Gunsite’s finest course

Attended the two-day “Tactical Medicine” class: undoubtedly, in 60+ years of attending civilian and military training courses, the finest I’ve ever attended. The icing on the cake: the two best instructors I’ve ever met. Steve and Cory, you did an unequivocally excellent job. Well worth every dollar and minute invested in attending the class, it’s the perfect marriage of trauma/emergency medicine and armed tactics: medical technology has been advancing in the past five decades, especially since 2001, and our instructors brought us up to speed on the state-of-the-art, teaching us what works (and why), what doesn’t (ditto); where to obtain the equipment (while suggesting where not to); and how to use it (or how not to…) Like most of Gunsite’s classes, I didn’t want this one to end: it was significant, motivating, sobering, shocking… and, above all else, truly inspiring. We were given hard-won advice and warnings, examples of hard lessons learned, and sobering advice derived from excellent choices and some mistakes made. (Normally, I dislike examples cited from personal experience but these two veterans have actually seen and done it, citing lessons-learned from mistakes made by them or witnessed… and the information all rang true to my own experiences. In other words, no b.s. We were provided with many lists of references which were VERY appreciated, and a thumb-drive of the course contents, reference materials, lists… a virtual library for our edification. Alfred North Whitehead, a renowned educator, was long ago quoted about the value of this training. “Education should produce a student who knows something well, and can do something well: the marriage of theory and practice facilitates both. The mind does not work well in a vacuum.” This course taught us valuable hands—on skills in addition to the excellent how-to lectures and PowerPoint presentations. I came away with new skills that I’ve always desired but never reached a proficiency in. More, more, more! Show me more…! This course is superlative: in my opinion, it should be recommended to every prospective Gunsite student as a prerequisite to all other classes, no matter who they are, grizzled veteran, or young novice. Gunsite: you knocked this one out of the ballpark.

Thomas H. Young, September3-4, 2022, Gunsite, Paulden, AZ

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