1 thing I've always wondered about classes is the lunch situation.  How was this one set up?

Mrs. CMO took an all womens class in CO and they had about 300 attendees. So a bunch of lunchwagons was set up. We thought about taking PFC Training classes in Vegas, and the food thing was always on my mind.

With our range shut down, how was your skills according to jedi?  Like "good enough", considering little to no live fire?  Or was it obvious to him that you haven't live fired in a while?  I ask what his opinion is cause I know what your expectations of yourself is.

Is Jedi's personality in person the same as in his videos?  I've talked to some other people for other various industries and what you see on video or social media is often different from real life.  Example: Mrs. CMO met Jay Cutler (bodybuilder, not NFL) and in his vids at the time (early 2000's), he came off as very cocky. But in real life, he was a nice guy. She watched him interact with various fans at a autograph session. Same with Bill Romanowski (NFL).

1 thing I've always wondered about classes is the lunch situation.  How was this one set up?

Most of my Frontsight lunches were cold cut sandwiches I made and cup of noodles.

Most of my Frontsight lunches were cold cut sandwiches I made and cup of noodles.

Hot water there, or u made the noodles prior to the class starting?

1) 1 thing I've always wondered about classes is the lunch situation.  How was this one set up?

Mrs. CMO took an all womens class in CO and they had about 300 attendees. So a bunch of lunchwagons was set up. We thought about taking PFC Training classes in Vegas, and the food thing was always on my mind.

2) With our range shut down, how was your skills according to jedi?  Like "good enough", considering little to no live fire?  Or was it obvious to him that you haven't live fired in a while?  I ask what his opinion is cause I know what your expectations of yourself is.

3) Is Jedi's personality in person the same as in his videos?  I've talked to some other people for other various industries and what you see on video or social media is often different from real life.  Example: Mrs. CMO met Jay Cutler (bodybuilder, not NFL) and in his vids at the time (early 2000's), he came off as very cocky. But in real life, he was a nice guy. She watched him interact with various fans at a autograph session. Same with Bill Romanowski (NFL).

1) You're on your own for lunch.  That's typical for the courses that I've taken, which typically in the 20ish student range.  I've never been to a course like that where lunch was provided or nearby.  They typically give you enough time to go "off range" for lunch.  I always bring lunch to the range.  Don't want the hassle of rushing to get lunch.  Plus good time to eat and chat with fellow students.  In some courses, the instructors stick around and chat as well.  I want to cruise and chill during the breaks.  Other than that, you should take snacks if you're that worried.  I usually have a bunch of snacks, but for this one, I didn't really eat other than the breaks. 

2) They aren't really watching the individual students that closely, nor are they judging you.  Or at least they typically aren't obvious about it.  There was a range of folks in terms of skill, prior experience, frequency of training, etc.  It was obvious who had been training/shooting regularly.  There was a group that were all shooting buddies, having trained and shot matches together often.  It was great to see them pushing each other, and others in the class.  I got to be good friends with a few of them over the 3 days of the class.  I even "won" the chalice from one of them, and still rib him about it on social media. 

Beyond that, Jedi has standards.  National, class, and black belt.  I'd have to check the card, but I think I met the class standard for the 3x2 and was maybe 0.1 from the black belt.  For the bill drill, I was within the BB standard time, but had 1 out (fail).  After that, I knew I was out for the BB patch.  I think I made the class standard for the 1 shot, and I messed up on the 25 yard one.  I didn't really have expectations going in.  After the first day, I thought I would have decent chance at 2 of the 4 standards, so I think was "about right". 

3) Personality wise, he is about what you get from what I've seen on YT.  I think he's pretty cool, but like anything, depends on the individual.  Like anyone, they definitely gravitate to folks that have similar interests or other connections.  He would joke with me because of a few of those "links".  He would often use a BJJ black belt that was in the class for shared experiences and examples as Jedi is really in to BJJ as well, including how he relates to body mechanics for shooting.  He also had a couple "challenging students" that became his projects and could tell they "held a special place in his heart".  Overall, I think he's a super cool guy, but I can see if folks find him abrasive or an ass.  He's SUPER conscious of safety, so if you aren't safe, you're going to know.  He definitely let a few folks know when something close to unsafe happened. 

