AAR Davilla, TX 8-21-22-10

[dragit]

Well I will get this one started.  Another fine weekend with great people and I almost needed a jacket to warm up.  Congrats to Reddot, that red hat looks good on you.  Unfortunatelly his orange hat will not see further service as it was vaporized in a special ceremony not soon forgotten by those who parrticipated  .  Thanks to my fellow instructors and dedicated students who furthered my education.

[Baminal]

So is Reddot going to hang onto this hat longer than the few months it took to wear out his orange one?   

[dragit]

This thread needs to be moved to AARs instead of Texas.

[Grumpy]

Did anyone get a picture of us "retireing" Reddot's hat?

[AlarmList76]

Just a couple of comments from the instructor AAR:
     - Focus the instruction and refresher training on the subject at hand, don't add any extras that are not directly related to the lesson.
     - Don't over teach the subject at hand.
     - When the instruction is ongoing ensure that students are paying attention.  Instructors should not be engaging the students in conversation during an instruction period.
     - During the AQT it is all right to engage the shooters during Stages 1 & 4:  Plenty of time.  Do not engage the shooters during Stages 2 & 3:  there is not enough time.
     - Observe the shooter, correct a shooting error, and then follow up down range while talking targets to see if the error you corrected is reflected in the target.
     - Avoid engaging a shooter with multiple instructors during a Stage to avoid giving the shooter contradictory corrections.

At least that is what I recall from our AAR.

Thanks to everyone for a great shoot.  I appreciate everyone working with me as I did Line Boss duties for the first time.

Special Congratulations to my battle buddy Chuck for getting his Red Hat and providing us with a great opportunity to retire his Orange Hat.

Bill

[Scout]

And always use positive reinforcement for shooters who are demonstraing a skill or technique correctly. Much easier to let someone know they are doing something correctly right when they are doing it, than to let them wander off from doing something correctly and having to bring them back to it

A big thank you to everyone who participated this weekend. We have a great group of instructors and I am really proud to be part of this group. Congratulations to all of the instructors who did their PCs this weekend. A big welcome to Reddot who redceiveed his red hat this weeknd. I welcome his serivices to our group and look forward to runnning him into the ground

My computer is down and I only have a couple of minutes a night right now to use my bosses computer but I hope to have mine back up soon.     

[starfox]

     - Avoid engaging a shooter with multiple instructors during a Stage to avoid giving the shooter contradictory corrections.

This is key.  We experienced this is Shreveport too this weekend.  Absolutely no fault of any instructor on the line, but when you have a high ratio of instructor to student, it is imperative that everyone keep track of who is working with who. 

I love getting down in the dirt with a shooter and finding my own "special" project, but we have to be mindful as instructors that we do not overload a student on the line.  One thing I took from the weekend in Shreveport is to specifically point out to instructors during the instructor meetings to not overload a shooter, and to let the entire Instructor corps present who you are working with or who we are making our "special" project. 

We as Instructors bear the responsibility that we are coordinating with our fellow instructors on the line.

[RainmanJS]

One thing that I like to do, especially if a person looks tapped, is ask them if they can handle more instruction.  This also helps if there is a significant age difference, for example a younger instructor critiquing an older student.  I'll say something like, "how are you doing, can you handle a little critique?"  It gives them an opportunity, if they are overloaded(by a lot of instruction, for instance), to say something, instead of just nodding and ignoring you as you talk.

This is not the same as asking if it is ok to instruct, I am just checking to make sure the instruction will be heard. If not, I'll try in a few minutes, or let an instructor that they seem to be working well with handle it.

[Reddot]

So is Reddot going to hang onto this hat longer than the few months it took to wear out his orange one?   

I sure hope so!!!  Scout told me if I wanted to give up my redhat, we'd retire it like my orange one, with my head still in it!  How's that for a motivational tool??!??!
It was indeed a great weekend, I think everyone enjoyed it...one rifleman and several getting close.  Thanks to all the shooters for enduring the heat and for my brother instructors for all their support and encouragement. Riflemen are special people

[Aromatic]

Sounds like a good shoot. Congrats Reddot.

[CaptG]

It was a Great Shoot. Great students, Great instructor corps & No Rain! Once again I am humbled by the experience of working with you all.
Guy