you experience auditory shutdown. You will experience stress in a way you may have never experienced before. Afterwards, your hands will probably shake, your palms may sweat. All in 30 seconds.....

Now, the debrief by Greg....What caused you to draw/not draw, fire/not fire. How many shots did you fire? What was going through your mind? What were you aiming at? Did you hit your target? How many people were in the scenario? Describe them, in detail. Did you take fire? If so, how many shots did they get off? Did you get hit? (Hint, if Female Instructor has a laser guided weapon system at her disposal, and she has a shot at you, you WILL take fire, and she doesn't miss).

If you are not in the shooting scenario, you are a witness. Greg will ask you to describe individuals, what were they wearing, did you see the weapon, what kind of weapon, would you have done the same thing as the CCW holder in the box did?

Then comes the legal aspects. What are the legal/criminal aspects of your actions? You need to be able to defend yourself, not only to others, but ultimately to yourself. That may be the hardest part of this class. You will second guess not only yourself, but you will also question how you would react in the scenarios others in the class experienced. Would you have done things differently? If you would have reacted faster/slower, would the outcome have changed? You will leave this class processing the events you just experienced.

The class is not all stress. There are many, many moments when I laughed harder than I can remember in the recent past. If you are lucky, you may hear from Ned Beatty, John Wayne, and Yosemite Sam, all complements of timely intervention from Female Instructor. Greg will recount true stories which will have you rolling. The banter from everyone will keep a very serious class light and enjoyable.

If you are a CCW holder, or ever consider owning a gun for personal protection of yourself or loved ones, this class should be mandatory for you to take. You can shoot at all the targets you want, but being in the heat of the battle is totally different, That's what this class is about, you putting it all on the line. Greg calls it Gunfighting 101.

At the end of the day, I had a much greater appreciation for the awesome responsibility I have for being a CCW holder. This class made me far better to defend myself or my loved ones in a life or death situation. You will develop a far greater appreciation for life and those you love.

At the end of the day, I went home and held my wife......today I am still processing.

[FiringLion]

A really good description Diamond Jim, thank you!

And you're right on with every point...

[Bombard]

I was in the same class as Jim, and I've been digesting what I learned.

The best way to express it is with a metaphor. Imagine you love Football. You read Sports Illustrated, you buy Jerseys from your favorite team. Every morning you run wind sprints. You lift weights. You go out to your driveway and spend an hour throwing a football through a tire hanging from a tree branch. After a few years you're really good at throwing that football through the tire. You can nail it every single time.

But you've never been in a football game. You've never faced a defensive blitz. You've never taken two steps back and slipped in the mud. You've never called an audible or had a lineman launch at you from your blind side while you're getting ready to throw.

You don't know how to play football. You have some specific skills. Those skills are necessary, but not sufficient. If you are dropped into a game - even a Pop Warner game - you'll be destroyed.

You can't get real practice for gunfights, the loser bleeds too much. But PRISim training is the equivalent to playing flag football. It's not the real thing - but it's SO much closer than going out and shooting at paper targets that it's just not comparable.

If I were King, CCW's would be shall issue. But PRISim training would be mandatory. My wife is one of those that interviewed in OC before the new Sheriff, and is stuck in the pile. If her permit comes through she WILL take it, even though she probably hasn't shot more than 100 rounds in her life.

There's only one criticism I can come up with. PRISim is designed for Law Enforcement Officer training, most of the scenarios presented are geared to that. As CCW holders we have much more latitude to NOT engage in the situation. If we aren't threatened, we can keep our weapons holstered where an LEO couldn't. Many of the scenarios simply don't give you that choice - they assume you're an LEO responding to something, and you kind of have to go with it. That's not an entirely bad thing, it's just something to keep in mind. If a car is being broken into - even if it's YOUR car - you can walk away. Most of the time you should.

The other take away lesson I got was how incredibly BAD everyone in the class was as witnesses. Really, even when we were warned ahead of time to take note of physical descriptions of the bad guys - we were awful. I'm trying now to train myself to notice these things. When I see someone I describe them in my mind - "Asian male, 5'7, 160, blue jeans, black Radiohead T-shirt, thin mustache" - and I find when I try to remember them that comes back MUCH easier than trying to picture them in my mind. But, again, when I'm King, jurors will have to experience this before they were allowed to weigh witness testimony.

[CCWInstructor]

Originally Posted by Bombard

There's only one criticism I can come up with. PRISim is designed for Law Enforcement Officer training, most of the scenarios presented are geared to that. As CCW holders we have much more latitude to NOT engage in the situation. If we aren't threatened, we can keep our weapons holstered where an LEO couldn't. Many of the scenarios simply don't give you that choice - they assume you're an LEO responding to something, and you kind of have to go with it. That's not an entirely bad thing, it's just something to keep in mind. If a car is being broken into - even if it's YOUR car - you can walk away. Most of the time you should.

.

You always have the choice. Yes it is designed for LEO's. I gave you all off-duty LEO calls too. All you had to do was been a witness and not get involved. Very few did that.

[Bombard]

Originally Posted by CCWInstructor

You always have the choice. Yes it is designed for LEO's. I gave you all off-duty LEO calls too. All you had to do was been a witness and not get involved. Very few did that.

I was thinking of a couple of the scenarios that start off with the participants addressing you as "Officer." It's harder to just stand by then. Not impossible, just harder.

I think most of the participants (including me) came with the idea that this was shooting sim, so we'd gosh-darned better shoot someone. It's so simple not get involved. But as my daddy told me - The important things are always simple. The simple things are always hard.

I think that's the deepest, and hardest, mindset to change.