It's been a little over two years since Erwos gave an AAR on this course so I figured it was worth an update. This was my first course with Green Ops and the first course I have taken with a red dot. I'm a little late to the game on the red dots but decided to take the plunge last year and picked up a Glock 45 MOS and put a Trijicon RMR on it along with a Streamlight TLR-7. I tried some other dots but found the Trijicon to be the best fit for me. My experience with a red dot on a pistol only consisted of some Youtube videos and about 100 rounds at the range zeroing and getting a feel for it. I figured it was best to get some professional training prior relying on this setup for self defense.
I ran this course with course with the Glock 45 MOS with a Trijicon RMR in a QVO (Quick Violent Over) holster with a Safariland QLS attachment to a paddle. I ran two spare mags in a Blade Tech Signature OWB double mag pouch.
The day with Green Ops began at the rally point at 0740 hours in Culpepper, VA. The rally point was about a 2 hours drive for me from Central MD which saved me the cost of a hotel the night before and I could drive home after given it was a one day class. Once an instructor took roll and everyone was present we convoyed a short distance to the range. After traveling down a suspect dirt road we arrived at a simple range that went out to about 10 yard with a large field next to it.
Once at the range we did an instructor intro and bio followed by a student intro and bio. The class was taught by Josh (lead instructor), Luke, Dex, and John. The instructors had various background to include government, military, law enforcement and competition shooting. The majority of the instructors shot competitively and later explained why. We had a ratio of 15 students to the 4 instructors. We did a safety and medical brief before Josh went into the concepts and principles of red dots on a pistol. This was where the stressed shooting fundamentals and explained how important they were to using the red dot. Josh went into explaining how shooting competitively helped him improve his shooting greatly and recommended everyone try it as it was a humbling experience.
After the admin stuff we geared up with empty pistols and began some holster draw and dry fire practice. The instructors explained how if you see the red dot move after the trigger break, wherever it moved to was where your shot went. This was why the fundamentals, especially grip, were extremely important. From here we loaded up and began some draw, presentation and slow fire from about the 5 yard line. After that we moved back to the 10 yard line to zero the red dots. Once zeroed we moved to rapid fire with the red dot and how to keep rounds on target. We did this by plugging volleys of 5 rounds into the berm and watching to see if he lost the red dot. Again, grip fundamentals were key to keeping the red dot in sight. We then moved to running the same exercise on a target (Bill drill).
From there we ran various drills to include shooting without using sights or the optic (not point shooting), shooting with an occluded optic, one handed fire with an optic, and checking zero at 25 yards. After lunch we ran timed drills and brought some competition into the training. Towards the end of the day we were shooting steel from about 40 yards and doing shooting an move drills. Some more competition was brought in with headed to head, first to draw and hit steel from 40 yards drills.
All in all this course presented a large amount of info on the use and application of a red dot on a pistol. There was a large focus on competition which was included in the drills. This class does not have an prerequisites other than being able to to draw from a holster. There a handful of issues with shootings drawing, reloading and having equipment issues. Somethings like a lose screw (like me) or bad red dot can be expected. There was some time lost due to instructors having to help shooters not up to par on some of the basics and fix other issues (like a tricked out gun that kept failing). It have been a good idea to have a basic pistol course be a prerequisite prior to jumping into something more complex like the red dot.
On a side note, I'm not a huge competition person. I understand it has it's place and a lot can be learned from competition. I tend to focus on more tactical and self defense driven courses, this was not one of them. Don't expect lateral side steps, move to cover, emergency reloaded, etc in this class. I was not disappointed to not see those things as this course was focused on the subject of red dots on pistols. It would have been nice to see less competition in the course and more reps of the drills. This course called for a minimum of 350 rounds. I brought 500 and ended up only shooting 286 rounds.
All in all I would give this course a 4 out of 5 and highly recommend it to anyone prior to carrying a red dot on their pistol. Bonus, at the end of the day every student got a goodies bag courtesy of Blue Force Gear.
I ran this course with course with the Glock 45 MOS with a Trijicon RMR in a QVO (Quick Violent Over) holster with a Safariland QLS attachment to a paddle. I ran two spare mags in a Blade Tech Signature OWB double mag pouch.
The day with Green Ops began at the rally point at 0740 hours in Culpepper, VA. The rally point was about a 2 hours drive for me from Central MD which saved me the cost of a hotel the night before and I could drive home after given it was a one day class. Once an instructor took roll and everyone was present we convoyed a short distance to the range. After traveling down a suspect dirt road we arrived at a simple range that went out to about 10 yard with a large field next to it.
Once at the range we did an instructor intro and bio followed by a student intro and bio. The class was taught by Josh (lead instructor), Luke, Dex, and John. The instructors had various background to include government, military, law enforcement and competition shooting. The majority of the instructors shot competitively and later explained why. We had a ratio of 15 students to the 4 instructors. We did a safety and medical brief before Josh went into the concepts and principles of red dots on a pistol. This was where the stressed shooting fundamentals and explained how important they were to using the red dot. Josh went into explaining how shooting competitively helped him improve his shooting greatly and recommended everyone try it as it was a humbling experience.
After the admin stuff we geared up with empty pistols and began some holster draw and dry fire practice. The instructors explained how if you see the red dot move after the trigger break, wherever it moved to was where your shot went. This was why the fundamentals, especially grip, were extremely important. From here we loaded up and began some draw, presentation and slow fire from about the 5 yard line. After that we moved back to the 10 yard line to zero the red dots. Once zeroed we moved to rapid fire with the red dot and how to keep rounds on target. We did this by plugging volleys of 5 rounds into the berm and watching to see if he lost the red dot. Again, grip fundamentals were key to keeping the red dot in sight. We then moved to running the same exercise on a target (Bill drill).
From there we ran various drills to include shooting without using sights or the optic (not point shooting), shooting with an occluded optic, one handed fire with an optic, and checking zero at 25 yards. After lunch we ran timed drills and brought some competition into the training. Towards the end of the day we were shooting steel from about 40 yards and doing shooting an move drills. Some more competition was brought in with headed to head, first to draw and hit steel from 40 yards drills.
All in all this course presented a large amount of info on the use and application of a red dot on a pistol. There was a large focus on competition which was included in the drills. This class does not have an prerequisites other than being able to to draw from a holster. There a handful of issues with shootings drawing, reloading and having equipment issues. Somethings like a lose screw (like me) or bad red dot can be expected. There was some time lost due to instructors having to help shooters not up to par on some of the basics and fix other issues (like a tricked out gun that kept failing). It have been a good idea to have a basic pistol course be a prerequisite prior to jumping into something more complex like the red dot.
On a side note, I'm not a huge competition person. I understand it has it's place and a lot can be learned from competition. I tend to focus on more tactical and self defense driven courses, this was not one of them. Don't expect lateral side steps, move to cover, emergency reloaded, etc in this class. I was not disappointed to not see those things as this course was focused on the subject of red dots on pistols. It would have been nice to see less competition in the course and more reps of the drills. This course called for a minimum of 350 rounds. I brought 500 and ended up only shooting 286 rounds.
All in all I would give this course a 4 out of 5 and highly recommend it to anyone prior to carrying a red dot on their pistol. Bonus, at the end of the day every student got a goodies bag courtesy of Blue Force Gear.
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