AAR from JB at Defensereview.com (2-Day Advanced Covert Carry Skills)

Originally posted on Defensivereview.com

After Action Report (AAR) for GREEN OPS 2 Day Advanced Covert Carry Concepts Combat/Tactical Pistol Shooting Course: Faster Draw, and Faster Hits!

December 5, 2018

I recently took the Advanced Covert Carry Concepts class with Lead Instructor Mike Green from October 6- 7th (2018.), and am very glad I did. Mike has a great background, and we share some mutual friends, so I was excited to train with him. Mike has a significant background in special operations, multiple US Government Agencies, and other relevant real world experience that I thought would add to the usefulness of his instruction. I had decided to take a 4-hour clinic with Mike that he offered at the NRA Range to see if Mike’s instruction style and teaching style was a good fit for me. Mike delivered, and based on that interaction, I reached out to Mike, we discussed my training goals and Mike recommended his 2-Day Advanced Covert Carry Concepts class.

I’m very privileged to be friends with some extremely accomplished shooters in the firearms and shooting industry. Based on that exposure, I’ve become very particular about where I spend my training time and dollars. I’ll start this off by saying (or writing, in this case) that GREEN OPS is one of the best values you’ll find in the industry.

This class was held in at a private range in the Northern Virginia area that was a great set up, and that provided a great training environment. GREEN OPS offers training at the NRA Range and various outdoor ranges in Northern Virginia and West Virginia area, as well. Rather then discuss particular drills or a regurgitation of the course outline, I wanted to write about what I like about the class and Mike’s Instruction.

One of the main things I liked about this course is that it was very well organized, and had a set curriculum. Mike delivered the instruction in a deliberate and comprehensive manner. This really helped me to build and install the proper skills, which greatly increased my draw speed and consistent accuracy. By the end of the class, I shaved almost .7 seconds off my draw. I was consistently achieving A-zone hits at 1.3 seconds and 1.5 seconds for head-shots on a 4×6 index card target. This was done at 7 yards. I know these aren’t Grand Master speeds, but they’re major improvements for me. I’d been struggling with obtaining consistency at these speeds, but Mike squared me away in this class.

Everything in the class was performed from concealment, and at ranges from 3 to 10 yards. These ranges are consistent with CCW pistol self-defense engagements, so I’m glad Mike concentrated on these ranges. I appreciate the value in shooting at longer distances like 25 yards, but this class was drawing and shooting at speed. The longer-range drills, in my opinion, are designed to teach good marksmanship skills, while this class was for people who’ve already established those skills, and now want to execute those skills under speed.

Rather then discuss the agenda for the class, I wanted to discuss what I found valuable, and why I liked the instruction Mile provided.

Mike is clearly running the class off of a well-established curriculum. It became very clear to me his instruction is based on a well thought-out plan designed around setting baseline core skills. Mike then provided instruction around improving these skills, and individual feedback on how to get faster. Mike would continually reemphasize the previous instruction and skills throughout the day. One of my biggest complaints about the current level of instruction in the firearms training industry is “instructors” simply running a line. You can of course run a bunch a cool drills that are fun, but at the end of the day, people can list out drills and run them themselves. They don’t need to go to a class and spend $500-plus dollars and money for travel and ammo to do that. That’s just a waste of time, in my opinion.

A significant number of the drills were tested under time with a shot timer. In addition to adding a little stress, the shot timer is great feedback. Mike spent some time to show me how to use it effectively in Dry Fire practice. This was incorporated to increase the draw speed, and Mike took the time to provide micro adjustments to refine skill and increase speed. This level of individual attention is rarely seen in the firearms training industry today.

Another interesting topic Mike covered was the proper way to clear concealment garments. It was only a short period of time, but I felt it was time well spent. I’m sure the nuances I picked up contributed to the gains in speed on my draw and, more importantly, contributed to the consistency I saw over the two days of class.

Mike also showed us some very innovative ways to deal with malfunctions. These protocols were also fast. More importantly, the protocols were simple and easy to implement. The argument I often hear is that “malfunctions rarely if ever occur with quality defense ammo.” This may be true on a range, but it’s quite possible that in a civilian engagements that start off as a physical attack, your firearm may malfunction. So, I don’t see the harm in training for them. Mike shows you some effective ways to do that.

The last thing I will discuss is how Mike tied all of the instruction to dry fire and practice drills to increase proficiency in each skill set. Mike took time to show us how to make our dry-fire practice an efficient use of our time. This was something I hadn’t seen incorporated into a training curriculum the way Mike did it. I believe this will be invaluable in getting my times faster and maintaining my skills through dry-fire practice.

Mike offers a wide variety of courses at Green Ops that cover everything from basic pistol and carbine classes to more advanced firearms skillsets. Regardless of your current skill level, I’d highly recommend you try a Green-Ops course with Mike Green.