Shrek. The Sheriff of Baghdad. SOB Tactical. These are all names associated with retired Delta Force Sergeant Major, John McPhee. In addition to offering some of the most effective training sessions available to civilians, McPhee has entered the 21st century with his own media platform on which his special brand of no nonsense training is highlighted.
For the sake of full disclosure, I have attended two of John’s training courses – the one-day pistol course, and the one-day carbine course. I was asked to give SOBTV a try and then offer my review of their product. In future reviews, I will probably do a brief review of my experiences on the range with SOB Tactical, but for now, Let’s talk about the SOBTV App and website.
The image above, a screenshot from the SOBTV website, shows the various categories of videos McPhee has posted to the site. They cover everything from his own typically comical reviews of strange current events, Booze N Views, to McPhee’s penchant for murdering off the sacred cows of the guns, gear, and marksmanship world. What sacred cows you ask? Things like trigger jerk, how much finger to use on the trigger, and that silly pie-chart marksmanship target that lies to you about your grip, breathing, and trigger finger.
Perhaps we will cover sacred cows and their bloody demise in future reviews. For now, though, back to SOBTV.
There is a category for newcomers that includes videos covering the basics of marksmanship from grip, to stance, to eye-dominance, and more. John has a simple and easy to digest way of teaching that really lends itself to helping those who are new to firearms and shooting. The videos are typically brief so there isn’t an information overload response like some instructors and instructional videos create. SOBTV videos are generally around two minutes in length, so they can be watched at any time, even when just on a brief break at work.
Personally, I would recommend the newcomers category to every shooter. One of the main things I have learned from both McPhee and from years of being on ranges, is that most people know how to shoot a gun. What most people don’t know how to do is how to shoot a gun properly. You just aim and pull the trigger, right? Well, sort of, but also no.
I can speak about this from personal experience. I’m fifty-five years old. I fired a real gun, as in something other than a BB gun, when I was seven years old. My father had a .22LR single-action pistol and he taught me how to hold it and how to shoot it. Fast forward a few years and I owned my own shotgun and frequently shot my father’s .44 magnum revolver. A Remington Nylon 66 followed. I still kept the BB rifle and used it to exterminate quite a few pests from birds to mice.
After that, I joined the US Army and served as Military Police, which meant training on the M16A1 and the 1911 pistol. I qualified expert on both and later qualified expert on the M60 machine gun, the M249, the M9, and was even proficient with the MK19 grenade machine gun. I trained with and qualified on every variant of the M16 from A1 to A4, including the M16A2E3, before being handed an M4.
Over the years, I attended courses operated by the US Army, the US Navy, the US Marine Corps, Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Police SWAT teams, retired special operations personnel and JSOC Tier One operators. I even posted my own shooting videos and some minor instructional things on my own YouTube channel. I say all of that in order to make the following statement:
I learned more from 6 hours with John McPhee than I did in all of those other courses combined. Not because of the amount of information imparted to the students, but because of the importance of the information imparted. For forty-five years, through all of those years of service and training courses, and thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition, and doing pretty well for myself, I learned something. I was holding my gun wrong. The whole time. That’s the sort of thing you learn from John McPhee. Experienced, or not, John will make you a better shooter.
Currently, SOBTV is doing a series on CQB, or Close Quarters Battle, where Shrek talks about the strategies, tactics, and philosophies involved in the dispatching of bad guys in enclosed spaces. I’ll be writing up a review of that series in the near future.
If you’re looking for ideas on new shooting drills you can work on at the range, SOBTV has no shortage of those as well. John’s famous Placement Test, which is performed at the beginning and the end of each of his training courses, is a great baseline test that immediately lets you know if you are following the proper basics. That drill is covered on SOBTV.
Currently, subscriptions to SOBTV are $14.99 per month. In addition to all of the fine instruction, advice, and John’s reviews of whiskey and shenanigans, SOBTV gives you a community of like-minded people who are all there for one purpose: To improve. The app’s interface is very easy to navigate and you’ll gain access to hours of videos you can watch, rewatch, practice, and watch again at your convenience.
Overall, the next best thing to being there and attending one of John’s courses, is having access to the app and website for SOBTV. You won’t be disappointed.
Go To https://sobtactical.com/ and click on GET THE APP.
Ross
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