I left my house around 5:00am Friday morning so I’d get to the airport in time to check my guns. I always try to get there at least two hours before my flight in case there is some problem with TSA. Eight hours later I land in Albuquerque. It’s 10am.
The class host picks me up and we head over to a recreational supply store to rent a canopy. The range we have for the weekend is out in the open with no cover from the sun. At 95 degrees and 5,000 feet elevation, shade seemed like a good idea. We wrestle the thing into his SUV and drive half an hour to the range.
At the range we unload the canopy and then we begin the hunt for the target stands the facility promised us. Eventually we find them and load sixteen into the SUV. The class host grabs one of the stands and carries it out to the static target bases installed on the range to make sure they fit, and they do. Then I get stung by a bee for the first time in my life and discover that luckily, I’m not allergic.
The host’s wife is also at the range and we get targets, tables, and other necessities unloaded into the classroom.
Next, we drive halfway across town to a popular indoor range and gun shop in Albuquerque, Calibers. In the parking lot as we leave I manage to head butt the SUV pretty hard. I reach up to feel where it hit and tell the host, “Dude, I’ve literally got a dent in my head!” He jumps back and tells me I’m bleeding. When I take my hand away, it’s covered in blood. Typical for a minor scalp wound, this one is bleeding like crazy. Of course, the only medical supplies immediately at hand are our IFAKs. So I unwrap a huge Israeli bandage and press it to the top of my head. Then I go back into Calibers to check it out more carefully and clean up.
Now, as a rule, commercial gun ranges don’t like people running through their storefronts while bleeding profusely. It’s bad for business or something. But rather than kick me out, one of the range staff follows me into the restroom to see if I’m all right. When I tell him about my little accident, he tells me he’s an EMT and races off to get some supplies. In the mirror, I see my face and hands are literally covered in blood. In a matter of minutes I’m patched up, cleaned up, and on my way. Turns out the EMT guy is also registered for the class… small world, huh?
After dinner, the host and another student drop by my hotel room and we stay up until 10pm (midnight to my still-on-East-Coast time internal clock) talking guns, training, and all the other usual gun-guy stuff.
Saturday morning the host picks me up so we can get to the range plenty early to set up before students begin arriving. One of the first things we do is set up the target stands. Except they won’t fit into the target bases. Somehow, when the host tested them the day before he randomly picked the only one that was narrow enough. All the other stands are too wide, designed for target bases on another range at the facility. It seems the target bases on our range are new and the only compatible stands are in a locked metal continer.
So an early arriving student (Spencer) and the host’s wife — who happens to be pregnant — jump in the SUV and drive about half an hour to the nearest’s Home Depot to buy 2×2’s as makeshift target stands. In the meantime, students begin arriving. We take care of all the normal administrative duties and some of the students head out to the range to help the host finish raising the 15×15 canopy. Then we begin the first lecture portion of the class. Behind the scenes, the host, his wife, and Spencer start putting the target stands together.
The first day of class comes and goes with no drama and sixteen of us grab dinner at the nearest Chili’s. I get back to the hotel late — I don’t even look at the clock — and get some sleep before the host arrives Sunday morning. Sunday’s class goes without problem. The students do a great job helping us clean up the range, pack up the tables, tear down the canopy, and haul the trash. Thanks to the students, the class aftermath is easy.
After dinner, the host and I drive half an hour back to the range one last time to pick up the canopy and tables and other gear so it won’t be in the way the next morning for the Sheriff’s Department folks who use it as their training and qualification range. In the pitch black during an Albuquerque summer lightning storm we get the canopy in the SUV and lash the tables down to the roof. It’s 11pm by the time I get back to my hotel.
Monday morning the host is there bright and early so we can return the canopy to the rental shop. We celebrate a successful class with some pie at a local diner before he drops me off at the airport. He has to drop me off four hours before my flight so he isn’t late for a doctor’s appointment (pregnant wife, remember?).
I’ll get back to Maryland around 9pm if my flight isn’t delayed and should be home by 11pm.
