A plain brown envelope showed up today and inside I found a small plastic card and some paper.
Life has taught me that getting a chunk of paper in the mail can mean nothing, or it can mean a whole lot. Today it meant a lot.
A great deal of work goes into mastering any sort of thing and I’ve invested thousands of hours and fired thousands of rounds as I work toward mastering the art of winning a gunfight. I have had the honor of standing and fighting beside many true hero’s that have put their lives on the line to protect our nation and our communities. I have been trained by some of the very best and learned from the experiences of others. The next level for me was to become an instructor so that all I have learned could be passed on to the next generation of protectors.
The NRA provides the most popular and respected instructor certifications in the country. Their Law Enforcement Instructor Schools are only available to experienced and qualified applicants and of those, the first two days of any course they offer in the Law Enforcement Instructor program is used to weed out those not proficient enough to be there.
The courses are listed as 44 hours over five days and that time is split between class and range time. In my experience the days run longer than that. The instructors are exceptional and they are demanding, as they should be. Students are there to perfect the weapon operator skills they have already mastered but they are also expected to learn how to instruct others effectively and professionally. The goal is to teach the men and women who put their lives on the line to keep us safe, how to win gunfights so they can go home to their families.
There have been 285 Police Officers shot in the line of duty thus far in 2025. That’s almost one officer being shot each day this year in America. Our job as instructors is to help public and private Law Enforcement Officers survive and win gunfights. They deal with the most dangerous criminals in our country. Our job as instructors is to teach them how to become better than the most dangerous bad guy or girl out there. They deserve our very best, and that is why these courses are so tough. It’s a great honor and responsibility and it weighs heavily on my mind and heart. So when this bundle of paper showed up today, it meant a whole lot.
I’m officially certified for another three years.
