AAR: Todd Green - Aim Fast, Hit Fast Culpepper Virginia 8/15/09 - 8/16/09

[John_Wayne777]

One of my typically loquacious AAR's is a bit overdue for the latest AFHF class. I've been slammed at work and I'm trying to type as little as possible because my right arm is dying, so I've had to type it up a little at a time.

...so on to the AAR.

TD1 --

...began with a relatively brief lecture about what we were doing and then some accuracy assessments to get a read on more or less where we were. We were instructed to shoot the best groups we possibly could, which, of course, I did not do. I started off in fine form by shooting a group that was WAY too fast. Why? Beats the hell out of me.

Doing something stupid and then wondering why I did it would be a recurring theme in this course. I did manage to follow basic instructions for the rest of the accuracy assessments.

We then moved on to the very first run at the FAST drill, my first time actually shooting the drill. It wasn't pretty.

My whole motivation for taking this class was to try and build my skill with a handgun. I felt that while my accuracy was OK, I had a lot of room to improve my weapon manipulations and shooting speed without sacrificing acceptable accuracy. I've been able to shoot either very accurately or very fast...never both. I have developed a certain shooting rhythm that is comfortable for me, but I know it isn't my best level of performance.

After my recent trip to Blackwater/US Training Center I was keenly aware of where the major holes in my game were:

1. Draw: You can time my draw with a sun dial. It's horrifically slow and it's all kinds of messed up because in my early instruction the draw was never really broken down...so what I have hard wired is inefficient and frankly incorrect. This was all made worse by the tendonitis in my right arm that made clearing the holster a real challenge. I couldn't really move my arm very fast and at certain angles I couldn't muster much grip strength. I was having the same issue at BW. At best my draw times from an open holster with no concealment were in the 1.50 second and over range there....which is a DISMAL time for that type of carry gear.

2. Press out: Technically I guess you could call this a part of the draw, but it is an area I've always struggled with. Being able to see the sights as I'm pressing the weapon out at speed is something I've never been able to do consistently.

3. Grip: My grip is indescribably fouled up. The strong hand part is fine...but the support hand is...well...see for yourself:



This, of course, results in more muzzle flip, which makes it harder to see the front sight, which makes it more difficult to shoot at speed.

4. Sights: Those bumpy things on top of the slide tell you where your bullets are going to go...yet for some reason when I am shooting "fast" I don't actually pay attention to them. That's bitten me in the rump more times than I care to think about. More than once on the BW range my fellow students and instructors heard me actually talking to myself. I'd miss a couple of shots and then start yelling at myself...

Use...BANG...the %#$%!...BANG...sights, you...BANG...stupid ^@&*#!...BANG

Your bullets are going to go where the sights are regardless of how hard you stare at the place on the target where you want them to go.

5. Reloads: ...could also be timed with a sun dial. Todd gave me a tip about this when he saw me shoot the 1 reload 1 drill when I stopped by to spy on their class at BW. I improved them a bit based on his feedback, but they still had lots of room for improvement.

When you combine all five of those factors on a drill like the FAST, the end result is some pretty lousy times. I don't remember what my first run on the FAST was (and I don't CARE to remember, either) but suffice it to say "ugly" would be an accurate description. I knew it was going to be pretty bad, but the right arm going Tango Uniform on me made it uglier than I was expecting.

The ugliness would not improve much throughout the course. I believe all 4 runs I did on the FAST were pretty consistently sucky, partially because of the arm, and partially because I kept trying to jedi-mind-trick the bullets into hitting the 3x5 card rather than using the sights.

During TD1 we shot a number of drills, including the http://pistol-training.com/drills/circle-drillwhich could be very useful if you do it right. I don't think I did it right once during the course. The goal is to help you learn to push your speed by shooting at a very relaxed pace, then a slightly uncomfortable pace, and then a yet faster pace to help you learn to see what you need to see on the sights and do what you need to do on the trigger to get faster. I shot it at the relaxed pace, and then my comfortable pace, and then at either a slightly faster (but still comfortable pace) or the completely out of control crazed-monkey-with-a-hammer pace.

The round count for day 1 was pretty steep. Then we closed up shop and headed to dinner...which was an experience.

TD2 --

Day 2 was designed to build on the lessons learned on TD1, adding the complexities of shooting with one hand (strong and weak handed) and shooting on the move.

I'm one of those guys who is so right handed that if you cut it off I probably wouldn't be able to dress myself in the morning....and yet when it came time to shoot the weak handed stuff on the various drills, I was friggin' giddy because my right arm was sucking so bad.

