Without standards it is hard to know where you stand. I have oscillated between having a strong dislike of standards and thinking that they are an absolute necessity. My opinion on standards now is somewhere in the middle.
The bottom line is that any standard, whether it is shooting, combative or fitness, is meant to show us where we stand against a baseline. It is a measuring stick so to speak.
We don’t train to be able to perform a “standard”, we train so that we can protect ourselves and our families better. The “standard” is there to help us identify where we are falling short and where we need to focus more of our training time.
Fitness Standards
These standards are not meant to be done back to back like a PT test. Rather the idea is that these are individual tests of strength/ endurance. If you can perform each individual task over the course of a couple of days you are meeting the intent of the standard.
Bare Mininum
- Run 1 mile in 11 minutes.
- 25 push ups.
- 3 pull ups.
- Walk 3 miles with 30 lbs in 1.5 hours (30 min pace).
Baseline
- Run 3 miles in 25 min (8:20 pace).
- 50 push ups.
- 10 pull ups.
- Walk 6 miles with 40 lbs in 2 hours (20 min pace).
Advanced
- Run 6 miles in 51 min (8:30 pace).
- 80 push ups.
- 20 pull ups.
- Walk 12 miles with 55lbs pack in 5 hours (25 min pace).
Things you should always be able to do:
- Climb over a 6 ft wall.
- Swim 200 yards continuously.
- Tread water for 30 minutes.
- Do a basic swimmer rescue.
- Dead lift your own body weight.
- Drag a 200lbs man 30 yards.
- Throw a 30 sec flurry (heavy bag/ Thai pads or Bob, go as hard as you can for 30 seconds).
Summary
Vary your training. All of us want to do the things that we are good at. Be disciplined enough to do the things that you need to get better at.
- Run (preferable barefoot style) and ruck (30 – 75 lbs).
- Do push ups, pull ups, burpees and air squats.
- Primary lifts you should focus on: deadlift, squat and bench press (I stopped benchpressing many years ago because I repeatedly hurt my shoulders).
- Secondary lifts: overhead squats, cleans, zerker squats, and snatches.
- Use kettlebells: swings, single hand swings, snatches, clean and press and turkish get ups.
- Swing a macebell.
Go train!
april
23aprallday23-24 April 2026 Amtac Shooting Advanced Carbine Course IDNear Coeur d'Alene, ID
Course Details
Amtac Shooting Advanced Carbine Course Led by Bill Rapier Near Coeur d'Alene, ID Rifles allow us to shoot further, faster, and more accurately than our pistols. If you know you are going to
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Course Details
Amtac Shooting Advanced Carbine Course
Led by Bill Rapier
Near Coeur d’Alene, ID
Rifles allow us to shoot further, faster, and more accurately than our pistols. If you know you are going to get in to a fight, you bring a rifle. This class will make you better with your carbine, not just on a flat range setting, but also in the woods or on the side of a mountain. You will need a baseline of carbine skills and fitness to participate. Show up with a zeroed rifle and be ready to jump right into challenging drills and learn. Topics covered will include:
- Knowing your limits. How far and how fast can you make the shot to save your kid.
- Positional shooting.
- Bipod and tripod use.
- Building stable shooting positions in the woods.
- Minimizing exposure when shooting from cover.
- Shooting from your other strong side to maximize concealment/ cover.
- Positional shooting from cover.
- High heart rate drills.
- Challenging run and gun reps
Time
april 23 (Thursday) - 24 (Friday)
Course Contact
American Tactical Shooting Instruction LLC AmtacShooting@gmail.com
may
01mayallday1-3 May 2026 Modern Warrior Conference TXWichita Falls, TX - Registration Now Open
Course Details
2026 Modern Warrior Conference May 1-3, 2026 - Wichita Falls, Texas Why Attend? This is the premier Integrated Combatives event in the country. Come and join lead instructors Tuhon Tom Kier of
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Course Details
2026 Modern Warrior Conference May 1-3, 2026 – Wichita Falls, Texas
Why Attend?
