UPCOMING – 5 Day Training Program

This is an unusual subject matter for me, and one in which I am directly asking you for your assistance. 

There were essentially two seeds to this blog.  One seed was planted from a phone conversation I had with a young man in Washington, D.C.  He reads this blog and has followed the Artemis Defense Institute on Facebook for a number of years.  He was unsure how he could participate in Artemis training from 3,000 miles away.  The other seed came from Sandy; she has been looking for a method to allow ADI followers from outside Southern California the opportunity to benefit from a training program at Artemis.

With the help of our instructors, we developed a five-day comprehensive training program.  Those of you who train at Artemis are already familiar with the curriculum.  This five-day program essentially takes the core modules from CCW, 4M, Club 2A, Shoot with Steven and Sandy, Private Training, TAC-Med, and Self-Defense, and schedules them into a one-week program. 

During our last edged-weapons training with Steve Tarani, we settled on a date for this program:  March 4th through 8th of 2019.  This coincides with Tarani’s Karambit class return the weekend before, March 2nd through 3rd.

This program would allow students who follow us from not only across the country, but around the world, the opportunity to train the way we train, on our systems and with our instructors.

There is an issue, though, and that is where Sandy and I need your help.

Since our founding, we have received multiple requests to open an Artemis in different parts of the country.  First, we had to make sure that our program worked, and provided the best training available.  It is very expensive to open an Artemis, and we need to make sure that the survivability of the program is not put into jeopardy if we grow too fast.  Yet, that still begs the question:  How do we bring this valuable training to people who do not necessarily live in our area?  While there are literally thousands of weapons-training schools across the country, there is nothing out there quite like us.

This program is important to us.  Our message of training and, frankly, our passion for individual self-reliance, mastery of skill at arms, and making sure that legally armed civilians and law enforcement officers have the best training possible is a calling.  When we first opened our doors, Sandy and I watched as money flowed from our bank account. 

That first summer was an economic disaster for us.  (Note to self:  Don’t open a training facility right before the summer months!)  We wondered if we would even make it, but we were also resolute in our mission.  We knew that what we were offering people could, and would, save lives. 

Soon we had our first “testimonial.”

It came from a cop.  He had been involved in a use-of-force event, and told me that the training he received from us and the confidence he had were, in his mind, the reasons he was still alive.  A week later another cop pulled me aside during training to tell me how important this was to him.  Because of his training in deescalation, a mentally-troubled, homeless man was still alive.  But for his training with Artemis, that scenario may not have gone so well for the subject, and weighed forever on the conscience of the cop. 

Wow!

Then there was the family from Arizona.  Sandy worked with them directly (back then Sandy and I were really the only “full-time” instructors, and I was out of town).  A week later the family was subjected to a home invasion that ultimately resulted in the death of the intruder.  The husband and wife contacted us and, literally, were in tears on the phone.  The wife, who ironically did not want to come to Artemis on her vacation, was convinced that the training they received during their brief stay led directly to their ability to survive that deadly encounter. 

We decided, then and there, that regardless of how much (or little) Artemis made financially, we were doing missionary work.  Training and teaching are subjects both of us love, and each of us, as instructors, is passionate about.  But, what we teach… and stories of survival that have come from that teaching… well… that is the most humbling and rewarding part.

We want others who can’t “come in for a session” to have the same opportunity to learn from Artemis that the Southern California community has.  We are hoping that people who live outside of our area will come in for this comprehensive March program. 

If you know people who live a plane flight away from Orange County… (and I know you do)… tell them to call us, or shoot us an email to inquire about the program.  We are arranging hotel accommodations near Artemis… so not having a place to stay is no excuse!

Thank you for your support of ADI, and the passion that you have all shown for training.

Semper Vigilantes!