I have been shooting (mostly) regularly for about 15 years now and I just recently decided that it was far past time to improve my shooting with the help of professionals. My goal was to attend at least two classes per year and I began doing so earlier this year. My first class was a private lesson with Luke from Green Ops, in Northern Virginia. I liked it so much that I decided to take another Green Ops class.

This time, I flew down to Texas for the Tactical Pistol I. The class was 2 days and ran from 10/28 - 10/29, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Lunch is not provided, and there isn’t much in the way of good options for food near the range, so make sure that you plan for that if you attend one of their classes at The Ranch.

We eased into things the first day and started things off by doing introductions amongst the group, signing waivers, and then going over range safety. Pro-tip; if you’re EMT certified or above, and bring a med kid, they’ll give you a 20% discount on your class.

After we finished the safety brief it was time to get down to the firing line and get down to business. The head instructor, Matt, had us go straight into a dot torture drill to get a base line from everyone participating in the class. At this point, the instructors were simply watching what we did and not trying to correct anything that was being done incorrectly. From there, we began to work on all of the basics. Stance, draw, grip, sight acquisition, and trigger pull, were all drilled and instructors offered advice on how we could all improve our outcome. When we struggled, they stepped back in and got us back on track. I was initially worried that I would not receive the level of attention that I got with a private lesson, but that was not the case. There were 3 instructors to 9 students. The 1:3 ratio was more than fine and the level of attention by all 3 instructors very quickly put those worries out of my mind. By the time day 1 was over, we had covered all the basics and shot about 350 rounds each.

The start of day 2 was much like the start of day 1. However, by now everyone within the group had built up a decent amount of camaraderie and we were enjoying each others’ company before the training kicked off. After going over safety again, we got back to the firing line. Once again, the first thing that we did was a dot torture drill. This was done to show us the improvements we had all made after the first day. After this, we got into the “good stuff”. We began running drills on the move, while sitting, while kneeling, and standing. Then we got into engaging from cover, but also how to maintain cover while firing. After all of this, and some friendly competitions, we shot the pistol qualifier. I failed to meet the standards for the second time, but I feel as if I have the tools I need to train to have a better chance at passing them in the future.  The qualifier was the last thing we did on day 2 and by that time, we had shot between 750 and 800 rounds total. After the end of day 2 awards were handed out and we all talked about what we had gotten from the class.

One of the biggest take-aways I got from this class was that we can not shoot accurately faster than our vision allows us to, and we must modulate ourselves based on how accurate we need to be. If the target is close, we do not need to take such care when we aim. In fact, we don’t need to find out irons or dot at all, necessarily. However, when the target is farther away, or simply smaller, allow yourself the time to slow down. It was also driven home that there are certain motions where it pays to move fast, and other motions that pay to move slower than you’re physically capable of doing. For example, getting to your gun should be a much faster motion that bringing the pistol to your line of sight. Get the gun as fast as you can. “Attack the gun”, Matt would say. But from there, slow it down and make sure your fundamentals are correct. Find your dot as you begin your presentation by exercising good fundamentals. This should be (and it was for me) faster than shoving your pistol out as quickly as humanly possible, while letting your fundamentals to fall apart, and then look for the dot once it’s out there. This was something I was doing. It was brought to my attention that I was moving my head and shoulders quite a bit on my draw. I didn’t even realize how much I was doing this, but it was pointed out and then it was explained why it was less than optimal. This made a huge difference for me and I am looking forward to incorporating this new information with my dry fire drills.

Final thoughts:

Instructors were professional and helpful and even jovial where appropriate. The students who attended this class varied wildly in experience, from over a decade to just a few months. The instructors treated everyone with equal respect and met students where they were. I learned a lot and I would not have any qualms with traveling to Texas again for another class with them. Although, I can thankfully take classes with them a lot closer to home as well. I will be back for a third class in the future and I encourage everyone to consider them for their training needs.

I didn’t get a chance to take a lot of pictures, but here’s a few:
Tactical Pistol I Photos

Good AAR. Thanks

Thanks for the AAR and for training with us. Look forward to seeing you on the range in 2024!

That is a very impressive review and I especially like the photos. That's VERY motivating that you would travel to TX for a class. Matt is a great instructor and runs an excellent program. Thank you for taking the time to write an excellent AAR.

Thank you, I’m looking forward to it as well. I am planning on attending the 2 day course taught by Scott that you guys are hosting in April. I’m just waiting for the 2024 Green Ops schedule for the second half of the year to be posted and I will get registered for one of those also. It would be great to meet more of the Green Ops guys.