PDN 2012 National Training Tour Update: Week 7

All right, Rob Pincus here. This is the seventh weekly update. We are just about perfectly halfway through with the Personal Defense Network Training Tour 2012. And I'm just about right in the middle of the continental United States. We started down in Florida. The first classes were in Southern Georgia. I've made my way to Oklahoma. I'm just outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma at US Shooting Academy right in the heart of America. US shooting Academy has some of the greatest dirt berms I've ever seen on any range. I always refer to them as the greatest dirt berms in America. But what's important to know about US Shooting Academy is they also were under new management for the last six months or so. They are really making huge headway here in improving things and making things as best as they've ever been out here at the ranges. It's really cool. The ranges are in great shape. The staff is really up in spirits. There's people all over the place. There's people training down at the range down there over this past weekend while I was running a CFS course it was incredibly busy. Today I'm doing an ADH course. I was up there talking to the management. Things are really looking up at US Shooting Academy which is a great thing. This is a great facility and I like to see them doing well. The new pro shop is really coming along well also. It actually looks better than it ever has since they've opened the doors. So good for them. Things are good here in Owasso, Oklahoma. Meanwhile, I've got my bag here. People ask me, Rob, what's your everyday carry? What do you always have with you? What kind of equipment do you carry? Well, of course, because I'm traveling all the time, whether we're on a plane or in the PDN tour truck, or even over international travel, when I'm dealing with things over in Europe or whatever else it's hard to say, well, here's what my everyday carry is. And of course, most people, when you think of EDC, you talk about it on the internet or on the Facebook, in the forums people were saying, well, I've got my primary gun and three magazines and 16 flashlights and a knife. And this and that, backup gun, ankle holster, nunchaku, whatever it may be. And the reality is, it's just not what I can do. Not the way I move, not the places I go to because I can't carry a gun every day. I don't dress the same every place I go. I do have to kind of have what is my everyday carry be? Well, here's some stuff I have with me every day. And I've answered this question before. The kinds of things I have with me every day. I've got my laptop, I've got my iPad. I use that for navigation, instant access, answering emails, answering questions on the social media, checking out the Personal Defense Network Facebook page. I do all kinds of things right from this bag, from the truck, from the ranges. Obviously I've got my cell phone with me too. I carry around a flip camera so I can do impromptu training videos real quick or maybe I can videotape something for a student and show them something they need to see. What else do I have in here? Got some range glasses, got that, range glasses. Pens, stuff for taking notes, whatever it may be. Some extra batteries, some chargers, things like that. But at the end of the day we do need to make sure that we can take care of ourselves also. And inside of this bag, which is set up with a nice hook and loop set up, we can take this Ohai holster from CrossBreed, and of course we can get these for any different types of firearms. Stick it right in there, close that up. And now when I'm in the vehicle wherever I am in the hotel room, whatever else, even if I'm not wearing a firearm, if I can legally do so, I can have this for close quick access for a defensive firearm. In this case, I'm carrying my Ruger LCP with the LaserLyte side mount laser. This is a great addition. These LCPs have been very, very popular. Of course we had someone early. If you watch the all the weekly updates early in the season we had someone to actually come through a class with an LCP. Now that's pretty rare because we know a lot of these have been sold but we don't see them show up at classes all that often. I highly recommend having a laser as a tertiary aiming device the primary aiming's kinesthetic, secondary aiming's going to be your sites, but the sites on something like this really aren't that usable under a lot of conditions. Having something like the LaserLyte side mount laser as a tertiary aiming device gives you, in that low contrast situation, that point of aim. Also, in a extreme close quarters situation where you don't want to extend the gun because it might get hit or taken, we can stay in, activate this, see that laser dot show up and know right where we need to be. So this is a great option, both from Ruger and from LaserLyte. And then add to that perfect mix the Ohai holster from CrossBreed and stick it in my bag. And that is my everyday carry. Week seven's been great. The tour is going great. We're going to see some more footage here from some other people. I'll see you in the next update. Hey folks, Mike Seeklander here with the Personal Defense Network tour. I want to talk to you a little bit about what I do and what I'm gonna be doing this summer and hopefully catch you at a class. I'm here at the US Shooting Academy where I'm the president and the director of training. I run all of the classes here as well as develop the curriculum with some great instructors here at USSA. We offer a variety of things, defensive training, competition training. We also have a unique thing called training group which is a new thing to the firearms community. And it's somewhat similar to a martial arts dojo in that you can show up five or six days a week and take multiple sessions here at USSA. So if you're local to the Tulsa area and have an interest in training, the block sessions are an hour and a half in length. And they're great for your learning experience because they're not long, hot or cold days. And they've been very successful so far. For those of you near the Missoula, Montana or Western States I'm going to be in Missoula in June of this year, next month, teaching two classes, defensive rifle, and defensive handgun. And along with the drills and skills portion of the classes I'm gonna teach you how to train which is something that you may not get in some other classes. So a combination of technique and how to train that technique I think is critical for your skill development. So I hope you can hope I catch one of those classes. Alaska, right after that I'll be up in Fairbanks, Alaska for another defensive handgun class. And obviously here at USSA in July for a tactical handgun class. So hope to see out there somewhere. I regularly contribute to the PDN. I think that's one of the best sources of information on the web that you can possibly find. Unbiased information from great instructors. So if you haven't been on the PDN lately I recommend you check out those articles and videos. And I hope to meet you or see you in class someday. Take care.