And that’s all it takes to put on an AFHF class.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Much respect for that work ethic.
Perhaps Obama could redistribute some of that.
Todd, so how’s your head?
Todd, don’t forget your other “behind the scenes” actions many moons ago, like loading a gimp’s magazines, adjusting his belt, and cutting his steak.
BIG KUDOS to the Host and his Lovely Bride, there’s no better people on the earth than them!!!!!!
“Now, as a rule, commercial gun ranges don’t like people running through their storefronts while bleeding profusely. It’s bad for business or something.” Classic.
From one shooter who has volunteered a lot of his time in the past I would like to thank you sir for dedicating your life to make the sport of shooting enjoyable by your selfless efforts.
I’ve had the pleasure of taking Todds class 3 times, I want to personally thank the host in the 505 for doing this. All the hard work you do is greatly appricated. Thanks once again!!!!
“Now, as a rule, commercial gun ranges don’t like people running through their storefronts while bleeding profusely.”
No, actually that’s cool. It brings in the lookie-loos. They want to be able to say “Hey, were you at the Blast-O-Mart when…?”
It’s not about my work ethic. Far from it. Jeez, if left to my own devices, I’d make students bring their own targets, target stands, and assistant instructors. 8)
Like every class, this was a team event. Tom Jones (the host) and his wife were working behind the scenes months before I got to town. There’s so much more to hosting than folks realize. And unlike me, they both have other jobs… so organizing and running a class like this takes away their precious free time.
Prdator — who hosts my classes in OKC every year and came out to AQB so he could “just shoot and not worry about the admin stuff” — got roped into everything from shopping for lumber to running the timer and even playing chauffeur a time or two.
And the students, as usual, were awesome and worked 110% harder than asked to make sure the class was safe and to help leave the range in better shape than we found it.
I’m getting paid to do my part. It’s the hosts and students who makes classes like this come together.
Good job guys.
Well I guess all the brass we will have to pick up in Indy will be like a cake walk.
Maybe you need to add a helmet to your list of needed gear.
Nice, I haven’t laughed this hard since you got kicked out of Canada, oh wait
Good to see that someone had more target stand issues than I did in Hartford.
Okay, I’ll bite, how in the Hell did you crack the skull? Enquiring readers (me) would like to know. Glad you are okay, BTW.
Todd – thanks again for the great class this weekend, can’t wait to take another one in the future
This is the part students don’t think about when they complain about the price of quality training. I have heard many, many folks say training isn’t worth $200 per day (avg), regardless of the instructor. I suspect they forget the instructor has to travel, pay lodging, rental cars, etc. AND the 2 day class becomes 4 days with travel time factored in. I was looking to bring in one of the big names to my area last year. The negotiation process was very enlightened as to what goes into hosting/instructing a class. Unfortunately, my range fell through and I couldn’t get it scheduled.
Gtmtnbiker98: You know how, as a cop, you make sure people don’t crash their heads when you’re putting them in the back seat? I did that, minus the “make sure people don’t” part.
Having had a significant head wound (could you tell? — haha) I can understand the feeling of finding yourself covered in blood but not being able to see the wound.
After a mutual friend of ours teased me for having a trauma kit but no band-aids after a similar event, I keep a couple of 4×4 gauze in my IFAK for just that kind of thing. But nice improvisation with the Israeli. I guess they’re good for something.
Hope you’re healing up well.
having hosted many classes I can tell you that it is very stressful. Everything lands on the hosts shoulders, and so far I’ve had some freaking harsh times. Instructors getting kicked out of the country (to be let back in after much discussion), classes starting half a day late due to weather keeping planes on the ground, almost an entire class dropping out (due to a sudden change in policy for a group of Feds) and having to be replaced last minute, shooters not being up to par with the rest of the class, double bookings of the facility, instructors pulling out, it sucks. But after the training is done and you’re sitting around with that training high reminiscing, its all worth it.
I thought you just rolled up to these ranges in the orange pistol-training/forum.comobile. Guess I was wrong. Glad everything turned out in the end.