Farmers and teachers don’t make good NRA instructors?
So says a man who claims to reporters that he’s a “skilled former service member of the U.S. Army Special Forces and has trained over 5,000 soldiers and counter terrorist team members in a variety of environments from the mundane to many less permissive arenas.”
As Jan. 5 nears, a few steps remain to conceal and carry
Posted Oct. 27, 2013 @ 6:00 am
MACOMB (Mcdonough Voice) – Applications for concealed carry can be submitted to the Illinois State Police on Jan. 5, but local residents can start preparing themselves to apply today.
With the approved curricula for concealed carry firearms training having been released by the Illinois State Police on Sept. 30, many firearms instructors have began their training programs, including several in the west-central Illinois and Macomb area.
“We’ve ran just over 200 people through in the past three weeks,” said Nick Rabenau, director of Type-A Training Group, which has begun instruction in the region. “The type of people that are coming through are people that want concealed carry … they’ve experienced it before and they want it here.”
…Rabenau stresses that the qualifications necessary to receive instructor approval aren’t strict enough and suggests people research their instructors.
“Be careful on who you pick as a training provider,” Rabenau said. “They opened it up to NRA instructors, which could be you, a school teacher, or a farmer … at the end of a two day course you’re an instructor.”
Well, Mr. Rabenau: For a guy who runs a firearms training company but who isn’t an Illinois-approved instructor, that’s pretty big talk. Here’s Type-A Training’s description of their trainers:
Type A Training Group instructors are experienced operators from the prestigious United States Army Special Forces, Navy SEALS, Marine Special Operations (Force Recon), and Local, State, and Federal Law Enforcement SWAT Team members.
Conspicuously absent from his website are the names and backgrounds of any of Type A’s trainers.
That aside, Mr. Rabenau giving the impression to that small-town newspaper reporter that a farmer or a teacher would somehow be inferior instructors in teaching entry-level handgun classes to everyday civilians seeking out that training is little more than rubbish.
I know of one farmer who is an instructor with GSL Defense Training that is top notch – he’s pictured at the top left of this page working with a little girl. Ditto for a teacher (albeit she is retired) who has taught rifle and pistol classes for three organizations for about as many years.
Frankly, I’ll put either of them up against Type A Training’s best allegedly “experienced operator” instructors in terms of their ability to teach beginners and even experienced civilians how to shoot and how to fight with their handguns.
Speaking of Type A Training, here are a couple of photos from their website of their training.
Rabenau apparently likes to submit news stories to small town papers touting his training. In March of this year, the Canton Daily Ledger published a piece about Rabenau’s Florida concealed carry classes.
CANTON –– – Strategic Security Systems, Inc. (SSS) offered a concealed carry permit course Wednesday at the Canton VFW.
The course covered firearms safety, proper handling of weapons and the laws associated with the Florida Concealed Carry Permit.
Attendees of the class were given all the materials needed to legally obtain a Florida Concealed Carry Permit, including the finger print cards required by Florida’s Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.
SSS President Nick Rabenau assisted with any questions or concerns about the proper filing for the permit and was assisted by law enforcement from another precinct during the course.
Rabenau is a skilled former service member of the U.S. Army Special Forces and has trained over 5,000 soldiers and counter terrorist team members in a variety of environments from the mundane to many less permissive arenas.
He recently relocated to Canton because of the rural areas and the potentially interested gun owners of Fulton County.
…People interested in enrolling in classes with SSS, Inc. or looking for a schedule of future classes or tuition pricing should contact Rabenau at 309/373-7079 or at http://www.strategictacticalusa.com through his email at Strategic_services_inc@yahoo.com
UPDATE
Two of our readers have texted me to let me know that Nick Rabenow responded to critics of his comments about instructors over at Illinois Carry.
Oh boy. You’re going to want to make yourself some popcorn, because this is good.
Here’s the text in case the moderators over at Illinois Carry strike it.