Hot water there, or u made the noodles prior to the class starting?

Are you going to be there to train?  Or to eat?

CMO - For this class, the range was out in the boonies, but was still maybe 10-15 mins from "rest stop" areas along the main highway.  I would say most of the classes I have taken were similar.  Where fast food was available within maybe 10 mins from the range.  I typically buy a sandwich, chips, snacks, etc the night before or on the way to the range.  This class, I bought a cheap collapsible cooler from Target and packed my lunch with ice and water.  Past courses, I bought a cheap styrofoam cooler and did similar.  I would say maybe half of the guys brought lunch and half went out to buy.  The instructors went off site all three days. 

I have been to ranges where they have basic stuff, like maybe a small kitchen to warm up stuff or a fridge.  But overall, I don't count on that.  My focus is on the class. . .

  He would joke with me because of a few of those "links". 

Rhymes with "link".  Also with "plant dyes". 

SNIP

That’s the class I took. They have a few different, plus collaborations. Covered all in that video, with slightly different course of fire for the lateral movement.

Interesting to see the various pistols and optic combos, especially for California. I was considering a class there, but I was warned of issues with acquiring ammo and pistol restrictions.

plus you have to consider the lunch situation...

That’s the class I took. They have a few different, plus collaborations. Covered all in that video, with slightly different course of fire for the lateral movement.

Interesting to see the various pistols and optic combos, especially for California. I was considering a class there, but I was warned of issues with acquiring ammo and pistol restrictions.

Took a HRA combo skill builder this weekend.  Haven't shot a skill builder in over a year.  My goal was to speed up if my POI/grouping is guud enuff.

This one focused mainly on transitions from rifle to pistol at about 5 yards and some at 15 and some malfunction clearing (tap/rack). The 5 yard, all my hits for both were in the "A" zone.  The paper they used was slightly smaller and I had a few flyers off paper, but still in the A zone.  Grouping could have been better at this distance, but I shot as fast as I could while still getting acceptable hits.  I think I could have sped up more.  I wasn't shooting for accuracy because I know what I can do at 5 yards with slower fire.

There was a "competition" at the end with pistols and it was from a compressed ready to get a hit at 15 yards on a "C" zone target under 1 second. This is where a red dot is king as it's much faster to acquire a target. I was running irons.  Had a few guys who changed their pistols to a better one I guess for this. Meaning they did the SB with 1 pistol and wanted to try to win so they switched to another. IMO, this is doodoo.  Run the gun that you've been taking the SB with.  1 guy said that he was running his CCW gun and switched cause before today, he didn't really train with it that much.  Which IMO, this is a huge mistake cause u want to know what you can do with your CCW gun at 15 yards.

After this I had to go cause the SB ran longer than online said it would.  I didn't qual either as I was over the 1 second and missed my 2nd try.

I was told that I had the 2nd coolest gun that day as there was 1 guy with a MK23.  He mentioned that the gun was too big for his hands, which is a common issue as the gun is a bigger gun. There were a lot of Stacattos there, prob about 9 or so. 1 guy wan a M2 Beretta, lots of P320s, a few VP9s, and some Gucci Glock's.

It's been over a year and I saw some guys who were very noob in the prior HRA SB's. They improved a lot since then.  Not only accuracy, but fundamentals.

In general, I usually have my own goals when I take a SB.  Of course showing off and winning a competition at the end is good, but I'm there to practice my own thing.  After not shooting for over a year, I think that I accomplished what I wanted to.

Also, round count for the 1911 without cleaning is still going on. Just oiling b4 using, no jams. But the guys MK23 did jam once.

Took a rifle/pistol skill builder with Mrs. CMO and this was the first one we took together in 3 years.  She did well, her skills didn't diminish as much as I thought they would.  Since day 1, we've been told multiple times that firearm abilities are a perishable skill.  We've both played sports and we understand what this means and have witnessed it often.  But it seems like for both of us, not shooting for a while hasn't done much diminishing of ability.  Maybe we're not that good enough where it's not noticeable.

