Do you want to be an instructor?

It says I'm live, which is a small miracle because the amount of computer problems I've had this year or this week, it's been insane. Hello everyone, uh, it is 7:30 on a Thursday night. I'm pretty sure because, you know, some days I wonder what day it is. Today is Thursday. I've been on the range all day, hence the nice bright red face right now, um, because for the past 9 weeks weeks we have been doing interviews with other instructors. Tonight, however, it's just me and you, for those who join me live. For those of you who are watching the replay, by all means stick your comments below. I think they're below both on YouTube and, um, on Facebook. And let me know, what would it take to get you to become an instructor? Now I know being an instructor is not for everyone, and it is not the sort of thing that you should get into lightly, but I just happen to have an instructor training class coming up next month. However, this is September and that will be October. You need to qualify for the class in September. What we are doing is you come here We do the pre-qualification, which is your gun handling skills, your target, that sort of stuff. Then for 2 really, really long days in October, we're going to be going through all of the stuff that we teach on how to teach firearm instruction. So for those of you who would like to know or are considering getting into becoming a firearms instructor, let me know. I will happily, happily, happily answer your questions. Uh, if you are here in Connecticut, uh, New England even, um, some people travel a ways to get their training instructors. So, Patriot in the Dark, well dude, I promise you would be a unique situation. Um, I was actually wondering how it is you get to shoot. Um, I'm assuming with assistance, but I don't know if you saw last week or not, no pun intended, but like Jen Zorden, who was, I think she was week number 9. Hello, sir. You know, with her MS, she was able to instruct for a really, really long time. So the funny thing is, is that you can be an instructor and actually the NRA definitely embraces the whole idea of people from all walks of life with abilities and otherwise. So anyway, um, I know, like I said, uh, the past 10 weeks, 9 weeks, been doing the instructor interview, and tonight it was more about how to become an instructor. So it's easy and it's hard all at the same time. Probably the hardest part of passing the course is the 40-yard target. 40-yard target? Hold on, let me see, because I actually have someone coming in tomorrow who I have already pulled their, um, whatever it's called. I pulled their jacket so they can get their stuff together. Here we go. All right, here it is. Um, oh, very cool. Hold on, sorry, I gotta throw this up so everyone can see it. So Patriot in the Dark has a blind friend that is an NRA instructor in the great state of Ohio. And it is totally doable, um, because— too live move, you're right, you're very early because it's 7:30, which is I think when you normally get off whatever it is you're normally watching on Saturdays that I don't get to see you. All right, so here's, here's what I thought was the hardest part of becoming an instructor. This target right here, this is our NRA instructor training qualification target, and part of the reason I think is the hardest part is is because I did not have to do this when I became an instructor, because I would not have become an instructor. So this is 20 shots on this paper, um, and you need 16 out of your 20 shots to be within a 6-inch group, and you're at 15 yards. So, um, what is 15 yards? 15 times 3, 45 feet. Yeah, y'all fix my math because I really don't know. So anyway, 15 yards is a challenge for many people. And just so we're clear, it's not that you have to hit this because this is a 9-inch circle. You have to get it within this circle. There has to be at least 16 shots on the paper within this circle. Now, if your grouping is a little high, off to the left, low, that's okay. They just want to see it on the paper. So the good news is, when I practiced to become a training counselor so that I could teach y'all how to be instructors, I thought it had to be right here. Like, I had, had to have this 6-inch group right there. So the good news is I over-trained. Then when I went to my training counselor, which is the— so, oh, next week, next week, next month, I'm teaching the instructor class. But to go to the training counselor class, I had to do this, and I overpracticed so that my 6-inch group was here. Now here's the funny thing that I didn't know, or I wasn't expecting, I should say. When I went to my training counselor course, I didn't— I actually helped a bunch of my other co-students learn how to get their 6-inch group in there because not everyone was going to qualify because of their shooting. So this is why I run my classes the way that I do, where you have to shoot this first before I let you spend $350 and 3 days with me. Um, it's really 24 hours, but it's literally 24 hours. It's 12 days on Saturday, 12 days on Sunday. It's a long, intense class because we're teaching you a lot of things. Um, it's not all about marksmanship, which is why I want you to come ahead of