This is the premier Integrated Combatives event in the country. Come and join lead instructors Tuhon Tom Kier of Sayoc Kali/ Sayoc Tactical Group, Tuhon Harley Elmore of Sayoc Kali/ Warriors Way, and Bill Rapier of Amtac Shooting/ Amtac Training, for a weekend of intense training and camaraderie with like-minded individuals. The topic this year is Integrated Combatives. Integrated Combatives is being able to seamlessly transition from striking to blade use to pistol use based off of what is tactically and situationally appropriate. Don’t be the guy who does not have an answer if he can’t deploy his pistol. Topics covered will include:
- Mindset
- Transitions between striking, blade use, and pistol use.
- Power striking to buy time for weapons deployment.
- Blade deployment and targeting.
- Challenging live fire drills.
- Vehicle considerations for fighting and shooting.
- Fighting with a buddy/ basic two man tactics.
- Low light fighting/ maximizing your tools at night.
Time
may 1 (Friday) - 3 (Sunday)
Course Contact
American Tactical Shooting Instruction LLC AmtacShooting@gmail.com
june
11junallday11-12 June 2026 Amtac Shooting Advanced Carbine Course UTNear Salt Lake City, UT
Course Details
Amtac Shooting Advanced Carbine Course Led by Bill Rapier Near Salt Lake City, UT Rifles allow us to shoot further, faster, and more accurately than our pistols. If you know you are going to get into a fight, you bring a rifle. This class will make you better with your carbine, not just on a flat range setting, but also in the woods or on the side of a mountain. You will need a baseline of carbine skills and fitness to participate. Show up with a zeroed rifle and be ready to jump right into challenging drills and learn. Topics covered will include: Knowing your limits. How far and how fast can you make the shot to save your kid Medium distance shooting out to 400 yards Positional shooting Bipod and tripod use Learn to build improvised shooting positions Minimizing exposure when shooting from cover Shooting from your other strong side to maximize concealment/ cover Positional shooting from cover High heart rate drills Challenging run and gun reps Registration and More Details Here >>
more
Course Details
Amtac Shooting Advanced Carbine Course
Led by Bill Rapier
Near Salt Lake City, UT
Rifles allow us to shoot further, faster, and more accurately than our pistols. If you know you are going to get into a fight, you bring a rifle. This class will make you better with your carbine, not just on a flat range setting, but also in the woods or on the side of a mountain. You will need a baseline of carbine skills and fitness to participate. Show up with a zeroed rifle and be ready to jump right into challenging drills and learn. Topics covered will include:
- Knowing your limits. How far and how fast can you make the shot to save your kid
- Medium distance shooting out to 400 yards
- Positional shooting
- Bipod and tripod use
- Learn to build improvised shooting positions
- Minimizing exposure when shooting from cover
- Shooting from your other strong side to maximize concealment/ cover
- Positional shooting from cover
- High heart rate drills
- Challenging run and gun reps
Time
june 11 (Thursday) - 12 (Friday)
Course Contact
American Tactical Shooting Instruction LLC AmtacShooting@gmail.com
Course Details
The Amtac Shooting Fighting In and Around Vehicles/Pistol Led by Bill Rapier Near Coeur d'Alene, ID We are in and around vehicles on a daily basis. As the security situation in our Nation continues to deteriorate, you are more and more likely to experience violence in your vehicle or in close proximity to it. This course will work through a short fundamental pistol progression and then jump into a progression of challenging live fire drills. You will draw and fire live fire from a vehicle as well as work small two or three-man team tactics live fire drills. On day two, we will start with a mindset talk and then jump into combatives inside of a vehicle, followed by airsoft force-on-force drills in and around vehicles. Topics covered will include: Mindset Pistol fundamentals Class on vehicle considerations, both combative and kinetic Live fire bailout drills What to keep in your vehicle Vehicle combatives class and practical Small 2-3 man team tactics around vehicles Basic medical class Challenging force-on-force situational drills This is a physically demanding course, you need to be healthy and have a baseline of fitness to participate. Lodging is available onsite
