AAR Armed Dynamics Defensive Pistol 1

[Conglomeration Al]

This is an AAR of a class I took with Armed Dynamics. Taught by Philadelphia native Jeffrey Bloovman. I figured other people could learn from my experience and possibly see whether they want to take a class with AD. I highly recommend it. www.armeddynamics.com


I consider myself a beginner when it comes to fighting with a handgun. I’ve been shooting for about three years, but haven’t taken many formal training classes. I went to an NRA basic pistol course, which taught me everything I needed to know in terms of safety and handgun function. The NRA class taught me the practicalities, but it did not teach me how to fight… especially under simulated life threatening circumstances. Jeffrey Bloovman and Armed Dynamics Defensive Pistol 1 taught me all of that.
As I said previously I haven’t taken many training classes, so I don’t know if it was the most comprehensive course I could take. I do know that nothing went unsaid or untaught in this course. If you have any questions, Jeff will answer them as best as he can, which is usually the best way anyway. I try not to make assumptions, but due to Jeff’s extensive training background he has WAY too much knowledge on the subject of firearms and fighting with them; even though he’ll claim he doesn’t know much. Make no mistake about what this training course is all about. This class is designed to teach you how to run your gun and survive in a gunfight. Accuracy is secondary. If you can fire fist sized groups in the heart box, that's good enough. This is also a great way to test your carry gear. You will shoot 700 rounds, so if your gear dumps on you here at least you figured it out while your life wasn’t on the line.
I should say, first and foremost, that safety was the highest priority in this class. When we arrived at the range we went over safety and what to do when a person ND’s themselves or someone else. At no point did I feel unsafe.

Defensive Pistol 1 is a ten hour training class broken down into four parts, each of which I will address:
-Morning Lecture
-Before noon shooting
-After noon shooting
-Nighttime shooting

Morning lecture: This might be the most important part of the class. If you don’t realize that the world is happening around you this will wake you up. We also went over fundamentals - Proper draw stroke, proper trigger press, proper stance, and proper reloading. I always knew that a certain type of stance wasn’t that important (as long as you’re square to the target), but I never realized how important getting a full grip on your gun before you draw is. The FAST protocol was laid out. Take the class if you want to know what FAST is. You need to integrate this system into your training if you ever want to survive a gunfight. Throwing off your aggressors OODA loop is another big factor.

Before noon: First thing we did was implement what we had just talked about in the lecture portion. We practiced drawing and firing slowly at first, and then moved faster as we got more comfortable. We drew and fired with our strong hand, with our weak hand. Practiced reloading and malfunction clearances with both hands, right hand only and left hand only. Clearing a double feed with ONLY your weak hand is a pain in the ass! If you don’t practice this, you NEED to immediately! Move those feet while you reload!! This was repeated to me over and over. I’m sure it will come with practice.

After noon: After we ate lunch is when the fun stuff started. We immediately began shooting on the move (slowly at first, then progressed faster as we felt more comfortable). We shot from cover and learned the difference between cover and concealment. We shot from our backs as if we were fighting our way to our feet because of a knock down. We fought away from an up close attacker, we fought away from multiple up close attackers. We practiced team work and calling for cover when it was needed. Shooting on the move is easily the best practice we had, because it is dynamic. Nothing will be stagnant if you’re in a gunfight, practice shooting while moving.

Night shooting: The most fun, yet somewhat stressful, portion of the class. Light discipline is crucial as we were practicing real life scenarios. Having your light constantly on when facing an attacker is basically the biggest error you can make in the dark. I had a Fenix LD20, which wasn’t the best for this purpose. It doesn’t have momentary on/off and I had to click it ‘On’ each time. This sucked because it is a double output light and each successive click ‘On’ altered the output from constant to strobe. I used Jeff’s G19 for a part of the course. His is equipped with a TLR-2, which is WAY better than using a handheld light. You think shooting with one hand is hard try doing it in the dark while holding a flashlight in the other.

The bottom line is this: if you’re looking for very realistic training scenarios then you’re going to get that with Armed Dynamics. Jeff Bloovman has a ton of teaching experience and has tested tons of gear. I’ll be taking his rifle class in December and will absolutely post an AAR of that one as well. If you haven’t taken any formal training you need to do so immediately.

Just a note so people don’t get suspicious, I have no connection with Armed Dynamics other than taking one of the classes. I do plan to take many more in the future though.

