possum
Member
Paul Gomez RPM Course AAR
Robust Pistol Manipulations 11-12 June 2011, Americus, Ga.
Intro:
First and foremost this was a great course and a great training opportunity with not only a great trainer but also with a group of great dudes. If you have an ego issue this is not the course for you. If you want to look cool and make the cover of SWAT magazine this is not the course for that. If however you want to be on a level higher than what you are right now, this is a good one for you. This class makes you do things that most people hate doing, and honestly without someone there to call you out, you cheat yourself on the range, and you cheat yourself in life by not doing what you should be doing. This is a manipulations course, more so than a shooting course or a tactics course. I will say that even if you take a dedicated “single hand manipulations course” offered by others, you may still not do as much one handed work in those classes as you will do in RPM. It is a humbler, but that is what you need, the problem is too many people are concerned with what they “want”! You need to be able to run your gun with 2 hands, you need to be able to do everything that you do with 2 hands with only one hand (left only and right only).
Who:
I always like to put a little about myself in an AAR, as everyone has different backgrounds and experiences. Also so the reader can better understand where I am coming from. I served 8 years in the US Army Infantry, with three tours to the “sandbox”. I am currently a college student and custom kydex gear maker. Additionally I am in the process of trying to become an LEO in N.C. I have attended several training courses over the years on both the military and civilian sides. Now that you know that, you should have a better understanding of the context of my aar.
I first heard (read) about Paul in a magazine a few years ago, which one I do not remember. I have wanted to train under him since that point. I did in March of this year, and I wanted to train under him again. If you do not recognize the name Paul Gomez you should either get to know him personally, train under him, and or attempt to learn about him. He has “been around the block”. In the training community he has either trained with, taught for, helped develop programs for many, many of the big names. He is known in certain circles more so than others. He has not only been a practitioner but also a key speaker at the infamous NTI. He is also a featured instructor at the Mid Atlantic Tactical Conference. There is way more to say but I think that will suffice for now.
His teaching style is one that I appreciate very much. Maybe it was because the class was full of people that he knew and or had trained before, but more likely his laid back style is the norm. Though he did an outstanding job portraying the information, techniques, the how and the why, he did so in a manner that was cool and calm. There was lots of joking and prodding going around. It made for an enjoyable and easy going time. Of course Paul got serious when he needed to be , and kept the class on track when we got too far out there!
One last thing about Paul; He doesn’t know a little about a lot, or a lot about a certain thing, it seems that he knows almost everything about everything. Amazing to talk to, and hear speak about all sorts of stuff. Even stuff not related at all to the course and or training.
It was a great privilege to have Mark Luell in the Course with me. It is always good to have someone there with you that you know. He is a squared away dude to say the least, and a very well rounded warrior. It was great to be able to finally take a course with him. Thanks again bud for coming out to this course with me, and keeping me entertained during the weekend. I look forward to training alongside you more in the future. Thanks for running the LM holster for day one.
There were a good mix of students in the class, all with different backgrounds, and experience levels. This is the first class that I have ever taken that I got along with and liked every single person in the class. That is rare indeed. None of “that guy” in the class.
What:
Gun, ammo and Gear:
I used my g-19 for this course. I have a grip force adapter installed. This was the best test of the adapter yet. Though I had run it at the range on multiple occasions, this was the first formal course that I used it in. I used Tula 115gr fmj steel cased ammo for the duration of the course with factory magazines. No issues at all with that.
Since I make holsters and gear, I ran all of my own gear. I ran one of my “MMA” holsters, in the strong side canted configuration, which is how I carry normally. I ran 2 of my single mag pouches. All of which was worn on an Area Ranger belt. I have been wearing the Ares belt daily since I got it a month or so ago and I love it, and this was the longest and best test of it yet. After all the racks off the belt there was no damage to the belt at all. The belt is solid for sure and will hold everything in the right place all day long. I have no complaints at all. It is a solid piece of kit.
