(Originally written 09-28-09)
On September 26 - 27, I hosted and attended as a student a LMS Defense 2 day LMS Defense Carbine 1 Course.
A brief run down of what was covered on each day of class:
Day 1 - Saturday
-Intro and Admin
-Safety and medical brief
-Philosophy and expectations
-Prone Demo
-Zero
-Non-standard response
-Warmup and skill evaluation
-Muzzle offset and core drills
-Post-fight TTP
-Weapon handling fundamentals
-Grip
-Stance
-Superimpose dot
-Aim, touch, aim, press concept
-Carbine manipulation using off hand
-Reloading
-Emergency reloads
-Speed reloads (same conditioned response)
-Tactical Reloads (Skill vs Tactic lecture given)
-Facing movements and muzzle discipline
-Positions (kneeling and combat prone)
-Intermediate distance shooting and holdovers
-Shooting on the Move
-Groucho
-Dry movements
-Live fire movement
Day 2 - Sunday
-Safety and medical brief
-Live fire warmup
-Skill test for retention
-Live fire skill review
-Malfunction TTPs
-Type 1 malfunctions
-Type 3 malfunctions
-Lots of reps
-Incorporate movement off line of attack
-Incorporate communications
-Team fighting
-Cover vs concealment
-Standoff
-Positional shooting
-Movement between cover and individual bounding
-Lateral movement
-Lateral and advancing
-Team skill drills emphasis on these being skill drills and not tactics
-Communication (verbal and circumstantial)
-Lateral slinky bound to the right
-Advancing bounds
-Final team competition
-Class AAR
Weather was great. In the 80's on both days, very little wind, and no rain, which was nice because it was raining and in the 50's earlier in the week.
The class was about perfect size, we had a total of 8 students. The class was comprised of two active duty Army guys, two reserve Army guys, two students (one was former USMC, the other had no military or law enforcement background), an active duty Air Force cop, and one full time law enforcement officer who was former USMC as well. 5 of the students were combat vets.
7 of the 8 students had been to other training classes. The college student with no military / law enforcement background, this was his first training class. I'm sure it was a little intimidating for him to be in his first class and the only guy that was not either military and law enforcement and be the only guy that had never been in a training class. This was the first open enrollment class that I have been to where a majority of the class had similar backgrounds and similar skill sets.
I have known John Chapman (Chappy) - Director of Training for www.lmsdefense.com for several years. However, this was my first class with Chappy or LMS Defense.
Every class I attend I learn new material, and revisit skills I have already learned. Every instructor has a piece to the puzzle and the more exposure you can get to different instructors with different backgrounds the more well rounded shooter you will become.
I have taken several different carbine courses over the years. Some were 25 yards and in, some were 50 yards and in, and some have been 200 yards an in. In a large number of these course a majority of the shooting is done at 25 yards and in.
In the LMS Carbine 1 course a majority of our shooting was done between 25 yards and 75 yards. I enjoyed this approach because it was one of the first carbine courses that I have been to where the focus was oriented a little more toward intermediate distances. However there was a fair amount of shooting that was done at 25 yards and closer and from 75 to 100 yards. I enjoyed the focus on intermediate distances.
There was a lot of running in the class which I liked because it got the heart rate up, simulated stress, showed the shooter the effects that stress and elevated heart rate had on his shooting. Even though there was a lot of running involved, shooters who are out of shape or that are injured would have been able to complete the course. Shooters set their own pace for the running (fast paced walking events).
Targets are something that I generally don't pay much attention to. I was impressed with the LMS targets. Real life pictures with targets that were not always facing you or squared off to you. This made the shooter have to give some consideration as to where the vital zone on the target was.
The class had a lot of exercises that involved competition, both on an individual and team basis. Some newer shooters may be intimidated by competition, but don't let it scare you away. Competition is always a good thing, especially when you are competing against shooters that are better than you.
Team drills were a blast and a lot of competition was implemented into the team drills. This build comradery amongst the teams and the class as a whole. Winning individuals and winning teams were often awarded with prizes donated by companies who sponsored the class.
The class was fast paced and there were no student or gear issues that slowed things down. 5 of the carbines on the line were BCM (Bravo Company Manufacturing) guns, 2 of the carbines were Daniel Defense carbines, and I'm not sure of the make of the last carbine. No one had any major issues with the exception of a polymer coated steel cased Wolf ammo got stuck in the chamber of one of the guns just before the end of class on training day 2. No major gear issues, the student who had never attended a course before came to class with what most would consider too much gear, but I think by the end of training day 1 he was starting to figure out what he needed and what he didn't. Like everything in life, there is a learning curve involved, and your first class is the class that you learn the most from. You continue to learn as you taken more training classes, but the first class is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant.
In closing, Chappy was an outstanding instructor and the course had a solid curriculum. I wouldn't hesitate recommending the LMS Defense Carbine 1 course to a brand new shooter or a more advanced shooter who was looking for a course that had an emphasis on shooting at intermediate distances. I'll be hosting more LMS Defense courses in the future.
I would like to thank the following companies for their continued supporting of the shooting sports:
One of the targets discussed earlier in this after action report
As was stated in the after action report, there was a healthy amount of running in this course:
