AAR CRTC / Bennie Cooley Class 09-18 to 09-20-09

As always, Bennie put on an excellent class. This was my third time taking a class with CRTC as well as some other returning students. The student roster was comprised of LEO's, military reservists, security contractor types and civilians. Had students from New York, North Carolina and Virginia come in for the training. The boys from Raven Concealment Systems attended and brought some swag for those present. Round count was around 1200 rounds for the three days. Bennie prefers to teach the students a technique, make sure that they grasp it, and then move on to the next one. This way the participants get to see more ways to run the gun versus some methods of launching a mass amount of lead down range.

Bennie teaches a more aggressive style of  running the gun than some instructors i have trained with. His philosophy is to make the movement swift and dedicated. If you are moving and a target presents itself, engage it, kill it and move on to next one. Also another good thing about the class is that the students will fire half of the course with their support hand. When doing a transition, you completely switch over to your support side as opposed to some teachings of using a sling that only allows it to go halfway across your chest. ( This causes the students to put more of their bodies past the barricade / cover which can be avoided by simply putting it in the opposite shoulder. )

Day One

Day one started with the classroom portion which covered mindset, weapon and accessory selection, proper selection and use of kit, and a brief history on what lead Bennie to start doing what he does, teaching people to shoot better. After the rifles were zeroed, we started shooting steel targets in various positions. Bennie will have the student start slow then push them to see how fast they can put rounds on target accurately. Most of the drills consist of firing either strong or support side, advance forward while transitioning to the next position. You can go from standing support side to kneeling strong side back to strong side. Bennie changes the drill every time which makes the students think before they act.

The man himself


The buttstock shoulder roll technique



Day Two

Started off by reviewing material from day one then we moved on. We covered more in depth techniques on how to disarm an adversary with a long gun and how to do weapon strikes. After that we switched over and covered several techniques for transitioning from the long gun to a pistol. Bennie has the students try them all and decide which one they prefer to stick with. We then got into the butt stock shoulder roll, lateral movement drills, and close in work. The line advances on the target with the weapon shouldered, then the stock is brought over the shoulder and fired with the receiver close to the face then finished with a good old fashioned muzzle strike / contact shot. Emphasis is put on the fact that when you get closer to the target, switch from center mass and start putting rounds in the brain bucket area.

Some in close work with the rifles


Disarming techniques





Day Three

More techniques of shooting on the move were covered in the morning portion. Bennie is not a big fan of the heel to toe method of advancing on a target. The students are taught to close the gap from them to the target faster by taking longer strides. As the foot of the shooting side leaves the deck the shooter is pulling the trigger. The closer you get to the target the tempo picks up and you finish by going back to cranium area. After lunch we started working the barricades and how to shoot from behind / under vehicles. One method of the "low" prone was demonstrated that was amazingly stable and easy to get into. Different styles were given to see which would work best. The day wrapped up by doing movement drills from behind the barricades while advancing to the next one. Toward the end, the entire class was stacked up and moving with precision.

Bennie Cooley doing the "very low" prone


The Kings of Kydex hard at work doing R+D


Students simulating shooting under a vehicle


Working the barricades




Conclusion

As stated earlier, it was an excellent class. The only thing negative about the class in my opinion was the lack of full attendance. Its hard to get schedules and the moons to always line up so that instructors such as this can come to our area. The good part was Bennie got to spend more time with the students who did attend. It is good to see people in the industry such as Raven to show up and get input on their products from the guys who buy and use their gear. A huge thank you to Pete and the rest of the staff at Big Darby Creek, excellent range and all around good folks.