Early on TD2 we shot the http://pistol-training.com/drills/dot-torture test. This was my first time on Dot Torture and I managed a 50 out of 50 score. It was run at the 3 yard line as a pure accuracy drill (no time limit) so my brain didn't think I had to shoot "fast". I was concentrating on the fundamentals and making acceptable shots. Frankly I thought at 3 yards the drill was super easy. It's one I'm definitely going to try again at longer ranges to see where it really begins to bite me.

We did a neat little hand-switching drill on 3x5 cards which I managed to suck the least on, pulling 7 hits on the 3x5 card in the 10 seconds allotted for the drill. I followed this up by sucking the MOST on the same drill shot at the 8" circle later on in the day, largely because, again, bullets are not magnetically attracted to the place you are staring at on the target.

We then began to cover shooting on the move. When shooting on the move I reverted to my comfort zone and Todd pointed out that I was shooting at the same basic cadence whether I was 10 feet or 15 yards away from the target. My hits were all there, but I was missing the point of the drills we were running.

After Todd mentioned my shooting cadence I began to mentally replay my entire last string of fire and it dawned on me that I was unconsciously looking for the perfect bullseye sight picture for every shot at every distance. I've done sight deviation drills aplenty and I've heard countless lectures from top quality instructors about acceptable sight picture, but I wasn't actually DOING any of it when I was shooting. This was yet another unwelcome mental block. So when I shoot I'm either looking for a perfect bullseye sight picture or I'm completely ignoring the sights and trying to use the Force to guide the bullets into the target.

I know both of these things are wrong...and yet I keep doing them over and over and over and over and over again...the bullseye thing without even realizing it.

What.

The.

&$%!@^.

After TD2 had officially ended some of us were still on the range shooting an IDPA type stage that Todd set up. The first run was fairly conventional. The second was dealing with whatever evil restrictions Todd could think up. I had to shoot the drill left handed only. I was faster and more accurate on the actual shooting portion left handed only than I had been with both hands on the same drill a few minutes earlier. The difference? I wasn't looking for a bullseye perfect sight picture for every shot, but I was looking at the sights. This was, of course, purely accidental. I was doing something uncomfortable and apparently that's my brain's cue to stop shooting "fast" and actually pay attention to the sights.

I took the course mainly to diagnose where I was messed up and to figure out how to correct it. As an instructor, Todd is good at pinpointing where you are doing things wrong and he has some good suggestions on how you can go about correcting the problem. This is exceptionally valuable, as there are a lot of instructors out there who are not very good at diagnosing where a student is having issues and offering correction. Even though I had some ideas about areas of weakness going into the course, Todd pointed out some issues I hadn't even considered.

If you're trying to improve your skill with a handgun, this is an excellent course to do that. You'll learn where you are deficient and how to go about correcting the deficiencies.

On the way home from the course I was reviewing the instruction, the drills, and my performance and I came to an unpleasant conclusion: I have to start over. I have a bad tendency to shoot on autopilot, especially when I think I'm supposed to shoot "fast"....the trouble is that a lot of what I've programmed into my autopilot is wrong, and that results in poor performance. To get any better I have to stop and break down every manipulation and reprogram myself with correct muscle memory. I have to do some dedicated practice with sight deviation to learn what I truly need to see to make shots under various time/distance/target constraints. I need to reprogram my hands to naturally assume a proper grip instead of a grip that just looks close to the right one.

While the prospect of going back to square 1 isn't a pleasant one, it's the only way I can see to make any real improvement in my skill level.

You don't walk away from just any course with the belief that you need to start over.

[John_Wayne777]

Originally Posted by Failure2Stop

I have literally not had anyone coach me for about 5 years until I attended this class, and I have been to quite a few places. This is the beauty of AFHF- it is not intended to get you to "pass" a test, but to take anyone and improve them to a higher level. Everyone can get better- and Todd will show you how to do it.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I've been through training where I was meeting the standards, and as a result I got the thumbs up...but what I've discovered since then is that I was clucking it all up, albeit artfully enough that it looked like I knew what I was doing.

Not a plesant place to be.

[Littlelebowski]

Tap. tap, tap. That's the sound of Todd Green working on his students' shooting skills in such a manner they don't know what he's doing until (at least for this student) TD2 when rapid fire while moving and not missing the target seemed easy and a matter of fact.