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Course Details
The Amtac Shooting Fighting In and Around Vehicles/Pistol
Led by Bill Rapier
Near Coeur d’Alene, ID
We are in and around vehicles on a daily basis. As the security situation in our Nation continues to deteriorate, you are more and more likely to experience violence in your vehicle or in close proximity to it. This course will work through a short fundamental pistol progression and then jump into a progression of challenging live fire drills. You will draw and fire live fire from a vehicle as well as work small two or three-man team tactics live fire drills. On day two, we will start with a mindset talk and then jump into combatives inside of a vehicle, followed by airsoft force-on-force drills in and around vehicles. Topics covered will include:
- Mindset
- Pistol fundamentals
- Class on vehicle considerations, both combative and kinetic
- Live fire bailout drills
- What to keep in your vehicle
- Vehicle combatives class and practical
- Small 2-3 man team tactics around vehicles
- Basic medical class
- Challenging force-on-force situational drills
This is a physically demanding course, you need to be healthy and have a baseline of fitness to participate.
Time
june 18 (Thursday) - 19 (Friday)
Course Contact
American Tactical Shooting Instruction LLC AmtacShooting@gmail.com
september
10sepallday10-11 September 2026 Amtac Shooting Advanced Carbine Course Boise IDBoise, ID
Course Details
Amtac Shooting Advanced Carbine Course Led by Bill Rapier Boise, UT Rifles allow us to shoot further, faster, and more accurately than our pistols. If you know you are going to get into a fight, you bring a rifle. This class will make you better with your carbine, not just on a flat range setting, but also in the woods or on the side of a mountain. You will need a baseline of carbine skills and fitness to participate. Show up with a zeroed rifle and be ready to jump right into challenging drills and learn. Topics covered will include: Knowing your limits. How far and how fast can you make the shot to save your kid Medium distance shooting out to 400 yards Positional shooting Bipod and tripod use Learn to build improvised shooting positions Minimizing exposure when shooting from cover Shooting from your other strong side to maximize concealment/ cover Positional shooting from cover High heart rate drills Challenging run and gun reps Registration and More Details Here >>
more
Course Details
Amtac Shooting Advanced Carbine Course
Led by Bill Rapier
Boise, UT
Rifles allow us to shoot further, faster, and more accurately than our pistols. If you know you are going to get into a fight, you bring a rifle. This class will make you better with your carbine, not just on a flat range setting, but also in the woods or on the side of a mountain. You will need a baseline of carbine skills and fitness to participate. Show up with a zeroed rifle and be ready to jump right into challenging drills and learn. Topics covered will include:
- Knowing your limits. How far and how fast can you make the shot to save your kid
- Medium distance shooting out to 400 yards
- Positional shooting
- Bipod and tripod use
- Learn to build improvised shooting positions
- Minimizing exposure when shooting from cover
- Shooting from your other strong side to maximize concealment/ cover
- Positional shooting from cover
- High heart rate drills
- Challenging run and gun reps
Time
september 10 (Thursday) - 11 (Friday)
Course Contact
American Tactical Shooting Instruction LLC AmtacShooting@gmail.com
october
Course Details
The Amtac Shooting Modern Minuteman Course Led by Bill Rapier Heppner, Oregon The Amtac Shooting Modern Minuteman Course This is the Modern Minute Man Course. The purpose of this course is to build men that can perform the following tasks: Be able to shoot out to 600-900 yards. Understand basic small unit tactics and team movement. Be able to navigate 20 miles while carrying a 25-30lbs load Understand basic LOS communications. Have a base level of bushcrafting skills. This course will set you on a path to
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Course Details
The Amtac Shooting Modern Minuteman Course
Led by Bill Rapier
Heppner, Oregon
The Amtac Shooting Modern Minuteman Course
This is the Modern Minute Man Course. The purpose of this course is to build men that can perform the following tasks:
- Be able to shoot out to 600-900 yards.
