Ep. 193 - Cognitive Conclave 2026 with John Hearne, Lee Weems & Erick Gelhaus

This episode we talk about the up coming Cognitive Conclave 2026 with John Hearne, Lee Weems & Erick Gelhaus

Get Registered: https://twopillarstraining.com/conclave/

Eric sits down with the Rangemaster “Chess Club”—John Hearne (Two Pillars Training), Lee Weems (First Person Safety), and Erick Gelhaus (Cougar Mountain Solutions)—to talk about the missing piece in most firearms training: thinking with a gun in your hand, which is the focus of the Cognitive Conclave course.

They remember John Holschen, then get into why typical range work often looks more like “firing squad training” than real problem-solving. Decisions get stripped out of the drill. Then people are shocked when those skills don’t transfer.

Main points from the conversation:

• John’s “doorbell assignment” analogy — most training tells you exactly what to shoot, when, and how many times
• Lee on Claude Werner’s line that a lot of instruction is just firing-squad work, and why the four safety rules have to live inside the course of fire
• Erick on Scotty Reitz’s “blue tape / judgmental prez” drill, visual processing vs. audio cues, Neuros, and Mirage targets
• Force-on-force is still the gold standard for complex decisions, but logistics limit reps. Cognitive-load live fire gives far more decision cycles in a day
• Technical skill still matters. Multiple sources (including Adam Biggs’ research, plus high-level shooters like Frank Proctor and Matt Little) point to about USPSA B-class as the point of diminishing returns — after that, thinking and tactics matter more than chasing the next classification
• This work is a supplement to force-on-force, not a replacement

Cognitive Conclave 2026: October 24–25

Coming up from the guests:

• Lee – Rangemaster reunion in December, TACCON presentation work, Enhanced Coaching Skills
• Erick – Low-light pistol (Meridian, ID), shotgun (Piru, CA), Problem Solving Pistol at Mead Hall (OK), Red Dot Instructor (New Orleans area)
• John – Who Wins / Who Loses lecture with Karl Rehn, Northwest Law Conference (Seattle), class with Chuck Pressburg at Mead Hall

Links

• John Hearne – Two Pillars Training: https://twopillarstraining.com/
• Lee Weems – First Person Safety: https://firstpersonsafety.com/
• Erick Gelhaus – Cougar Mountain Solutions: https://www.cougarmountainsolutions.com/
• Erick also writes at AmericanCop.com