TD (Training Day) 1 started with a basic slow fire accuracy assessment which was slow fire on an index card at 7 yards. Grips were adjusted as well as trigger fingers. One thing that helped me was Todd illustrating how many folks think they're shooting with a full locked out weak side wrist and thumb along the slide/frame and they are not. Then we moved on to the fabled FAST test. A word about the FAST test: this test is designed not to be "gamed," ie it is a broad spectrum test of all of your skills and you are specifically encouraged NOT to practice it endlessly bu rather the basics of drawing, shooting, and reloading instead. After the FAST test we moved onto the Circle Drill. The Circle Drill is a favorite of mine but it helped to have someone watching over me, exhorting me to push myself. Todd seemed to be everywhere during this class and like as not, when you took it easy on yourself and took a drill in your "comfort zone" instead of pushing yourself, you'd hear his voice through your earmuffs telling you to rerun that drill and to push your own limits. All the while the nuances of drawing (bring your shirt up and out of the way with your weak hand and then position your weak hand in waiting for when your pistol comes up to near eye level for the "ready position"). Being prior military (Marines), I was used to a ready position pointed downward at an angle but within in one try I could readily see the wisdom of having the top of your pistol and therefore the front sight in the lower portion of your vision, ready for your press out.

A word on press outs. This skill is absolutely a need to have. Basically you draw, bring the pistol up to the ready position as described above, and then smoothly press out keeping front sight in your vision and applying slight pressure on the trigger so that you end up smoothly pressing out onto target, firing at the end of your press out.

We also had the basic safety lecture, lectures on stance, grip, sight picture, and trigger manipulation. The day went by quickly with reload practice and the beginning of our training on Todd's signature style of "burst fire" shooting which is basically shooting 2-6 round (or so) into the target's chest area very quickly. When Todd does this, it literally sounds like a Class III weapon is on the range.

TD2 consisted of engaging multiple targets, shooting on the move, strong hand and weak hand drills, and draw & reload drills. The infamous Dot Torture drill was done in the morning. Yours truly missed one whole round on it (see pic below). I like Dot Torture quite a bit because sooner or later, you will find a weakness in own your shooting on it. After that, we did a target switching drill in which we practiced headshots on index cards on two targets, alternating our fire. The FAST drill was conducted again in the morning as a skills assessment. We then "kicked it up a notch" and started working on moving and shooting not forgetting our reloads while moving and shooting. The day culminated in the FAST test (I dropped 4 seconds off of my time) and some IDPA state type stuff of Todd's devising where we all went through once doing the same drill and the second time, Todd made us shoot the stage with a personally tailored drill designed to concentrate on each student's particular weakness.

Lessons learned:

-hiking boots that don't breath well are a bad choice for 8-10 hours in the 95 degree heat and humidity of Virginia in the summer. I switched to outdoors type running -
shoes the second day and had happy feet once again.

-sometimes drinking water isn't enough. Pound the Gatorade (diluting it half and half with water works extremely well) and salt your food. You will be working
muscles you're not used to abusing in stances/grips that you're not used to.

-Glock "drop free" mags don't always. Develop a method to quickly rip the mag out. I'm considering using wax/Armorall in my mag well and on my mags.

-have enough mag carriers. 'nuff said. For Todd's class you'll need at least 3 mags on your hip.

-wearing 2 t-shirts, one tucked in, the other loose over it covering your gear is a sound CCW strategy. Strongly recommend an "underarmor" type shirt as the first layer.
Another alternative is "shoot me first vests" but I believe they are not as low profile as the 2 t-shirt method.

-work on your press out! Get that front sight up where you can see it before you can align the sights and you will end up on target faster and ready to shoot far more
quickly.

-Todd walks the walk. He demonstrated a sub 5 second FAST drill clean in front of us and demonstrated everything he wanted us to shoot. You never had to
wonder "how would Todd shoot this drill?"

-as my new best bud Failure to Stop says: "I'd rather be a guy who has 200 rounds ready and has shot 30K rounds than the guy who has 30 rds stockpiled and has only shot 200 rds"

There is no substitute for formal training. None. There was a few exceptional shooters there and they are agreed upon the need for training. Each of the exceptional shooters needed correction from Todd in one area or the other. Also, Todd himself makes a habit of seeking out training for himself on a regular basis.

I greatly enjoyed this class and took a lot away from it. I made new friends and found (many) areas in my skill set I need to work on. I would like to personally thank those other students that helped me with my woeful skills. It was great to see some familiar faces, make some new friends, and match the screen names to the faces.

[Failure2Stop]

-This is a copy of the AAR I wrote in the original thread, just after JW_777.

I have finally stopped moving long enough to post an AAR, only to find that JW_777 beat me to the punch despite being hobbled and typing with just his left hand.
One of these days I am going to have to do something about my procrastination. . . maybe tomorrow.