Gear I used:
- Glock 19 with XS Big Dots, Glock mags, Am. Eagle ammo
- Crossbreed Supertuck
- Atomic Dog double mag pouch
- Original SOE rigid trouser belt
- Fenix LD20 flashlight

Everything held strong and I was actually kind of surprised that my Crossbreed didn’t rip apart as I was doing the weak handed draws. I was pulling at all kinds of angles to get my gun out. My Fenix needs to be demoted to kitchen flashlight. I definitely need to get a weapon mounted light as well as a momentary on/off flashlight to use for fighting. I learned the hard way to ONLY USE a momentary on/off flashlight for fighting with a pistol in the dark.

[vicious]

Great review, Al. I'm glad you enjoyed the class as well. You performed excellently and clearly took a lot away from it.

As another student who attended this class, I will post my AAR here as well. Hopefully my perspective as more of an insider with a long history of tactical training will help people develop a more complete view of what this class is all about.

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Do Not Underestimate the Tactical Academic

Armed Dynamics Defensive Pistol I
www.armeddynamics.com

The following is an after action report for the one day Defensive Pistol I course taught by Jeffrey Bloovman of Armed Dynamics LLC.

The Introduction

Some people here may know Jeff Bloovman from having taken classes with him as a fellow student. Some may have met him in the Team Room at Tactical Response during his lengthy stay there. Others may simply know of him through some of the product videos he did for Tactical Response Gear on YouTube or from his performance competing on Discovery’s One Man Army. I personally met Jeff while sitting next to him in high school Spanish class. One morning I caught him doodling a convincing FN P90 in the margins of his notes. Once we realized that we both spoke Gun we didn’t learn a lot of Spanish. One thing that people who know Jeff will tell you is that you should never underestimate him. That is his primary tactic for winning and it is a very easy a trap to fall into. After knowing him for more than a decade you would think I would be immune to this, but after taking his inaugural Defensive Pistol class I realized that I had done it again.

After taking a somewhat lengthy break from formal training to spend all of my time and money completing my degree and attending paramedic school, I jumped on the opportunity to take a formal class instructed by Jeff. I insisted on attending as a full-paying student. Since Jeff and myself have trained with many of the same people over the years, my assumption was that this class would be a good refresher on familiar material from a person I knew had a talent for presenting. Having met and shot with some of the people Jeff had privately trained, I also had a feeling that he had some talent as an instructor. I was still in for a surprise as to the scope of his teaching talents.

The Curriculum

Looking at Jeff’s course curriculum prior to the class my immediate thought was that it was going to be quite a trick to effectively squeeze all of the material he intended to cover into a single 10 hour block. With lunch and dinner, this was likely to be a very long day. Most one day classes only cover safety and fundamentals. Jeff intended to cover as much or more than many 2 day courses including dominant and support hand shooting, malfunction clearances, cover and concealment, movement, multiple threats, fighting to your feet, basic team communication, low light and more. He managed to effectively cover all of this and I was surprised how quickly the novice shooters in the class became familiar and comfortable with their sidearms. For the most part, they were hanging well with the more seasoned shooters. I have no doubt that if they continue to practice what Jeff taught them they will be formidable. Compared to the vast majority of gun owners without this type of formal training, they already are.

The Class

The class began right on schedule. There were only a handful of students and the instructor to student ratio was superb. It immediately started with introductions and a medical briefing. The most experienced acute care provider was identified (myself) and I was handed a well equipped trauma kit. I was told to look over the equipment and was told I could use my own if I preferred. The kit was complete and while I had a similar one attached to my range bag, I told Jeff I would be more than happy to use his medical supplies first. Jeff and his assistant instructor for that class, Justin are both trained emergency medical technicians and have additional training in trauma care relevant to such an environment. This was followed immediately by the safety briefing and rules of safe gun handling. The class moved quickly and concisely through the lecture portion. Mindset, legalities, situational awareness and other topics were all covered. Jeff’s background as a theater trained actor and his experience in film editing paid dividends in his ability to quickly plow through a breadth of material in a manner that was effective and understandable. In my mind it began to make sense how Jeff intended to compress so much material into a one day course. Theories of economy of motion melded into economy of thought and expression. Everything he did and said had a reason behind it. Examples were clear and concise. Any anecdotes had a distinct illustrative purpose. He was simply determined to teach the material more efficiently and effectively than anyone else.

There was also an underlying familiarity to his teaching approach. Like any good actor or musician, ones influences weigh heavily on personal style. I saw undertones of a half dozen other top-tier martial artists I was familiar with (“martial artists” being the inclusive term I use for teachers of both armed and unarmed combat). I saw hints of some great teachers and influences that came from outside the tactical realm as well. Jeff had taken from what he clearly considered the greats the most effective raw elements of teaching styles and personalities and distilled them into a marvelously complex character that was uniquely Bloovman. Jeff was simultaneously deferential to his influences, giving credit where credit was due for various theories and techniques. When names were dropped it was with the expressed intention that students were encouraged to seek training with these people.