time and pass this part of the class Um, in my past trainings, I've let just anyone come, and if they fail, they fail. But I don't really like that because the NRA wants you to hold their hands until they get, uh, finished. So I prefer to hold your hand before the class, so when you're done, we're done. All right, there is this cool, uh, instructor training program pre-course qualification. This is the other thing that we're running through the month of September prior to allowing you to sign up for the actual class. So what do you have to do? It's a pass/fail. It's pretty simple because it's safety. We're going to be going over how to load and unload a single-action revolver. I'm going to go over how to load and unload a double-action revolver. I'm going to go over how to load and unload a semi-automatic and each one of these things has points. So as I'm watching, I show you first how to do this. You don't have to like go figure out how to get this done. Um, I show you what I'm expecting. Sorry, my phone is going off because, uh, my daughter is currently on a bus, um, and she is coming home. We don't know when she's coming home, so, um, so anyway, sorry, I digress. You know how these goes. Hey DJ, how are you, kid? Um, all right, so single action revolver, double action revolver, semi-automatic. So the first part we go through loading, you get max of 5 points for each one of them. Then unloading, uh, same thing, max of 5 points. For all of them. So you can max it out at 15 points, but you have to have a minimum 12. So I'm guessing if you're considering this, you want to know, well, how do I screw it up? I'm like, well, if I show it to you and then you don't do it the same way, or if you do something incorrect such as hand over muzzle or something like that, that's a safety violation. Things like that, fingers not in the right place, little stuff like that.. And then we do the clearing common pistol stoppages. So using dummy ammo in the classroom, I set up a double feed, I set up a stovepipe, all that fun stuff, and then you have to clear it. Again, first I show you how to do this, then you do it. So, um, the failure to fire. So you're up on target, pretend target, gun goes click, nothing happens. What do you do? According to NIA rules, finger off the trigger, stay up or bring it down depends on you. I think it's more a matter of the gun needs to be pointed in the safe direction for 30 seconds prior to racking out the dummy round. So, and phase 3, like I said, to me the hardest part, right, is that little 6-inch circle. For those who are just joining us, here's the target you're shooting at. Here's a circle you need to get 16 out of your 20 shots at this target in. So it is much harder than I expected. Oh, at 15 yards. All right, anything else? Target diameter, distance, outside borders. And then of course you do get a zero, like that thing I said about putting your hand in front of the muzzle. That's a zero because that's a safety problem. So at the end, you must have an 80% or better passing, and this is your pre-qualification to get into class. Hello, crabby turtle! Um, so yes, there you are. Hi, little hand. Oh, that's funny, it kind of actually matches. All right, wait, if I hold it like this— oh, that's better. All right, so anyway, sorry, I so easily get very, um, entertained by all sorts of your little icons and whatnot. All right, so this is what I'm trying to get people to do in September. Now here's the thing, let's say you come to me to do this pre-instructor qualification course and you suck. You don't hit the target, or you don't hit the target as much as you need to. That's okay. The time we're spending together is so that I can actually coach you as well. So guess what? If at 15 yards you are not able to make that lovely little 6-inch circle, I send you home with homework for a week and then you come back. The way it works is— I forget how much it costs, but you sign up for your thing, you pay for it. It's $65, I think. I don't even remember. Uh, you show up for your time. It's an hour and a half that we're gonna take to do this. Oh yeah, so that's the other part of this. Almost forgot, because this is one of the hardest things ever. Because people don't realize it's an untimed target. 20 shots, you can take up to 20 minutes. This is not a speed shoot. Unfortunately, most people outrun their skill set, so usually the number one thing for most people is just slow down, and they can usually get it. If slowing down still doesn't help them, then we start doing dry fire practice stuff in order to get your trigger finger better, and we make a smaller target so that you can practice indoors. So, um, that's what I'm doing for the month of September, is trying to get as many people through this as possible so that we can hopefully get our minimum 4 to 6, uh, students for the, or the basic instructor course in October. And we have another one that's not— has nothing to do with the NRA, but there is another holster work slash trigger control class that I'm offering on September 24th, um, that will work on that trigger control. So that target will seem like a breeze. All right, so that's what I got for you guys. This is— we did all those instructor