Company: Agoge Tactical Regime
Course: Pistol Operator II (2 days)
Dates: August 10-11
Instructors: Jody Levesque and Matthew Rosenfeld
Location: Harris, Saskatchewan - Canada
URL:
http://www.agoge-tactical.com/
Summary Assessment:
One of Western Canada's best kept secrets in the training community. Finding Instruction and tutelage of this level, at this price was a gold mine.
Highly recommended to shooters of all levels and professions.
Report:
I should preface with a brief summary of my own personal experience as a teacher/shooter prior to beginning this article. Obviously not for the ego
stroke, but so that it better qualifies my opinion on this after action report. I've been a police officer for 6 years now in Alberta, and have been
Tactical Instructor for a year now. I primarily cover firearms ranging from pistol, rifle, shotgun and carbine, as well as force on force simunitions
and defensive tactics. I understand that having the knowledge base of the material alone is insufficient, and that it's required to have a firm
grasp of how to mentor, and teach candidates, in order to obtain comprehension. Again I will preface that my time in this role is limited, and only
a year, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I've attended courses from other training groups as well in Alberta.
When I first heard about Agoge Tactical, it was by accident. I was researching a training project, and looked up the term "Agoge" (The name of the
rigorous training regiment and education of Spartan males.) I then came across this site. I was totally floored I hadn't heard of it before, and
even more shocked at how affordable to enrollment fees were. Needless to say I researched the courses and saw a Pistol Operator II course coming up
in the next month. I contacted Jody (Training director and president) and explained my background as an instructor, and if I would require the Level 1.
With that explanation he said I would be able to attend.
The course would be 2 days in duration, and would require 1000 rounds. Harris, SK isn't too far out of Saskatoon, so I just drove from there to the
range every morning. (It was about 70Km away) We didn't find out the location of the range until the week prior, and well the directions were a little
vague for city folk for myself. I have to say after finding the range, if I had just trust the directions instead of second guessing myself, it
wouldn't have been an issue, and I felt somewhat stupid for showing up 20 minutes late.
As for the actual course, we started day 1 with introductions of both Instructors, Jody Levesque and Matt Rosenfeld. Both have a very in depth knowledge
base, ranging from the sport, and tactical communities. Afterwards we moved into a medical briefing, range policies, safety review, and fundamentals
review. This would be done again at the start of each day.
Day 1:
Day 1 composed of warm ups, working dots, and then moving onto a BSA template from 3 meters back to 50 meters). After that we worked on turning to shoot,
and getting off the line of attack. Primarily the entirety of the first day was centralized around explosive movement, and shooting with both hands
(where as day 2 was more focused on single handed manipulations and unorthodox positions). We also covered contact shooting, and moving and shooting.
While the day 1 rounds count was very high, I was very attentive to where I wanted my hits to land. There is a big focus on maintaining accuracy, even
when you are employing NSR (Non standard response), they want to see you make good hits, no matter what. Jody made it very clear he wouldn't be impressed
with fast shooting if it didn't hit. "Marksmanship and flawless manipulations" was apparently the trick to winning him over. The amount of movement and
drills was enough reps that you comprehended the skill, but didn't grow bored of the drill and start getting sloppy. Jody and Rosie (Matt) would often
break the day up with some funner drills to promote friendly competition. (I had come with my good friend who was a paramedic, and I would be damned if
I was going to let a professional napper beat me, ha ha!) We did drills like last man standing, moving back to 50 meters for one shot hits, and who
ever could keep them on steel would win. Later we had a shuttle run from 3 meter - 50 meter - 3 meter, with 2 shots, and progressing up to 5, 7, 15,
25 meter intervals. Definitely gassed a few guys, but it was a very great reminder to people that fitness is a corner stone to being a proficient user.
All in all, Day 1 was very dynamic, explosive, and well structured. We chewed up almost 500-600 rounds per candidate.
Day 2:
Day 2 again started with the same review and briefing, and a fundamentals warm up and BSA. We then started working on our one handed manipulations.
Each evolution would be prefaced with the demonstration of the two handed method for clearing a stoppage/ reload, and then demonstrating the weapon grip
variant, and the support grip variant. If you've ever practiced one handed manipulations, you probably know that they are some what risky, as the muzzle
ends up going in all sorts of directions. Jody had made the drill set up to ensure that the manipulations were done as safely as possible, but not to
the point to degrade the learning points. Also when teaching the manipulations, Jody discussed not only the manipulations, but proper risk assessment,
and what you should be thinking as your next tactic. Discussing the mindset somewhat completed the package. Later in the day we discussed team movements
and communications. This was interesting as we all had different skill sets and experiences in this topic, so what may be SOP for me, may not jive with
someone from a MIL background, or civie background. None the less, it was taught on a level that everyone picked it up, and we actually didn't do a half
bad job. Again we weren't taught just the drill, but the concepts behind it, and why it's important to do it this way. The way Jody taught was like high
school math, he wouldn't just show you the answer, but wanted to show the work in how the answers were obtained.
The day ended with some shooting scenarios around vehicles, barricades, and required team work while shooting at steel. Everyone performed at different
levels, but the instructors rode them equally hard. Just because you were doing well, didn't mean that you free of criticism or feedback. This one of my
favorite parts of taking this class. I often have gone to courses where you can exceed the common denominator of performance, only to do the drills with
no feedback, and no real progression. If Jody or Rosie were watching you shoot, you were going to leave with advice for your next evolution.
We finished the course off with qualifier. The course of fire was very easy, but is scored enough that misses will slash your score down fast. Another
reminder of how important marksmanship is. Certificates were handed out with some hand shakes, and some "see you next times"
In conclusion, this course for me filled a large void of knowledge in my pistol deployment. While none of the techniques were new to me, it is totally
different to develop the skills in a structured class with an well qualified instructor watching you and giving you proper coaching. It was an awesome
experience, and huge confidence booster. I will be attending every class I can get to in the future, and I believe that more and more people should
start working with Agoge. As many Canadians know, the culture for firearms is very flaccid in comparison to our southern friends in the US. Agoge Tactical
Regime is very much on par with a course you would encounter down there, and really deserves to be promoted and circulated in training community.
I will post pictures later of the course, just waiting to receive photos from the training group photographer.
Gear used for course
-CTOMS X BELT QRPS
-OTG mk3 holster with RTI system
-Glock 19 w/ X300
-HSGI Tacos
-CTOMS slimline
Brief gear summary on course: I love running a war belt just for it's modularity. With the tacos and the RTI wheel, me and my friend switched handguns and
gear in about 30 seconds. If you shoot different loadouts often, I recommend getting a similar set up. No issues with the Tacos, worked like a charm.
CTOMS slimline worked great, but is kind of big. May look at using a smaller IFAK.
