By Don Robison Suarez International Tier 1 Staff Instructor As I sit down to write this I still have the recent tragedy fresh in my mind as I’m sure everyone reading this does as well. I’m not writing this to inflame anyone, although I’m sure it will. That’s fine and I accept that sometimes it’s necessary to break a few eggs if one wants to make an omelet. The last four days I’ve read literally thousands of pages of various news articles, social media and print articles asking the question of why school shootings are suddenly happening. I have even... Continue reading

By Don Robison Suarez International Tier1 Staff Instructor I’ve been surfing the web and various gun forums this week and I don’t know if it’s a new phenomenon or just something I recently picked up on. Lately it seems that every time someone does something with a gun someone else disagrees with I hear the cry “You’re not a responsible gun owner!”, “A responsible gun owner wouldn’t do that!” I recently was involved in a discussion about a guy who had some guns stolen from inside his house. They weren’t locked in a safe and it was decreed by these... Continue reading

By Don Robison, Suarez International Tier 1 Instructor So, it’s Monday morning and you’ve got your training class over the weekend fresh in your mind as you drink your morning cup of coffee and get ready for work. All these questions keep running through your mind from Sunday night. I’ve got the training; now what do I do with it? The instructor said I should dry practice and then verify my dry practice at the range. My range will never let me draw from a holster or get off the X. Since the last time I wrote about dry practice... Continue reading

By Don Robison Suarez International Tier 1 Staff Instructor It’s a bit cliché’ but often said that the best defense is a good offense. What does that mean? To me; that means always be on the offensive. All over the internet we hear people expounding the idea of the “defensive mindset”; I say hogwash. A defensive mindset is the mindset of a person who doesn’t plan or take measures to better ensure their safety or the safety of their loved ones; they sit around waiting for something to happen so they can defend themselves against it. A person with an... Continue reading

By Don Robison, Staff Instructor Suarez International How people perceive what is happening (perception) versus what is actually happening (reality) are often in conflict with each other. Quite often they are the exact opposite of each other. We’ve all seen or heard things that we thought were one thing, but in reality turned out to be totally different. When I was in the military, flying on a very dark nights we would often see lights on the ground that you would swear in court were other aircraft, but as you got closer you would realize that is was a porch... Continue reading

by Don Robison Suarez International Staff Instructor The concept of quality gear isn’t new and there are always those looking to just get by or who for whatever reason are afraid of technology; when you’re talking about a piece of life saving equipment just getting by and not maximizing the resources available is the wrong approach. The fighting rifle; there has been a lot written about the fighting rifle. What it is, what isn’t, what it should be, what it shouldn’t be. Here is my take on all of those opinions. A fighting rifle is the rifle you have right... Continue reading

By Don Robison Suarez International Staff Instructor Anyone who has trained with me knows that I’m a huge advocate of dry practice. I’m often asked what I do in a typical dry practice session. I often hear dry practice is boring what do you do to keep it from getting boring. Let me start by saying that in my opinion; dry practice is as important and in some ways more important than putting rounds down range. The key is getting the most out of your session by doing useful repetitions concentrating on the fundamentals of shooting, but just as importantly... Continue reading

By: Don Robison Suarez International Staff Instructor Enhancing or modifying your weapons; yes, no, maybe? What is the correct answer? For as long as I can remember I’ve always heard don’t change it from stock, learn to shoot it the way it was made. To a certain degree I agree with those statements, but not totally with the logic that follows them. The two most common arguments are “If you shoot someone with a modified gun they will crucify you in court” or “If you need a battlefield pickup and your gun is modified you won’t know how to work... Continue reading

Do you have a training partner? I’m not talking about someone you meet at the range occasionally and share a box of ammo. I'm talking about someone that you train with on a regular basis, a person who regularly attends training classes with you. Someone you can discuss training ideas, tactical scenarios or other martial civilian ideas with as well as explore those ideas. Do you have that person(s)? If not; you’re not maximizing your potential. This isn’t to say that you can’t get benefit from attending training classes by yourself or from shooting by yourself; in my opinion by being the loner you’ll never achieve the level you could with a partner. A training partner will be honest with you and more importantly push you to be honest with yourself. They will help you explore the possibilities when you have a dumb, dangerous or different idea. They will train with you to either prove or disprove your idea. Another benefit to a training partner is financial. My training partner and I have found it advantageous to share travel expenses on training trips. We share a hotel room which also lets us discuss the days training, critique our performance and prepare for the next day. At the end of the day I see no disadvantages to a training partner. How do you find a training partner? Start looking in the obvious places; your friends. They are your friends because you have similar interests. They aren’t motivated to train? Do what I did and find someone in your area that is on WarriorTalk. You say nobody is on WarriorTalk in your area; talk to people at your local shooting range and introduce them to WarriorTalk and the SI family. None of those ideas are working? Sign up for a local SI class and you’ll have an entire class of possible training partners. If you don’t have a training partner; find one and attend some training together and start reaping the benefits. Continue reading