Round Count :
I personally shot 518 rounds during this course. Though that is not a lot of rounds, and way under the norm for a 2 day course, you have to look at the big picture, and not just something like round count. You can’t judge a class by the round count. You can go to a class and shoot 1000rds in 2 days but that doesn’t mean that the training was any good. I did not feel one bit that we didn’t shoot enough or anything of the sort. Again this is more a manipulations course than a shooting course. I got more than my monies worth in value from this course.
TD1:
Training day 1 started with the usual introductions, safety brief, universal gun handling rules, and the medical plan. Gomez also touched on how important it was for you to have at least some medical training under your belt. Gomez also gave each student a handout for the course. A “handout” is probably not the best word to describe this awesome 3 ring binder full of great information. I have been to schools that give handouts, but this is a book and a half at least worth of great info. Hats off to you Paul for gathering all this info and making it available to us.
TD1 Topics Covered: These are not necessarily in order.
1) Diagnostics (to see where the student was at the start of the class)
2) There was very little single hand shooting, and no single hand manipulations the first day.
3) The structure was discussed.
4) The draw stroke (4 count) this was done by the numbers, and then as a whole, dry and live.
5) Paul talked about clearing cover garments both open front and closed front. Also he prefers using one hand to clear instead of two.
6) Grip
7) Trigger reset
8) Types of reloads, and why he prefers the “reload with retention”. The RWR compared to the old school and most commonly seen Tactical reload lessens the chance of fumbling, dropping mags, and trying to juggle 2 mags at the same time. I always looked at the RWR as a gamer reload, however I can see it having merit in the context of a replacement for the tactical reload of old.
9) Differences in 2d and 3d targets. As far as the intersection of the vertical and horizontal , where to aim and or put rounds, with the threat facing different directions.
10) Paul talked about how to set up your gun to be ran one handed. This was a learning point for me. Though most people are tracking on having a 90 degree facing on their rear sight for racking off of the belt or holster, there are many other things that I had never thought of. Making these changes have no effect on the operation of the gun 2 handed, and substantially improve your ability to manipulate the gun one handed. I won’t get into all these, however this was a light bulb moment in the course for sure. I will be making some changes to my gun to accommodate just that in the near future.
11)Press out was addressed. This is something that I know that I used to do not too long ago. But it is one of those things that I haven’t thought about lately, and it was great for him to bring this up. I can’t believe that I had not thought about it, especially considering that I used to actually do it and people would even ask me about it. Thanks Paul for turning that light back on.
12) We worked on presenting the gun from left, right, and straight ahead from standing and sitting positions. Here there were some 1 handed shooting.
13) After lunch we put 3-4 dummy rounds per magazine.
14) Non diagnostic malfunction clearance. Looking only helps when you can see, which is not always. So it is not as Robust as a looking at the problem.
15) We set up type 2-3 malfunctions
16) Locking the slide on the a type 3 is not required.
17) The “ready gun position”. This is a compressed high 3( stage 3 of the 4 stage draw, with the gun in tight to the chest but muzzle elevated. I like this and will probally integrate using this into my training.
18) We shot from supine, seated, kneeling, and standing. “Fight to your feet” per say.
Training day 1 ended with a “de brief” where everyone stated one thing that they learned during the day. Then after the class was officially over we did a little MP-5 fun time. Thanks again Shane.
TD2:
After a review of the safety brief, medical brief and such Paul discussed the advantages of a slight in board cant as opposed to a locked wrist when shooting one handed. Then it was on the range for a hot, humbling day of crappy stuff that you never hope that you have to do in a fight.
TD2 Topics Covered, this is not necessarily in order.
1) Rack slide off of something in front of your hips and not the side of your body
2) Right hand and left hand only shooting, and drawing.
3) Paul compared how to draw offhand both across the body and behind.
4) Right hand and left hand only type 1,2,3 malfunction clearance.
5) Right and left handed only reloads.