Anyway, JW gave a good description of what happened on TD1 and 2 and his thoughts. Instead of repeating more of the same, I will just talk on my observations as a student and observer of Todd's instruction and coaching.

First things first-
Todd is a great shooter. He can clearly run a gun and truly understands exactly what he is teaching. This may seem like a no-brainer, but if you have gone to several classes or had several different instructors of varying skill levels you will know what I mean.

All too often the "instructor" will come out, describe what he thinks is right, and mold everyone into fitting his mental image of what is visually "correct" without any deeper understanding of the reason and purpose of the technique or method. No so with Todd. He is intimately familiar with not only what roughly looks "right", but exactly what it should do. Take, for example, the modern iso grip- the difference between having the thumb pointed parallel to the bore and indexed on the frame is vastly different than having the wrist fully locked out and placed high on the gun. This minutia is often lost to new or unproficient students and instructors. Examples of this level of attention to detail are found throughout the course, literally with each and every skill that Todd covers.

Todd showed the ability to identify and correct technique and performance to a wide range of individual skill levels. This is a big deal to those of us that have attended other standards-based training. There are a lot of places out there that don't have top-notch instructors/coaches that will pretty much ignore the better shooters to focus on the poor shooters. This is ok if you are the poor shooter trying to meet standard, but it doesn't do much for the guys that are better than the instructor or can meet the end-state standards early. This is not at all an issue with an AFHF class. The top shooters received just as much attention as the new shooters, and that means the world to me. I have literally not had anyone coach me for about 5 years until I attended this class, and I have been to quite a few places. This is the beauty of AFHF- it is not intended to get you to "pass" a test, but to take anyone and improve them to a higher level. Everyone can get better- and Todd will show you how to do it.

The class was smoothly and professionally run (I shouldn't have to say that, but you will be suprised how many places aren't). Down-time was kept to a minimum and relay turn-over was quick and timely. Many places will have one relay down-range for an extended period of time, which is bad for the second relay since they will quickly forget the teaching points addressed prior to the shoot and get bored waiting to shoot. The ability of an instructor to get the targets repaired, mag stuffed, and relays changed over quickly is testament to professionalism and attention to the adult learning process. Todd gets a solid A+ in this seemingly mundane and irrelevant task, which in actuality is neither.

More proof of the attention to detail for any shooting course is a good 1st Aid/Gunshot wound bag (and the required knowledge to use it), 911 call sheet, med-evac procedure, familiarity with local ambulance response and knowledge of hospital location. Todd was all over these. I know it sounds simple, but this stuff saves lives and I consider it a must before I can take an instructor seriously.

Todd was able to identify problems with my shooting that no-one has noticed before (or if they did, didn't bother to tell me), and greatly improved my skill with appendix carry and employment.

Todd does not pretend to be anything other than exactly what he is, and teaches relevant and effective techniques, whether training for anything from USPSA to defensive carry. While the goal of the class was clearly to be faster, the priority was always on hits first, something that I am passionate about.

I recommend Todd's class to anyone able to meet the pre-requisites. If you do not improve after a class with Todd, the only one to blame will be yourself. The value of this class is tremendous. There are other trainers that cost twice as much and deliver half the content.

If you want to be a better pistol shooter, this is the class to attend.

[Byron]

As a natural result of the fact that I was in squad one, I have more photos of the members of squad two...


Todd demos a run of the FAST drill


Squad two works on reloading from slide lock


The shadowy man who controls time...


Lebowski reloads while moving




Reloading on the clock (I think this was a run of the FAST drill)


Running the 34 like a sewing machine


I reload behind cover


Hey, hold my drink for a second


One of his seven hundred and seventy seven Blackwater shirts


Count 'em: three cases in the air and the pistol is flat on target





More photos available at:
http://www.byrong.com/20090815-AFHF/

If you would like to hotlink to images for the sake of discussion here, please do not hotlink to the full-size images. Either hotlink to the slide sized images, or you can use forum sized images by replacing the "slides" portion of the URL with "forum" (as I have done with the above photos).

[Tom_Jones]

Sorry for the off-topic crosspost pimping, but the AFHF class in Los Alamos, NM this weekend has just had one student cancel and we now have one spot left. If anyone wants it, please contact me (tom.jones@pobox.com or 505-500-4845) as soon as possible.

[John_Wayne777]

The discussion of followthrough has been moved to a new thread:

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=37093

[Byron]

I actually wrote this for another forum since I think it's all been covered well here by the other posters, but I figured I'd share this anyway...

