GOOD TRAINING FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Just got back from a pleasant weekend with great people, doing good stuff for a good cause. Tough to beat!

The venue was the Central Florida Tactical Conference in Bartow, FL, coordinated by trainer Jim Clark. 65 or so attendees comprised physicians and other medical personnel, cops, military, and a bunch of law-abiding armed citizens who take responsibility for their own, and their families’, safety.  All proceeds from the tuition went to the Wounded Warriors Foundation, and all the instructors and staff donated their time to the cause.

Each eight-hour day of the weekend was divided into four two-hour sessions. On day one, the four squads of students rotated through a bloc on shooting tactics, taught by Andy Stanford, author of “Tactical Speed Shooting” and former winner of the National Tactical Invitational; emergency treatment of gunshot wounds, taught by Dr. Barry Garcia; and a hand-to-hand segment led by Hapkido instructor Phil Peplinski. The final rotation was a challenging pistol match that included the original, famously difficult Federal Air Marshal’s course, and a difficult segment that comprised multiple targets from standing, kneeling, and downed positions and culminated with offhand head shots at a pretty challenging distance.  The second day included the match; a revolver course taught by John Strayer, winner of the famous 2005 Snubby Summit and current Florida/Georgia regional champion of Enhanced Service Revolver shooting; a “hit fast and accurate” seminar taught by Shannon Smith, current Florida state champ in Enhanced Service Pistol; and a classroom segment on the physio-psychological aspects of violent encounters taught by yours truly.

The weather was gorgeous, things ran on schedule, and there were no injuries except the expected minor cuts and bruises from the hand-to-hand. Learning curve was excellent and a good time was had by all. It was a smooth blending of natural allies, in a pleasantly uplifting mutuality of purpose.

Best of all, the event raised several thousand dollars for one of the most worthy causes out there, the Wounded Warriors Foundation.  Big kudos to Jim Clark and his team for making it happen!  It’s definitely worth putting on your calendar for next year, and a Google search for Central Florida Tactical Conference will bring you to everything you need to know about it.

Host Jim Clark, right, runs an attendee through the demanding Original Federal Air Marshal course.

Part of the group on Sunday.