So I need to follow up to my previous post about staying in your lane. I am going to do essentially a public mea culpa and make sure that everyone knows what lanes I should stay in. After all, if I am going to call out others, I should be held to the same standard, right?

I have been actively training in Martial Arts for 36 years. The operative word is ACTIVE.  There has not been a week in that time that I was not training under the eye of a coach/instructor. I have lots of experience in a ton of empty hand systems, as well as multiple methods that involved blade and impact weapons. I have been teaching in small group and private lessons since 1987, and I have been teaching open enrollment seminar/courses since 2007. I have had a semi-successful run in competition (mostly Brazilian Jiu-jitsu tournaments), so I think I can safely say I have by hand-to-hand bases covered as to depth and breadth.

I have been shooting for as long as I can remember. Hunting as early as five years old, and doing a number of shooting and hunter safety classes as far back as eleven years old. I became interested in defensive shooting, particularly with a pistol, in high school around 1980. My college graduation present form my parents was a trip to Gunsite in 1987 to take the 250 General Pistol class with Jeff Cooper there, and Louis Awerbuck as the instructor. I have done courses with famed trainers like Larry Vickers, Pat MacNamara, Kyle Lamb, Tom Givens, Craig Douglas, Chuck Taylor, among others. I have also trained with a number of slightly lesser known, but still excellent regional instructors. /I have regularly competed in Steel Challenge, multi-gun Tactical, and USPSA matches. And I have been fortunate to have spent my life in Arizona, where carrying a gun has always been an accepted thing, even before the current CCW system was in place.  My focus has been more on the pistol, but I have logged plenty of carbine work in as well.

I have had Red Cross CPR/first aid course certifications (which I am actually due as of this writing to renew), as well as some other emergency med training, albeit in a very basic manner and level.

I have been studying strength and conditioning for decades, but though well read and have done a ton of experimentation on myself, I have little formal education there.

So, where does that leave me?

Well, I can safely feel like I have a bit of a handle on the H2H stuff, whether it be unarmed, with blades, or with impact weapons. I’m pretty sure I know some about grappling, both vertically and horizontally. So I have no problem teaching and talking about most things there. Combine that amount of experience with the pistol work, I fell that I can also talk and teach intelligently about the under 5 yards situation with handguns in play.

Can I teach handgun stuff outside of 5 yards? Maybe, but why? I certainly can’t add much to the conversation in comparison to so many better and more experienced trainers out there, whether they are the nationally recognized ones, or the myriad regional instructors. Just within my home city, I am personal friends with 6 or 7 far, far better people who can run a handgun better than me, and have a lot more time actually teaching it to others. Why waste everyone’s time by trying to pretend to be an expert there too?

How about carbine? Eh. Maybe to friends and family informally, but not for money. Again, I don’t have the depth and breadth that so many others have there. Shotgun? Even more so than with carbine.

What about team tactic room clearing? Please! My experience there is totally limited to Call of Duty games. Medical? My nurse daughter would skin me alive if I had the effrontery. What about arrest and restraint methods? My LE knowledge/experience is limited to a handful of ride-a-longs. Me telling a cop with 10 years of street experience how to slap handcuffs is such a nauseating thought. I may be able to give him some ideas of how to postionally control someone on the ground, but that is where I need to stop.

That’s pretty much it. If you see me suddenly advertise “CQB Room Clearing and Face Shooting”, or “Vehicle Extractions”, please call me out publicly in as many places online as possible. Don’t let my head get swelled up and I start thinking I’m all that!