Trusted Armament's Posterior

From: Excellence in Training
with Ken Hardesty

credit: policeone.com

It’s a scene played out on firearms ranges across the country, week after week. Students begin moving bags of gear from their vehicles to the staging area, those that forgot to do so the previous evening rapidly load magazines, hold harmless agreements are completed, participants gravitate toward those others present who they know, and ‘that guy’ shows off his latest acquisition. The moment that will set the tone for the remainder of the course plays out next; the lead instructor steps in front of the gathered clientele and calls the group to order. “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”, “show what good looks like”, and “appearances are everything”, are quotes that resonate through my mind each and every time I step in front of a group of shooters and announce, “Good Morning, I’m Ken Hardesty, and I’ll be your lead instructor for the remainder of the day.”

I have yet to see this discussed other places, so I’ll throw myself to the wolves and ask the question. Do firearms instructors have the right and privilege of discharging several hundred rounds during the course of instruction?

As in any case, there are arguments for both sides. I’ve had this discussion with peers and students alike. Quite frankly, opinions vary. I’ve been to a plethora of courses over the years. I’ve had outstanding instruction from persons dressed in nothing more than a polo shirt and cargo pants, and I’ve been on the receiving end of downright atrocious instruction by personnel in plate carriers and a slung live rifle. Of course, this goes both ways. There are times when the man in the polo hasn’t a clue what he’s talking about, and the instructor with the twenty five pound plate carrier showed me things I never knew existed. The purpose of this piece is not to discuss range fashion, or dictate a dress code. My intent is to caution against crossing the line.

Personally, I run each and every course I teach with a holstered blue plastic pistol, or its slung rifle equivalent. On two separate occasions, I have had students ask me during the debrief why I didn’t shoot the drills alongside the students, or demonstrate every drill in a live-fire fashion. The points I typically make are:

• Students didn’t pay money and/or sacrifice time to see me shoot or hear me tell ‘war stories.’
• If I shoot drills alongside students, who is running the line, coaching participants, or taking immediate action in the event of a safety violation?
• In my opinion, if I must shoot every drill prior to running it live, I need to brush up on my instructional skills.
• Shooting multiple live fire drills leads to a major pet peeve of mine: student down time. The more time I spend behind the weapon, the less time the students spend on the line.

Having said all that, I will never refuse a student’s request that I demonstrate a drill. I always have a live firearm nearby, and if not, I can easily borrow one from a student. On multiple occasions, I’ve had students ask, “Can we see that done?”

My answer is always the same, “of course.” After all, would you trust an instructor who could not demonstrate upon demand the skill set he or she is requesting of his students? Depending upon the complexity of the drill, I will ask of the students, “Does anybody need to see this before we go live?”

I’ve heard my colleague Ed Flosi tell beginning Defensive Tactics Instructors, “teaching is not your opportunity to work out or hone your skills.” I would argue the same applies to firearms training. Instructing any course is not about taking center stage, it is completely about those who have placed faith and trust in you as an instructor. Improving the skill set of those who have sought your knowledge and experience is the sole priority of those who teach.

When we cross the line and utilize precious training time for either personal gain or to prove to others what we can do, we have failed our students. They may walk away knowing what the instructor’s skill level is, however, what have we done to improve theirs?

Be a great instructor, not a superior showman.

There may still be time to take advantage of the fantastic deals being offered by Somali pirates, but act now - they can't last forever.

Reuters reported last month that Somali pirates had said they were willing to lower their ransom demands on selected ships. Why? Too much inventory. ""[E]ach of our groups holds ships now," one pirate told Reuters, claiming that in total they were holding more than 30 ships, which had been on their balance sheets for an average of 150 days each. And when the product isn't moving, the pirate explained, "there is no excuse for taking high ransoms."

Another pirate, identified only as "Abdullahi," said that the piracy business had changed since they got into it in 2007, and that business practices had to change, too. "We have changed our previous strategies," he said. "We have altered our operations and ransom deals with modern business deals." It's all about volume and the cost of inventory, you see. "We want to free ships within a short time," Abdullahi said, "instead of keeping them for a long time and incurring more expenses in guarding them," a solid business strategy that you could hear at any local car lot. "We have to free them at a lower ransom," he continued, "so that we can hijack more ships."

There is also the simple fact that the piracy business has gotten more competitive as other guys try to cash in on the success of the early entrepreneurs, or to get themselves a cut of the profits, anyway. In this case, it's al Shabaab, which may sound like the name of another pirate ("People tell me, 'Al Shabaab, you have to be crazy to offer these kinds of discounts!'") but in fact is an Islamist rebel faction with alleged ties to al Qaeda. Al Shabaab has evidently "struck a deal" (Reuters' phrase) that gives it a 20-percent cut of ransoms, a "deal" that presumably involves giving it 20 percent in exchange for not being killed.

Abdullahi rejected any implication, though, that the new business strategy reflected a need to increase turnover and reduce inventory costs in order to pay al Shabaab and still make a profit. "Al Shabaab has nothing to do with our plan to lower ransoms," he insisted. "Low or high ransom, the agreement is fixed."

I realize that normally we should be fans of the free market, but this is one business where a lot more regulation would be a really good idea.

Get them here while they are hot! TAC is an AAC dealer.

DCCC Targets 10 Republicans on Entitlements

• By Steve Peoples
• Roll Call Staff
• March 22, 2011, 11:21 a.m.

File Photo

Rep. Sean Duffy is one of the freshman Republicans being targeted by automated phone calls and other attacks by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

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The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching a grass-roots attack and online "action center" targeting 10 House Republicans, the latest move in the DCCC's effort to flip 25 seats and win back the House majority in 2012.

In addition to Gosar, the DCCC is doing more automated phone calls, live phone calls, print ads and  emails to go after the following Republicans: Reps. Bill Young (Fla.), Allen West (Fla.), Dan Benishek (Mich.), Joe Heck (Nev.), Lou Barletta (Pa.), Blake Farenthold (Texas), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Sean Duffy (Wis.) and David McKinley (W.Va.). With the exception of Young and Ryan, the Budget chairman, the Members are all freshmen who were first elected last fall.

Further, the DCCC has created a new online action center “to highlight that Social Security belongs to the people who worked their whole life to pay into the system, but House Republicans want to use Social Security and Medicare as a piggy bank for the government,” according to the DCCC announcement. The website allows voters to send letters to their Representatives and print out a pledge for their Member to sign.

The National Republican Congressional Committee largely dismissed the effort.

“This is exactly the place Democrats always go when they realize they’re losing the message game and become desperate,” NRCC spokeswoman Joanna Burgos said. “Unfortunately for them, it’s never worked in the past and it won’t work at a time when millions of Americans are most worried about the economy and the exorbitant gas prices they face at the pump every day.”

And as the DCCC uses entitlement cuts against Republicans, the NRCC continued a new strategy seeking to link House Democrats to rising gas prices. The GOP committee on Tuesday distributed press releases attacking 30 House Democrats, including DCCC Chairman Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.).

And so it begins again - lets stop them now! Oh yea, BTW, I thought automated calls were made illegal under federal law now?