Tom Givens – Instructor
Development Course – April 8-10, 2016

Florence, SC

I was referred to Tom Givens
by an instructor out of Virginia named John Murphy.  

I reviewed the AAR’s from
Tom’s past students, discussed it with my colleagues and then enthusiasticlly enrolled
online.



Tom and his staff must have sent 4 emails in the weeks prior to the course
telling us what to expect, what to bring and how to succeed.  I even emailed Tom to inquire about the
shooting tests involved and he sent me a list of ‘warmups’ that I could use to
practice for the class.  That says a lot
about Tom.

In the days prior to leaving
for the class, I visited AR15.com to inquire about how much ammo I could take
on the flight with me.  Much to my
chagrin, I found out the limit was 11lbs, which wasn’t going to cover the
required 1,000 rounds.  Some frantic
searching and phone calling to Richard Wright, the course organizer, agreed to
let me ship ammo to his house

The first day of class were
the basic introductions of Tom and his wife Lynn, who as an instructor, travels
together with Tom to teach these courses all around the country.

Next up were the student
introductions.  Tom called us up one by
one and we talked about our backgrounds, our current work,  and our goals.  I make all of my carry students do this in
class too, so it must now it was my turn.
Admittedly it is a bit nerve wracking.
Not knowing how good these other trainers were makes one second-guess
his skill set.

After the intros, Tom spent a
great deal of time on safety.  Something
I was happy to see and something he reaffirmed for me; Safety is a full time
job.  Nobody committed any safety
violations the entire weekend (that I knew/saw) and I found it very comforting
to be sharing a hot range with compentent shooters.

In other AAR’s on Tom’s
classes, I kept hearing that Tom has his delivery down to his students.  I have found in my teaching that when you
find the simplest way to convey a point, where you know the students are
‘getting it’, you stick with it.  Tom’s
entire class is that way; which tells me what of course we already knew.  He’s been doing this a long time.  He’s got it all down to a science, and dare
if I say, borderline automation.

I had done my homework on Tom
before going to the class.  I read his
articles, watched the very few youtube videos (sadly) of him I could find, and
read the forum posts from past students of his classes.

I noticed he used the same
lines, even some of the same jokes or phrases.
I know I’m guilty of this as well in my classes.  When you find a joke that gets a laugh, but
still makes the point, you keep using it.

But I also know in my
experience (which is literally about 1/8^th of Tom’s, just for
perspective), you use what works, but it also makes the classes mean less and
less to you as an instructor.  IE..you
get burned out on teaching the same thing over and over, new city after new
city, and I sensed that a little bit in Tom.

Now, before you trash me or
believe I’m questioning Tom’s teaching skills or take this out of context, let
me just say that Tom’s classes was worth every damn penny I paid.  I had never heard of Tom Givens before I was
referred to him, so I didn’t know what to expect.  However when I was in his class, I hinged on
every single word he spoke and for the most part, took everything he said as
gospel.  I’ve taken classes with Pincus
and Yatch numerous other local guys, and let’s just say I can’t say the same
for all the other instructors.  Tom has a
fantastic way of conveying his points, and he’s somebody you just immediately trust.  He’s got that sort of strength.  

His speeches aren’t sugar
coated, his teaching is concise and clear and his curicullum alone was worth
the price of the class.  I honestly had
never learned so much in one sitting before.

Lynn was absolutely sweet to work with; and she even helped us as we prepared for the written test by quietly
telling us "you don’t need to know that”, or "you should probably study that”.  (Don’t worry Tom, she really didn’t give
anything away.)

I even ran into Lynn early AM
on day 2 at the local Subway as we were both getting our lunch for later in the
day.  Her and I talked and laughed and
she was very approachable and likable.

There are plenty of AAR’s on
the shooting portions of this class.  I
won’t rehash it, and I’m not here to brag about my shooting scores.  I passed.
I wasn’t the worst shot, nor was I the best.  Some of the students did not pass the
course.  But even though they got no
certificate, they cannot say they went home empty-handed.   The course is fantastic.  However, if you’re planning on coming here to
learn to shoot, this is NOT the correct class for that.

Yes, you shoot.  A lot.
But we spend so much time working on the different aspects that you
really don’t get time to work out any kinks you have.  Tom covers so many things that this isn’t the
place to fix your shooting.  If you can’t
shoot coming in, take a different class or practice before coming.  I practiced a TON of dry fire and range
shooting before taking the class and I passed, but it wasn’t as good as I had
hoped.  Tom won’t pass you if you do not
meet his exceedingly high expectations.
His written, verbal and shooting tests require you to know what you are
doing, be able to show that to students, AND explain WHY; not just say ‘because
I said so’.

I loved the format of the
class, and while we were in class or on the range from 9a-6p every day I never
once got bored.  In fact I wished I
could’ve had dinner with Tom and Lynn.  I
would’ve loved to learn more about them both, but I secretly wanted to spend
like a month with Tom to get every single piece of info out of him.  The man is a walking search engine for
firearms and shooting.  



Tom, need any instructors? ;-)

What can I say?  I realize an AAR is supposed to be a
ass-kissing otherwise they would never share it.



And while I don’t really care if they share this AAR, I can say John Murphy out
of Culpepper VA was right.  Tom would
tighten things up and he did.  I’ve taken
close to 10 other firearms or shooting classes in the past few years, and I honestly
learned more NEW things in this class than I did in any 3 of the others
combined.  Usually when I take a class,
if I learn 1 usable skill or tool, I consider it worthy.  Tom’s class was so good I bought his book and
2 of his DVD’s.  I’ll be teaching my
first Defensive Shooting Class in June and I’m working on my curriculum for
that class.  Much of it will be from what
Tom showed us; and I do believe that immitation is the greatest compliment.  It’s not that I’m stealing what Tom showed
me; I prefer to look at it as passing on something that’s proven to work; which
is something Tom himself espouses.

Thank You Tom and Lynn
Givens.  I look forward to seeing you
both again soon.  Maybe by then, I’ll
have my first-round trigger issues worked out by then.

A special Thank You to
Richard Wright; for helping me out of my ammo pickle! It was a pleasure meeting
you.