Para Blackwater Training

I'm famous - The Downrange.TV videos of the Para USA event

Robb Allen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:05:37 GMT

To my eyes, I look like a dork, but the videos are online now and man, do they bring back memories. Of course, my favorite video is Lasers in the Shoot House, and you can watch as Todd Jarrett has to restrain me from running into another room and getting my shoot on. You also see my reaction as I'm told I have the fastest time.

Who cares what they say about me so long as they spell my name right, right?

Oh...damn... Two B's guys, two B's :)

The professionalism of Todd Jarrett

Robb Allen — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:11:55 GMT

Here's a video of Todd Jarrett instructing us in the shoot house, using the Crimson Trace laser grip as a teaching guide

This was what made the training so effective. Watch how quickly Todd can observe Sebastian's shooting, literally just watching the laser bounce around, and how he can determine what's going on. You'll also notice that Sebastian's shots are damned good, too.

Joe and his magnificent, wonderful eye

Robb Allen — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:32:30 GMT

Joe Huffman had his fancy schmancy camera with him at the Para USA / Blackwater summer camp. Being a decent SLR, he was able to get some fantastic pictures.

Especially this one

Now, I'm not going to comment on what a gorgeous set of hands those are (hint - they're mine), but I wanted to highlight (a) that this was a cool shot and (b) the Witness Marks that Todd put on our hands. I used Photoshop to darken them up for by this time I had sweat so much they were hard to see (unedited pic can be seen at Joe's place)

Notice how the line from my right thumb meets the mark on my left hand. After a few shots, those lines wouldn't be together, which illustrated how I wasn't gripping properly and sliding around after a few shots.

Harder to notice is the line on my right hand which indicates where the center of the pistol goes. A better picture of that mark can be seen here. I didn't have too much problem with the pistol going off center, but once or twice after finishing a round of firing, I did notice it was askew.

I personally think this was the most beneficial teaching moment from the whole course. This one grip change tightened my groupings up and sped up the time to get back on target. The position my left hand had to take was uncomfortable at first, but once I got used to it, nothing else feels natural.

I've been dry firing every night with the Glock 29. I can grip it almost identically with the exception that the G29's grip is way shorter and I have to 'tea cup' it slightly with my pinky. But using this grip, I come up to the target very, very fast. I cannot wait to hit the range again to see how much of this I retained!

Summing up my entire experience at Blackwater with one picture

Robb Allen — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:19:36 GMT

(Picture taken by Don at The Armed School Teacher)

He's more machine now than man

Robb Allen — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:17:58 GMT

So, I'm sitting around the other day with Todd Jarrett, something I'm known to do from time to time, and we were just shooting the breeze. Unfortunately, when Todd Jarrett shoots the breeze, he hits it every time, which really upset the kids across the street who were trying to fly their kites. Todd, being the gentleman he is, felt bad and sent each of the kids a fruit basket with a note that said "If your going to miss, you're going to miss low - TJ". What a guy!

Anyway, I had popped a few rounds downrange myself and leaned over to TJ and said "Hey Todd, take a look at this grouping and tell me what you think." Todd looked at my grouping for about 2 seconds and told me "You're riding the trigger, you need to lean forward on your feet, and it looks like you're not getting enough fiber in your diet."

I'll be damned, after a bowl of oatmeal and a few adjustments in my stance, my grouping got smaller!

Todd then went on to do what he does best, which is put the bullet in the exact same hole over and over and over again. In fact, Todd Jarrett is so good that each time he shoots through the same hole, it gets smaller! Usually by the end of the day, he can reuse his targets. Todd likes to conserve things, he's green like that. He says he wants to make sure he leaves plenty on the Earth for his grandchildren to shoot at.

Seriously, if there was one thing I want to highlight from my little summer camp trip this past weekend is the training I received from Todd Jarrett. Sure, the Para USA pistols were sweet, the Blackwater facility beyond comprehension, the ICC Ammo and Crimson Trace grips were amazing, but what set it all apart was the professionalism and skill of Todd.

Now, most people don't know who Todd Jarrett is. Receiving firearms training with Mr. Jarrett is the equivalent of getting golf lessons from Tiger Woods. Todd is literally at the top of his game, and being able to watch him in action was awe inspiring. What made it even better is that he helped us become better shooters by using his experience and skill to teach us where we could change what we were doing to make it better.

I liked that he was clear on the fact that his way wasn't an absolute. He simply asked us to try what he suggested and see if it worked for us (of course, it did. Duh!) He also understood that many of us had habits that weren't going to be broken in 3 days and worked within those constraints. The fact that some of us were already phenomenal shooters and some, like me, needed quite a bit of help made his job a bit more difficult, but he adjusted perfectly.

Now, I don't mean to sound all fan-boyish, but the man isn't human. First off, his forearms are mad ripped which made me realize that I really need to exercise mine to increase my grip strength. When Todd first showed up the laser grips, he put the dot across the room onto a nail hole in the wall. The dot simply did not move. I cannot hold anything that still but he was like a friggin' statue. In fact, I've even heard that Chuck Norris is afraid to shake his hand lest it crush his fingers.

