Tom Givens' Rangemaster 3 Day Firearms Instructor Development & Certification Course

Culpeper, VA May 27-29, 2016

I had the pleasure of attending training with Tom Givens of Rangemaster and his gracious wife Lynn at John Murphy's FPF Training Center. I went with my fellow instructors from Green Ops (www.green-ops.com).

I shot a Gen 2 Glock 19 from a JM Custom AIWB and a Gen 3 Glock 17 from a Raven Concealment OWB. My focus for the weekend was to learn as much as possible and to improve my concealment draw. I am content with my equipment.

Tom is a consumate professional with several decades of experience in law enforcement but more importantly in training civilians for CCW and justified defensive skills. Tom does an excellent job in conveying his skill, knowledge and expertise in an entertaining manner all while driving home crtical points in a manner that is easy to remember.

Day 1 was half classroom and half range. The class room presented safety, defensive marksmanship fundamentals and more. The range presented interesting and challenging defensive shooting skill drills and the importance of watching, working with and coaching your shooting students.

Day 2 was mostly spent at the range working on more shooting drills that focused on appropriate cadence for the shots required and on decision making. Tom's selection of targets facilitate this type of work extremely well. Coaching is critical to student performance. Tom demands it. If a students makes a mistake. Tom does not correct the student. He corrects the coach who is responsible for the student.

Day 3 was qualification at the range and back to the class room to finish. Lecture material consisted of lesson plan preparation, theory of adult learning and the importance of testing and standards to evaluate learning. We took the written test. Certificates for those that passed Tom's standards were awarded.

This is a great class that emphasizes lesson planning, preparation, shooting and coaching ability and the importance of evaluating learning (teaching to standards and testing). 29 students attended, 25 students demonstrated to standard both in shooting tests and a written test. Everyone learned some critical information. 25 students earned Tom's certification. All the Green Ops staff earned the certification.

At the end of class Tom asked three questions. 1) Did you have fun? 2) Did you learn something? & 3) Was it worth it? Everyone in the class answered “yes”.

Conclusion: Regardless of who you are or what your background is, if you want to be a better prepared defensive firearms practicioner and specifically if you want to be a better defensive firearms instructor. I would recommend that you make plans now to train with Tom Givens.

Nice share, thank you.