interviews. Now number 10 is How do we make you into instructors? If you are curious after watching all the different types of instructors that are out there, my hope is you might be slightly interested or understanding how it all goes. All right, so questions, comments, comment below. I'll get back to you, or I'll make DJ get back to you. I don't know, we'll see how this all goes. Uh, DJ threw up the greatstartshootingschool.com Now here's the funny thing. I actually— I'm gonna look at this because I actually don't know. If we go to— once I move my paperwork off of my thing— if I go to a Great Start to School, how do you find this? So I'm literally gonna share this screen and we're gonna look together because I really don't know, um, which is sort of funny, I think. At least in my brain it's funny. All right, so if we go here, I think it's actually under events. So, or I could be wrong. I have— oh, so the special event is the Practical Fundamentals and Skill Builder. That is the trigger control, you're working from a holster, that sort of stuff. And then there is the NRA Basic Instructor, which is not being held until October 22nd. So I realized what I should probably do is update it so that you can— hold on, um, go to sign up for— yeah, sorry, uh, be able to actually sign up for the, um, yeah, the prequel. Because if you don't do the prequel, you can't sign up for there. Oh, wait a second. One moment please. I might have just had a thought. If I'm in here, ready? Remember I told you I'm gonna share. We're gonna just look for stuff as I find it. 6 seats available. You must qualify. Can you get, oh, I'm thinking DJ can't read this for anything 'cause he's on his phone. So let me make it bigger for those of you who like doing this on your phone. I think that's a little better. So yeah, first 6 weeks to qualify and sign up, have the seats. So your qualification is 90 minutes prior to October 1st. We're trying to get everybody up there. Link to sign up will be put here on August 10th. And apparently I failed to do that. So that is something I will do after I get off here with you. And to Patriot in the Dark's question, can I take my shots over Zoom? No, not really. Uh, not that I think you're gonna travel because aren't you like Midwest as well? Um, although as Moo says, perhaps if you're talking about taking shots of Daniel's, then yes, please by all means stay home, be safe, drink at home. It's always better that way. Um, but yes, it is absolutely— if you want to try it at home, all you have to do is have me email you the poster. The poster because you can literally just— the target, I mean, you can just print it out on your printer. If you notice, all— I don't know if you always notice, but usually there's a printer here. This is how bad my computer stuff has been lately, is that I had a printer and now I don't have a printer. Um, so the link— yeah, I need to get the link up there is what the problem is. I have, um, and I can put it in the comments below, or in the com— whatever that's called. What's this called? The comments below? No, the description. I can put it in the description below on YouTube, above on Facebook. And if I go to my appointment types, I can put it in the chat right now. Oh wait, how'd I miss Tara? Sorry. See, I saw a Two-Legged Moose say hi Tara, but I had missed, uh, Tara saying hi to all of us. All right, so basic instructor class instructor prequel. Gonna get the, uh, no, where is it? Oh, see, this is why I shouldn't do live right after a whole day of whatever that's called, you know, that thing working. There you go. All right, so what I have done is I have put the link to the prequel in the comments. So that way, if I don't go back and do the description, um, that will be that. So when you click on the link— oops, hold on— you will see my handy dandy little calendar, and it says Instructor Pre-Course Qualification. And this does cost $65. However, once you pass it If you are going to take the, um, instructor qualification, or if you take the instructor course, the $65 is just going to go towards your, um, course. So you get a coupon when you're done. It's super easy. You click on a day, you pick a time, and you put in your information. It's an hour and a half. Find out if you've got what it takes to become an instructor. So I feel like that was super cheesy, but I couldn't help myself because, you know, sometimes you need to be cheeseball. All right, ladies and gentlemen, I think that's kind of it. So wait, no, there's so much more, and I really could go on for a long time. So first, can you shoot 15 yards, 20 shots? At least 16 of them have to be in that group. And I will tell you, at our training counselor thing, um, we worked really hard to make sure we could get those 16 shots within the space, but we were very specific to make sure at least 16 out of the 20 were in that group. So overtrain, go for much smaller, and then when you're under pressure, having someone watch you, because it's always more challenging generally when someone's watching you, um, or at least for most of us. So qualification 2, safety. Here is one of those things. All right, fine, ready? See DJ's got icons for everything. Cheeseball, that's, that's