55 Defense Forum

This thread is for posts talking about training through other companies. We can talk about what is coming up, what is good and what is bad. Here are the rules: if you want to add someone's course, make sure you give a short synopsis about why it is valuable. If you are doing and After Action Review (AAR), please tell is what you think was valuable and why. You can outline your gear if it is pertinent to the other students (failures of gear/what I needed, should have brought). After a class has passed, the post will be deleted to keep the conversation current. All AARs will remain. Thanks and let us know what you got!

Just putting out my current reading list. These are books that I have read and gotten significant value. Feel free to add your favorites! In the Gravest Extreme - Ayoob The Cornered Cat - Jackson Gunfight - Nance Combat Shooting - Ayoob The Law of Self Defense - Branca Meditations on Violence - Miller T.A.P.S. - McNamara Warnings Unheeded - Brown Violence of Mind - Freeborn Effective Defense - Hayes The Book of Two Guns - McKee Gunproof your Children - Ayoob Sharpening the Warriors Edge - Siddle Straight Talk on Armed Defense - Ayoob and Others Stressfire - Ayoob I am sure there are more, but this gives us a start.

In my view, all training is a building block approach. Isolating, learning and mastering the fundamentals is critical. We then put isolated skills together to form a skill set. Those skills exist in a vacuum, however, until we put them in context and learn practical application. Think about how we teach kids to play baseball. First we teach them to throw and catch. A kid can be good at throwing and catching but not know how to play baseball. We add snagging grounders and fly balls, take some infield, learn hitting, and begin putting it all together. After years of training this way, kids begin understanding the game and can play baseball. The same is true with football, or martial arts, and any other athletic or fighting skill. But remember, every year even the pros go to spring training. And what do they work on? Throwing and catching. Fundamentals. We never stop refining the fundamentals. So that’s my approach. Isolate and build the skills. Then train context and application so you can deliver on demand. It’s a never ending journey. William Long