After Action Report: Fighting Rifle at Tactical Response in Camden, TN
Course: Fighting Rifle
Training School: Tactical Response
Location: Camden, TN
Dates: 10/10 – 10/11/2015
Gear I Used
Weather: The weather could not have been better. Mornings started off brisk and cool at 45ºF and warmed up to a beautiful 75ºF everyday. There was some rain at night, but by day break it had cleared out and the ground was dry.
Instructors: Dave Biggers and Garry Marr
Dave “The Experience” Biggers
I had the incredible fortune of having Dave Biggers and Garry Marr instruct the 2 day course. Dave and I are good friends and I personally believe he’s one of the best firearms instructors in the world. He has trained with nearly everyone in the training industry and knows virtually everyone in the gun world. Walking around SHOT Show with Dave for a week, there wasn’t a person he didn’t know or didn’t know him. Dave is a veteran and has been in the firearms industry for decades. You could say, Dave has “been around”. He knows when to kick in the drill sergeant voice and give you a good swift boot to your training ass, and when to speak softly and instruct you with a calming voice. Regardless of the approach, he knows how to get through to the individual with what is known as “The Dave Biggers Experience”.
Garry Marr
Garry Marr is a newer staff member at Tactical Response and has already made a name as one of the favorite instructors at Tactical Response. Garry is a Navy veteran, owner of Tremis Dynamics and former teacher who could instruct even the worst or most timid student into being a proficient and confident shooter. Garry has a charismatic personality and injects humor with instruction creating a safe and comfortable environment to maximize learning potential. I am looking forward to taking additional instruction from Garry in the upcoming year.
The Course: Fighting Rifle
Fighting Rifle is the introduction to all of the advanced rifle courses offered at Tactical Response, however it is not a “basic” rifle course by any means. It would benefit the student greatly to have taken the Fighting Pistol course prior to taking Fighting Rifle because of some of the fundamentals that are taught in Fighting Pistol as well as the ever critically important “Mindset” lecture that is the capstone of the Fighting Pistol course.
Fighting rifle takes a student from understanding the basic safety rules of operating a rifle to holding your rifle, drawing your rifle, loading, unloading, reloading, clearing jams, and basic maneuvering while operating your rifle in a simulated fight scenario. The student quickly masters these basics and then progresses into moving while shooting, concealment vs cover, shooting from cover, shooting from various positions (fetal, prone, kneeling, standing, walking forward, backwards, sideways, box drills, etc.), transitioning from rifle to pistol back to rifle among other drills. The day begins in the classroom to cover basic principles of gun safety and range safety and then you’re off to the range for a day filled with throwing hate down range!
Day two is a continuation of instruction with all of your time spent at the range. A quick recap of what you learned the day before is covered before more advanced drills are conducted. The second half of the day is spent working in teams. Understanding how to communicate effectively, bounding / leap frogging, moving, laying down cover fire, etc. are taught as an introduction to the more advanced rifle classes and even High Risk Civilian Contractor courses which utilizes the same techniques only on a more advanced level. All in all, the 2 day Fighting Rifle course was an amazing experience and I came away with a sense that I could confidently handle my rifle in a fight, not just when I went hunting or to the range.
Recommendation
I would highly recommend that anyone interested in owning a rifle to take this course. The level of confidence and proficiency that one will come away with is invaluable!
Sample video of the course:
Course: Fighting Rifle
Training School: Tactical Response
Location: Camden, TN
Dates: 10/10 – 10/11/2015
Gear I Used
- Arsenal SLR-107FR AK47 [7.62×39]
- Primary Arms Red Dot [did not like this red dot after using it]
- Russian Red Army Standard Ammo [7.62×39]
- Glock 19 gen 3
- Fiocchi 9mm FMJ ammo
- NSR C4-LLC holster
- SOE EDC belt
- SOE single-point bungee sling
- SOE AK/M4 Split Micro Chest Rig
- Knee Pads
- Oakley M v3.0 glasses – Eye Protection
- Howard Leight Electronic Ear Protection
- Mechanix Gloves
- Shemagh (stop hot brass from going down your shirt or hitting your neck)
- Pipe Hitters Union Hat
- Cooler of iced water and electrolyte drinks. (Be certain to begin hydrating the day before you train.)
- Recommend item I did not have: Maglula UpLULA Magazine Loader
Weather: The weather could not have been better. Mornings started off brisk and cool at 45ºF and warmed up to a beautiful 75ºF everyday. There was some rain at night, but by day break it had cleared out and the ground was dry.
Instructors: Dave Biggers and Garry Marr
Dave “The Experience” Biggers
I had the incredible fortune of having Dave Biggers and Garry Marr instruct the 2 day course. Dave and I are good friends and I personally believe he’s one of the best firearms instructors in the world. He has trained with nearly everyone in the training industry and knows virtually everyone in the gun world. Walking around SHOT Show with Dave for a week, there wasn’t a person he didn’t know or didn’t know him. Dave is a veteran and has been in the firearms industry for decades. You could say, Dave has “been around”. He knows when to kick in the drill sergeant voice and give you a good swift boot to your training ass, and when to speak softly and instruct you with a calming voice. Regardless of the approach, he knows how to get through to the individual with what is known as “The Dave Biggers Experience”.
Garry Marr
Garry Marr is a newer staff member at Tactical Response and has already made a name as one of the favorite instructors at Tactical Response. Garry is a Navy veteran, owner of Tremis Dynamics and former teacher who could instruct even the worst or most timid student into being a proficient and confident shooter. Garry has a charismatic personality and injects humor with instruction creating a safe and comfortable environment to maximize learning potential. I am looking forward to taking additional instruction from Garry in the upcoming year.
The Course: Fighting Rifle
Fighting Rifle is the introduction to all of the advanced rifle courses offered at Tactical Response, however it is not a “basic” rifle course by any means. It would benefit the student greatly to have taken the Fighting Pistol course prior to taking Fighting Rifle because of some of the fundamentals that are taught in Fighting Pistol as well as the ever critically important “Mindset” lecture that is the capstone of the Fighting Pistol course.
Fighting rifle takes a student from understanding the basic safety rules of operating a rifle to holding your rifle, drawing your rifle, loading, unloading, reloading, clearing jams, and basic maneuvering while operating your rifle in a simulated fight scenario. The student quickly masters these basics and then progresses into moving while shooting, concealment vs cover, shooting from cover, shooting from various positions (fetal, prone, kneeling, standing, walking forward, backwards, sideways, box drills, etc.), transitioning from rifle to pistol back to rifle among other drills. The day begins in the classroom to cover basic principles of gun safety and range safety and then you’re off to the range for a day filled with throwing hate down range!
Day two is a continuation of instruction with all of your time spent at the range. A quick recap of what you learned the day before is covered before more advanced drills are conducted. The second half of the day is spent working in teams. Understanding how to communicate effectively, bounding / leap frogging, moving, laying down cover fire, etc. are taught as an introduction to the more advanced rifle classes and even High Risk Civilian Contractor courses which utilizes the same techniques only on a more advanced level. All in all, the 2 day Fighting Rifle course was an amazing experience and I came away with a sense that I could confidently handle my rifle in a fight, not just when I went hunting or to the range.
Recommendation
I would highly recommend that anyone interested in owning a rifle to take this course. The level of confidence and proficiency that one will come away with is invaluable!
Sample video of the course:
