In my opinion, it was worth every penny. The weather was surprisingly decent for almost of it. Aaron's a cool dude. He told great stories and really knew his stuff. His instruction was broken down well and he demonstrated a lot of stuff. The first day was mostly what he covers in his videos, but better since it's in person and he could answer questions. Stuff like grip, sight alignment/picture, shooting while moving forwards/backwards, etc. The second day started with a conversation on verbal commands, then a cold open on a scenario where there were 1-2 threats with guns in a group of innocents. It was interesting to see how everyone handled their scenarios, which were all different and you didn't know what you had until you turned around and assessed the situation. From there, it was one handed shooting, common malfunctions, then shooting from kneeling and supine. Finally, there was a qualification to pass the class (all 50 shots on target from 3-25 yards) and, if you performed well enough (no more than 4 shots outside of B zone/head), you got a patch. I performed really well (no hits outside of B zone/head) until the last 5 shots at 25 yards. I discovered during the class that my sights shoot really low at that distance. In order to get high thoracic hits, I have to aim at the top of the head. Well, I got excited at the very real possibility of getting that patch and lost focus. I instinctively aimed at the shoulders and all 5 shots hit a little below the B zone (a few were within a couple inches I think), barely disqualifying me from getting a patch. I also shot a clean target right beside my actual target because I couldn't see the holes at that distance. I don't know why it was there, but it was. Aaron was forgiving on that haha. I took those failures home with me as a lesson that just because you may have the skills and be "good" enough, losing focus can be detrimental. In real life, I could've lost a lot more than just a patch.
Overall, I learned a lot and improved a good amount in the class. I had a grip issue caused by my small hands that was causing me to shoot low and left semi consistently at distance. Aaron helped me fix that. I asked him a ton of questions about a bunch of things ranging from gear to tactics while on breaks, and he was always more than willing to share his wisdom. He knows how to get his point across while being serious, sarcastic, and funny all at once. I plan on taking another class from him as soon as I can. This was my first defensive class (because the ccw class doesn't count if we're all being honest), and I'm glad I took it from someone of his caliber.
I hate you missed it, man.