In an industry that often treats firearms training as a single event, take a class, check a box, move on, Achilles Heel Tactical has gone the opposite direction.
The company recently explained why it built its Annual Training Pass, and the reasoning has less to do with discounts or promotions than with a problem most shooters recognize: inconsistency.
According to Achilles Heel Tactical founder Rick Crawley, the idea didn’t originate in a boardroom. It came from a student who summed up the friction shooters face when trying to train regularly.
“He told me, ‘I don’t want to keep checking your website. I don’t want to think about schedules or pulling out a credit card every time. I just want to train,’” Crawley said. “That wasn’t laziness. That was friction—and friction kills consistency.”
Every extra step—monitoring class calendars, re-justifying cost, worrying about sell-outs—reduces how often people train. And when training frequency drops, skill decay sets in. Safety erodes. Performance becomes inconsistent.
Achilles Heel Tactical built its Annual Training Pass to remove those barriers and reframe training as a regimen rather than an event. Instead of one-off courses, pass holders receive unlimited access to open-enrollment training throughout the year.
The goal, Crawley says, isn’t convenience. It’s commitment.
“One class doesn’t make you competent for the next three years,” he said. “The shooters who improve fastest aren’t the most talented. They’re the most consistent.”
There’s also a business reality behind the decision. Achilles Heel Tactical is no longer a single-instructor operation. Its cadre includes Paul Costa, David Acosta, Shane Parman, Crawley, and additional instructors as the company grows.
The Annual Training Pass allows students to train across the entire cadre while maintaining consistent standards and instructor viability.
That long-term thinking extends to pricing and capacity. The Annual Training Pass is limited to 100 participants to avoid overcrowding classes and ensure instructors can teach professionally, safely, and efficiently. Pricing is intentionally structured to attract committed shooters rather than casual attendees.
“Price filters behavior,” Crawley said. “We’d rather train with a smaller group that’s serious than a large group treating training like an experience.”
Pass holders also receive a price-lock guarantee. Those who commit early retain their rate even as training costs rise. Shooters who leave and later return re-enter at the current pricing and benefits.
Early results indicate the model is performing well. Achilles Heel Tactical reports that many pass holders are training eight or nine times per year—far more than the industry norm. Instructors are seeing better preparation, lower ego, stronger safety habits, and improved consistency in performance.
The biggest change, Crawley says, isn’t financial.
“It’s cultural. These shooters show up ready, support each other, and raise the standard in every class,” he said. “They don’t just train here. They belong here.”
Achilles Heel Tactical is clear that the Annual Training Pass is not meant for everyone—and that’s by design.
“This isn’t about saving money,” Crawley said. “It’s about removing excuses, increasing reps, and building shooters who take responsibility seriously. If that doesn’t resonate, there are plenty of other places to train—and that’s fine.”
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