Instructors: what motivated you to start?

Training Training and Tactics
1

How did you get into teaching and what motivated you to start? How has this changed over time if any?

People are all different, so knowing them and what gets them going is critical to getting thru as a mentor. What resources outside of the shooting aspect have you used to communicate skills you know into something that will click with a person who is wired different then you?

I seen an article on how simple things like being sugjestive vs. authoritative works wonders with type a people. It got my mind thinking but a google search didnt bring up much of anything.

sent from mah gun,using my sights

2

I became a member of a uniformed reserve Sheriff unit five years ago. Part of the training was 70 hours of firearms. The instructors were very knowledgeable and helpful. They took people with a variety of experience and put them though a tough qualification. They also went beyond just teaching the qual course with many other drills.

I was asked if I wanted to be an instructor to which I said yes. I first had to be a range safety officer for three years. I learned quite a bit just by observing. Last May I went through the NRA LE handgun/shotgun instructor course. It was the best five day vacation I ever took. How many people you know go to the police academy for a week vacation?

Anyway, I taught my first class this past year along with the seasoned instructors. I learned a lot and I think I’ve become a better shooter.

For me it’s the student who becomes better and more proficient with their firearms skills that gives me the most satisfaction. Yesterday I helped some guy with a new Bushmaster and low cost red dot to get it zeroed. He told me the store zeroed it on the bench. He wasn’t hitting paper at 25 yards. The red dot was so far out of zero it was amazing. Once we got it zeroed he had a great time. I just couldn’t stand there and watch his frustration with his first AR.

3

I’m really surprized you didn’t get more takers on this topic.

4

In my experience from a federal LE background, one of the big reasons that I see people pushing to be a firearms instructor is ego. They want the title. Few want anything beyond that. Most of those can barely shoot well themselves. This type is especially frustrating to me now as they provide one of the biggest roadblocks to making progress in firearms training. They can’t perform themselves, so they dismiss everything. They also would much rather talk about firearms (and how awesome they are with them) then train or practice.

Behind that are those that want access to gubmint ammo to be able to shoot more themselves.

Lastly are those that enjoy teaching, regardless of the subject matter.

I started out as a hybrid of the first and second category and now fall into the third. I quickly realized that I didn’t know what I didn’t know and sought out to rectify that.

I have attended a lot of training, mostly on my own dime, and enjoy brining it back to the guys that I work with. I only have a handful that will actually listen; but it is highly rewarding to have them listen and then watch them improve. It is also enjoyable to watch these guys SMOKE the egotistical ones that refuse to listen.

5

WOW! You really hit the nail on the head!
I was a DT/Firearms instructor at my PD for 20 years mainly because I love to shoot and once this was demonstrated it was a sure thing to put the guys on the range who enjoy it. I felt the LE training was minimal and got into competition shooting which changed my life.
I’m shooting and ROing at a match every weekend…
Yes the free ammo and range time was great but I love Rookie classes and field training. These kids needed the proper input and too many cops have that “holier than thou” attitude and forget people have rights. Another instructor and I always reminded our classes about YOUR Constitutional rights to self defense and own/carry a firearm. I’m afraid this has gone away and too many young officers don’t remember who the people really are.
Too many of our instructors wanted range and ammo access but didn’t want to teach or call the range. They were worthless.
BUT, here’s the biggest point you made and it’s from a Federal point of view. As a contract instructor now for a large Federal agency I work with several retired Federal instructors who, as you say can do allot of talking with very little performance. I was amazed at instructors with years of instuction who couldn’t perform the basics.
I always shoot in front of the students but they won’t even hold a gun unless it’s a rubber gun. I earned a GM card in LTD and that came from shooting at the PD and in front of other people. I shoot at least 3 times a week but those guys don’t shoot once a month even though they’re on the range twice a week with Gov’t ammo and guns.
Last Saturday I shot a local match as usual. My squad had all the newbies and none of the “cool kids” who all squadded together and avoided the new guys. Needless to say I spent allot of time ROing new guys while they ran around with loaded guns. I enjoyed it and still won…

6

I started out teaching CPR and first aid, for all the right reasons. I enjoyed the interaction with people, seeing students absorb and process information, and positively impacting the world around me. I expanded my EMS instructional activities before LE.

