Phobos Solutions Defensive Handgun 101

This past weekend (3/4/17) I took the Phobos Solutions Defensive Handgun 101 class. I highly recommend it for anyone considering purchasing a handgun or anyone that has a handgun and would like some proper instruction on the basics. The class was held at the Plaquemines Parish Sherrif's outdoor range. We started at 8:30am. The class was taught by Lewis Frost a 14 year law enforcement veteran that has worn many hats patrol, training officer, Detective, SWAT operator, and sniper. He currently is the Sniper Team Leader. He has earned many firearm instructor's certificates. He and his team members have also trained tier one units. The course covered everything that was pertinent to proper safety and correct utilization of a handgun. Lewis was extremely professional and informative using real world stories to drive home points of understanding, drawing several from his own experiences. He provided several handguns to run through the course if you didn't own one or didn't bring one. He provided holsters and belts as well. Over 300 rounds of ammunition were expelled from my guns throughout the day. Each iteration building upon the previous one. The class size was small with 6 of us plus Lewis. This produced an excellent instructor to student ratio. It really showed in the personal attention we each received in various aspects of going about learning this skill. Target shooting was done at 7 yards and targets were changed out so you could see your progress as the day went on. We broke for lunch and Lewis made himself available for questions about anything in the class or gear recommendations. At no time did Lewis go into long winded stories about life lessons or his skill set. All lessons and time on the range shooting felt comfortable. There were no pretentious instructors with screaming or PT. Relaxed and professional are the two words that would encompass my experience. I did take time to talk with the other students and there thoughts fell in line with mine (relaxed and professional). The Phobos Solutions website lists the classes they teach which I found to be extensive as well as a calendar of the upcoming classes. I realize there are other training companies to choose from and I do plan and was encouraged by Lewis to look into them. At the end of my day I came away with a great feeling of satisfaction and competence due in no small part to Lewis and his team at Phobos Solutions.

original07 said:

This past weekend (3/4/17) I took the Phobos Solutions Defensive Handgun 101 class. I highly recommend it for anyone considering purchasing a handgun or anyone that has a handgun and would like some proper instruction on the basics. The class was held at the Plaquemines Parish Sherrif's outdoor range. We started at 8:30am. The class was taught by Lewis Frost a 14 year law enforcement veteran that has worn many hats patrol, training officer, Detective, SWAT operator, and sniper. He currently is the Sniper Team Leader. He has earned many firearm instructor's certificates. He and his team members have also trained tier one units. The course covered everything that was pertinent to proper safety and correct utilization of a handgun. Lewis was extremely professional and informative using real world stories to drive home points of understanding, drawing several from his own experiences. He provided several handguns to run through the course if you didn't own one or didn't bring one. He provided holsters and belts as well. Over 300 rounds of ammunition were expelled from my guns throughout the day. Each iteration building upon the previous one. The class size was small with 6 of us plus Lewis. This produced an excellent instructor to student ratio. It really showed in the personal attention we each received in various aspects of going about learning this skill. Target shooting was done at 7 yards and targets were changed out so you could see your progress as the day went on. We broke for lunch and Lewis made himself available for questions about anything in the class or gear recommendations. At no time did Lewis go into long winded stories about life lessons or his skill set. All lessons and time on the range shooting felt comfortable. There were no pretentious instructors with screaming or PT. Relaxed and professional are the two words that would encompass my experience. I did take time to talk with the other students and there thoughts fell in line with mine (relaxed and professional). The Phobos Solutions website lists the classes they teach which I found to be extensive as well as a calendar of the upcoming classes. I realize there are other training companies to choose from and I do plan and was encouraged by Lewis to look into them. At the end of my day I came away with a great feeling of satisfaction and competence due in no small part to Lewis and his team at Phobos Solutions.

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I took the course and would recommend it to anyone!


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Lewis and Nick with Phobos Solutions are great teachers. I've taken classes with them, Greg and Destin with VATA Group, as well as Nate and crew with Advantage Group. Sometimes I think we don't realize and/or appreciate just how lucky we are to have three Excellent training groups all in the same area!

It has been a while since I started this thread and I wanted to revisit it with a few updates. Since my initial post I have taken 2 more Defensive 101 handgun classes from Phobos. One of the really nice perks of Phobos is once you've taken the Defensive 101 handgun course you can come back and take it for half price any time its offered in the future (Currently $100.00 is the return price). Adding it up, a day at a range and shooting can close in on the cost of the $100, and at the range your usually receiving little or no instruction. At the 101 courses they may be teaching to the novice shooter but they easily adjust up to accommodate your particular skill level too. Helping you identify areas of concern or bad habits that may need correcting.

Since my initial post I have taken from Phobos Solutions Defensive Handgun 201, Carbine 101, Carbine 201, and two classes of Skills proficiency handgun and Skills proficiency carbine. As you can imagine each class building on the previous class with drills and giving you the tools to become a better shooter. I didn't mention it in my initial post but Nick Cottone who is an instructor like Lewis is an excellent instructor. Drawing on his years of experience of police work as well as his vast knowledge and skills in several areas of firearms training. I really cannot emphasis this enough having small classes with both Lewis and Nick instructing allows for a great student to instructor ratio. Their attention to each individual shooter's skill level and their ability to provide the necessary tools to address each individual shooters skill set is second to none.

As mentioned in my original post they encourage you to take courses elsewhere from other instructors. I took them up on their suggestion and took a 3 handgun courses of varying levels from a top name in the business. I found the courses to be excellent with various drills what I didn't receive was what I have mentioned above great personal instruction. Only on the third course did I get any instruction and that was just once. The classes had 8-11 students with one instructor and what I believe was one RSO. I found the lack of personal instruction to be like a elaborate trip to the range. I came back to a Phobos Skills proficiency handgun class only to find out that I had started to pick up a few bad habits. Had I received the proper instruction over the 3 handgun courses at the previous top named facility I might have been better prepared at the Skills proficiency handgun class.

Im not saying my statements or experiences are a cover all for all who read this post, I'm merely detailing my personal experiences the ups and the downs. If in your opinion you would be better served by a different avenue by all means pursue what works for you. If you think you might benefit with someone with years of experience of firearms instruction and no agenda except to make you a better shooter then I encourage you to give Lewis and Nick at Phobos Solutions a try.