[Tinman]

Obijohn,
Feel free to pirate the analogy, I stole it from my college days anyway.

Pami,
Now that I understand your goals for this thread, and I think everyone seems to be fairly accepting of my definitions of the class levels and structure, I’ll throw out my thoughts on training goals and directions.

I want to break out and make one BIG comment here. Traumatic medical care, and general first aid training should occur at the earliest stage possible. I have used my medical skills probably 100 times for every time I had to even touch a defensive tool let alone employ one. Can’t stress this enough, general first aid, CPR/AED training followed by a good 1, 2, or 3 day trauma care class specifically designed to deal with injuries of a violent confrontation.

Keeping with the higher education theme, to me it should progress much like you would in any college endeavor. You’re going to start with one or two 100 level courses. This would be the “safe and responsible handling stuff.” This is your NRA courses, John and Vicky Farnam’s basic pistol, or any of the several reputable “local” guys that frequent this board. I generally advise people to look for solid local guys with a good pedigree and solid reputation at this stage. Not that the big schools aren’t worth it, but you can save a lot of coin while you get your mechanics worked out by running several times with a local guy verse one big weekend away.

Once you have a solid grounding in the fundamentals meaning you can draw reasonably smoothly, load, reload, fire single and multiple shots getting decent (read 8” center mass here) hits (abbreviated list for space reasons, you get the idea) your probably ready to progress. We would then continue to the “advanced” level classes. This where we get into the fighting pistol, advanced fighting pistol offerings from Tactical Response, Gunsite courses, YFA, etc. There’s way too many out there to list them all here look around and find and instructor you like and work with him / her. This is not to say that the “local” guys can’t run you to this level as well, you just have to be more discerning of their skills and abilities. This is also generally where people start getting interested in other defensive skill sets, and we would start the process over for each of those skills. This is probably where you’re also ready to throw in some different situationally specific weapon systems like the shotgun, or carbine. If your first course is a carbine course, you’re probably going to be well behind the power curve and struggle a lot. Not good for you, not good for the instructor, not good for the class.

Once again, when you can successfully complete the skill sets taught in the 200 level courses now it’s time to start testing your knowledge and skill sets. This is where we get into the dedicated FoF class work, integrated defensive work, and situational course work. This is also where you should start to look at specialty skill set courses like vehicle defense, extreme close quarters concepts, etc.

Most people will never get past this point. If you do, you probably won’t need my advice anymore because you’ll have a pretty good handle on what you know, and where you want to go next.

So here’s the short form training map as I see it:

Fundamental manipulations for the handgun (2 classes or so for most people)

Basic tactics classes (most places refer to this as level 2, or some kind of “advanced” class again most people can benefit from 2 to 4 of these)

Alternate defensive skill sets (open hand, impact weapons, knives, pepper spray, et all) (This will become a study unto itself, following a similar level 1, 2, 3 as the pistol) (this is also where I would include things like extreme close quarters shooting)

Skill set integration, and bridge skill classes (this is where the gun handling must be solid, and we need a basic understanding of the use of “other” defensive skills)

FoF classes, and dedicated skills testing events (NTI is a great example, TR’s the fight class is another)

Specialty defensive skill sets (vehicle defense, armed movement within structures, etc) (this is also where I’d hit the long guns hot and heavy)

That’s of course geared mostly towards the civilian. I would alter significantly for mil, LE work, but that wasn’t the premise of the thread.

Remember your goal. If the goal is to be competitive at some gun game, stick to course work and training specifically designed to enhance the necessary skill sets for that particular game. If your goal is to successfully defend yourself from a violent attack, look at the skill sets most likely needed for that endeavor.

Here’s an idea of SOME of the skill sets necessary for defending yourself, you’ll need to organize them by most likely for you to use in your environment (obviously if your at home most of the time and a long gun is available, those skills sets should probably move higher up the list, you get the idea).

Medical skills (first aid, traumatic medical care)
Situational awareness and unknown contact management (borrowed from SouthNarc but a great definition)
Verbal de-escalation
Open hand (striking, clinch, groundwork)
Impact weapons
Edge weapons
Other less lethal (pepper spray, taser, etc)
Fundamental gun handling
Advanced gun handling
Long gun skills
Bridge skills (in fight weapons access, extreme close range shooting, etc)
Vehicle defense
Armed movement within structures

I think that’s the meat of it anyway, wow that was a long one. Hope this isn’t too disjointed and makes some sense to you.

Tinman....