After about an hour of lecture we moved down to the firing range. It was lightly raining and as people gathered their equipment underneath the canopy Jeff again laid out the medical plan, this time in more detail; Who was the primary caregiver, who was the driver, who was the secondary for each of those positions. A truck was positioned for rapid egress. I was delighted that these important considerations were well thought out. We approached the firing line and were instructed to close our eyes. Jeff quietly lead us in “The Credo”, an affirmation of our fighting spirit and willingness to do “whatever it takes to win the fight” in call and response fashion. We let it sink in, opened our eyes and began. The morning portion consisted of the fundamentals, drawstroke, weapon manipulations and malfunction clearance with the strong and weak hand. The concept of communication was presented early. As we got closer to lunch the drills increased in complexity and more concepts like transitioning between targets as well as cover and concealment--concepts that would be used in the more dynamic portion of the class--were presented. Throughout, the fighting mindset was continually drilled in to our heads.

An issue that frequently challenges instructors was present: one of the students was not grasping the material as quickly as the rest. Jeff did not slow down for them, which would have disrupted the flow of the class. Justin, the assistant instructor who had mainly been observing and making minor corrections to peoples form and technique swept in and gave her the individual attention she needed to keep up with the class. This avoided the common disruption that slower students can cause in a fast-paced course and still allowed her to get her moneys worth and walk away with a solid skill set. Another student had a preexisting injury to his support-hand index finger. Jeff seamlessly modified the curriculum for that individual student encouraging him to use the dominant-hand only techniques where use of his support hand would cause him issues.

We went inside for an hour long lunch, which was plenty of time for students to eat, pick Jeff’s brain, correct gear issues and ask questions. Following lunch we returned to the range. The paper targets gave way to steel and three-dimensional humanoid targets draped in old t-shirts. We stood on the firing line and repeated the credo, this time in louder voices, staring intently into the eyes of the target which by now we had all been conditioned through repetition into believing was a person intent on harming us. The drills began to get more dynamic as we practiced shooting on the move, at multiple targets, utilizing cover and concealment. Jeff’s practiced delivery became more forceful throughout. As we progressed and students hardened, stress inoculation drills were introduced. Just as the light began to fade, we broke for dinner. It was clear that while the course was not particularly physically demanding, the students appreciated the second break. Their brains were swollen with swarms of information and newfound confidence in their gun handling. I ate my dinner contented that after my training hiatus I was back with a vengeance. As with lunch, the students debriefed, mentally reviewed what they had learned and asked questions. As soon as everyone had been given ample time to digest both their food and thoughts, we began the the nighttime portion of the class with a short lecture.

We returned to the range which was now enveloped in near total darkness--helped by a combination of the overcast skies and tree cover. The rain still came through the trees and in the presence of sensory deprivation the noises of the wilderness that we had not noticed now thundered in our ears. The scene was surreal. Soggy bits of bioluminescent wood on the ground glowed in an unnatural greenish-blue color. We stood on the firing line facing the dim silhouettes of our targets and repeated the creedo for a third and final time, shouting into the darkness at the top of our lungs. I could feel from the power of the voices around me that the small group had undergone a transformation. The people around me, understated everyday professionals--an elementary school teacher, a biologist, a general contractor--had hardened resolve to destroy these people, no longer mere targets, who had come to hurt them and hurt the ones they loved. We began slowly using handheld lights to illuminate and fire strings into the target utilizing various light techniques. Students with mounted lights were then allowed to use them. Other students without mounted lights swapped guns for the experience. Soon after, the drills became dynamic. I was amazed by the progress of the other students, some of whom had only minimal prior gun handling experience, as I watched them run through the drills. Vague silhouettes moving in the darkness, a flash of white light, a burst of staccato gunfire, the ringing of steel, then darkness, and only the sound of boots moving across the dirt until the night was again interrupted by blinding light and gunfire. Following this, we returned to the cabin, certificates were presented and we shared what we had learned.

The Conclusion

Jeff Bloovman and Armed Dynamics occupy an interesting place in the realm of civilian firearm training. Often times when we look for training we seek out former police officers and soldiers. We all want to train under the most badass snake-eaters and high-speed operators the world has to offer. We want guys who have been there and done that but couldn’t tell you about it or they would have to kill you. Jeff is none of those things and he doesn’t front like he is. Jeff is best described as a highly-skilled tactical academic. When we consider the purposes for which we train, I see nothing wrong with that. Throughout our lives most of us learn sciences, not from scientists on the front lines of research, but from teachers and professors who understand how to take the available research and condense it into a teachable format. I see no reason why this dynamic needs to differ for the fighting sciences. After all, it is that skill at teaching which is what is most beneficial in the relationship between student and instructor. Could Jeff lead a team through the hills of Pakistan assassinating terrorist leaders? That’s not his job. Can he take a class of shooters and teach them how to fight with their weapons? I would not underestimate him.