6) On dominate hand reloads gun goes to holster, and not between legs so you don’t loose mobility
7) On non dominate hand reloads the gun goes to the belt line in front.
8) Canting the muzzle away from body when you do a one handed malfunction clearance is so very important. If you block the ejection port you will cause yourself more problems.
9) Paul taught the “inertia bump”. It is much faster than the old school, lock rip rack x 3 etc.
10) As a group we ran through his 12 stage qualification course.
11) Then we did the course of fire individually and got or base line time written down in our folders to have for future range sessions.
Day 2 ended with the de brief, everyone seemed to have gotten a lot out of the class, and really enjoyed themselves no matter how sucky day 2 was!
Things I did well:
1) accuracy shooting wise 2 handed and weapon hand.
2) manipulations of the gun 2 handed and weapon hand only
Things I need to work on:
1) press out
2) reaction hand only shooting (accuracy)
3) reaction hand only manipulations.
4) ensuring the muzzle is canted away from me doing one handed manipulations, to avoid covering the ejection port.
5) I know there are more but that is what I have now. I will be reviewing my notes and training log book before my next practice session.
Conclusion:
Big Thanks to Shane for hosting this course and making everything a smooth transaction with great communication throughout the process. Thanks to Paul for the great instruction, and for telling me about this course, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have known, and I would have missed a great opportunity. Thanks Mark for coming out to train with me, and for squaring away the hotel. Thanks for all the Law enforcement professionals who spent their time and money to come out, train, push their limits and make themselves better. Hats off to you guys for not being blind to the fact that most LEO training is seriously lacking, not only knowing that more training is important, but actually going out and doing it. That says a lot about the professionals that you all are. This was a great class, the skills taught in this class are ones that you must have if you are to be a well rounded warrior. Great instruction, instructor, students, and curriculum. I couldn’t be happier. The light went off again and I now know some things that I need to focus on that I have been neglecting. I fully endorse Paul as a teacher, and instructor. I also highly recommend this course.
Robust Pistol Manipulations 11-12 June 2011, Americus, Ga.
Intro:
First and foremost this was a great course and a great training opportunity with not only a great trainer but also with a group of great dudes. If you have an ego issue this is not the course for you. If you want to look cool and make the cover of SWAT magazine this is not the course for that. If however you want to be on a level higher than what you are right now, this is a good one for you. This class makes you do things that most people hate doing, and honestly without someone there to call you out, you cheat yourself on the range, and you cheat yourself in life by not doing what you should be doing. This is a manipulations course, more so than a shooting course or a tactics course. I will say that even if you take a dedicated “single hand manipulations course” offered by others, you may still not do as much one handed work in those classes as you will do in RPM. It is a humbler, but that is what you need, the problem is too many people are concerned with what they “want”! You need to be able to run your gun with 2 hands, you need to be able to do everything that you do with 2 hands with only one hand (left only and right only).
Who:
I always like to put a little about myself in an AAR, as everyone has different backgrounds and experiences. Also so the reader can better understand where I am coming from. I served 8 years in the US Army Infantry, with three tours to the “sandbox”. I am currently a college student and custom kydex gear maker. Additionally I am in the process of trying to become an LEO in N.C. I have attended several training courses over the years on both the military and civilian sides. Now that you know that, you should have a better understanding of the context of my aar.
I first heard (read) about Paul in a magazine a few years ago, which one I do not remember. I have wanted to train under him since that point. I did in March of this year, and I wanted to train under him again. If you do not recognize the name Paul Gomez you should either get to know him personally, train under him, and or attempt to learn about him. He has “been around the block”. In the training community he has either trained with, taught for, helped develop programs for many, many of the big names. He is known in certain circles more so than others. He has not only been a practitioner but also a key speaker at the infamous NTI. He is also a featured instructor at the Mid Atlantic Tactical Conference. There is way more to say but I think that will suffice for now.
