Do you now what you don’t know when it comes to training? How bout weapons and gear?
C4
I do know I don’t know anything about the proper deployment of my AR, malfunction clearance, etc. I’m hoping to find some decent instruction in the local area, when I have the $$$ to do so.
I do have what I feel is pretty good dept training on hand gun deployment to include shooting while moving, use of cover, malfunction clearance, one handed manipulation (shooting, drawing, reloading, etc), weapon retention, ground fighting, and low light, although I’d like to get more training. We have had some training on room clearing and house clearing. But could have been more, alot more.
There doesn’t seem to be much offered in the South Carolina area though. And I recently left my Dept. so I won’t be able to recieve further training there. I’m going to seek handgun training first as I feel that a home defense/CCW type threat to be my most probable at this point. But do want to attain more than basic carbine training at some point too as $$$ allows.
-RD62
RD62- knowing that you don’t know everything is a good sign (sorta’ like a 12 step program thing…)
Just FYI, Fernando Cohelo (the Woolrich Elite clothing guy) is hosting me in SC in mid December - should be 10-12, but they are not confimed.
Go to my website for more info, or on Alumni or 10-8 where i post upcoming classes.
Pat
SC as in South Carolina? Will this be an open class?
Thanks
Roger Greyman, SC as in Columbia (vicinity of) and yes, an open class.
It is not yet posted.
I will be looking for it to be posted. I would like to try to make this class.
Nope, but I am working on it. Which requires those that I am asking to sometimes put up with some stupid questions:D
Agree. Realizing what you don’t know is a very good sign.
Too many male shooters believe that since they have a penis, that they know all about fighting with a firearm. :rolleyes:
Personally speaking, the key to being a good shooter is knowing what you don’t know so that you can become better at it.
Same goes for gear. I am constantly amazed at the number of people that make their weapon/gear selection based off of an ad or one of the many bubble gum forums.
C4
Pat,
Thanks for the info. I didn’t see any mention of it on your site or 10-8 though. Can you provide any more info as to type of class, cost, etc. This would be my first training outside of the dept. other than CCW class, and I don’t really count that.
-RD62
There are no stupid questions. 
C4
The class is not yet posted. When it is confirmed, it will be up on my w/s as well as Alumni and 10-8.
This is a Carbine Operators Course- a 3 Day Course. It is described in the site.
We’ll get this one rolling in a week ot three.
By definition you can’t know what you don’t know.
Being active in shooting sports since childhood and a reader (why I hang out here), I do have HEAD KNOWLEDGE about many things but I am now wise enough (at 41) to know that head knowledge is 10% of knowing, and the 90% of knowing is DOING. Not just once, but muscle memory doing…
So I think I have a good idea of what I DO NOT KNOW to the extent of what I know. The other stuff I don’t know will blow me away when I learn it… like a kid hitting his first bulls eye.
I also know that what I do know is not being DONE enough, making me at times look like I don’t know, when I do… I just screw up from not DOING.
As for gear, I’m just like most everyone else, buying, selling and trading, always thinking the grass is greener over there, only to find out it was a mirage from LACK OF DOING and was no better than what I had. Eventually I have done enough swapping to finally have various weapon systems I think really work for me… except for a few more changes. 
Rmpl
In the last couple of years I’ve learned that there’s a BIG difference between a “combat” shooting match and a gunfight. I finally heeded the advice of some people much wiser than me and got some training. The formal training has made my scores at shooting matches lower, but has changed my mindset from focusing on winning the match to focusing on winning the fight. It’s changed my mindset from “hobby shooter” to “way of life”.
Gear? “Great” gear is hard to come by (and expensive), but nice to have. “Good” gear is good enough.
“Good enough” skills are not enough… The more I learn, the more I feel like I can never learn enough. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I do not know.
“Average isn’t good enough. Average only gets you killed. Only excellent to outstanding performance will be accepted.” Wise words from a former CO of mine.
Four things American males are born “knowing” what to do from birth: 1) Drinking; 2) Driving; 3) Shooting; & 4) Screwing. Two things American males never do: 1) Read Instructions; & 2) Ask Directions. There in lies the problem. It is one thing to “not know what you don’t know” but be willing to search for knowledge. It is another to “not want to know what you don’t know” especially if you are in a position of leadership and the lives of others are your responsibility. Too many think only within their own or their organization’s parochial (“if it wasn’t invented here”) box and never realize that education/learning is a journey not a destination.
S/F
Pat in SC? Count me in. I’ve been trying to get into one of these classes for several years. I was close back in 05, but had my arm broken while on duty and coudn’t go. I’m going to be keeping mye eyes on this.
I don’t yet know how to properly clear a structure.
I don’t yet know supine, urban or SBU prone.
I don’t yet know what night-fighting with a carbine is like.
I don’t yet know what it feels like to be shot at.
I don’t know what it feels like to shoot someone.
I don’t yet know…
I’ve been training for close to 20 years. I’m always seeking more knowledge and skill, it’s not hard find those with more knowledge or skill than myself, the hard part is accepting new TTP. IMHO, if you don’t seek more knowledge and training you become dogmatic, dated and will quickly find yourself with a head full of dated and not so useful TTP. I won’t call it useless, but it definitely won’t be what you should be striving to achieve.
The words of this post should be cast in bronze, and posted on every firing line in the land.
I’m not altogether sure what I really know or don’t know (I’ll leave that for others to decide), but I know that I want to know more.
Chief
Thank you Grant for the topic. I am pleased to find that there actually are others that understand the concept.
As an instructor (for my agency and regional academy) I think it is a more important question for an instructor than a student. Too often I have observed instructors that, in response to a student’s question, try to do the “baffle with bs” instead of admitting they don’t know. It then falls to me to correct the student without embarrassing the instructor (there’s politics everywhere).
I think that when I started to recognize that I know what I don’t know is when I really started progressing from instructor to teacher.
Lonnie Buckels