Later in LE, teaching firearms was an opportunity to shoot on the job, at the job’s expense, bolstering my own skills. Starting selfishly, it morphed into more genuine interest in students and teaching for the right reasons…making sure people went home at the end of the day.

In more recent years, much of my teaching time (LE, EMS, and otherwise) is in various unpaid volunteer activities that actually cost me time and money to provide.

The greatest reward is having a student come back to you later and tell you that something they learned served them well.

7

I got my start as an instructor many years ago by attending a small shooting school run by someone who claimed to be a former SEAL. He didn’t have much to offer in the way of instruction and basically charged us to shoot on his land and listen to his war stories about being a Navy SEAL ( I found out later he was a shyster that had not completed BUD/S).
I thought “I can do better than this”. I put in for an instructor position with the Federal Bureau I was working for and took some better classes. HK International and Chapman Academy, just to name a couple. I then became a Lead Instructor and continued to go to classes on my vacation time. I’ve taught classes in conjunction with instructors from the FBI, Marshals, State and City agencies and done some teaching on my own time before I retired.

8

I started teaching when I worked part-time on a commercial range because I was ashamed of the instructors they had. I knew more about guns and shooting than they did, I had been trained as an instructor in the Army, and I was teaching photography for a living, so I waded in to help clean up the program.

I genuinely enjoy teaching people to shoot, especially people who don’t think they can do it or doubt that they’ll ever be any good at it. But after a year or so, I found that I couldn’t use the range because I’d always have students coming up to me wanting to bullshit. I was willing to do that when I was on the platform or behind the counter, but there was no escaping them on my off time and I couldn’t train. The same thing happened with photography, so I stopped teaching that, too.

For me, the most important thing in teaching was letting go of my ego. I started each class by telling people that I’d been shooting most of my life, that I was a pretty good shot, and that my goal was to have them all outshoot me by the end of the class. A few of them got pretty good, and nearly all of them completely outran the students that the other instructors had taught.

I also tried to reduce things to principles and to communicate them so that people ended up thinking that my idea was actually their idea. For instance, when someone started to head down the wrong track, I’d tell them, “The most expensive thing about shooting is time, because you can never buy any more of it. Do what it takes to learn how to shoot well, but don’t waste time with ______ or you’ll end up starting over.” A lesson like that applies to almost anything, and it seemed to work.

Okie John

9

I deployed and received a harsh lesson; i.e. my training did not prepare me for combat.

I made it my mission to ensure the guys (and some gals) I sent around the world had more then the minimum requirements.

I guess I became a training “nazi” in making our units evolution’s as hard and realistic as possible. I worked with the intel folks to come up with realistic exercise scenarios, and tried not to go overboard.

All my guys came home at the end of their deployments, that (to me) is the best evaluation I can get.

10

Ok, I’ll throw mine out there…

I enjoy teaching or passing on information. Always makes me feel good to help people and it is a good feeling when someone smiles and truly appreciates the help.

It was a long, tough road that brought me to where I am today. There are only a handful of full time units, maybe ~20 in the nation and my agency is one of them. We hold a FEMA type 1 rating which is even more rare so we are definitely serious about investing the time and money for training, equipment etc…My goal was to just get into the division which was a tough nut to crack considering we make up about 2% of the agency and take maybe 2-3 guys per year out of 30-40 candidates that pass every initial testing that is held bi-annually.

Once I made it into the unit, I set goals…Be a great Task group guy. Make a bid for the Counter Sniper team and make a home there. I like to think my overall work ethic, knowledge, skill sets and personality went a long ways in helping me achieve these base goals. I went on to be the CS teams senior member and instructor and an assistant firearms instructor on the Training Cadre where I also started teaching tactics.

One thing about my agency is that they believe in getting guys trained up to instructor level, or even train the trainer status so that we can bring the knowledge back and teach it. Because of these opportunities, I jumped at every chance to travel and get training. This led me to many places and opportunities to train with / under many great instructors, all of whom I took something from. I also trained under some not so great instructors and I took something from that also. Particularly, to avoid being like them. This training went into instructor level courses and train the trainer type stuff. I went to everything I could, not just firearms, but anything related to my job. It made me better at what I did and motivated me to make our program and our guys better.

