Mike Green is a 15 year veteran of Special Operations who began a training company in Northern Virginia as a bit of a side gig. His school has since grown into quite the training operation spanning multiple states and categories of students. One of the things that stood out to me about Green Ops is their motto, "Why Should Your Training Be Less Special?" I like this because it speaks to a divide that often comes up in the shooting world, where everyday folks like you and I are not able to access the kind of quality training that those paying with government tax dollars might be able to. Given everything going on today with virus lockdowns, panic buying, protests, and riots, I wanted to ask a professional what the training progression for an average civilian who just bought their first weapon should look like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yopGvOa21l8 Relevant Links * Green Ops Tactical * Refinement & Repetition * Dry Practice Key Takeaways We covered a lot of ground in this interview, so it was difficult to narrow it down to just three items (you'll have to listen to the rest!). Dry Practice as a Training Tool It shouldn't surprise you that I latched on to the idea of dry practice as a training tool. Mike mentioned that there are folks out there who make Grand Master in IPSC and IDPA on as "little" as 8,000 rounds fired per year due to their thorough dry practice systems.   For one, that should tell you just how much the "average" grand master is actually firing per year, but it also shows you that dry practice is great tool. One book in particular that Mike mentioned was Refinement and Repetition by Steve Anderson. I went ahead and bought the book after performing this interview, so expect to hear more about it in the future after I spend some more time with it. In short, the book covers a huge variety of drills with included performance criteria and tracking tools to monitor your progress as you work through it. Holster Requirements We spent a good chunk of time discussing concealed carry and holsters. Mike laid out his top priorities of accessibility and retention. Accessibility specifically means how quickly can he get to the pistol in a variety of circumstances while retention refers to both how well it controls the pistol but also stays put on the belt. Comfort is not part of Mike's consideration, though he acknowledges that it exists. During the interview he referenced a famous rant by Clint at Thunder Ranch on the topic of comfort, video here (language warning, which is par for Clint) https://youtu.be/hbehsFbv6XA? Training and Legal Matters Another interesting point in the discussion was the topic of firearms training for law enforcement and civilians. Mike highlights that law enforcement officers receive 40-80 hours of firearms training while in their respective academies, and after that it's basically just qualification time. Well qualification isn't training and law enforcement has qualified immunity if they are bad shots. The average civilian does not have that benefit. So, from Mike's perspective, if you find yourself in a self-defense situation and have to defend yourself in court after the fact, it would be helpful to show that you have at least the same amount of training as an actual law enforcement officer. Per his suggestion, that looks like three classes in the first year of ownership and then one per year after that to maintain currency. Participating in competition beyond that is also encouraged.