Armed Dynamics Defensive Pistol II: 10.28.12
BACKGROUND:
My personal background information, and intro to Armed Dynamics can be found in my AAR for Defensive Pistol I.
WHY:
I took DP1 because I found myself lacking in defensive skills and shooting abilities. DP1 taught me new skill sets that I was able to take home, practice and refine. I wanted to take DP2 because I found myself wanting to learn more, and I now find training addictive.
MINDSET:
Over the last few months I have worked to change my mindset from "self defense" oriented to "self protection", AKA "Grey Man". I am not going to explain this in detail but the premise of self defense is "I am now in a bad situation and I need to fight my way out." Self protection is "how do I detect and avoid bad situations?"
In the student packet from DP1 they recommend students read "How To Be Your Own Bodyguard" by Nick Hughes. I downloaded the book and read it in one night, but gained some valuable insight into this craft that we practice. Instead of thinking that I am invincible because I have a firearm, I now try to be invisible because I have a firearm, and this has a huge impact on training now.
The targets in DP1 are slightly better than generic IPSC targets, and the goal is to teach students where to hit. DP2 implements photographic targets of humans standing in different positions. This teaches us that we are not likely to be facing our target head on, but in some sort of odd angle and we need to know where our bullets will be most effective from the side, back, etc. It also removes the disconnect from "human" and "target". Shooting a silhouette typically does not make a shooter think "I am firing a deadly weapon at another human being"; but the photo targets add that connection.
Because I train myself to stay out of bad situations, and because I am looking at a humanoid target that is holding a gun I ask myself "why?" every time the instructor yells "threat!" In DP1 we just assume the target is a bad person doing bad things, but we are more focused on the mechanics of refining a draw stroke, or learning how to use our front sight that we do not really think about it. In DP2 I am used to using my front sight, and the draw stroke and grip are more natural so I have the mental capacity now to fantasize what this bad guy is doing, whom he is doing it do, and how he is trying to attack me.
With this mindset I was able to really intensify the training. Once it "got real" I started working harder than ever on moving off the X, weapon manipulations, and communication. As a result I feel that I progressed much farther with the new mindset than I thought possible. I firmly believe that the student will do himself the most good by reading the recommended book(s). There won't be any quiz over the material in the book, it is solely for the benefit of the student. If you do not take the time to read it you only rob yourself of a more rewarding experience.
NEUROLINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING:
I spoke highly of this in the DP1 AAR, and we experienced an advanced version of it in DP2. I won't even attempt to explain it, I'll just say you should do it.
TECHNIQUE:
Early in the day we worked with maintaining a consistent firing cadence and our split times. I made a significant improvement in both areas. We spent a good bit of time working on proper ways to fall to the ground with injury. This paid huge dividends later in the day.
Stress inoculation was a large block that taught some great lessons. We are often told that in a stressful situation that we lose all mental abilities and go into a "caveman" state of physical abilities only. This is just not so. It is entirely possible to concentrate on your task, ignore the distractions, and make repeated accurate hits on target. It's not easy at first, but is certainly doable.
Much of our time is spent with other people, but what if those people are not armed, or do not see the threat as quickly as you do? We worked on techniques of protecting, controlling, and herding a friend or loved one to safety.
When you are engaged in a gunfight and are trying to put holes in another person, there is usually the risk of them putting some additional holes in you. For this reason we practiced self application of a tourniquet. (For those that are flipping out about using a TQ I'll put it like this: You can assume the risk of experiencing some tissue or nerve damage from using a TQ for 4-8 hours, or you can bleed to death in less than 2 minutes. It's your choice, but I carry multiple TQs.)
The rest of our time was spent on team tactics and communication. I won't get into much detail here, other than it is very worthwhile to train hard. I may never get into a gunfight with those that I trained with, but in the event of a real life encounter I do have a solid knowledge base of how to work with others.
CONCLUSION:
At the end of the day, actually it was the end of the night; I had fired 1200 rounds, killed a lot of targets, fell down (a lot), slid and rolled. I was tired and sore, and sore for a few days after, but it was 120% worth it. The additional skills we learned and the mental preparation for a real fight are something that are invaluable (even though they only charge $225!) My recommendation for DP2 is pretty much the same as DP1: If you don't have the money to train with AD you need to find the money. Start saving now and invest in yourself. If you don't have the time, make the time. Once you have the time and money you have no excuse for not training.
