So today was really good. There were two new ( to the class, not to firearms in general) guys there and then me and my buddy Andrew. So we went back over some of the stuff from last time inside with the lasers before we went out to the range. Then we did a few of the drills we did last time and then he had me and Andrew doing some other stuff with his combat marine teacher's aide while he took the new guys through more of the drills from last time. Then we did a lot of adrenaline dump drills. That is to say we had some barricades, two robots ( bad guys) and a moving back drop of " Good guys" ( big pictures of his grandkids mostly
) Then we basically, in order, sprinted between specific barricades, took 2 shots, jogged around the course, sprinted to other barricades, took two shots and on and on like that. The idea, as we all know, was to have an elevated heart rate to simulate shooting under duress. We weren't to shoot the bad guys unless they were facing us and moving. If they were static or moving away from us we couldn't shoot them. And NO HEAD SHOTS, as robot heads are expensive. lol We shot from cover at multiple targets, from multiple distances, using strong and weak hands ( and eyes which was strange for me since I'm cross eye dominate). He didn't break out the vehicle for the car-jacking scenario, but we didn't really have the time anyway. The class was supposed to be 3 hours and instead it took 5. It was much more intense and we went through a hell of a lot more ammo. It was a blast and I learned a lot.
After the class was over we went back inside and sat down. Bill told us that since it appears we are going to have people with different skill levels attending advanced classes he was going to revamp a little bit. He has gone over the 3 hours at all these classes and he asked us if we would rather do 5 hour classes for a slightly higher fee. So rather than $120 it would be $135, which is still damn cheap and we all agreed. So there will be no more numbers (CCW 1, CCW2, etc.) it's just a progressive training program, each session lasting 5 hours. This was directed at Andrew and I, he will still have CCW 1, 2 and 3 for any new students. He's a very good instructor. He is the guy multiple police departments in the STL metro use. He was an instructor in the Marine corps ( He is a 20 year USMC veteran and has been LEO for 19 years now). To get his qualification he underwent 12 hour days 6 days a week for 6 weeks of training, so not just an NRA qualified instructor.
The kicker is this. The first time I was there I noticed an acoustic guitar over in the corner on a stand along with a music stand with a beginners book on it. I didn't bring it up last time, but this time as we were sitting there cooling off, he went into another room to get his Remington Tac 14 to show me and while he stepped out of the room I picked the guitar up. It was horribly out of tune so I tuned it and started running some blues ( pentatonic) scales and a little 3,4,5 boogie in F#. He walked in and when I stopped and looked up he was gawking a little and said "Damn". Half joking I said " We can swap guitar lessons for private instruction". I quickly added, "I'm just effing with you" and he said, " I'm not". Turns out he has wanted to learn to play since he was a little kid and this horrible book he bought has him playing crap like twinkle twinkle little star one note at a time. Now I'm not Yngwie Malmsteen, but I have been playing since I was 8 years old and have taught more people than I can count to play guitar or bass. I have a real straightforward, simple lesson plan and I can have just about anyone playing fairly well, understanding the major scale and able to play barre chords and cowboy chords anywhere on the neck in a month or two.
It turns out I will be teaching Bill to play guitar and Bill will be giving me private instruction, including shotgun and carbine, in exchange. So all in all a very good day.
So of course about 3 miles down the road on my way home I get pulled over doing 75 in a 60.
Since I have a CDL, I also have a lawyer on retainer so I won't have to pay anything other than the fine, but leave it to me to Eff up a beautiful day.
As for the VP9, all I can say is that this thing is awesome. I wore a wife beater and the VP9 in a Muddy Rivers Tactical OWB with a short sleeved button up shirt ( unbuttoned) over it. The holster is awesome and the gun conceals extremely well. I had no fumbles sweeping the garment out of the way and every time I drew my sights were lined up perfectly with no conscious effort. The gun is just stupid accurate, even in my hands. No failures or flub ups. To quote the bad orange man in was perfect. The best ever.
