As I walked onto an outdoor shooting range, the sharp crack of gunfire and the metallic ping of targets echoed through the air.
My nerves surfaced, and a mix of excitement and anxiety settled deep in my chest. Around me a small group of women gathered, introducing themselves and sharing that they too wanted to become more educated in handling a firearm.
As one of those women, my fear and intimidation around handling a firearm stems from a lack of education and hands-on experience. My fear of guns came from not having a clear understanding of how to properly handle them, their internal workings, safe operation, and the correct technique required to fire accurately and hit the target.
Firearms are intimidating because they are capable of destroying and causing permanent harm and damage, and that reality demands respect.
I often seek adventure in the outdoors where you are vulnerable to the environment, and in an ever‑changing world, self‑protection feels like a vital skill to learn. As the saying goes, it is better to have a skill and not need it than to need it and not have it.
I first learned about RedWatch through my friend, Tina Swarts, who shared a social media reel advertising their women’s-only course. Through further research on the company and learning more about the instructors, I decided to pull the trigger and face my fear of gun handling and ownership.
RedWatch, a training program with its headquarters in Ramona, is operated by five battle-tested former U.S. Navy SEALs with over 80 cumulative years of experience in combat deployments, executing missions in some of the world’s most hostile environments.
RedWatch provides firearm safety and training courses for law enforcement, military personnel and civilians. Their all-women’s pistol course is designed to teach firearm operation in a supportive, non-competitive environment where safety and fundamentals are the primary focus.
I took the course Jan. 17 on a private range in Alpine. Before a single round was fired, we learned about the anatomy of the pistols we would be shooting during the day-long course. Dave Swarts, chief executive officer of RedWatch and a former Navy SEAL with 20 years of military service, carefully explained each component of the Glock 19 pistol — the grip, trigger, slide, barrel, magazine and sights.
Gaining a clear understanding of how the pistol operates allowed me to visualize each stage of the firing cycle, from the round feeding out of the magazine and seating into the chamber, to the execution of applying smooth, steady pressure on the trigger. With this understanding, I found that the intimidation associated with operating a firearm was reduced.
Johnny Collins, RedWatch’s chief training officer and a former Navy SEAL with 12 years of military service, told us about six core gun safety rules that were strictly enforced throughout the day. Range commands, which were called out and repeated back to the line instructor, the person responsible for supervising shooters on the firing line, echoed across the range.
As you step up to the line, your pistol is unloaded. You are shown your workspace — the area directly in front of you — with the pistol pointed safely toward the sky. You are instructed to load the magazine into the pistol, rack the slide and show the instructor that a round is chambered.
RedWatch Chief Training Officer Johnny Collins, Chief Executive Officer Dave Swarts, firearms training student Stephanie Ogilvie, Chief Operating Officer Tim Speer, and RedWatch Director of Brand and Strategic Marketing Derek Janisch at the Jan. 17 All-Women’s Pistol Training Course. (Courtesy RedWatch)
The line instructor’s steady, fundamental reminders guide you through each moment: check your stance, grip, sight alignment and sight picture. As you begin the trigger pull, you are reminded to breathe. Collins often reminded us that, “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast,” words that became a mindset for safety, clarity, focus and accountability while firing a gun.
Though my personal experience with firing pistols has been limited, taking this course started to shape a deeper understanding of, and respect for, personal protection and the responsible use of firearms. The instructors broke down the fundamentals of shooting your target, creating a rhythmic cadence that replaced fear with focus.
They also took the time to understand me as a student, and created a space where vulnerability was not only allowed but essential. Holding and firing a gun is a scary experience. You are absolutely aware that you have a tool capable of causing lethal harm, destroying property and inflicting irreversible damage.
That awareness alone is enough to make your hands shake, tremble and sweat as you work on learning how to properly grip and manage trigger pressure. This is all done while you learn to focus on the front sight, not the target itself, resisting the instinct to look beyond the gun and at the target.
When Tim Speer, RedWatch’s chief operating officer and a Navy SEAL with over a decade of military service, learned that I am a photographer, he compared the front-site focus concept of sighting a firearm to composing a shot through a camera lens. That connection made everything click. I began to understand how to align, focus and execute with intention.
The instructors served both as teachers and encouragers, correcting mistakes through small, precise adjustments in a way that never felt threatening.
As the day came to an end, the noise of the range began to fade and so did my fear and intimidation.
Fear was transformed into awareness, control and responsibility.
I walked off the range having gone through a transformative process, one that built my confidence and competence in handling a firearm, sharpened my awareness of my surroundings and reinforced a deeper understanding of self-defense as preparation.
For details about RedWatch’s training programs, visit their website www.theredwatch.com or follow @red_watch on Instagram.
Ogilvie is a freelance writer and photographer for the Sentinel