Type A
All- I heard about my name and company name being thrown around on here so I wanted to reply to the individual who started this. The whole reason that he started this is due to the fact that the Macomb, Illinois newspaper (McDonough Voice) contact me I reference to a concealed carry article that they were writing. Within the interview, they wanted to know what I would look for in an instructor for concealed carry training. To give you a quick rundown, I am a former US Army Special Forces Green Beret. My MOS is an 18C (Engineer) and my specialties are explosives and counter-terrorism. I got out of the military in 2003 and have worked for Department of Defense and Department of State Counter-terrorism programs in About 30 countries to include Iraq and Afghanistan. I have trained over 5000 soldiers/operators in counter-terrorism and tactics. I currently own Strategic Security Services, Inc. (International security consulting firm) and Type A Training Group (Firearms training company) and our company has already trained over 375 personnel in the Illinois Concealed Carry Training Course. My answer to the McDonough Voice is my own personal opinion and it comes from experience, not theory. They asked me if I was a student for concealed carry training, what would I look for in an instructor. I explained to them that for the concealed carry training program, I would look for an instructor that has a wide variety of experience. I would only use an NRA only instructor (means no other experience other than the NRA instructor course), for basic pistol classes. When it comes to learning about concealed carry and staying alive in a gun fight, I would look for someone with military, law enforcement, or security experience. I would also look for someone that has experienced gun fights and has lived thru them. This is proof that the instructor has to have some credibility to himself and is providing experienced based training and not theory based training. When I am a student in a class and I ask a technical question to an instructor, if he does not answer the question with experience or give sound tips or techniques, I will probably end up loosing respect or credibility for the instructor. This is no different than any other student. Lets be honest here, there are a few instructors (the exact individual who started this thread), who sells Frog Lube as a full time job, only hunting experience and he went to the two da NRA Pistol Instructor Course. He was actually in my class and was not too good at providing a classroom presentation or utilizing demonstrators for fundamental demonstrations. He is the exact person that I would shy away from when it comes to a concealed carry training class. I am not a fan of being in a classroom as a student and the instructor having just as much experience as 90 percent of the students. The students are paying a premium price to attend a concealed carry course and they need to be given a level of instruction that is higher than the students experience level in the classroom. I do understand that you will end up getting a few students that have a good back ground or competition shooter however, there are a lot of topics within the concealed carry class that builds a sound concealed carry user with a well rounded decision making process. The course that students attend simply give students a broad over view of subjects that they need to continue to develop for themselves. You are welcome to go onto Cyber Drive Illinois and look up both of my companies to ensure they are legit. I can also provide JPEG photos of instructor certificates, experience records, and corporate documentation for anyone wanting to question my corporation or myself. If you google my name, Nick Rabenau, you will be able to read up on my Special Operations background, Homeland Security Contracts that my company has had, and Law Enforcement Regional SWAT training programs that we have conducted throughout the Mid-West. I understand that some people think that it makes them look good if they get on these Forum sites and slander individuals or companies however, it does make them look very unprofessional. You can hide behind a computer and run someone down however, when you conduct concealed carry classes, the truth will come out on your performance. We are an experience based training provider and we are very professional. If you would like to inquire about our company, you can call us at 309-373-7079 or visit our website at www.typeatraininggroup.com. Thank you. Nick Rabenau
Type A
All- One other thing, I noticed that the individual stated that I offered him to sit in a chair as we conduct classes and have him sign off on certificates. I have not talked to him at all about being an instructor for us, using his “certificates”, etc. It’s fine that he is making this stuff up however, as he slanders my name and company and people inquire about it, they end up signing up for our ccw classes because they realize the experience difference between him and us. He also posted a lot of slander on his Facebook page two weeks ago and we have a lawsuit against him for his actions. I hope people think twice about slandering someone for no reason when there is clearly enough work to go around with concealed carry. Competition is good. It keeps companies honest. Thank you.
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