The other thing that is mind blowing is the skill with which Todd handles a gun. Look at this picture (click to embiggenate)

See that little, 6", white plate all the way to the right? From the left corner where we were was about 100 yards. Todd Jarrett was able to hit that plate and knock it over. With a .45! Now, in the interest of honesty, it took him an entire magazine to sight in, but when he missed, he missed within a quarter sized hole each an every time.

When he'd rapid fire, he could group better than I could on slow fire from half the distance, and he could swap a magazine in between each of my shots and still shoot faster than I could.

The best part of it all was that he was not only willing, but anxious to show us how he does it. And those lessons will stick in my mind for the rest of my life. In fact, if I ever can swing the ~$800 it is to take another class with him, I would in a heartbeat. I improved so much in 3 days that every last penny would be worth it.

Finally, I would like to thank Todd personally and publicly for his work with us. All of us were simply floored with the quality of the instruction and I know I cannot wait to hit the range again to try it out.

The Para USA event as seen by a non-invitee

Robb Allen — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:52:06 GMT

Greg talks about how he views Para USA's outreach to bloggers

There is clearly a need to make your company stand out in a field of glitzy advertising. Innovation isn't enough to sell a product, and traditional PR thinking does not include embracing the "New Media". Early adopters of a new medium are the real risk-takers, especially when it can mean the success or failure of a business. However the risk can pay off huge if it succeeds. Many companies are starting to "dip their toes in the water", but Para is the first to do it big. The question now: was Para's money well spent?

This is a question I wonder about myself. Para put up a large chunk of change for this event. Todd Jarrett has a bad ammo habit that's very expensive to feed, and Blackwater ain't so cheap either. Add in that they ran a special line of guns, just for us, and you've got one hell of a tab.

Will it work out for them in the end? Of course, I hope so because that means more outreach to us bloggers, and not just in the free goodies / contests departments. I'd love nothing more than to be called on by a company such as Para USA to let me know of new product lines, even if it was just an email. I'd love to be able to blog about certain events like the 'insiders' can. But to do so is a dangerous proposition for any company. Bloggers might get a little ad revenue from Google Ads or whatever, but we don't lose business from being negative about a product.

Para is taking a big risk here.

I personally believe it will be a big payout, just not immediately noticeable. Any company seen being tech friendly can only help.

Head on over and leave your comments and thoughts.

Cool picture

Robb Allen — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:31:06 GMT

J.R. took this shot of me knocking down some steel

What's really cool is how the plate is halfway down, and you can see I'm already level and ready to shoot again.

I need to lean in just a bit more, though.

Blackwater limos

Robb Allen — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:30:23 GMT

I shit you not, this is what we rode around in

Photo by Joe Huffman

There were these vehicles scattered all about. They had the keys in them. Blackwater told us to use them as we needed. They had bullet holes, simunition marks, shattered glass, dents, scratches, and even with all that they ran (and even the radios worked).

Here's a few more pics of the vehicles

Can I get a witness?

Robb Allen — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:19:09 GMT

Here's a shot of the witness marks Todd Jarrett put on our hands. That's Kevin's mitts on the left, then mine, then Say Uncle's. Since I had to hold the camera, it's only my right hand. I have no idea where Uncle's hand was, although I can assure you it was nowhere near my buttocks.

What you can't see, and probably the most important mark, is the one on Kevin's right thumb that is aligned with the one on his left hand.

To do this, Todd had us grip the pistol. He moved the pistol until it was perfect, then placed a mark on our right hand to indicate the exact middle where the pistol should be. Then, he had to bend our left hand down so that the thumb pointed straight out, the fingers were at a 45° angle with the palm flat and to the right. This really, really pulls on the tendons in your hand. He wrapped our left hand around the pistol, placing our thumb along the bottom of the slide. The right thumb rested upon the safety.

With our hands aligned perfectly, he drew lines on our right thumb and left hand to show where they should remain. Once we did this grip, the pistol would pop right back to where it was supposed to be after each shot. Eventually, your grip would move and your shots would take longer as you were hunting for your front sight again. You'd look at your hand and see how much your grip had changed.

It was very, very educational and helpful.

There's tacticool

Robb Allen — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:59:53 GMT

And there's tacticool

Check out your favorite blogger in action

That's Joe Huffman on the left. I'm wearing gloves for two reasons. One, Blackhawk gave 'em to me and I wanted to take them out for a spin. Two, I noticed my grip kept slipping and the gloves helped a ton with that.

The stage went as follows. You were to engage the steel plate directly in front of you with 2 hits, then take cover, placing two shots on a mover if it came into play. Then take down the last 6 plates (again, placing 2 shots on a mover if it came into play), then move to the end and unload onto the last stationary plate.

I missed my very first shot (I was walking like a duck instead of 'on a balance beam' which throws your shots left and right), nailed the mover while moving to cover and then the other mover immediately after I got to cover. I reloaded, after which I engaged the two movers (no misses), then nailed down 4 plates (no misses). Reloaded, missed, hit, missed, hit then two hits at the end.

That was too much fun. Just too much darn fun.