Short AAR - Todd Green - Aim Fast Hit Fast - VA Aug 15-16


Apologies for the somewhat disjointed nature of this AAR... that's just how I think sometimes

- Logistics

Todd ran the class in a very professional manner that led to smooth and efficient operation. There was a thorough safety brief, a designated evac vehicle in the case of serious injury (range location not accessible to ambulance), a stocked med kit, and an instructional sheet pasted on the evac vehicle with emergency instruction and hospital information.

When we showed up on Saturday morning, he had already pre-assigned us spots on the firing line and placed each student into one of two squads. This allowed down times to be reduced to a minimum, with one squad on the firing line at any time while the other squad would be topping their mags, hydrating, or getting some much needed shade.

- Drills and Skills

As should be obvious by the course title, this class is all about increasing your speed and efficiency while retaining accuracy. We used a lot of the drills listed on the Pistol Training site and then some others that aren't there.

Almost all the drills had a common theme though: understanding your ability when it comes to making hits at speed. Todd accomplished this through a number of methods. The first was to have us run any given drill three times. The first time we would run it as slow as we needed to so that all our shots were perfect. Then we would pick it up to a medium pace and pressure, but one where we thought we could still make all hits. Then the third iteration was supposed to be right at your limit of speed.

If on the third drill you made ALL of your hits perfectly, you were going too slow. If on the third drill you made less than 80% of your hits within the designated target areas, you were going too fast. The ideal was to get about 80% of your rounds inside the designated areas. The idea was that this showed you that fine line of speed where you were still in control but just crossing over into an area that still requires improvement.

Another method that he used was frequently "changing gears." He would set up drills that required speed in one portion, but a slower pace in another. With these timing changes interspersed, it was easy to mistakenly fall into a cadence of fire. If you fell into this trap (which just about everyone did), it simply meant that you were firing part of the drill too slowly, or the other part too quickly.

Another type of gear change was shooting on the move. We had to learn the hard way that our legs can operate at whatever speed they want, independent of our trigger finger. I know that sounds blindingly obvious, but most shooters had the tendency to speed up their rate of fire as they started moving faster, regardless of distance to the target and required accuracy.

Finally, reloads presented people with the same mental trap. There was a clear pattern in a lot of shooters that immediately after a reload, firing cadence would pick up. It was if their brain was saying, "Get the gun back in the fight! Now! Now! Now!" And once the gun came back into the fight, they wanted to make up for lost time with rapid fire.

By the end of the weekend, we were recognizing these mental traps within ourselves and trying hard to work on them. They were still easy to fall into at times, but we were gaining critical indicators for pushing speed without losing fundamentals.

Regarding increasing speed in drills, Todd's analogy was that of a lifter who needs to reach a new benchmark. He has to keep increasing weight: he can't just brag about how awesome he is at the lower weight. As such, he pointed out the flaw in the cliché of, "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." Yes, you need to start things slow, he argued, but you can't magically expect to gain speed this way, just like the lifter can't expect to one day bench 300 if he is always practicing at 200.

A good point to note about the drills: Todd performed a live demo of every single drill for the class. Not only was this helpful for illustration purposes, it showed that Todd doesn't just talk the talk. He's not afraid to demo his skill for the class and step up to any challenge.

- Instruction

Another function of the squads is to break the class in half so that Todd can more easily walk the line and observe individual shooters as they perform drills. You receive feedback throughout the class, regardless of your skill level. Todd will not let the more advanced shooters skate by just because they are outperforming the other students. Everyone gets equal attention, and everyone is given areas in which they need to improve. Sometimes these will be obvious to the shooter, but often Todd makes you notice bad habits or problems of which you were not aware.

It's worth mention that this is not a class for people who are easily butt-hurt or who just want a fantasy weekend and a pat on the back. If you suck, Todd will tell you that you suck. Of course, he'll say it in a constructive way, but he is not shy about telling you that you disappointed him on a drill and that he thinks you can do better. If he tells you that you kicked ass on something, it's because you really kicked ass on something: not because you paid him for a weekend of his company. I found this to be a very positive aspect of the course, but those with tender sensibilities may want to consider it.

- Final thoughts

Overall, this was a very challenging and humbling class. It was clear to me that all of the students took something away from it, regardless of their previous skill level. We had training junkies, military men, competition shooters, and everyday Joes like me. We had people graduate the weekend at Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced (based on FAST scores).

If it will influence your view of my AAR at all, I graduated at Basic. With that said, the top shooters in the class were just as enthusiastic about the weekend.