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I enjoyed finally meeting you also :)

My opinion on competition - it doesn't have to be totally realistic.

It tests your equipment so when something fails on the range, you can fix it before it becomes a Murphy on the street.
It practices your motor skills so you can do various things without conscious thought - which then allows you to have full concentration on the tactical situation you're facing.
It puts you under stress by having to perform against others and the clock, so it's a form of stress-inoculation and confidence-builder.
It shows others doing things at a speed you might not have thought were possible, so it boosts your own performance when you try to replicate that.

Yep, I like competition.

A very sobering course. This isn't just "Watch out for innocents then shoot the bad guy" - there are a whole bunch of issues to be aware of. I won't go into any details here as folks should attend the class for themselves, but it was pretty eye-opening.

We had an introduction and briefing in the morning, then wrote a pre-test exam. We then went straight to the range to shoot the LTC test (everyone passed), then we did the Texas DPS-required drills (interestingly not scored). Afternoon was mostly classwork then we went and shot 10 shots on paper at 50 yards, then hitting a steel plate starting at 30 yards and ended up at 75 yards - very few people needed a 2nd shot to hit it.



The next day we were shown the 4 stages of a proper draw, proper reload-technique and as well as techniques for drawing from concealment - all critical in order to pass the NRA Defensive Pistol test which is all from concealment and pretty fast; there's no time to fumble and was definitely the hardest test to shoot clean - it takes just one miss to fail, so about half the class had to re-shoot it. Next we shot a major metropolitan Texas PD's qualification shoot (I was pretty chuffed when Karl pointed at my target and said "This is what a perfect score looks like!") then back to the classroom for more learning and drills. The shoot-house was next, learning to sweep and clear properly (in order to escape a building safely, not to engage the shooter) then back for some more classwork, tourniquet familiarization and then the final written test.

Knowing the multiple facets to be aware of will definitely help me at work - and at a personal level, Karl improved my draw immensely and my grip. I shot every test clean; no misses so no do-overs needed - but it took a lot of work to do that. I believe only 2 of us shot the PD qualification clean - but he missed a shot at the steel which I didn't, so I'm personally going to consider myself high shooter for this course

Yep, highly-recommended - even if the DPS certificate looks like it was done by a dot-matrix printer.

Colleague wasn't certain enough of her skills under pressure, so I'm taking a friend and meeting another friend at the course. Super stoked.

Deposit paid for the June 2-3 class and one friend has done the same - I'm hoping to have a colleague join us.

Registered for the Jun 2-3 class and have my vacation time approved.

I'm looking into this - a trip to Conroe would be valuable.