AAR: Combat Rifle / Contact Drills (CRCD) 3/4 May –BC

AAR: Combat Rifle / Contact Drills (CRCD) 3/4 May –BC

There have been many excellent AARs concerning the Combat Rifle/Contact Drills class written in the last few months. In fact I reviewed many of them in making my decision to attend the class May ¾. The earlier reports have all been very detailed, and that’s why I was so excited to get down to WV and attend Max’s class.

I have to say this was the best training I’ve ever been through. Period.

I’ve taken a few basic carbine manipulation classes in the past, primarily as a way to learn how to shoot and run the rifle properly. This, as Max has commented, is a valid way to go through your learning curve. However, as anyone who follows the topics on this site knows, there is way more involved with protecting one’s self, family and community than can be gained from standard square-range training. So the training that Max is providing is a natural evolution in competency and tactical skills.

A few specifics that stick in my mind from the weekend:

Max:

First off, Max is the real deal. In my professional life I’ve spent quite a few years training telecommunications professionals, and although the fields are light years apart, I can recognize a first-rate instructor when I’m trained by one. Max has a passion for what he’s doing which reflects in the class. He’s serious and engaging, cracks down hard when necessary, but can still crack you up when needed with his dry British humor. He’s engaging almost to the point of being hypnotic – I suppose that’s a reflection of how serious he takes his path. He expressed several times how this training is now his passion, imparting his knowledge to as many people as possible. Quite simply, living where I do, I could NEVER have found this level of training without attending this class.

Training support:

The mark of a good professional is the people who they choose to surround themselves with. Max has chosen wisely and had two outstanding individuals assisting with the CRCD class, and the ½ day RMP primer class given Friday afternoon.

Aaron – This outstanding young man has 10+ years of combat experience including multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. His training skills were first-rate, as was his level of attention to the class and to our skills training (I still can’t believe he noticed my safety off from like 15 feet away). Aaron was able to quickly run our group of 10 through zeroing, reaction and failure drills which set us up well for the CRCD class to follow. EVERY person I spoke to felt the same – that we received excellent, focused training from Aaron, all of which we’ll all take home. The failure drills were particularly good. Although I must add that these need to be practiced regularly, as getting your rifle squared away quickly is definitely a perishable skill.

Fred – Fred provided some great commentary on issues ranging from WMD, pandemics, security and overall awareness of the world we now live in. We were very fortunate to have his input during the class, and I highly recommend joining the MVT forum, as a way to keep gleaning his wisdom as well as that from others. Thank you Fred for all that you added to the class!

Both Aaron and Fred assisted with the training evolutions in the CRCD class. Following a drill, they would also provide feedback to the student in addition to what Max may have already expressed. Their feedback provided even more value to each lesson we were taught, and often Max would default to their opinion or critique of our performance. Having an extra set of eyes & ears during the live fire drills also provided a comforting level of safety, and they all did a great job of managing the focus of the group.

Facility:

I’d sum it up with a question – where else can you run through unlimited live fire exercises both individually and as a group, instructed by first-rate military professionals with dynamic pop-up targets challenging your skills – all in a safe, controlled environment? MVT training, that’s where.

Max has built a fantastic facility with which to train. The thought that Max has put into this range is simply amazing, and it continues to grow day by day. Again, all I can really say (that hasn’t already been said) is there can’t be more than a few places like this in the entire country where you can train like this. I would venture to say that Max is the only one who is incorporating his dynamic target selection with great use of terrain to create a truly challenging, realistic training environment. Amazing stuff indeed. You really have to experience it for yourself to appreciate just how cool this facility really is.

Skills learned:

As I mentioned earlier, Max’s training is a natural progression from the familiar square range training to being able to shoot and move as an individual, or in a team. The emphasis in these classes is on understanding the tactics and the reasoning behind them. We’re not trying to go FAST, we’re trying to get it RIGHT. As Max likes to say – “Don’t F*ck it up…”.

Seriously though, it’s hard to explain in a quick AAR Summary how much someone like myself, with no prior military training, can learn in a weekend. The building blocks of RTR Drills (Individual and team), Break Contact Drills, Contact Left/Right Peel Drills, etc. were introduced and practiced over and over again. Not to mention the stoppage drills covered so well by Aaron on Friday afternoon, which all contributed to an amazing learning experience.

I have to stress that what I came to learn from Max, I most definitely learned. From the TC3 training on Friday morning, through the RMP class Friday afternoon and all weekend long in the CRCD training – we were “drinking from a fire hose”, and I loved every minute of it. I’m still grinning from ear to ear from all of the cool stuff we did, but most of all I’m really thankful for all that I had the opportunity to learn. These are important skills to learn, and to practice when you’re back home. I feel now that I have a much better ability to protect myself, my family and my community should things go sideways in a SHTF future. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about? Mission accomplished!!

Fun Factor:

OMG these classes were a friggin blast, outside of the serious nature of what we were taught. Like I said – where else can you go running through the woods shooting live fire drills with Max and Aaron pointing the fire hose at you…

Overall an amazing weekend – great new friends have been made, awesome things learned and a few rough edges polished. Thanks again Max and Aaron for your time, patience and passion. I can’t wait t get down your way for some more training. Perhaps a 3 day Christmas present in December? Hmmm.

Best regards,