I have noticed muscle memory though.  1 instructor mentioned when recovering my empty rifle after using the pistol, to grab in front the mag well. I grab infront my optic. 1 reason is because my picatinny rail begins there and I can feel the roughness of it as a point of reference besides just the optic.  The issue with the mag well was that muscle memory kicked in and I kept grabbing the optic, but when I did try the magwell grab, my sling was sometimes in the way and was taught.  So not much rooms to slide my fingers between the sling and front of magwell.  Then if I just grabbed it totaly,now the sling is in the way and it's already taught (aka tight with no slack), so bringing up the rifle back to my work space has tension to it.

We began by a 5 yard business card sized target to aim for.  Most people didn't know their hold over.  Heard 1 guy with fancy stuff and running a stacatto that he was zero'd for 50 and he needs to adjust his red dot by about 10 clicks. Instructor told him don't touch anything for now.  Then the hold over was explained.  This is good because it gives the instructors a base to see where people are at.

This was a basic transition class. 

The most memorable was that had a guy who was nervous when reloading both platforms.  You can see his hands shake and the mags shake big time.  It's probably due to being under somewhat of a time limit, compared to shooting at the bench on your own and that people were watching him because we were divided into 3 groups. And anyone not shooting is watching the others shoot.  Toward the end of the class, his nervousness was reduced by about 80%. He was still shaking a little, but much less.  I bring this up because time and eyes on you are factors that lead to stress. Imagine really being under a time limit or a real life self defense scenario.  So I think this skill builder was good for him to experience. He was shaking, but never unsafe. He also never dropped a mag. He was a pretty good shooter too. He hit the business card with his pistol and red dot on it at 5 yards for 4/6 shots.  Most people missed the business card totally.  When he was shooting, his platforms never shook either.

Took a skill builder yesterday, combo rifle and handgun.

We did more multiple target engagements. I did better than I thought I would.  But the targets were 5 and 7 yards.  Bascially, I was on paper (8x11) for both platforms.  What I also did was push the multiple shots per target instead of just 1 on each. So more like 2 or 3 shots on each target per platform.  I think it was called a VTAC drill that we did also. 

Even though I haven't shot for a while, I did speed up my double/triple taps and was surprised.  I think the reason why I sped up was because my group had a bunch of air softers/competition shooters who also can shoot fast and accurate. So having better people next to me causes you to push your comfort level safely.  Skill level wise, I was prob the 2nd from the worst shooter out of the 10 that were in our group.

During the class, there were a good number of students who's rifle mags fell out. Also, this is the first time that I've take a class that peoples grips on their handguns were different.  Had a few tea cuppers, had 1 guy holding the front of the trigger guard with his thumb and he was liking pulling that part forward.  Which means his 4 fingers are in front of the trigger guard.  Had another guy run with gloves but kept his strong side hand thumb sticking in the air and his support side fingers weren't wrapped around anything.  He may have had a disability. He kept getting stove pipes and then his glove stuck inside the slide when trying to rack, so he removed his gloves after about 10 mins of class starting. Had another guy shooting with his elbows bent (pistol).

Funny is my thumb is tender.  The loading without a speed loader.  I make fun of my friend and his soft hands due to shooting pistol ammo with less powder in them to reduce recoil, so bachi for me.

With those weird grips, I'd be concerned with safety issues in controlling the gun or NDs.

With those weird grips, I'd be concerned with safety issues in controlling the gun or NDs.

Their recoil management wasn't the best, but they were safe.

I forgot to add, it was a sunny day.  I drank 1 gatorade and 3 bottles of water in about 3 hours.  I only had to pee once.  Compared to the same intake of liquids and it's overcast, I'm peeing every hour or 45 mins or so.

I bring this up because when I dont' drink enough water, I get sun stroke later that night.  Migraine and slight nausia.  But that night nothing.  instead, it hit me the next morning.  So I took an excedrine and the migraine went away.  I take this as a sign that I didn't drink enough water.

Because we were able to top off our rifle mags, there were less breaks needing to reload and drink more water while reloading.  Like some exercises on another day, we're told to load only 5 rds or 10 rds.

I might look into a camel pack to attach to my plate carrier.

