AAR Thunderbird Academy Carbine vitals I and II

    I'd like to start this AAR out by saying that this was the most knowledge filled, physically demanding shooting class I've taken thus far. The key to taking this class was cardio and ammo, because if you weren't using one, you were using the other.  I can only speak for the class we had, but because of the advanced knowledge of students in the class, Daniel stepped it up a bit.
   Before we get started about the class, let's talk about the instructor, "Daniel Shaw", a real down to earth guy that knows his shit and someone you can actually talk to. His resume speaks for itself, I can only speak about the person. He made the class easy and made you want to take instruction from him.
   To start the class we zero our rifles. Daniel runs a 36/300 zero on his AR's and he explains why in the class. (I run a 50/200 zero that he was ok with it as long as I knew my offsets).
Next, we went into trigger control and resetting the trigger under recoil, along with how to shoot from different basic positions (your typical carbine 1 class stuff right?).
Well, that's where "typical" ended. There were six experienced students in this class so we moved along fairly quickly, a luxury most people might not have when just taking Carbine 1.    
  Daniel says he has the right to change his class as he sees fit and boy did he ever. With the experienced people in our class, he took us straight into Carbine 2 after lunch instead of the entire first day on Carbine 1. We covered bounding, working in two-man teams, clearing malfunctions, and communication.  When day one was over, it was hard to imagine we still had an entire second day ahead of us.  
  We started day two with pistols (remember this is solely based on how advanced your class is), and shooting small groups on IPSC targets while looking for that same trigger reset and control that Daniel taught us on the rifle. After we get our pistol shooting practice dialed in, we start working on transitions.  While standing even on the line, there's a big emphasis on communication between you and the person next to you.  
   We then moved on to advanced shooting positions, from different ways to get into kneeling positions, urban prone, and my personal favorite, supine.  This is where you get a taste of Andy, the assistant instructor who, in my eyes, was just as knowledgable as Daniel and also has real world experience. They really make a great team. We work these positions on the line until lunch, then the barricades come out, and then we work those same positions from there.
  There's so much more I can tell you about this class but this is already a pretty long review. Also, as a courtesy to Daniel and the other instructors, I will not give out their full curriculum.  Bottom line, as I alluded to before, this was the most fun I've ever had in a class.  The instructors were top notch, and I felt a kinship with the students afterward because Daniel pushed us to do so, and I can honestly say we bonded because of him.
  Thunderbird Academy has really created something special in the Midwest with the shooting sports facility and store front as part of the same business, and with the hiring of Daniel Shaw, Andy, and Doc, all the right personnel to go along with it.  I was already planning to make a return trip, but a prize I won during the class makes that decision even easier for me. If you would like to know what that prize is, I highly recommend signing up for a class at Thunderbird Academy and finding out first hand.
  Thanks again to everyone at Thunderbird Academy and take care until next time!