Upon receiving a deposit for a class, Defense Training International sends each student a detailed handout. The handout includes information regarding the types of firearms that are recommended and the modifications that are allowed.
There is an extensive do and don't list.
After signing in, the course begins with a classroom session where students introduce themselves and John S. Farnam presents an overview of the course activities. When students move to the range, each firearm is carefully inspected. Instuctors will also inspect each accessories. During the next section, students will go through "administrative" gun-handling drills loading and unloading, as well as charging their magazines or speed loaders. Once John is satisfied that students have mastered these tasks, we move on to live fire.
Students begin with drills that allow them to become familiar with a correct grip and stance. As the day continues, students will learn to draw from concealment, reload, and reduce stoppages, all on the move. Training is conducted in a realistic manner, stressing movement, use of cover, verbal challenges, and other important individual tactics.
Later in the course, there will be another classroom session concerning levels of influence and the use of lethal force in self-defense. Other classroom subjects include situation awareness, threat/risk evaluation.
The second day of the class will include cover and movement, performing under stress, and precision shooting, combined with shoot/no-shoot drills. The low light shooting session is designed to allow students to practice all skills with and without a flashlight.
The class ends with the DTI Proficiency Test. A student achieves a passing score when he hits with all shots, does not commit any safety errors, and does not commit any procedural errors. Students qualify at one-hundred percent. Even one miss yields a failed attempt.
Students who attend Defense Training International
courses find that they are exhausted at the end of the two days, but that
they have mastered a set of psycho/motor skills and have adopted a personal
philosophy that will serve them well in their next lethal encounter.