My second time through the CIS Defensive Pistol Class (March 2009)

[TGO David]

During June of 2008, I had the pleasure of attending the Critical Incident Strategies [link] Defensive Pistol class for my first time. It was an eye opening experience for me and introduced me to the necessity of taking quality, instructor-lead training that goes beyond the basics of a both a HCP class and any sort of self-training a gun owner might typically do.

This past weekend, I had the equal pleasure of attending the class once again and this time did so along side my wife. After hearing my reports about how great it was last June and seeing it in person while visiting on my second day of the class, she had been looking forward to her chance to try it out. She will give her own review of the class soon but I will say that she loved it and has already started talking about other classes that she'd like to take. I've got an awesome wife, for sure, but I'm also excited as a man and as her husband to see her this enthusiastic about learning to defend herself (and me).

I know I tend to get a little wordy sometimes, so here are my thoughts on this class in the most succinct way possible while trying to give it proper due:

Instruction

Firstly, Todd and Dustin did a great job as always. Their teaching style is authoritative but not overbearing. I cannot stress enough how much this impresses me and impressed my wife. If I had to sum up their style it would be that they are COACHES. I have seen videos of instructor led training where those teaching came across like drill instructors, bellowing commands, yelling at students and generally looking as if their first goal was to show the student how much of a bad-ass they were, and secondly to teach the meager worms something about the real world.

Todd and Dustin do none of that. Their delivery is professional and patient and clearly engineered to help the student learn and to increase their abilities while also increasing their self-confidence.

Yes, there are always going to be drills that challenge you to push your personal envelope and there will be moments of frustration and disappointment, but these guys will almost always halt the action and ask you "Ok... what went wrong just then?" so that the entire class can learn, or tell you "Slow down, work through the problem and get back into the fight" when they see you starting to make dumb mistakes out of frustration.

To me, that's the sign of good instruction. Yes, we are taking these classes to help us in life or death situations. BUT, they want you to learn while you're on the range -- even if it means that unlike in the real world, they give you a do-over to fix a mistake -- rather than leave the class frustrated and lacking confidence in your ability to protect yourself.

This remains the biggest reason why I recommend CIS and will continue to recommend CIS to anyone who will listen. It has nothing to do with their vendor status on TGO; it has everything to do with the two guys teaching the classes.

Introspection

For me, this second time through the class was an introspecetive Report Card on how well I had retained what I learned last year. I think I remembered a good amount of what I had been taught. But I think that I retained far less. I believe retention is born out in the mechanics of what you do. Just because you can recall being taught something, it doesn't mean that you have retained it in your subconcious.

Proof of this? Todd and Dustin taught us last year to do "combat reloads" every time we insert a new magazine. I knew this. I remembered this! But a few times, I didn't do it. Why? Because I haven't been training this way on my own at the range. I've gotten lazy and gotten out of the habit.

As Todd pointed out during this class, the skills that they teach are perishable skills. He's right. As I have allowed myself to drift away from doing my drills properly since June of last year, some of the skills that they taught died along the way. So I left the class range yesterday with a renewed commitment to keep as many of these skills alive by repeating the drills regularly.

We have all heard the somewhat cliche statement that we must train how we fight. It may be trite, but it's true. I give myself a barely passing grade on this and acknowledge that I've got to do better.

Preparation of Gear

I have two thoughts in this area. Firstly, despite my best efforts to ensure that my hardware was squared away prior the class, I did not notice that my handgun's front sight was bent pretty badly nor did I think to clean my magazines before running them.

Secondly, last night and this morning I realized how badly I had maintained another important part of my gear. I was sore as hell. I've allowed myself to become complacent and haven't been hitting the weights, doing squats, situps or walking as much as I need to. The first year of marriage has been good to me. Too good.

From a firearms perspective, I should have noticed that my front sight was dinged up a long time ago. I believe the only reason I hadn't is because I haven't done very much shooting at distance with that particular firearm. I've tended to just mess around with it at close distances while punching paper; and this particular problem didn't manifest until I was trying to use it to make accurate shots at longer distances.

This isn't an excuse for poor accuracy. It's actually a failing mark on my personal report card for not checking my gear thoroughly before comitting to carry it.

Likewise I hadn't thought to disassemble and clean my magazines. As I reported in another thread, I had a magazine get just a little dirty on Day #1 of the class and the follower became stuck in the mag tube.

