Virginia Tactical: Survival Handgun
Instructors: Noel Robleto and Aaron Roth
Location: Culpeper, VA
First and foremost, what drew me to the training was their openness about their experience. Instructors had copies of DD-214s/Certs so if students needed proof, they could provide it. It was close by, on the weekend, and the price was appealing for this state of economy. So I was in!
My pervious experience
I attend about 3-5 classes a year with a mix of pistol and carbine. Shoot local pistol matches, and hit the range up about 200rds a week. Just your average civilian that likes to shoot with no prior service nor LE background.
Positives
Both instructors were no strangers to teaching. There are a lot of good shooters out there, but they are not equally good instructors. I liked the way they delivered each topic. First they would show it in real time, and then break down each step. Depending on the topic they would assign a number to each step of the movements like a robot. Then eventually, students would add fluidity to the movements and create faster times whether we were working on the press out, draw, multiple targets, multiple shots, etc.
Use of time was also great. We got enough rest between topics when we loaded up on more ammo during the late morning and afternoons when it was the hottest. They even had a cooler filled with ice where we could store our drinks. Rarely any lag during the morning since it wasn’t as hot. One thing to note, Noel saw that we were pretty much plateauing during the end of TD2 and decided to cut short the kneeling and use of barricade classes. No point in teaching till 1700 if the students weren’t going to retain it or perform the drills well. So we ended on a high note.
I’ve never done any ground fighting nor vehicle shooting. Can’t really do that at an indoor range. I wasn’t surprised at all that if a shooter had good trigger control, sight alignment, and sight picture, shots will go point of aim, point of impact from various positions on the ground. I have yet to shoot in, around, at vehicles so the vehicle ambush portion was fun. It was good practice on how to draw your pistol from a vehicle with the seat belt on. Because you know in Virginia, “Click it, or ticket”.
Noel likes to keep the student to instructor ratio 4 to 1. This class wasn’t any different. Even for the shooting on the move portion, to be safe we did 2 relays so we could keep an eye on one another.
Noel and Aaron also put on a “qualification” in the Survival Handgun course. We have 3 whacks at it. First during mid-day of TD1, 2nd time is the beginning of TD2, then lastly mid-day TD2. There are 10 drills shot twice with a bonus round. It’s definitely a good gauge on progression or consistency from the things learned from the class. Everyone in the class excelled but I stayed consistent. Accuracy was stressed during the whole thing, because one miss, is a no point for that drill.
Negatives
Honestly, I can’t think of any. I’ve had this AAR typed up already since Monday because no one works on Mondays. LOL. Nonetheless, I waited to see if I could remember any negatives before posting the AAR so I can add it. Well, that didn’t work. I definitely got more than my moneys worth out this class and won’t hesitate to take it again. I’d take the October 16-17th class before they come to their senses and raise the price haha.
If there are any questions or specifics, feel free to post up or PM me.
Carlo Galinato
Regular Guy
