AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions

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10 years 6 months ago #38830 by Libertarian623
AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions was created by Libertarian623
AAR Defensive Handgun Course. Yesterday My son and I finished a two day defensive handgun course put on by Defense Solutions. The Instructor was Ross Botha. A little back round on Ross, originally from South Africa, Ross is now a American. He brings to the table a lifetime of experience from the African continent and a fighting paradigm developed through fighting all over that continent. He has been shot several times and shot others several times. His teaching is all about a no BS approach to fighting with a firearm. His standards are perfection, nothing less will do. He is a honorable man which comes through in his teaching of the mindset portion of the class. More on this later. The class was three hours on the first day and 14 hours the second day. The course had to accommodate different levels of proficiency, but it is the gate keeper course to the more advanced courses put on by many different companies. We started with basic drills in the AM and more advanced drills in the afternoon and then in the evening lowlight portion you where expected to bring it all together again while using a light.
The Mindset portion was great, covering the reasons for self defense as well as the aspect of stress you face in that situation. This is why we practice and practice hard. If your not making mistakes in practice your not doing it enough or hard enough. A frequent mantra throughout the course was don't kid yourself. Have someone else watch you while shooting and have them point out in brutal honestly the mistakes while your making them. If your not doing this then you are just wasting your time, Ross pointed out that standing stationary on the line punching nice tight holes in the paper with your handgun was akin to masturbation. And good for little else. I am stopping here so I don't lose what I have written more later

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10 years 6 months ago #38831 by Libertarian623
Replied by Libertarian623 on topic AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions
Back to mindset, he stressed things that we all hear in other classes like, you will only perform as well as you do in drills because everything is instinctive in a gunfight, very little is about decision making at that point. So not only must you practice hard with as much stress as you can build in, you should have another shooter standing right next to you to coach you as you shoot. Otherwise your kidding yourself.
On the second day, the AM was full of basics, I see you out there (what a drag man) well Ross is very safety conscious and he expects perfection full fucking stop, or nothing else follows. No errant trigger fingers, no sloppy trigger control, no sweeping of fingers, no improper movement practices, no bad grip techniques, You had to do it right, with good sound tactical concepts. Everything that Ross teaches is based on a lifetime of experience in a (I hate to use this overused term) austere conditions. It shows through in the techniques he teaches. I am going to stop here for Breakfast back in a few.
The following user(s) said Thank You: jtallen83

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10 years 6 months ago #38835 by jtallen83
Replied by jtallen83 on topic AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions
As always, excellent info here! I need to seriously think about getting some fresh instruction, it has actually been the mid 80's since I had any one on one instruction, ideas have changed some since then..........
looking forward to hearing more about your class. :usa:

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10 years 6 months ago - 10 years 6 months ago #38836 by Libertarian623
Replied by Libertarian623 on topic AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions
I will pause to recognized the effort put forth by my son. At the end of the day I was very proud of him, it was obvious that his reflex's have matured and the ability of his young mind to adapt to new situations surpassed my own ageing mind. He is a young adult now and the child is fast leaving. He interacted well with the LEO's, TSA and HLS people. He frequently was in the top end of the twenty man class group in the drills. He was third in the class and was third to qualify in the Farnam drill. I also had the pleasure of meeting Ross's son who was attending his first formal class under his dad's tutelage. While being his first class it was easy to see by the way he moved through the drills he has had extensive and proper up bringing involving firearms. He and my son have very similar interests. I was constantly impressed by both young mens maturity. Both these young men represented there generation with distinction.
Through the drills of the morning the group maintained a low round count, preferring perfection to quantity. In the after the lunch session we concentrated on the mastering of the Farnam Drill 9 live rounds and one dummy round have never been this hard to master. The key is perfection of this simple task, not even the slightest misstep was tolerated. It was all about making your mind take control of your body ( think through every step until it is perfect) then and only then attempt to ingrain it into instinct through repetition. John or Ross if you ever read this I hope I summarized that properly. At the end of the afternoon we would have to do it for time to pass the course. We learned a lot about why we do what we do through the impromptu explanations between firing groups. I will stop here and cut to the ending , JT, Sisco, Cowboy, SOC the kid beat me by a 5 second margin and he only took 4 attempt's to pass where I took six. sorry for the spoiler. Throughout the day Ross implemented several very creative fun drills to break up the grind for perfection . One of the drills involved a relay of two 10 man teams in a relay race where everyone placed there handgun fully charged on the table, then Ross proceeded to cause a malfunction or two on each. On the whisle one at a time in relay fashion each man two at a time would race about 40 yards return to the table and pickup the weapon of the instructors choice and fire one round at the target. If you miss you have to repeat. You could call this the Ugly Jam City Shootout, and fun.
Pause
Last edit: 10 years 6 months ago by Libertarian623. Reason: omited material
The following user(s) said Thank You: Siscowet

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10 years 6 months ago #38837 by Libertarian623
Replied by Libertarian623 on topic AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions
After dinner, we did several more entertaining drills involving great targets that I had not used before and Farnan refreshers. As we awaited night fall. Flashlights came out and where integrated to the drills from the day. We finished the class with a couple drills in the near dark ( close enough, it doesn't get dark until very late currently). And then it was done, we had passed , hands where shook and emails and contacts exchanged. The son and I piled into the truck reeking of BO and bug juice and sunscreen in a sweet stinky way. As we headed out the two track to the range my son commented ( that was Awesome I got a blister from racking the slide so much) I said if you ever go in the Army your gonna have fun. This morning I look forward to more training in the months to come. This class brought me beck to center on my training. I would like to thank Ross for putting on a great class, His experience and professionalism and work ethic are exceptional. I hope you have a chance to take one of Ross Botha's classes it will be money well spent. He teaches all over the world so he may be coming to a range near you. Carry on Brothers

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10 years 6 months ago #38838 by Libertarian623
Replied by Libertarian623 on topic AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions
Jt- There are a lot of good instructors out there and I think you would really enjoy the experience ( flash back airborne school). Your gun handling skills would benefit from it for sure. I am going to take a carbine class if Ross offers it locally.

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10 years 6 months ago #38839 by Libertarian623
Replied by Libertarian623 on topic AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions
In keeping with the free exchange of ideas and learning of the class please feel free to post any questions no matter how small and your comments on your own shooting drills and experiences.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Siscowet

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10 years 6 months ago #38840 by jtallen83
Replied by jtallen83 on topic AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions
Cost? I'm curious what I should expect to pay for instruction?

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10 years 6 months ago - 10 years 6 months ago #38841 by OleCowboy
Replied by OleCowboy on topic AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions
Coming from Lib, the only comment I can make: Impressed, to say the least! His endorsement of the instructor, means I would sign on without hesitation!
Last edit: 10 years 6 months ago by OleCowboy.

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10 years 6 months ago #38843 by Siscowet
Replied by Siscowet on topic AAR Ross Botha Defence Solutions
Great Info Lib, If you have a link to Ross Botha's web page or did I miss it? It would be helpful. Yeah, our son's pass us in the natural order of things. We are left with pride in their accomplishments. Impressive course. That is what all concealed carry courses should become. My biggest concern about CC is the lack of training most CC liscence holders have. I know I need more training, and so does my son. This looks like a good place to go for it. Thanks for the thorough write up.

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