Best Experience with an Instructor?

Instructors are as diverse a group as any other. Some have a military background and it shows. Others remind me of a kindly grandmother who can put her foot down when she needs to.

Just like the diversity of instructors, students come from all backgrounds and experience levels. And sometimes the most unexpected pair of students and instructors click.

We’ve all had some amazing experiences with certain instructors.

What was your favorite experience with an instructor?

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I’ve never had an instructor, not since my dad taught me to shoot a BB gun many decades ago, so no experience, awesome or otherwise.

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I went to a week long instructors course once at OPOTA , Ohio police training Academy, and there was a pair of instructors. One was very Tigger like, he was over the top positive and loads of energy. The other was more reserved, calm and quietly encouraging. They played off of each other very well. It was a pretty amazing experience.

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Mine was last year when the nra released the new CCW course and I attended an instructor certification course for it. There were 12 instructor candidates from every region of the nation, including myself. I was the least experienced of any of them at only two years and the next closest had been instructing for nearly a decade. If I remember correctly they figured up a few centuries worth of experience between the group including the three TCs present. It was a very good three days of training and I learned so very much that weekend. I was glad to get the Cert but what I gained from being around those guys was invaluable.

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Most of my adult life I’ve either been instructed or have done the instructing. My best and unforgettable moment of instruction was with my Flight instructor. He taught me that perception can deceive. We were practicing emergency landing procedures and he cut the power of the aircraft. As I was lining up to land on an open stretch of paved road he asked if I could see the power lines. When I affirmed that I could an eye opening instruction occured. You see? the power poles ran down one side of the road yet most of the houses were on the opposite side of the road. He then asked if I actually saw the power lines or just the poles. Then the light came on and I realized that I percieved the poles as where the lines would be however a simple question made me realize the every house on the opposite side of the road would most likely have an overhead line to it. I couldn’t actually see the lines themselves. This can be translated to any instruction. (IE sights on a weapon) Do you see the front sight on your target? Answer yes! Which do you see clearly? Target or front sight? Allow the student to answer the question completely. Weapon loaded or unloaded? And question the perception. Just my experience folks. Hope it is helpful in some way.

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The indoor range I go to has mostly great people, particularly one guy named Ben. He is always enthusiastic to help with any questions and offer advice to folks who appear open to it. In exchange for his great info, I always offer him to shoot anything I bring to the range, which he genuinely enjoys. For me, this should be one of the perks for that job. I took a home defense shotgun course with him. My only other formal training (plenty of informal) was my for my concealed carry course, which is really informative.

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Butch was a Louisville PD firearms instructor when I first met him at the LPD range to qualify for the sheriff’s office. He was very knowledgeable and loved what he did. A Marine in Vietnam in some of the bloodiest battles that he rarely speaks about, he was brutally tough but, at the same time, was a very caring instructor. I got to know Butch better after he retired from LPD and came over the the SO as a firearms instructor. He has probably forgotten more in his life about firearms and shooting than I will ever know.
I know Butch and his family and have prepared wills and living wills for most of them. He runs me through the required LEOSA qualifications every year and he has been training my church security teams the last few years.
When I told him my son was going in to the Marine Corps and asked if he could spend some time at the range to teach him a few things before he left for boot camp, he answered with a resounding yes and the three of us met at a private range at Knob Creek Gun Range (also known as Syria on ABC news). He brought numerous firearms with him and spent the day showing my son how to field strip and rebuild all of them. They spent a lot of time on an AR15 to prepare Tommy for the standard issue M16. He learned so well that he became the expert in his platoon at Parris Island.
On March 14, just before the world was quarantined, Butch lead training for my church security teams with my son and me as RSOs. Butch was having a great time and so was everyone else even though the weather was chilly and wet. It was, for the most part, a great day at the range.
The only downside of the day was Butch telling me and Tommy privately that his cancer is going to beat him. We are planning another qualification once the world starts to reopen, and I want that for Butch. He told me at the range in the morning that he felt great getting back to doing what he was born to do.
At some point in the future i am going to miss Butch. Until then, I want to get out with him as much as possible. Until Valhalla!

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John Farnham. I prefer instructors coming from the law enforcement side for their experience in scenarios I’m more likely to find myself. John adjusts the content of his classes based on the experience level of the students, and I couldn’t believe how much material we were able to pack into the Advanced Defensive Pistol class (the second I took from him). I also appreciate that he holds a high bar. For both police department qualification and his civilian classes you have to score 100%. When you understand all the potential legal ramifications of a miss you really appreciate this.

I never did a shooting class with Massad Ayoob, but I did take Judicious Use of Deadly Force, the classroom part of LFI-1. Perhaps if I’d been able to find a way to take LFI-1 Completion I could declare him my favorite instructor. Assuming what he now calls Armed Citizen’s Rules of Engagement is the current version of Judicious Use of Deadly Force I would recommend it no matter who else you train with.

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I haven’t taken his shooting courses either, but his classroom courses are phenomenal! A ton of information and different ways to look at the same situation. I learned a lot from him!

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