BACKGROUND:
My personal background information, and intro to Armed Dynamics can be found in my AAR for Defensive Pistol I.
WHY:
I took DP1 because I found myself lacking in defensive skills and shooting abilities. DP1 taught me new skill sets that I was able to take home, practice and refine. I wanted to take DP2 because I found myself wanting to learn more, and I now find training addictive.
MINDSET:
Over the last few months I have worked to change my mindset from "self defense" oriented to "self protection", AKA "Grey Man". I am not going to explain this in detail but the premise of self defense is "I am now in a bad situation and I need to fight my way out." Self protection is "how do I detect and avoid bad situations?"
In the student packet from DP1 they recommend students read "How To Be Your Own Bodyguard" by Nick Hughes. I downloaded the book and read it in one night, but gained some valuable insight into this craft that we practice. Instead of thinking that I am invincible because I have a firearm, I now try to be invisible because I have a firearm, and this has a huge impact on training now.
The targets in DP1 are slightly better than generic IPSC targets, and the goal is to teach students where to hit. DP2 implements photographic targets of humans standing in different positions. This teaches us that we are not likely to be facing our target head on, but in some sort of odd angle and we need to know where our bullets will be most effective from the side, back, etc. It also removes the disconnect from "human" and "target". Shooting a silhouette typically does not make a shooter think "I am firing a deadly weapon at another human being"; but the photo targets add that connection.
Because I train myself to stay out of bad situations, and because I am looking at a humanoid target that is holding a gun I ask myself "why?" every time the instructor yells "threat!" In DP1 we just assume the target is a bad person doing bad things, but we are more focused on the mechanics of refining a draw stroke, or learning how to use our front sight that we do not really think about it. In DP2 I am used to using my front sight, and the draw stroke and grip are more natural so I have the mental capacity now to fantasize what this bad guy is doing, whom he is doing it do, and how he is trying to attack me.
With this mindset I was able to really intensify the training. Once it "got real" I started working harder than ever on moving off the X, weapon manipulations, and communication. As a result I feel that I progressed much farther with the new mindset than I thought possible. I firmly believe that the student will do himself the most good by reading the recommended book(s). There won't be any quiz over the material in the book, it is solely for the benefit of the student. If you do not take the time to read it you only rob yourself of a more rewarding experience.
NEUROLINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING:
I spoke highly of this in the DP1 AAR, and we experienced an advanced version of it in DP2. I won't even attempt to explain it, I'll just say you should do it.
TECHNIQUE:
Early in the day we worked with maintaining a consistent firing cadence and our split times. I made a significant improvement in both areas. We spent a good bit of time working on proper ways to fall to the ground with injury. This paid huge dividends later in the day.
Stress inoculation was a large block that taught some great lessons. We are often told that in a stressful situation that we lose all mental abilities and go into a "caveman" state of physical abilities only. This is just not so. It is entirely possible to concentrate on your task, ignore the distractions, and make repeated accurate hits on target. It's not easy at first, but is certainly doable.
Much of our time is spent with other people, but what if those people are not armed, or do not see the threat as quickly as you do? We worked on techniques of protecting, controlling, and herding a friend or loved one to safety.
When you are engaged in a gunfight and are trying to put holes in another person, there is usually the risk of them putting some additional holes in you. For this reason we practiced self application of a tourniquet. (For those that are flipping out about using a TQ I'll put it like this: You can assume the risk of experiencing some tissue or nerve damage from using a TQ for 4-8 hours, or you can bleed to death in less than 2 minutes. It's your choice, but I carry multiple TQs.)
The rest of our time was spent on team tactics and communication. I won't get into much detail here, other than it is very worthwhile to train hard. I may never get into a gunfight with those that I trained with, but in the event of a real life encounter I do have a solid knowledge base of how to work with others.
CONCLUSION:
At the end of the day, actually it was the end of the night; I had fired 1200 rounds, killed a lot of targets, fell down (a lot), slid and rolled. I was tired and sore, and sore for a few days after, but it was 120% worth it. The additional skills we learned and the mental preparation for a real fight are something that are invaluable (even though they only charge $225!) My recommendation for DP2 is pretty much the same as DP1: If you don't have the money to train with AD you need to find the money. Start saving now and invest in yourself. If you don't have the time, make the time. Once you have the time and money you have no excuse for not training.