me tonight for sure. A little bit slap happy, all that good stuff. All right, so get your shots in, get that. Now what are you doing for 2 whole stinking days? Well, there's actually 2 parts of becoming an NRA Basic Pistol Instructor. One is called BIT, and no, for those of you who are thinking words in training. It is not. It is basic instructor training where we really talk about, um, what— all right, sorry, I apologize, I get distracted by the comments. All right, so, uh, basic instructor training. Here we're talking about how to teach. We are talking about the way that I help you learn whatever I'm teaching you. And it's, it's said in so many different ways in different areas, but basically it's show you, make you do one, and then you teach one. Um, so what is it? See it, do it, teach it, something along those lines. But in the NRA curriculum, it's called— it's, it's got a thing that I haven't— I don't remember what it is right now. So So we teach you how to do that. We teach how to build rapport with your students. We teach how to engage them so they're not sitting there being bored out of their mind. We teach about how to run a line, things like that. And that's the basic instructor training. Then the— that's like the first day. It's supposed to be a 3-day course, but I'm jamming it into 2 days because most of us don't have time to take 3 days. But the 2 days, you're going to be here for 12 hours a day. So hello, Mike. I'm sorry you had to work, but it is school. School's back in session, so everyone's working now, right? Um, so first it's how to teach, and then the basic instructor training, basic pistol instructor training, is the what to teach. And so this is how the NRA breaks up the instructor training. So it's interesting because you can take the BIT and you can do— get— add a whole bunch of other things within the first 2 years of after you've taken the BIT, so you don't have to do it over again. But, um, it is just sort of fun. So anyway, so BIT, how to teach. Then the actual pistol course, which is what to teach. We go over, um, venue Budgeting, how to advertise, oh, what you can and cannot say regarding being an NRA instructor, right? I am certified by the NRA. I am not an NRA employee. And that's one of those big things because, um, yeah, there's a lot of things in there. So we talk about ethics, and one of the things that's really rough is that there are instructors out there they will not teach and they'll just give out certificates. And those are the instructors we really hate the most because that gives the rest of us who actually do the right thing a bad name. So we talk about ethics in the class as well. And that's kind of it. I know it doesn't sound like a lot that should fill up a full 24 hours, but when you get into it— because what happens the way the class actually runs once you've got in is that you you are teaching part of the class. So it's like, I mean, I'm the training counselor, but you're a basic pistol instructor trainee, and I will teach you something, then you'll have to teach a class. We also do role-playing stuff, so you get to be the student as well as the instructor, uh, fun stuff like that. And now my dog is outside barking, so I think that might be time for me to go. Because he's a little dog and I'm afraid he might get eaten because he stopped barking all of a sudden. Uh, so Tara is driving and listening. All right, so I won't use hand gestures anymore so it will still make sense. Um, so anyhow, all right, I think I've done it all. Why would you want to become an instructor? Well, I hope the past 9 weeks has been enough to inspire you to understand that most of us are instructors because we love that aha moment that we had, and we just wanted to share that with someone else. The other thing is, honestly, we need good instructors out there. If you care enough about the other people that are on the range with you— well, not the one other ones that are on the range, the the other ones who haven't been to the range yet, and you want to give them a lovely, warm, welcoming environment, then that is also a great reason to become an instructor. So you can help other people find their way to the range. And who knew that I would become a Second Amendment advocate through all that? You don't have to do that. Matter of fact, one of the things the NRA stresses is we are a nonpartisan group. And as much as the NRA has its legislative wing, As an NRA instructor, you're nonpartisan. It is preferred that you do not talk politics within your classes, and everyone is welcome, all-inclusive, all that fun stuff. So we talk about that stuff as well, which I think a lot of people do not know. They assume a lot of stuff. So anything else? Have fun, learn how to teach people. The other cool thing about that is you can apply it to any other skill set that you already have. Like Tara and her cooking. I don't know, I know she is on YouTube. I do not know if she ever does like one-on-one classes because I can't imagine that, or, you know, live in-person classes. But with her schedule, I can imagine not so much. But I don't know. All right, so now I'm confused. Uh, Mike, you have an American pocket bully doggy. So is it a really