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| courtesy MTOA FB page |
The MTOA did a great job overall, it was well organized and there were many different specialties put together for those who wanted to learn, retain a skill, take back a new skill (to their department) or to get certified in a few weapon platforms. The staff was great and very professional.
I almost did not get into the show, the MTOA doesn't let many people in that are non-badged officers or non-reserve military. As the site says, they will make exceptions. For me, after talking to the President of the MTOA and being a TEMS medic, they allowed me to take the course. In other words they vetted the talent to perfection.
The good:
Lunch was provided daily, professional staff, great exhibit/vendor area, lots of learning modules to pick from and plenty of speaking events to attend. The provided water at the remote training sites and the locations were top notch.
The not so good:
I put this in, because each show has a few hiccups and issues, this one was not unique. Lunch size was, um...small, now I'm not knocking a free meal but this was unanimously know by each class, small.
The TEMS class was a B-Con class, taught by a very knowledgeable TEMS medic but it lacked any real effectiveness. Two of the people (out of 8) were medics, the rest were LEO's and well, I'm not sure I would feel safe sending them out to place a TQ on someone who attended this B-Con class. TEMS/TCCC/TECC is a growing concern and this could have been more on par with what is needed for our street and SWAT officers.
My Conference:
Day 1:
was all speaking engagements or should I say listening engagements. This is after all a tactical conference. Nicely done by the presenters.
Day 2:
Part I- featured a Trijicon red dot module that was taught by a very cool and knowledgeable instructor. Shooting hand guns with a red dot sight takes a few minutes of getting used too and then, when you are used to it, it really does make shooting more simple. We did very unique drills of upside-down shooting and awkward positions. I say awkward, because I cramped in a few holding for the "GUN" command. Great, short and to the point, this block of education was amazing and much more fun that expected.
Part II- This was the B-Con session. Four hours of education giving the basics of how to control a bleed. There was a pretty amazing looking lady in the class who had lots of questions and wanted to learn about saving others. That, is always a plus.
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| From Rob Pincus FB page |
Day 3:
The real reason I took the conference!
This was an 8 hour class featuring Rob Pincus of ICE training. His class was called Combat Focus Shooting.
Rob is maybe the best, most comprehensive firearms instructor I've had the privileged learning with. He certainly knows his job, knows how to teach and takes pride in that fact. He FORCES his students to ask questions. He demands it. He is a professional.
His style of shooting is unique, to me at least. He is very strong in his methods and confident he can have you shooting better and more confidently after one of his classes. This was a class aimed at SWAT officers, but I was not the only non-badged member in the class. However, I came away noticing just about every shooter in the class, even the very best, had an issue that Rob found and corrected.
Neat side note, one of the shooters was an instructor and retired police offier himself. His 1911 that he used in the class had 300,000 shot through it. He was on his 4th barrel. Let me tell you, what an amazing shooter. He made it look easy!
The drills were unlike any others I've done and I won't get into them deeply because they are Rob's and well, he's worked hard enough to perfect them to keep them with-in the confines of the class. You literally walk away knowing how fast you can put multiple shots into a palm sized area under (small) stress. You also walk away feeling more athletic and mobile, not Pro-Athlete mobile but a better you, mobility wise. We also get to see that a shooter that struggled with most drills all day, walk away with a prize which is akin to shooting a bottle cap from 10 feet. Funny how that works.
This class was like a roller coaster for me. I was doing good, then bad, then corrected and then good again, then bad. Just like with any instructor, I didn't fully agree with or care for everything that was said, but the majority and the methods worked phenomenal. I came away a better shooter. I have a LOT to work on, but Rob never made me or the others, except Kosovo, feel bad for making a mistake. (BTW that was a class joke, it was fun and we all laughed).
You should walk away from this class knowing more, feeling confident and understand the methods of why a defensive shot is always a reaction. Let's hope you take away more than 12oz's of information.
To contact:
Rob Pincus his web site is: http://www.icetraining.us/
Facebook is: https://www.facebook.com/RobPincusPro/?fref=ts
MTOA: http://mtoa.org/
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