I have taken a lot of professional training from many of the best in the business, consisting of firearms, combatives, medical, use of force law, and other related topics. To name a few, I have trained with John Murphy, Green Ops, S.L.E.D, Spencer Keepers, TKA Training, William Aprill, Cecil Burch, Greg Ellifritz, Massad Ayoob, Elite Shooting Sports, Karl Rhen, Kelly McCann, Unicorn Tactics, Daryl Bolke, Steve Fisher, Lone Star Medics….and more. I can probably say with confidence that I am a training junkie.
I am truly of the opinion that a foremost component of a good instructor is how extensive their own training resume is. An instructor who remains a perpetual student proves that they are serious about their craft. As an instructor, the individual gets two benefits from taking classes with others; first, they continue to pick up technique and knowledge refinement that betters their own performance, and second, they pick up better ways to actually teach the subject.
When it comes to instructors who teach self-defense focused shooting, or fighting of any kind, I would recommend passing on any that do not have a great deal of training experience themselves. I don’t care what “certifications” they have, there is nothing that can certify them to be experts in teaching such information if they are not a professional student. If such an individual, teaching any particular focus of self-defense, does not have extensive training, they should not be teaching serious classes. Many will find that offensive, so be it. There is a reason the most respected people in the field have extensive training resumes. Do you want to learn life saving skills from an individual with very little training themselves?
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