[Shawn.L]

Thanks for posting guys . We need more info out there on the smaller name local guys .

So I'm not misreading you , can you please expand on this ?

Make no mistake about what this training course is all about. This class is designed to teach you how to run your gun and survive in a gunfight. Accuracy is secondary. If you can fire fist sized groups in the heart box, that's good enough.

And can you please let us know , if we are to take thus as being from an experienced source , what those experience's are ?

Hopefully my perspective as more of an insider with a long history of tactical training will help people develop a more complete view of what thisclassisallabout.

[vicious]

Thanks for posting guys . We need more info out there on the smaller name local guys .

So I'm not misreading you , can you please expand on this ?



And can you please let us know , if we are to take thus as being from an experienced source , what those experience's are ?

No problem. As i said in the AAR, I work in EMS. I carry a firearm only as an armed civillian. I have no LE or Mil background. I do however take personal protection very seriously. I have taken hundreds of hours with nationally recognized instructors/companies like Tactical Response, Trident Concepts, Michael DeBethencourt, etc. I have also taken a couple classes with other small local companies like Argive and Black Hat, which I mention because those companies are run by good people. I also involve myself heavily in other martial arts. The term i used in the AAR, "tactical academic" is one i like to use for myself as well. It's simply an area of study i choose to focus on for its profound practical applications.

All pretty boring. I'm no commando, just someone with more experience in a narrow field than the average. This simply gives me a different perspective that is no more or less valid than Al's. My intention was simply to communicate that this course has something to offer to everyone regardless of their prior training.

As far as the comment on accuracy, i believe Al oversimplified. The kill zones on the paper targets used in the daytime portion of the class are about 4"x4" You are accountable for all hits and hits outside the kill zone need to be taped after each drill. That's a significantly smaller target than the "a-zone" on a standard IPSC target. As the class becomes more dynamic, this is no longer required as the targets change from paper to 3D targets without defined kill zones (just like you or i don't have kill zones painted on us) and steel. The steel is 1/4 sized IPSC so accuracy is still neccecary to deliver hits. The instructors will still correct you if you are not making good hits on the targets. As Al said, we are supposed to strive for fist sized groups to the upper chest (where the important stuff lives) regardless of distance to the target or rate of fire (which means that you have to balance the two). That's hardly a low degree of acceptable accuracy. What's impressive is that students were doing it with regularity by days end.

To better phraise what Al said, making good hits is paramount, but this is not bullseye shooting. Dynamic motion and getting a volume of fire into the target are also important aspects of winning the fight.

I hope I answered your questions sufficiently.

[Conglomeration Al]

Like Vicious said, I may have oversimplified. I was trying to emphasize that this course isn't about standing still and making slow hits on a target, but rather simulating what could potentially happen if you were defending the life of yourself or a loved one with a pistol. Thus being slightly more lax (compared to other schools, perhaps) about accuracy. The instructors said several times during the class that if you're shooting through the same hole every time, speed up. Proportionately, if you're hitting the intended zone one out of every five shots, slow down.

Fist sized groups were what we were striving for regardless of distance. For the longer distances, we obviously had to take more time to get the hits right.

Let me know if I can provide any more info for you.

[Shawn.L]

Thanks guys, that does answer some of my questions.

[dunsho]

10hr class includes night shoot? what time does it start and end?

[Conglomeration Al]

10hr class includes night shoot? what time does it start and end?

Starts at 9am and I think we finished up everything a little before 9pm. We had a one hour lunch break and a one hour dinner break.

[vicious]

10hr class includes night shoot? what time does it start and end?

The night shooting portion occurs after dinner and lasts an hour or two. The topic is covered thoroughly in that time.

That 10hrs is all class time. It does not include the time we spend eating. I wasn't paying too close attention to the time but we started at 9am sharp and certs were handed out around 9-10pm. It's definately a long day. Personally, as a working professional i like the format. Means I can easily bang out a class over a weekend, travel included, and be back to work Monday.

As I covered in my review, the task of covering all this material in such a short time period seems daunting, but Jeff's refined teaching technique allows him to cover it--and you to learn it--effectively. By the end of the night shoot the other students were running drills like machines.

[dunsho]

wow, 10pm + 2.5hr drive back to philly = sucks for me.