Tag Archives: Green Ops

Reviews, Training

Green Ops Defensive Pistol Clinic II AAR

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One constant refrain I’ve had for at least a year is “where are my advanced Sunday classes?” In what I assume is part of a concerted effort to get me to shut up, Green Ops finally relented and offered a Defensive Pistol II clinic this past Sunday night. My inside information is that they will be offering more of these advanced clinics next year, and even a proper Sunday all-day class! (Readers: the moral of this story is that if you want something from trainers, step number one is to simply ask politely for it! You might even get it!)

This was my first time shooting a level II with Green Ops, and you can read on for what I thought of it!

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Reviews, Training

Green Ops Practical Pistol/Competition Skills Clinic AAR

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Despite my inability to hit a USPSA match for the past few months, I still consider myself a competition guy when people ask me about what kind of shooter I am. I enjoy the “defensive practitioner” side of shooting, but I know in my heart that I’m a boring guy who does boring things in safe places, and am rather unlikely to put those defensive skills to intended use. Don’t get me wrong, I still think they’re important – because sometimes safe places become not-so-safe, and boring things becoming dangerous –  but shooting a USPSA match is the activity I’m most likely to be using a gun in.

Because of that, I put a heavy priority on hitting competition-oriented classes when they’ve available to me. I think you can get a lot out of them; the JDC speed shooting class brought my splits down to ~.25, which isn’t going to put me in GM class anytime soon, but it’s enough that I don’t feel as totally outclassed as I used to. Given those results, I was eager to see how the Green Ops Practical Pistol/Competition class this past Sunday would give me some improvement as well!

More after the break!
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Reviews, Training

Green Ops Low Light Pistol Clinic AAR (RMR Edition)

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I recently (5/19/2019) had the pleasure of attending the Green Ops Low Light Pistol clinic in Fairfax, VA. This was my second time at this particular class. While I am admittedly a big fan of their other classes, the low light pistol clinic always stands out in my mind as an example of what a “signature” class looks like – it teaches you skills you’re unlikely to acquire or practice elsewhere. We learned a variety of handheld light with pistol techniques, practiced some fundamentals in the dark, and even got a few reps in on our weaponlights. It was a really good time!

Full AAR after the break!

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Reviews, Training

Green Ops Defensive Carbine I Clinic AAR (Sig Optics Edition)

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My second Green Ops class of the year was another run of the defense carbine I clinic on April 28, 2019. This is probably the fourth or fifth time I’ve taken this class, and every time, I get something new out of it. It’s also interesting to see how Green Ops has been evolving as a company, and how the classes change due to feedback.

Besides my usual goal of improving my somewhat dismal carbine skills, I had two secondary objectives:

  1. Test out my Sig Optics Romeo4M and Juliet4 combo under harder-use conditions.
  2. Get some runs on my AMG Lab Commander shot timer in prep for an upcoming review.

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Training

Green Ops x 5.11 ABR Academy – Knife Oriented Self-Defense

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I had the privilege of hitting the Green Ops “Knife-Oriented Self-Defense” seminar at the “5.11 ABR Academy” at the new-ish 5.11 Rockville store on Sunday. It was pretty cool! It was only 1.5 hours long, so this isn’t an AAR so much as a quick writeup with some pictures in case anyone’s interested in it.

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Thoughts

Training Decisions

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One of my big commitments is trying to get in a class every month on some sort of martial skill. Mostly, that’s guns, because guns are fun, but I’m good with knives, hand-to-hand, medical, whatever. It is expensive, but they’re usually one day and local, so there’s not a lot of ancillary costs.

The big problem is often making the call about what class to go to. There are some months where I’ve got hard choices. Do I do the Green Ops practical pistol clinic, the FPF Training Minuteman Rifle class, or the PNTC PRS class?

In an attempt to solve that conundrum, I’ve got a list of priorities that I try to use to as an evaluation standard to determine what I should take. These are ordered in importance to me, but no priority will ever totally override the others. I am very interested in what my readership feels about these, so please leave comments if you agree/disagree!

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Thoughts

2018 in Review, and Plans for 2019

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I was reading the Civilian Gunfighter blog recently – it’s fantastic – and they had a really great series of posts up on there looking back at 2018 and discussing their plans for 2019. Unlike them, I don’t have a lot of really cool stuff to talk about or have much wisdom to share, but I think it might be informative – and hopefully inspirational – for people to understand what happened with me starting in April.

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Reviews, Training

Green Ops Defensive Carbine I Clinic AAR (IDF Colt Commando Edition)

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Continuing my tradition of running my guns hard and Israeli-style, I was very happy to kick off the new year with the Green Ops Defensive Carbine I Clinic this past Sunday. This was the third time I’ve taken this particular class, and I can say that each and every time, I’ve learned something new.

This time around, I decided to go with my IDF Colt Commando carbine clone. Yes, that’s right… I went with a plain-old AR-15 for once. Read on for my impressions of the class!

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Reviews, Training

Green Ops Defensive Pistol I Clinic AAR (G34 Edition)

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This is an after-action review of the Green Ops Defensive Pistol I Clinic that was held on December 9 (6:00 PM – 10:30 PM) at the NRA HQ range. I think some people are going to find that odd. “But, Jew-with-a-Gun, you just took that back in October! What’s the point?”

The point is, remarkably, quite simple: if advanced shooting is just advanced application of the fundamentals, then pretty much anything you do to further master those fundamentals is going to have positive downstream effects when you’re shooting at a higher-level. The trick is having instructors who can keep pushing you on those fundamentals beyond a basic level, and the Green Ops guys are top-notch for that.

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Reviews, Training

Green Ops Defensive Pistol I Clinic AAR (Polymer80 Roland Special Edition)

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As mentioned in my last AAR, I’ve been trying to really push myself in training this year… the goal has been one class a month, which requires a bit of fiscal and time management. But it’s really worth it. Dry-firing every day can get you fast, but having someone experienced to give you immediate feedback on your technique is SO helpful.

With that in mind, I’m very pleased to give my readers another AAR on a Green Ops class: the defensive pistol I clinic. I’m typing this the morning after; a bit sore, but happy with the class and what it taught me. I always like to say this up front, so… this is an excellent class, and if you’re in the DC area, it’s absolutely worth taking. At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, Green Ops delivers every time.

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