Review: Georgia Mobile Class October 2017: Steve
I hesitated to submit this AAR for the Georgia Combat Team Tactics / Direct Action class. Preacher and TC did thorough jobs of covering the class itself but there were four things I wanted to mention: training scars; taking DA immediately after CTT; taking the opportunity to lead drills during DA; and CTT improving awareness in other situations.
First thing – if you have training scars, you most likely don’t know it. I struggled the first day of class accomplishing simple tasks. Thanks to some kind words of encouragement from Max, I was able to eliminate the problems I was having and proceed on with the remaining days of class.
Based on how I was doing on the range, Max asked me on a couple of occasions that first day if I was operating outside of my confort zone. I remember that my answer was always “No.” I’ve thought about Max’s question a lot since finishing class and my answer has changed. Most of the shooting and training I’ve done has been on a square range. The main thing that was drilled into everyone in that training and at any range is that your muzzle is ALWAYS pointed downrange. This was so ingrained that during Day 1 of CTT I was locking up any time I had to move and swing the muzzle of the rifle to the side. I think that it took Max yelling at me (I distinctly remember the words “sharp rock”) to break this and allow me to continue. The point to my story is that attending CTT will help you recognize whether you have some training scars that would prevent you from working effectively as part of a team.
Second thing – you’re cheating yourself if you only attend CTT without immediately following up with DA. I didn’t sign up for DA until the last minute because of trying to justify taking 5 days vs 3. I’m glad that things worked out and I was able to be there for all 5 days. The flow from Day 3 of CTT to Day 1 of DA is seamless and a natural extension. You’ve spent 3 days getting to the point of operating smoothly in a team of 4 and then Max starts showing you what multiple teams of 4 are capable of. If you’re on the fence about this, go ahead and sign up for DA also. You’ll be happy that you did.
Speaking of DA, after running through the ambush on Day 1, Max offered the opportunity for students to lead the ambush (with him closely supporting you). Only 2 people took him up on it. WTF?!? You have a subject matter expert offer to let you run an exercise and critique you afterwards and only 2 people took him up on it. Unbelieveable.
My final takeaway is that going through CTT/DA made me much more aware of what’s going on around me while shooting. One of the constant things from Max was get your head out of your rifle and pay attention to the guy next to you – where is he and what he’s doing. The pistol courses that I’ve taken have given lip service to observing your surroundings after you have finished shooting but you’re never moving during this let alone moving relative to other people. I think that the shooting / moving / observing that we practiced during CTT served me better than some of the training I got during pistol specific courses.
This was my first chance to train with Max. It won’t be my last.
https://youtu.be/8XLTAzMhvNE
https://youtu.be/COd90JhvFVo