His teaching style is one that I appreciate very much. Maybe it was because the class was full of people that he knew and or had trained before, but more likely his laid back style is the norm. Though he did an outstanding job portraying the information, techniques, the how and the why, he did so in a manner that was cool and calm. There was lots of joking and prodding going around. It made for an enjoyable and easy going time. Of course Paul got serious when he needed to be , and kept the class on track when we got too far out there!
One last thing about Paul; He doesn’t know a little about a lot, or a lot about a certain thing, it seems that he knows almost everything about everything. Amazing to talk to, and hear speak about all sorts of stuff. Even stuff not related at all to the course and or training.
It was a great privilege to have Mark Luell in the Course with me. It is always good to have someone there with you that you know. He is a squared away dude to say the least, and a very well rounded warrior. It was great to be able to finally take a course with him. Thanks again bud for coming out to this course with me, and keeping me entertained during the weekend. I look forward to training alongside you more in the future. Thanks for running the LM holster for day one.
There were a good mix of students in the class, all with different backgrounds, and experience levels. This is the first class that I have ever taken that I got along with and liked every single person in the class. That is rare indeed. None of “that guy” in the class.
What:
Gun, ammo and Gear:
I used my g-19 for this course. I have a grip force adapter installed. This was the best test of the adapter yet. Though I had run it at the range on multiple occasions, this was the first formal course that I used it in. I used Tula 115gr fmj steel cased ammo for the duration of the course with factory magazines. No issues at all with that.
Since I make holsters and gear, I ran all of my own gear. I ran one of my “MMA” holsters, in the strong side canted configuration, which is how I carry normally. I ran 2 of my single mag pouches. All of which was worn on an Area Ranger belt. I have been wearing the Ares belt daily since I got it a month or so ago and I love it, and this was the longest and best test of it yet. After all the racks off the belt there was no damage to the belt at all. The belt is solid for sure and will hold everything in the right place all day long. I have no complaints at all. It is a solid piece of kit.
Round Count :
I personally shot 518 rounds during this course. Though that is not a lot of rounds, and way under the norm for a 2 day course, you have to look at the big picture, and not just something like round count. You can’t judge a class by the round count. You can go to a class and shoot 1000rds in 2 days but that doesn’t mean that the training was any good. I did not feel one bit that we didn’t shoot enough or anything of the sort. Again this is more a manipulations course than a shooting course. I got more than my monies worth in value from this course.
TD1:
Training day 1 started with the usual introductions, safety brief, universal gun handling rules, and the medical plan. Gomez also touched on how important it was for you to have at least some medical training under your belt. Gomez also gave each student a handout for the course. A “handout” is probably not the best word to describe this awesome 3 ring binder full of great information. I have been to schools that give handouts, but this is a book and a half at least worth of great info. Hats off to you Paul for gathering all this info and making it available to us.
TD1 Topics Covered: These are not necessarily in order.
1) Diagnostics (to see where the student was at the start of the class)
2) There was very little single hand shooting, and no single hand manipulations the first day.
3) The structure was discussed.
4) The draw stroke (4 count) this was done by the numbers, and then as a whole, dry and live.
5) Paul talked about clearing cover garments both open front and closed front. Also he prefers using one hand to clear instead of two.
6) Grip
7) Trigger reset
8) Types of reloads, and why he prefers the “reload with retention”. The RWR compared to the old school and most commonly seen Tactical reload lessens the chance of fumbling, dropping mags, and trying to juggle 2 mags at the same time. I always looked at the RWR as a gamer reload, however I can see it having merit in the context of a replacement for the tactical reload of old.
9) Differences in 2d and 3d targets. As far as the intersection of the vertical and horizontal , where to aim and or put rounds, with the threat facing different directions.
