About Your Instructor
Thanks for taking the time to visit OurSafeHome.net! On this page I hope
to answer a few of the questions you may have about our training program
and its creator. Let me start out by saying that I am a Husband, Father and "Dad" and I love my wife and children. I know that you love your family, too and want the ability to protect them from the predators that are in this fallen world of ours. You can learn how to safely and effectively defend yourself and your loved ones by learning the lessons taught here.
I hope this doesn't take the tone of a typical "I love
me" page that many instructors or authors like to publish about
themselves. So, here goes:
In the late 1980's, after fulfilling my obligation to the Marines, a
number of the husbands in my Sunday School class thought it would be a
good idea to teach their wives how to shoot a pistol for defensive
purposes. This method produced very poor results. The men were not at
all able to teach their wives how to shoot pistols and the wives ended
up sad, angry and frustrated. All of this occurred even before we went
out to the shooting range!
I knew that there had to be a better way. In the Marines, I had
been a shooting coach and instructor, and had successfully taught
hundreds of men and women how to shoot guns with great success. While
much of what was taught in the military system was irrelevant to
civilians, one of the things that the Marines had gotten right was
separating the men from the women and using slightly different
approaches to teaching and developing these skills for each group. The
difference turned out not to be "what" was taught, but "how" it was
presented. Here was the "breakthrough realization": Men and women are
different!
Standing on the shoulders of the Titans of the shooting instructors who
had come before me, I developed teaching techniques and a self-defense
doctrine "targeted" towards women who wanted to learn how to safely use
a firearm for self-defense in a safe, non-threatening environment. The
women who participated in the class had a reading list to go through;
later, at our class meeting, they would take a written quiz and use that
as a review session. After I was sure that the group was ready, we would
then spend a few hours at the shooting range and learn the basics of how
to shoot a revolver for defensive purposes. The program was very
successful. Virtually all of the women who participated came home with
the skills and confidence necessary to use a handgun to protect
themselves and their families. Some of the women actually purchased
their own weapons at the end of the class and ended up becoming avid
shooters themselves.
Prefixing a "hands-on" session at the shooting range with some "required
readings" and a quiz really made for an effective training system. The
students could go through the academic materials at their own pace. This
was (and still is) in contrast to other classes that require everyone to
sit in a classroom for hours upon hours, listening (at best) to lectures
or (at worst) rambling anecdotes. The actual "live-fire" session only
took one or two hours, so rather than consuming an entire weekend, the
shooting part of the class could be completed in on early evening
session, after working hours. This made it possible for working mothers
(and all other busy women) to achieve proficiency without having to make
the huge commitment of time required by more traditional "shooting
academies".
The big surprise
It came as a bit of a shock to me, that, after a few dozen women had
taken my "Self-Defense Fundamentals" class that their husbands and
brothers wanted to take my class, too. The guys were asking to enroll in
my class designed for teaching women to shoot! The reason these men were
(quietly) asking to take the class was that most of them had no formal
marksmanship training! They had fallen into the trap that they thought
they were expected to know how to shoot, just because they were males!
I had the benefit of having been enrolled in a formal training and
competitive program from the age of six. My parents took me to the
"Junior 29'ers" shooting club several afternoons a week and every
Saturday for years! My instructor was named "Mr. Cole", and he carefully
and competently schooled me in the art and science of marksmanship. As
an aside, my father was good at enforcing discipline in the household,
but Mr. Cole showed me how to extend that into "self-discipline". I had
to learn how to conduct myself, not as a "kid hanging out at the range",
but as a responsible young man; Eventually, I earned the privilege of
being trusted to properly use lethal weapons on the shooting range, with
minimal supervision. (This was at about age 7 or 8!)
Getting back to the husbands, fathers and brothers of my Women's
Shooting School Graduates: They had not ever been under any formal
instruction and really had no adequate base of knowledge to build upon
when it came to shooting. They were asking to join my classes that I was
putting on for women. Now, I don't know much about women, but I did know
better than to let that happen. What I ended up doing was putting on
separate classes for men. These classes emphasize different things that
men needed to know and attitudes that they needed to develop (or
restrain!).
As time went by, there was always a steady stream of men and women who
enrolled in my classes, especially when they learned that I had been on
the Rifle and Pistol teams in the Marine Corps, not to mention the good
reports they had heard back from their friends.
The problem was that this method of teaching a small group was not what
"computer guys" call "scaleable". I couldn't grow large enough to meet
the needs of everyone who needed entry-level self-defense training.
(Though a quick look in the mirror reveals that I actually am growing
larger...) In the fall of 2008, I decided to leverage the success that
my other company, Scuba-Training.net had found with "distance learning"
and apply that to teaching people to protect themselves with their own
weapons. Thus was born OurSafeHome.net.
Rather than clutter up the bookshelves with another tome that teaches
"sight-alignment and sight-picture", we developed an interactive,
mastery based system for teaching the fundamental skills and knowledge
necessary to defend yourself and your family. As described elsewhere,
there are videos, animations, lots of text and most importantly: quizzes
and exams that are designed with the goal of getting you "up to speed"
quickly, safely, yet on your own schedule.
With the liberalization of the State of Florida's issuance of licenses
to carry concealed weapons (and most of the nation following Florida's
lead): I now have the opportunity of certifying you as being eligible to
apply for the license. You can take the "classroom" portion of the
program online; then we meet for about a 90 minute long "live-fire"
class at a local shooting range to complete the physical skills
necessary for you to apply for your license. Click on the "Florida Carry
Concealed Weapon License" link on the menu for more details.
Ok, no more tap-dancing around it, here it comes: "The I Love Me" part
of this page.
My qualifications are: Trained and competed in NRA sanctioned rifle club
activities and matches from age 6 onwards. When I joined the United
States Marine Corps, at Boot Camp, I was honored as my training unit's
"High Shooter". When in "The Fleet", I made the Battalion, Regiment and
Division rifle and pistol teams and competed around the world. That was
not enough shooting for me, on my own time, I competed in the "early
days" of IPSC matches and what are now called "3-gun Matches". (These
are the "combat style" competitions, that the military did not
participate in at that time.) I had the privilege of attending Camp
Lejuene's Scout-Sniper School and graduated at the top of my class. (I
graduated "Top Gun" on a Friday and was ordered to report for duty as an
instructor...on Monday!)
While in the Marines, I actually was forced to use a weapon in a
self-defense situation, so unlike many "PX Rangers", "Mall Ninjas" and
"Internet Special Forces Operators", I have actually "seen the
elephant". (Everything turned out fine, take one of my classes to hear
the story and learn the lesson that I learned in the time span of about
3 seconds...)
After finishing up with the Marines, I took a position with an
ammunition manufacturer as the company's designated marksman for doing
demonstrations at trade shows. Yes, I was, quite literally a "hired
gun"!
Having earned a living as a flight instructor and scuba instructor (both are
much more dangerous than teaching beginners to shoot guns, I might add!)
I've learned a thing or two about teaching people how to do
"interesting" things. Now I would like to teach you how to protect your
family and yourself. I hope to see you on the range, soon!