Took the Axis Training combo (rifle/pistol) this weekend.  Below is some new things I have to adjust:

1) Being a father, usually Mrs.CMO and I take skill builders together.  Grandma/pa babysit.  Then we go home and shower and clean all the topical dust/dirt off our gear beacuse we have a baby in the home and that stuff is no good.  So once class is finished, it's like 2-3 hours after we leave the range that we pick up our daughter. 

2) Took the skill builder by myself and Mrs. CMO watched our daughter.  I felt bad cause I knew she was home alone doing everything by herself instead of as a team.  Then add in the sun drained me, even though I wore sunscreen.  I was basically out of commission the rest of the night too due to having sun stroke or something.  Headache, fatigue, even though I drank 1 big gatorade w/sugar in it and about 8 bottles of water and another 1/3 gallon of water.  I think i'm getting older so my body cannot handle being in the sun for 4 hours, plus I'm an indoor cat, so I don't go out much in the sun like to the beach, pool, hiking, etc... I did start to feel better around 8:30pm as the headache went away. It was a dull headache at the base of my skull/top of the neck area.

I need to figure out how to fight the fatigue after because I cannot be out of commission the rest of the night.  I used to be OK as long as I stayed hydrated and drank a Gatorade. I took about 3 pisses during the skill builder, so I know hydration wise I'm OK.  Because other times I didn't drink enough and didn't piss at all.  So I'm thinking it's the sun exposure.  Maybe I need to cover my face and head with a hat?  I do wear long sleeves already.

3) Learned some new things, 1st time shooting a vtac in a long time with my pistol.  I was the only iron sights guy and the bottom ports are the most challenging.  But I held my own.  It only took me 17 shots to clear all 10 ports (1 shot per port and you cannot go on until you get a hit).  The top 4 were single hits.  The bottom 3 ports is the one that took more shots.  When doing this, I also treated  the board as cover, so I made sure my legs stayed behind the board.  Others didn't do this, but I was working on some things specifically myself.  It wasn't a class requirement.

4) Others learned that for the bottom ports of the VTAC and rifle, red dot is much easier than a LVPO type powered optic.

5) FIrst time doing a "cover drill".  Where you and a partner move while 1 is shooting downrange for "cover".  I had a guy who had a malfunction, so I had to keep shooting until he cleared it.  This ended up costing me about 60rds down range.  It was good that he didn't quit.  He fixed the problem, it was a double feed and he had to fish the round out as it was stuck.  By the time the drill was completed, I was out of rifle ammo.  If it went on any longer, I would have to switch to pistol.  I only had about 90rds rifle ammo on me.  We also had to move from behind a barrier, but either reload or tac reload.  I noticed the newer guys where just dropping their mag with ammo in it still.  HDF years ago taught me about tac reloads and the importance.  So this paid off.

6) The VTAC drill, we had to sit back from the port, so you cannot rest your rifle on the port.  I grazed the wood, it didn't break the wood, but you can see the slight dent in it.  So I had to sign the board as is custom. duuuumaaahhhhhh.

7) Reps is key.  I think doing the VTAC with HDF taught me well, even though it was many years ago.  Muscle memory.  There were others who are way better shooters than me, but they struggled on the bottom ports.  I didn't due to the HDF teachings.

I need to figure out how to fight the fatigue after because I cannot be out of commission the rest of the night.

1.  Good hydration and rest the night before.

2.  Long sleeve shirt made for outdoor recreation.  Light weight breathable pants.  Ventilated hiking shoes or trail runners.

3.  Wide brimmed ventilated hat all around.

4.  Get in the shade at every opportunity.

5.  Spend more time outdoors in the heat to acclimate.

6.  Hydroflask with a lot of ice you can keep refilling.

Were you wearing a vest and or plates?

5.  Spend more time outdoors in the heat to acclimate.



Were you wearing a vest and or plates?

I think this may be it as I'm an indoor cat.

I was, and they're lightweight, so the front,rear, and sides total are like 10lbs.

I think this may be it as I'm an indoor cat.

I was, and they're lightweight, so the front,rear, and sides total are like 10lbs.

I dunno what type of vest your wearing, but if ventilation is a problem then try something like mesh vests.
https://www.221btactical.com/collections/all-maxx-dri-vests

This is what I use under body armor.  There's other types that may be more suited for your type of vest.