About the author
My name is Chris Upchurch. I have never served in a high-speed low-drag military unit. I’ve never been a member of a SWAT team. What I am is an ordinary citizen who has taken a great deal of time and effort to become an expert in some unusual skill sets. Now my goal is passing these skills on to other people through writing and training.
Acknowledgments
The content of this site owes a great deal to many people, chief among them Neil Hood, Gabe Suarez, John Farnam, Alex Nieuwland, Randy Harris, Tom Sotis, Roger Phillips, Eric Pfleger, John Meade, John Chambers, Eric Dorenbush, Chuck Pressburg, and Jon Dufresne. Every one of them added substantially to my knowledge of how to fight with a firearm and opened my eyes to things that I had not even known were possible before.
Training resume
Rifles Only
Costa Ludus
- Carbine 1
- Long Range Semi-Auto
- Vehicle
Gunsite Academy
- Night Vision Pistol/Carbine
- Night Vision Pistol/Carbine Level II
TNVC
- Night Fighter 101
- Night Fighter 201
Kinetic Consulting (Jon Dufresne)
- Rifle Mechanics
- Weaponized Geometry
- Night Vision Level 1
Greenline Tactical
- 2022 Night Operations Summit
- Clip-on DMR with Eric Vargas
- DarkLab with Eric Butler
- NVG on the Move with Jon Dufresne
- DarkLab
- 2023 Night Operations Summit
- No-vis Pistol with Jon Jeu
- Principles of Light and Movement with Duane Buckner
- Night Building Assault with Chuck Pressburg
- NVG Shoothouse
- Shoothouse Level 1
Larry Vickers
- Advanced Pistol
- Pistol-Carbine Operator
Presscheck Consulting (Chuck Pressburg)
- No Fail Pistol
- No Fail Rifle
- Night Fighter
Ronin Tactics (Tu Lam)
- Carbine
- Pistol
- Streetfighter
Shaw Strategies (Daniel Shaw)
- Carbine Vitals
- Patrol Rifle Problem Solver
Range 54
- Shooting in Low Light
- Defensive Home Shotgun
- Essential Defensive Pistol Skills
- Advanced Pistolcraft
Match Grade Precision
- Precision Long Range 1 (twice)
- Precision Long Range 2
Green Eye Tactical (Eric Dorenbush)
- Night Vision Operator
- Close Quarters Marksmanship
- CQB Fundamentals
- Intermediate CQB
APA Training (David Bonn)
- Advanced Carbine 1
- Advanced Carbine 2
Thunderbird Tactical (Daniel Shaw)
- Carbine Vitals I
- Rifleman Squad Member
- Carbine Vitals II
Pfleger Martial (Eric Pfleger)
- Pathfinder, Recce, & Man Tracking
- Longrifle (twice)
- Total Gunfighter
- Vehicle Operations
- Rural Scout Sniper
- Full Contact Gunfighter 1
- Full Contact Gunfighter 2
- CQB Entry/Breaching
- Winter Warrior
- Advanced Vehicle Operations
- Rural Patrolling/Small Unit Tactics
Fight Focused Concepts (Roger Phillips)
- FFH-3 Point Shooting Concepts
- Extreme Night Fighter Week
- FFH-7 Advanced Fight Focused Drills
- FFH-4 Fight Focused Marksmanship
- Rifle for Gunfighters (with Colby Rupert)
- Close Quarters Battle: The Study (with Ninpo Student)
- FFH-3 The Reactive Gunfight
Defense Training International (John Farnam)
- Fighting with a Handgun
- Defensive Urban Rifle
- DTI Instructor Course
Suarez International
Gabe Suarez
- Close Range Gunfighting
- Force on Force
- Close Range Rifle Gunfighting
- Combat Pistol Instructor School
- 0-5 feet Pistol Gunfighting
- Kalashnikov Rifle Marksmanship
- Advanced Kalashnikov Rifle Gunfighting (twice)
- Kalashnikov Rifle Force on Force
- CQB: Fighting in Structures
- CQB Instructor Course
- Team Tactics
- Guerrilla Sniper II
Randy Harris
- Snub-nose Seminar
- Extreme Close Range Gunfighting
- 0-5 feet Pistol Gunfighting
- Low Light Force on Force
- Glock Armorer
Karl Johnson
Roger Phillips
- Point Shooting Progressions
- Advanced Point Shooting Progressions
- Long Gun Point Shooting Progressions (twice)
Alex Nieuwland
- Shotgun Gunfighting
- Dynamics of the Shotgun (twice)
Steve Baron
- Applegate Combat Point Shooting System
Eric Pfleger
- Guerrilla Sniper
- Team Tactics
Ryan Acuff
John Meade
- Trauma Medicine for the CCW Operator (twice)
- Advanced Trauma Medicine
Scott Vandiver
Keith Seto
- Trauma Medicine for the CCW Operator
Jack Rumbaugh
- Terrorist/Active Shooter Interdiction
John Chambers
- M4 Sniper Week - Designated Marksman School
- M4 Sniper - DMR
- DMR-3 Patrol Phase
- Shotgun Gunfighting
- Vehicle Gunfighting
Greg Nichols
- Wilderness Warrior Weekend
Massad Ayoob Group
AMOK! (Tom Sotis)
- Accessing Under Attack
- Tactical Counter Footwork
- Functional Traps and Snares
- Managing the Kill-Zone
- Disarming Using Edged Weapons
- Knife vs. Knife
- In-Fight Accessing
American Tactical Shooting Association
- 2010 National Tactical Invitational
National Rifle Association
- Basic Instructor Training
- Basic Pistol Instructor
Training courses taught
- Introduction to Defensive Pistol
- Combat Pistol Marksmanship
- Advanced Combat Pistol Marksmanship
- Defensive Pistol Skills
- Point Shooting Gunfight Skills
- Combat Rifle Marksmanship
- Advanced Combat Rifle Marksmanship
- Fighting Rifle Skills
- Rifle Gunfighting
- CQB: Fighting in Structures