Review: 4 Day CRS/CTT Class, Texas 17-20 February: ‘Brushpopper’
Review: 17-20 February 2017 Texas 4 Day RS/CTT Class:
First off I must admit, not having been to any type of class before other than shooting with friends, I was a little nervous. Whether it was from being afraid of looking dumb, or not being able to keep up physically (be in shape by the way), or any other number of self induced nervousness, I don’t know. That was all put to rest upon meeting up with the group the night before and meeting Max. Everyone, yes even Max, were down to earth people, all trying to learn or earnestly wanting to teach you (Max).
The first two days of Rifle Skills were great, honestly I didn’t think there would be enough to fill two days but there were, from zeroing to combat & tactical reloads, keeping your gun running in the fight by being able to think and look and discern why your gun stopped firing from failure to battery to bolt override and every other imaginable calamity in between, there was more than enough. This in turn let us roll right into Combat Team Tactics fairly seamlessly.
Rifle Skills was an eye opener, but Combat Team Tactics really opened my eyes, I was almost afraid that I would forget from day to day what to do, but by the time you get to your third and fourth day you have gone over these drills on the white board then in rehearsal and then live so many times it almost gets instinctive, albeit for me slowly instinctive (I know I could have moved a lot faster during our bounds and peels).
There was a mention of an on line discussion about Max’s yelling, first off yes there is yelling, not the screaming in your face deriding you of the nature of your breeding, but the kind of yelling that goes with having to talk over rifle fire trying to get your attention whether it be for your safety or your team mates safety, or to get you out of your sights to look around you to see what other danger may be in need of attention. There was some frivolous name calling, all jokingly of course, meant to also get your attention, I believe I was called a maniac (man I wish I could type in a British accent here) or a lunatic at one point for not being in the right position or for not being faster or running out of ammo, I cannot remember which, probably all of the above. It’s the kind of joking banter you would do with your buddies, giving them grief and hell over something they did type of banter, all while learning something.
(Max Adds: This became a bit of a topic because I brought it up at class and specifically asked for feedback on ‘yelling,’ and covered it / asked questions about it in the class AAR).
All in all, this definitely was worth saving up for and I plan on attending more of the Texas classes in the future. It is definitely an eye opener and makes you hungry for more!
~Brushpopper
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