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The ants were a little annoying. They weren't fire ants though, so thaylt was good.

One other bit of information, I bought some peltor electronic muffs for the range portion. They made a big difference for me. I could hear all the commands easily, and could concentrate on doing what I needed to do, rather than straining to hear. I could hear pretty much everything anyone on the line said. Not a necessity, but definitely made the experience easier.

As far as the pole incident, I hate to see that happen to anyone. Pretty sure the guy was OK. Past that, i'll stick to "if you can't say something nice".

I just got back from the CHL Instructor Course in Georgetown. I thought some might be interested in my impressions/experiences and a few things I took away from the course.

The DPS has slightly changed the way the class is being done. Now, at least some courses are a combined regular/abbreviated class. The abbreviated class is for those who have other firearms instructor certifications, and is what I took. The regular class is for everyone else, and takes place at the same time. Those who were in the abbreviated class left early on two of the days and showed up late on the other days. I’m not sure I could have made it through the full course. They were there approx 12 hours a day.

The class was fairly large (80 or so), and seemed like it was fairly diverse. Lots of middle aged white guys with plenty of minorities, women, and younger/older folks thrown in. Most of the people seemed fairly nice. There were a few of the annoying folks scattered around. You had the peanut gallery types that have to comment on everything and think they’re funny (but aren’t) and the know it alls that feel they have to educate everyone else (usually spreading misinformation, myths, and urban legends) and brag about this, that, and the other thing. Thankfully, they were in the minority.

My opinions on the instructors ranged from good to great. They did the best they could to make the dry information interesting, gave plenty of breaks, and were excellent speakers. They all really knew their stuff. The way they look at a lot of the “grey area” is different from how many or most of the people on the board here look at it. I won’t say right or wrong, although I have my opinion, but I can understand both sides of it and will make my own decisions.

If you pay at least partial attention, you shouldn’t have any problems with the written test. I won’t give details on the test, but unless you have some sort of language barrier or disability, you’ll pass with ease. No one failed in our class. Average score was 94 or 95 and several people didn’t fill out the final page of the test.

The range portion was the most difficult for most people. The range is SWEET! Easily one of the nicest outdoor ranges I’ve been to. They ran us in two relays. The first got their earlier and left earlier. The second got their later and left later. They gave most people the opportunity to switch, so if you were in the second relay, but wanted to get on the road home, you could swap. The advantage to the early relay was that you could finish up before it got too hot and you could get on the road quicker if you had a long drive. The second relay got to sleep in and watch at least a little of the first wave qualify.
A few bits of advice, based on my experience, related to the range portion:

- When they say “When you’re driving down the range road and drive slow” and “Don’t run over the pole with the card reader” , they mean it. Someone in our class didn’t heed the advice and hit a concrete filled and bedded metal pole. 40 to 0 in about 3 feet. The pole bent slightly, but managed to make it most of the way through the hood. I believe he was OK. The car, not so much.

- Run your pistol and revolver before going out there. Especially with the revolvers, there were many that hadn’t even fired them before the class. Ditto for the ammo you intend to use. There were several who had issues of one sort or another. One borrowed his father’s S&W Performance Center 44 Mag. Sweet revolver, but was plagued by light primer strikes and he had to retake that portion. I loaned him my 327PD and he qualified the second time with no issue.

- Bring a spare for semi and revolver if you have one, or can borrow one. One of the guys who was firing in the “make up” relay for those who failed one or more stages had issues with his Glock. It would apparently start firing way low. Not sure if it was user error or the gun, but I stayed behind after qualifying and let him use my Glock 34 for his 3rd and final try. He made it with that with flying colors.

- Bring drinks with you. It’s hot. When I was out there, it was REALLY hot. I drank two 32 OZ waters and a 32 oz Gatorade. I was thirsty when I left. I spent more time out there than anyone else, besides the instructors, since I watched all of the first relay, shot the second relay, waited for the makeup relay so one guy could use my revolver and then waited for the last guy to shoot my glock. I would have been sucking if I hadn’t stayed hydrated.

All in all, it was a very pleasant experience. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t think twice about it.

I submitted sometime in mid march and recieved my email from DPS yesterday offering me either this or the next course. I'm signed up for the August 1-4 class.