We are a 10 year turn over unit. Meaning 10 and out. When the last guy that left that held my current position, I stepped in and took over that job. I am now one of 2 senior guys on the Training Cadre and I hold an exempt status. So I have over that 10 year time limit with my unit and half of my career so far has been in this unit. I hope to retire in a couple years at just over 25 OTJ from right where I am. I now oversee everything related to our firearms program from training, maintenance, T&E, procurement etc, etc…I also pretty much oversee the same for gear and equipment needs. I teach every discipline related to my job and like to think I am good at it and have progressed and helped to develop a truly great program that I am proud of. We have a staff of 8 on our Training Cadre and I have a great support staff of young up and comers and I hope to leave this unit a much better place and in good hands.

The guys we get have to be pretty squared away for the most part to even hit our FNG training program. We do have about a 25% washout rate, but we have a big pool to pick from and truly want the best. I only mention this because I really do like teaching at this level. I like the personality types and the skills that they bring. On the flip side, this can make it tougher dealing with these personalities but I always like the challenge. Not saying I wouldn’t like teaching new recruits, but I enjoy the A++ types and deal well with them on the instructor level. A lot of instructors don’t do well with these types, but it feels like home for me and I have thrived in the environment and made it to where I am.

Some things a good instructor needs to have IMO to this topic.

  • Good communication skills obviously.
  • A personality
  • A good working knowledge of the topic itself
  • The ability to perform the curriculum at a high level of proficiency, or with age / disability have shown that ability prior.
  • Be able to correctly diagnose the shooting problem as many issues might have many different causes.
  • Be able to have a correct fix, given the shooters needs for the problem.
  • A sense of humor, even a warped or sick one can work well with certain student bases such as LE/ Mil.
  • The desire to always want to remain a student and continue their own learning progression.
  • Don’t start believing your own Bullshit and that it doesn’t stink.

There are more I am sure, but these are a few off the top of my head. The bottom line is that not everyone can be a great teacher. You can be a champion shooter but if you can’t relay your message or get someone to want to listen or learn from you, it doesn’t matter what you know or how good you are at doing it.

11

These are great posts. I don’t necessarily think doing it for the ammo is a bad thing starting out as long as you pay it forward. Someone not wanting that would be worse imo.

Those 2 bullet points are on the money,and what I have trouble with,which is really what instructor knowledge is for(fixing shit) both with pistol fundamentals in general and getting some used to ACOGs.

[i]I don’t like watching 30 minute youtube vids

but when I do,they are Surf’s[/i]

12

I began teaching small arms repair 39 years ago. 29 years ago I became L/E. Three years into my L/E career I was assigned to the range as the armorer due to my prior experience. Once at the range I attended an L/E Firearms Instructor Course and have been teaching ever since. I have had the privilege of attending some of what I consider the best shooting schools in the country.

I do enjoy teaching and still teach at an L/E Academy. I am different than most instructors in that I learned to repair firearms long before I had any formal training in how to use them. Now I enjoy both, but my strength still leans towards repair.

13

After I was involved in a bunch of resisting and assaultive arrest situations in the mid 1990’s, I started looking around for a solid fighting system to utilize. I saw Royce Gracie in the early UFC’s and was intrigued by his mastery of his fighting style. In 1996, I started to train under a different instructor with ties to the Gracie family. I received my black belt in 2011. Along with another Royce Gracie black belt, and SWAT commander, we took over a fledgling jiu jitsu program at a local school and began teaching Gracie Jiu Jitsu to police officers all over our state. I currently train directly under Royce Gracie and we are a Royce Gracie affiliate school. I never would have imagined I’d be in this fortunate position so many years later, but I couldn’t be luckier to train under such a fantastic instructor.

Once I started teaching I enjoyed it and volunteered to go to firearms instructor school. Now I do my best to practice and train with solid operators to further my firearms skills and instruction.

14

I was invovled in two shootings in my first year on the job. that rattled my cage alittle. i felt i needed more training then the job provived, hence i started seeking out training on my own. over the years i trained with some of the big names and took alittle from each class and formed skill sets that worked very well for me on the street. i started to train members from the different units that i worked in on my time and dime. when the job stood up the unit i’m in now i was offered a spot and the rest is history. like surf i set the TTP that we use today,eval.equipment seek out training from other instructors to keeps us effective and current. i have had dozens of students report back to me with positive results from the field both from my dept. and from other agencies. it is the greatest feeling to have a student call you and tell the are alive today because of what you taught them. i still train, still go out on the street (as much as i can). i will always be a student.