Never A Victim
Marksman
Tactical Response-The Way of the Pistol
This course review is for a week long pistol course offered by Tactical Response entitled “The Way of the Pistol.” This course was January 4-8 and was taught in Camden, TN. This course required no prerequisites, and I shot approximately 1800 rounds. The gear I used was a Glock 19 in an NSR C-4 holster, XS Big Dots, Surefire E2D flashlight, and an SOE belt. The instructors for this course were Jordan Winkler, Garry Marr, Tim Morris, and Dave Biggers.
“The Way of the Pistol” is broken down into Fighting Pistol, Advanced Fighting Pistol, a night shooting portion, as well as an intro to force on force training. I had taken Fighting Pistol three years ago, and I was eager to learn what had stayed the same and what had changed. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the course was virtually unchanged, which I was happy to see since it was Fighting Pistol in 2012 that inspired me to see out additional firearms training in the first place.
The first two days of this course had a lot of eye opening experiences for a lot of different people. If you’ve never taken a commercial firearms training course, Tactical Response will open your eyes to a new world of training. That’s how I felt in 2012, and I could see the same responses in first time students. In the first two days we covered the basics, but in a tactical sense. We learned marksmanship, how to move, reload, scan, shoot one handed, etc. The biggest difference in learning these things the Tactical Response “way” was that we were learning how to do these things in order to win a gunfight. There are no shot timers, no fancy gear, and no complicated methods to learn. They are teaching you how to win.
At the end of day two about half of the class was leaving and only a handful of us were staying for the rest of the week. At the conclusion of every day at Tactical Response, they ask everyone to go around and share one thing they learned. At the end of day two I could literally see the changes on people’s faces when they expressed what they had learned that day. I’ve heard all sorts of answers to this question over my numerous times taking course at Tactical Response, but at the end of day two I heard an answer that I will probably never forget. A middle aged female answered the question by saying, “I learned that I never want to be unarmed again.” It was such a breath of fresh air to hear this and to only remember that I had a very similar response at the end of my Fighting Pistol course I took in 2012.
And that was only the end of day two.
Day three started out with the Advanced Fighting Pistol curriculum. I had not taken this course before, so I was excited to get started. Unlike the first two days, we did much more movement on the ground and shooting from unorthodox positions. A lot of shooting myths were debunked as well as getting comfortable shooting with some physical resistance from the instructors. Day four took the phrase “physical resistance” to another level. Shooting while moving around obstacles, one handed (strong and weak handed) malfunction clearing, team tactics, and incorporating medical aid into the drills were points hit on before the end of the day. Before we took a break for dinner, Dave Biggers took us out to 25, 50, and 100 yards to explain some principles and practical information needed to make longer range hits.
Night shooting was in the late evening of the fourth day. This was the part of the course that I was most looking forward to. We started off shooting with only natural light. I was surprised how well I could still get hits with virtually no lighting if I just followed the fundamentals that were taught from day one. We then began to incorporate hand held lighting and then basic lateral movements while shooting. Cover drills were next which required many different shooting positions while using a flashlight. Day five wrapped up the week with an introduction to force on force. For those who haven’t had force on force training, it generally involves a Glock 17 style pistol with the only difference being that it shoots paint rounds instead of live bullets. This was merely an introduction for Tactical Responses course “The Fight” but it gave the students a taste of what having a bad guy shooting back at you feels like.
This course gave you an experience you will never forget. I left knowing much more than when I arrived, but I also left wanting more training. That’s what Tactical Response does and that’s why they have nearly an 80% retention rate among first time students. The way the instructors interact with the students is unlike any other training school I’ve ever been to. At the beginning of class an instructor personally gave a student a Galco gun belt. He didn’t know the student or take any money for the belt, he just gave it to him because he knew he would use it. You don’t find that at other training schools and you won’t find training like this anywhere but Tactical Response.
Take this ****ing class.
This course review is for a week long pistol course offered by Tactical Response entitled “The Way of the Pistol.” This course was January 4-8 and was taught in Camden, TN. This course required no prerequisites, and I shot approximately 1800 rounds. The gear I used was a Glock 19 in an NSR C-4 holster, XS Big Dots, Surefire E2D flashlight, and an SOE belt. The instructors for this course were Jordan Winkler, Garry Marr, Tim Morris, and Dave Biggers.
“The Way of the Pistol” is broken down into Fighting Pistol, Advanced Fighting Pistol, a night shooting portion, as well as an intro to force on force training. I had taken Fighting Pistol three years ago, and I was eager to learn what had stayed the same and what had changed. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the course was virtually unchanged, which I was happy to see since it was Fighting Pistol in 2012 that inspired me to see out additional firearms training in the first place.
The first two days of this course had a lot of eye opening experiences for a lot of different people. If you’ve never taken a commercial firearms training course, Tactical Response will open your eyes to a new world of training. That’s how I felt in 2012, and I could see the same responses in first time students. In the first two days we covered the basics, but in a tactical sense. We learned marksmanship, how to move, reload, scan, shoot one handed, etc. The biggest difference in learning these things the Tactical Response “way” was that we were learning how to do these things in order to win a gunfight. There are no shot timers, no fancy gear, and no complicated methods to learn. They are teaching you how to win.
At the end of day two about half of the class was leaving and only a handful of us were staying for the rest of the week. At the conclusion of every day at Tactical Response, they ask everyone to go around and share one thing they learned. At the end of day two I could literally see the changes on people’s faces when they expressed what they had learned that day. I’ve heard all sorts of answers to this question over my numerous times taking course at Tactical Response, but at the end of day two I heard an answer that I will probably never forget. A middle aged female answered the question by saying, “I learned that I never want to be unarmed again.” It was such a breath of fresh air to hear this and to only remember that I had a very similar response at the end of my Fighting Pistol course I took in 2012.
And that was only the end of day two.
Day three started out with the Advanced Fighting Pistol curriculum. I had not taken this course before, so I was excited to get started. Unlike the first two days, we did much more movement on the ground and shooting from unorthodox positions. A lot of shooting myths were debunked as well as getting comfortable shooting with some physical resistance from the instructors. Day four took the phrase “physical resistance” to another level. Shooting while moving around obstacles, one handed (strong and weak handed) malfunction clearing, team tactics, and incorporating medical aid into the drills were points hit on before the end of the day. Before we took a break for dinner, Dave Biggers took us out to 25, 50, and 100 yards to explain some principles and practical information needed to make longer range hits.
Night shooting was in the late evening of the fourth day. This was the part of the course that I was most looking forward to. We started off shooting with only natural light. I was surprised how well I could still get hits with virtually no lighting if I just followed the fundamentals that were taught from day one. We then began to incorporate hand held lighting and then basic lateral movements while shooting. Cover drills were next which required many different shooting positions while using a flashlight. Day five wrapped up the week with an introduction to force on force. For those who haven’t had force on force training, it generally involves a Glock 17 style pistol with the only difference being that it shoots paint rounds instead of live bullets. This was merely an introduction for Tactical Responses course “The Fight” but it gave the students a taste of what having a bad guy shooting back at you feels like.
This course gave you an experience you will never forget. I left knowing much more than when I arrived, but I also left wanting more training. That’s what Tactical Response does and that’s why they have nearly an 80% retention rate among first time students. The way the instructors interact with the students is unlike any other training school I’ve ever been to. At the beginning of class an instructor personally gave a student a Galco gun belt. He didn’t know the student or take any money for the belt, he just gave it to him because he knew he would use it. You don’t find that at other training schools and you won’t find training like this anywhere but Tactical Response.
Take this ****ing class.
