3 days and 1700 rounds

After completing Rob Pincus’s Combat Focus Shooting class on Saturday I was tired and overwhelmed with new information on how to change my shooting technique for counter ambush style shooting. This is the type of shooting you would use to defend yourself or loved ones. The class doesn’t waste any time covering advanced technique or skills that are not highly likely to be needed during a dynamic critical incident. This class truly is the meat and potatoes of defensive pistol shooting. The curriculum is centered on the concept of intuitiveness. All of the skills learned in this class flow well with natural movement as long as you don’t fight your body and you try to forget everything you know and just be a sponge there is a lot of experience out there. All skill levels of shooters were at the class I remember looking at the first round of targets and they ranged from one ragged hole in the center to targets looking like an angry farmer took buckshot to them, but by the end all the students were placing combat effective hits on the target that would surely kill, wound, or disrupt an attacker. The teaching style of the instructors was frank, no sugar coating of your mistakes and no pats on the back (at least not until the end) but every instructor was effective at teaching the basic skills need to defend yourself. The training provided by I.C.E. was incredible. The exercises and drills the students worked on all balanced speed and precision, two important factors in shooting effectively. I think all of the students would have agreed that shooting fast at the large target was very easy but when you had to transition from fast shooting to slower sighted shooting at a small target the transition can be difficult. After hundreds of rounds the class was over and I learned so much.


When I learned that I would be taking the Advanced Pistol Handling course as well I was thrilled. We started early again and spent the first hour or so refreshing the skills from the day before and I was shocked honestly with how easy every skill was from the day before, it was like second nature. I was unsure of my competency in a few of the more complex skills from the day before but it was a huge relief when I surprised myself performing the skills from the previous day with competent execution. Later that morning we started to build more skills focusing on extra skills for extenuating circumstances and the worst case scenario. These drills were challenging both mentally and physically. This class allows students the opportunity to shoot from unconventional positions that are very applicable in the real world but are difficult or unsafe to learn without the supervision of a skilled instructor like shooting behind your back or from a vehicle.

These classes were honestly the best use of my time for the past three days. I put in hard work, learned critical skills for defending myself and others making my concealed carry more effective, and having a great time with family and the instructors. The best quotes I remember or am willing to repeat, “Get the hits you need to get” I know this sounds funny but it was drilled into our heads and it reminds you that no matter how perfect you perform the drill if you miss then you missed and that’s all that matters. This one isn’t really a quote but I heard this a lot, “STOP LOOKING AT YOUR GUN, I PROMISE IT’S STILL THERE!” “RUN THE GUN, AND IF YOU ARE NOT RUNNING THE GUN THEN BE A MOVING TARGET.” The I.C.E. classes are great because the instructors would take the time to answer each and every question you have and explain to you how their method works and the science behind it. Even during times when no one had questions they waited long enough for us to realize we did have questions. So a huge thanks to Rob Pincus, I.C.E., and the Instructor Cadre for making this program what it was. There is so much going on in three days of training that it’s impossible to cover it all. Here is a link if you are interested in taking any classes from I.C.E. check them out they have a lot more going on than just hand gun classes. http://www.icetraining.us/