- Understand basic small unit tactics and team movement.
- Be able to navigate 20 miles while carrying a 25-30lbs load
- Understand basic LOS communications.
- Have a base level of bushcrafting skills.
This course will set you on a path to be able to perform these tasks. Training day one will consist of a precision rifle class/ practical, navigation class/ practical, and a short block on basic line of sight communications. After dinner on day one, we will do a NVG/ Thermal fam shoot (bring your NOD’s/ thermals if you have them), there will be some demo gear to use. Having NVG’s is not required for this class. Training day two will start with a practical navigation and communications exercise, then move into medium-distance high-heart rate positional shooting. In the afternoon, we will do a small unit tactics class and practical. The evening block of day two will consist of a night small unit training practical. Training day three will start with a mindset talk more precision rifle, and then finished up with a 2-3 hour shooting and navigation stress course. Camping is available on-site.
Time
october 21 (Wednesday) - 23 (Friday)
Course Contact
American Tactical Shooting Instruction LLC AmtacShooting@gmail.com
november
Course Details
The Amtac Shooting NVG Level 2 Course / Fighting at Night Led by Bill Rapier Near Coeur d'Alene, ID Fighting at night. The Amtac Shooting Level 2 NVG course is designed to train solid Americans how to maximize the advantage of fighting at night time. What are the best tactics, what is the right gear, what are the best practices to maximize our chances success? How do we shoot, move and communicate at night? In this course we will cover: Day and night shooting with pistol and carbine Setting up your helmet and NOD's Setting up pistol and carbine for night fighting Team movement at night Intro to day and night 2 man CQB Force on force runs at night Radio communications Team Tactics Mindset This is a physically demanding course. You will need a baseline of fitness to participate. For this Level 2 Course, I recommend that you have spent some time on NODs before you come. Lodging
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Course Details
The Amtac Shooting NVG Level 2 Course / Fighting at Night
Led by Bill Rapier
Near Coeur d’Alene, ID
Fighting at night. The Amtac Shooting Level 2 NVG course is designed to train solid Americans how to maximize the advantage of fighting at night time. What are the best tactics, what is the right gear, what are the best practices to maximize our chances success? How do we shoot, move and communicate at night? In this course we will cover:
- Day and night shooting with pistol and carbine
- Setting up your helmet and NOD’s
- Setting up pistol and carbine for night fighting
- Team movement at night
- Intro to day and night 2 man CQB
- Force on force runs at night
- Radio communications
- Team Tactics
- Mindset
This is a physically demanding course. You will need a baseline of fitness to participate. For this Level 2 Course, I recommend that you have spent some time on NODs before you come.
Time
4 (Wednesday) 12:00 pm - 6 (Friday) 9:00 pm
Course Contact
American Tactical Shooting Instruction LLC AmtacShooting@gmail.com
09nov5:00 pm8:00 pm9 November 2026 - Amtac Shooting Combatives Seminar (Kore BJJ) CTDanbury, CT
Course Details
Amtac Shooting Combatives Seminar (Kore BJJ) Danbury, CT This is a 3-hour combatives seminar hosted by Kore BJJ, American Top Team
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Course Details
Amtac Shooting Combatives Seminar (Kore BJJ)
Danbury, CT
This is a 3-hour combatives seminar hosted by Kore BJJ, American Top Team Connecticut in Danbury, CT.
Time: 5-8pm
It will focus on strategy and applying BJJ, wrestling, Thai Boxing, Boxing and Sayoc Kali principles into real life application. A mindset talk will be included.
Time
(Monday) 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Course Contact
Bill Rapierbill@amtacshooting.com