tiny bulldog? Because I mean, haven't we watched you play with your dogs in the back porch there? Anyway, you can answer that question later or send me an email or something like that. All right, so why should you do it? Because it's fun if you want to. Two, it's really cool to learn how to teach people, and I think that the way the NRA teaches people how to teach people is actually very useful. Total participation involvement, TPI, and this is where I get you as my student to read the screen, right? I get you as my student to pass stuff around. I get you as my student to be involved in the learning process. And having two teenagers, this is also helpful for getting things done. I don't know, like maybe chores, things like that. Marketing is always amazing, and they do teach you some marketing in here as well.. So it's a lot, a lot of stuff. Um, I haven't been through the USCCA stuff, so I do not know about that stuff or how they teach it. I hear it's awesome. When we're in our training counselor, the NRA training counselor stuff, they said, yep, the USCCA has awesome stuff. If you get a chance, take some of that. So for those of you who are all over the country, Texas, California, etc., and so forth, look around, see, and use all of the advice that was given in the past 9 interviews with instructors on finding a good training counselor. Talk to people, find out who they like, who they don't. Call that training counselor up and say, hey, I'd like to take your course, and see if you have good rapport with them or not, because there is going to be nothing worse than being stuck with someone for a very long, intense weekend if you don't like them. So there you have it. That's what I got for you today. Um, this was not intentionally the last and final instructor interview, but it's been a lot. We got back from London, uh, my, my printer died, my computer died. It's been a crazy time. So I hope you found this useful and informative. I hope that you will consider becoming an instructor if you are not already one, or maybe you have a friend who you think would be really good at it. And if that's the case, maybe you can talk them into it. But anyway, all right. Oh, Patriot in the Dark, what'd you say? All right, train the trainers course where we're allowed to hit people with sticks. Okay, well, yeah, I'm— wait, wait, are the sticks white with the red tips? I'm just curious. Um, sorry. So yeah, so Mike got me my information as to whether or not the pocket bully dog was the one in the picture, and there it is. And yes, if you watch gun websites or barbecue, I think is where I've seen Mike White's dog running around. Um, so anyway, so yes, and for those of you who do not know Patriot in the Dark, uh, the reason I say we're allowed to hit people with sticks, like I said, I think they're those long sticks with the red tips on them. All right, uh, I don't know what an SR driver is, Tara. All right, so Tara's an SR driver and trainer where I work. Just had to create SOPs for all the equipment. All right, so here's the thing— jargon, number one thing they say to stay away from. So for those of you who don't know, because I did not know until I did the range officer training— or, um, I don't even know. SOPs, standard operating procedures. And it was not until I did training that I had any clue what an SOP was. I'm like, what's that? And I was in corporate for a long time, so I'm surprised. But all right, so SR— so she defined it for me— senior driver and trainer where she works. So, all right, keep you in the dark. Oh. Oh, his YouTube. Yeah, there's that, huh? Okay, all right, okie dokies. All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's almost a half hour. I know you wish I'd go on for hours and stuff, but it's probably way more interesting if there's multiple people talking. So since it is by myself, I wanted to pop on here. I'll let you all know this is the end of the instructor series for now. I have one that is waiting for editing, but I've been having some you know, those things, um, technical difficulties. So when I get to editing, I will get a one more— I'm gonna get a different, um, series up and running that maybe just be people in general. Maybe I'll be like Barbecue and I will have random stuff. I don't know. Ah, all right, so Patriot in the Dark went to some kind of trainer Train the Trainers course, but were allowed horse prods or whatever they're called. Usually it's cattle prods because horses are a little more well-behaved than cattle, but that's me and my dad was in Wyoming and we had a cattle farm and we had cattle prods. But, um, yeah, I want to know what kind of training you would do that you had cattle prods for. Or maybe I don't want to know if it involves leathers and chains. No, I don't need to know. All right. Love you all for stopping in and saying hi. I will put the link in the description of these, even though I put it in the comments. And if there's any other questions, by all means, leave them and I will get back to y'all. Have a wonderful Thursday night. Keep driving safe, Tara. And I will see you guys Saturday night for Suicide Prevention Saturday, because you know that's never going to stop. And au revoir. Au revoir. Yeah.