Gator Farm Tactical Applications - Basic Combat Handgun - Ft. Huachuca, AZ 19 Mar 2010 AAR
Gator Farm Tactical Applications is a relative new comer to the field of firearms training, however the staff has significant experience in the field. SFC (Ret) Dan Southard has over forty years of experience, shooting, being shot at, and firearms training. He has worked in conjunction with Mas Ayoob and Marty Hays of Firearms Academy of Seattle to develop this course. This course will help you whether you find yourself on the streets of Khandahar or South Tucson.
The course was attended by eight active duty service members at Fort Huachuca. Two MP Sr NCOs, two MI Officers, an MSC Officer, a Judge Advocate, a Naval Intelligence Petty Officer, and Med Corps NCO. The event was sponsored by the Fort Huachuca Warrior Transition Unit. SFC Southard provided this course free of charge to all military members and has committed to doing this on a recurring basis.
If you have been in the military, you know that unless you are in SOF or a couple of other select MOS's handgun training is next to nothing. The fact of the matter unless you are in one of those jobs you may find yourself downrange carrying an M9 with little actual training. You may not ever need this training, but it is better to have and not need rather than needing and not having. We all appreciate the commitment of SFC Southard to bringing this training to those that go into harms way.
The class began at 0900 promptly with a one hour block of instruction on
1. Safety rules.
2. Crush Grip
3. Hand position/position of mag in carrier/magazine change/use of slide release
4. Weaver Hold
5. Chapman Hold
6. Isosceles Hold
These basics established a baseline for training that carried throughout the other six blocks of training.
The second block of instruction allowed shooters to pick the stances that worked best for them - I noticed most of us using the Isosceles Hold - I think because that seems to work best with IBA and other PPE those of us in the military use. We worked with one hand shooting in this block.
The third block worked on Ayoob's Stressfire philosophy - that in a real fight speed is going to count - the first shot goes center of mass - brining the front site on target and firing. The follow on shots are more precisely aimed to places where the target will get more blood loss and go into shock.
Block four spent time on your non-dominant hand shooting. The training focused around the assumption there is a high likelihood that you will be wounded in a two-range - but of course you want to stay in the fight so you can win. This might have been the most valuable part of the course because my confidence in the ability to shoot with my weak hand went way up.
Block five was about going into the high and low kneels. (note bring knee pads to this training)
Block six focused on moving side to side and firing accurately.
Block seven put all of this together.
Block eight was the qualification.
I have the more detailed lesson plan if you want it.
We were done at about 1430 -
Great course and highly recommended.
Thanks again to SFC Southard for presenting this course to the Active Service members here.