10) Paul talked about how to set up your gun to be ran one handed. This was a learning point for me. Though most people are tracking on having a 90 degree facing on their rear sight for racking off of the belt or holster, there are many other things that I had never thought of. Making these changes have no effect on the operation of the gun 2 handed, and substantially improve your ability to manipulate the gun one handed. I won’t get into all these, however this was a light bulb moment in the course for sure. I will be making some changes to my gun to accommodate just that in the near future.
11)Press out was addressed. This is something that I know that I used to do not too long ago. But it is one of those things that I haven’t thought about lately, and it was great for him to bring this up. I can’t believe that I had not thought about it, especially considering that I used to actually do it and people would even ask me about it. Thanks Paul for turning that light back on.
12) We worked on presenting the gun from left, right, and straight ahead from standing and sitting positions. Here there were some 1 handed shooting.
13) After lunch we put 3-4 dummy rounds per magazine.
14) Non diagnostic malfunction clearance. Looking only helps when you can see, which is not always. So it is not as Robust as a looking at the problem.
15) We set up type 2-3 malfunctions
16) Locking the slide on the a type 3 is not required.
17) The “ready gun position”. This is a compressed high 3( stage 3 of the 4 stage draw, with the gun in tight to the chest but muzzle elevated. I like this and will probally integrate using this into my training.
18) We shot from supine, seated, kneeling, and standing. “Fight to your feet” per say.
Training day 1 ended with a “de brief” where everyone stated one thing that they learned during the day. Then after the class was officially over we did a little MP-5 fun time. Thanks again Shane.
TD2:
After a review of the safety brief, medical brief and such Paul discussed the advantages of a slight in board cant as opposed to a locked wrist when shooting one handed. Then it was on the range for a hot, humbling day of crappy stuff that you never hope that you have to do in a fight.
TD2 Topics Covered, this is not necessarily in order.
1) Rack slide off of something in front of your hips and not the side of your body
2) Right hand and left hand only shooting, and drawing.
3) Paul compared how to draw offhand both across the body and behind.
4) Right hand and left hand only type 1,2,3 malfunction clearance.
5) Right and left handed only reloads.
6) On dominate hand reloads gun goes to holster, and not between legs so you don’t loose mobility
7) On non dominate hand reloads the gun goes to the belt line in front.
8) Canting the muzzle away from body when you do a one handed malfunction clearance is so very important. If you block the ejection port you will cause yourself more problems.
9) Paul taught the “inertia bump”. It is much faster than the old school, lock rip rack x 3 etc.
10) As a group we ran through his 12 stage qualification course.
11) Then we did the course of fire individually and got or base line time written down in our folders to have for future range sessions.
Day 2 ended with the de brief, everyone seemed to have gotten a lot out of the class, and really enjoyed themselves no matter how sucky day 2 was!
Things I did well:
1) accuracy shooting wise 2 handed and weapon hand.
2) manipulations of the gun 2 handed and weapon hand only
Things I need to work on:
1) press out
2) reaction hand only shooting (accuracy)
3) reaction hand only manipulations.
4) ensuring the muzzle is canted away from me doing one handed manipulations, to avoid covering the ejection port.
5) I know there are more but that is what I have now. I will be reviewing my notes and training log book before my next practice session.
Conclusion:
Big Thanks to Shane for hosting this course and making everything a smooth transaction with great communication throughout the process. Thanks to Paul for the great instruction, and for telling me about this course, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have known, and I would have missed a great opportunity. Thanks Mark for coming out to train with me, and for squaring away the hotel. Thanks for all the Law enforcement professionals who spent their time and money to come out, train, push their limits and make themselves better. Hats off to you guys for not being blind to the fact that most LEO training is seriously lacking, not only knowing that more training is important, but actually going out and doing it. That says a lot about the professionals that you all are. This was a great class, the skills taught in this class are ones that you must have if you are to be a well rounded warrior. Great instruction, instructor, students, and curriculum. I couldn’t be happier. The light went off again and I now know some things that I need to focus on that I have been neglecting. I fully endorse Paul as a teacher, and instructor. I also highly recommend this course.
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