YeagerFest

Tactical Response

Camden, TN

January 11-12, 2025

Overview

I recently had the opportunity to attend Yeagerfest in Tennessee at Tactical Response. This class was a combination of numerous presentations by a variety of instructors. The instructors were Andy Stanford, Joey Glover, Karl Rehn, John Hearne, John Holschen, Dustin Salomon for this event

Equipment

The equipment I used for this class was my Glock 17 gen 5 with the ACRO red dot mounted on a C&H plate and I was shooting Blazer Brass 115 gn ammo for the class. I was running this class in a Safariland duty holder. This setup worked outstandingly and I did not have any issues with my equipment.

Day 1

Any class put on by Andy Stanford is a must-attend along with the number of high-level presenters made it a can’t-miss opportunity. The event was broken into classroom in the morning and then range work in the afternoon. On the range, we broke up into two groups to allow students to have more reps during the shooting sessions.

Andy Stanford led the first morning off with a talk about safety. He had a simple methodology to safety and firearms but at the same time, it allowed for many drills and training that were realistic. He went on to talk about training and getting newer shooters into firearms training. It was interesting to listen to his perspective on what are the appropriate first training classes and the reasons behind this notion. He then spoke about both training and practice in shooting along with the influences of competition in the self-defense shooting arena.

Joey Glover then had a presentation on the Tactical Response training method.

John Hearne then did a presentation on the Rangemaster training methodology. This was interesting to hear about how Rangemaster sets up training and the different steps used to create a curriculum. The presentation contained 10 steps used in this training to help create a solid and lasting curriculum and training for students.

John Holschen then started on this presentation. He spoke about visual stimulus and shooting along with a few other topics. He spoke about note-taking both in the classroom and on the range. His point was when taking notes not just to copy what was done but to get the why behind the material. He then went on to talk about the need to see what is happening around when shooting while maintaining the ability to change response based on stimulus changes. He showed off the system he was using called the Nuro. This is a laser-based shooting system that can be used on the range to change visual stimuli to elicit different responses from the students.

We then broke for lunch and went to the range. I was in the group that went to conduct drills with Karl Rehn first. Karl did a training block on trigger manipulation. He used the Sirt pistol to teach trigger manipulation in the three realms of Accurate, Precise, and Surgical. He also used 1-inch dots along with 3-inch dot targets to cover the trigger press. Karl and John Hearne ran the class through the Baseline Assessment Drill which is a great assessment of skills that only takes 20 rounds of ammo to complete. They also spoke about running a line with commands and not only what was said but how it was said.

Next, it was off to get to use the Nuro system with John Holschen. This was a fantastic training drill. The Nuro system presented laser lights on the targets that would give visual stimulus to the students to have a response. For the drills we did one shot, one was verbal commands and one was challenge with the weapon and verbal commands. The lasers could activate any of the three responses on a target array of three targets on the range. The student would have to respond to the light stimulus with the correct response and then stop when the stimulus went away. The student also needed to keep scanning the three targets because at any time the visual stimulus could change them and they could become shoot or verbal command targets. This was a challenge to keep up with all the changes while maintaining a high level of accuracy on the targets. The Nuro also was a shot timer and could tell how long it took the shooter to respond to the laser but also how long it took them to stop shooting when a laser was turned off. I got a great deal of learning out of this new tool.

Day 2

At the start of day two, we were back in the classroom. Andy Stanford started the morning by talking about a few books that were good to read as instructors. Dustin Salomon then did a presentation on the brain and how Nuro pathways are created. This presentation was about how we learn skills and then how those skills are reinforced through repetition. I was impressed with this block because it showed how instructors can make a few small changes to help students learn the material presented better. He also spoke about memory and how the brain remembers skills and events. He then went over learning in an emotional state and how that can affect recall of material but also how that response can be altered to allow us to have a deliberate response not based on emotional response. This was most definitely one of the best sections of the class.

John Holschen then had a talk about processing information from a visual stimulus and how that can be used in training but also in the real world to decrease reaction time. He went over why the Nuro was a great training tool and how it was different from simulator or VR training tools. The reason the Nuro can be used to build Nuro pathways quickly is that can be used in real-world situations. He also spoke about how this training can provide students with many repetitions of skills over other methods.

We then went back to the range, and I was with Andy Stanford and Karl Rehn again for shooting drills. We started off shooting the Surefire Drill and then moved on to cadence shooting. Many of the drills were using the same methods as before with Accurate, Precise, and Surgical shots.

I ended the day with John Holschen and the Nuro training system. This time the targets were set up adding depth. One target forward of the others. We had to now both identify the targets and determine what needed to be done while moving and thinking about Rule 4 about shooting through a target at another. This was most definitely a challenge. Many things to keep track of initially but then also keep visually scanning as the targets changed.

Summary

This was a fantastic experience and everyone I spoke to had a great time. The presenters were outstanding and gave amazing information that was relevant to current instructors.