Had I taken all of the mags apart prior to the class, I would have seen how oily they were from the factory and would have cleaned them and dried them. Had I done that, there wouldn't have been a problem. In fact, on Day #2 I made sure to really grind some dirt into a few of the mags on purpose just to see if I could induce a failure. I couldn't. The oil-free mags wouldn't jam up.

Yet again another failing mark on my personal report card. How many times have I carried these mags for real? I can't count them. And granted, I've never dropped them in the dirt and crud prior to this but Murphy's Law is a SOB and will rear it's ugly head at the worst times. I'm glad that I found these weaknesses in my gear at a class instead of in a firefight.

Closing Thoughts

One of the quotes that Todd uses during the classroom portion of Defensive Pistol is that adversity introduces a man to himself. My second time through the class was a bit of a re-introduction for me.

I did some things right. I did some things wrong. I had some silly, avoidable problems with my gear, but I also think that the Smith & Wesson M&P handgun itself performed excellently. I have improved confidence in the weapon to protect me and my family, and I have improved confidence in myself to do the job.

But I also have a renewed, realistic assessment of where I am at personally. I need to do better. My wife and I made a financial investment to attend the class so it would be foolish of me to squander that by not re-investing throughout the year to retain the things that I was taught. I pledge to do better with that.

The class itself was a lot of fun, but it was also very educational. I would recommend it to anyone and will continue encouraging everyone who is serious about advancing their skills beyond the basics of "HCP 101".

Todd, Dustin... thank you both for doing this.

[creeky]

Great review.

Hoping finances will get a little better so I can attend as well.

[TGO David]

I know where you're coming from, Creeky. We had to make some concessions in other areas to be able to do this ourselves but I think it was money well spent. To me it really is an investment and I think that once you go through the class you will agree also.

There are some things that you can do on your own and I'm sure Todd and Dustin wouldn't mind if I shared some thoughts about those things in the days and weeks ahead. As long as your self-study doesn't ingrain bad habits, it can be a very valuable tool.

Instructor led training is excellent for weeding out those bad habits and learning new ways of doing things. There's no replacement for good training led by good instructors, which is why even the CIS guys seek out and attend other schools themselves.

Hang in there and start saving your spare change so that you can attend a class sometime soon too. This economy has to rebound sooner or later.

[creeky]

I hear you.

That is the one thing I don't want... more bad habits! Hahaha!

Seems like every time we start to pull ahead we get knocked back a bit. depresses the wife more than me. I'd rather be knocked back than knocked down any day of the week.

On the class...

I think that is the right mindset for any class. It's an investment. (Wish the gov. would allow us to write that off our taxes! LOL!) Not to mention how much fun it looks like it would be. Plus I like the idea of really seeing where your actual skill level is at vs. where you want it to be realistically.

I continue to hear nothing but good things from C.I.S.

I'd rather save and have to wait longer to go through theirs.

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

David, thanks for your comprehensive review. It was great having you and your wife in this class. I hope to have some of the pictures up in the next day or two.

Edited March 24, 2009 by Dustin@CIS

[Guest Todd@CIS]

Thank you for the AAR, David.

I enjoy this more than my "real job"... especially when "that guy" isn't there. There were no "that guys" in this class and everyone did very well.

PS. Your wife's Combat Reload is better than yours...

[Guest Todd@CIS]

I hope to have some of the pictures up in the next day or two.

Remember the restrictions...I have to be looking cool.

[TGO David]

Thank you for the AAR, David.

I enjoy this more than my "real job"... especially when "that guy" isn't there. There were no "that guys" in this class and everyone did very well.

PS. Your wife's Combat Reload is better than yours...

Yeah, the class was much more bearable without Eddie there making me look bad.

My wife's combat reload does rock. I'm going to introduce her to USPSA gaming so that she'll develop the same bad habits that I've got.

[BigPoppa]

Thank you for the AAR, David.

I enjoy this more than my "real job"... especially when "that guy" isn't there. There were no "that guys" in this class and everyone did very well.

PS. Your wife's Combat Reload is better than yours...

You know why you didn't have that guy this weekend ?

............'cause we had him. You're welcome.

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

Here is some of the pictures from the class.

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

One hand shooting and reloading...

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

[Guest Dustin@CIS]

[TGO David]

Wow... looking at a few of those pictures I can see just how good the married life has been. I need to eat a damn salad!

[Guest Todd@CIS]

Wow... looking at a few of those pictures I can see just how good the married life has been. I need to eat a damn salad!

It's the camera...it adds 10lbs.

Normally, I have washboard abs.

[TGO David]

It's the camera...it adds 10lbs.

Normally, I have washboard abs.

How many cameras were aimed at me???