President and Chief Instructor of Tactical Defense Institute, John Benner, is a 45-year veteran police Lieutenant and Vietnam Veteran. John coordinated the Drug Abuse Reduction Task Force for 5 years and spent 25 years with the Hamilton County Police Association Regional SWAT Team. During his 20 years as Commander, John received several prestigious awards including Contribution to Law Enforcement, Police Leadership and Officer of the Year. He is certified to instruct and has been a guest instructor for the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA). John has presented numerous times for the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI). He contracted with the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) across the United States for Active Killer, is the author of the FASTER Saves Lives program in conjunction with Buckeye Firearms Foundation and is the co-author of the nationally used CQPC Program.
About TDI
Tactical Defense Institute
TACTICAL DEFENSE INSTITUTE has been training civilians, law enforcement personnel, military / federal agencies and corporate security teams in tactical firearms and physical self-defense for over 24 years.
TDI is located in West Union, Ohio. All firearm classes are conducted at our Adams County, Ohio facility in the beautiful foothills of Southern Ohio. This rural 186 acre facility provides eight specialty ranges, including a 400 yard rifle range, a main range with a covered firing line, a steel range, 4-H club ranges, the upper range and an unknown distance range. We also have a two story force-on-force house, 3 live fire houses and a large classroom next to the main range. Motels are within 15-20 minutes driving distance. Motel information is sent upon course registration. Ammunition is available upon request.
GPS Coordinates To TDI (Lat: N384810.72 Long: W832343.21)
Facility Details
Classroom
The classroom has a break room with refrigerator, microwaves and a coffee maker. There are 2 restrooms.
Pistol Ranges
Pistol Ranges have numerous firing positions for paper and steel, allowing shooting back to 25 yards.
Upper Ranges
The Upper Range is designed for cover and concealment and vehicle combatives with realistic props and various types of vehicles.
Live Fire Houses
Three live fire houses for a variety of situations and skill levels.
Rifle Range
100, 200, 300, 400 yard shooting positions.
The Steel Range
Usually has two falling-plate racks, but can be configured for our other reactive targets.
testimonials
What some of our students said...
Hi John,
I want to take the time to thank you for an outstanding class this week. I am so very impressed with your organization and all of the instructors that I have had contact with in the two classes that I have taken with you. In 38 years in law enforcement and 33 years in the professional fire service, I have not found a more passionate group of instructors anywhere. I have been to Anniston, Alabama for homeland security training 9 times, been to the Mercury nuclear training site in Nevada for homeland security training, Texas A&M university for homeland security training and dozens of other schools, and you people are absolutely top shelf. You took the extra time with each person that was needed to get them through the course and made them feel good about themselves. I am looking forward to more training with your organization If I can ever be of any assistance to you, please let me know!
TDI–world class instruction available for everyone.
My thanks to you and the Team TDI for another fantastic weekend of training. The FIST program exceeded the my expectation (that were based on the experience relayed from past participants that I have met at other TDI programs). Wyatt’s and Bill’s live fire houses were great (as usual), Chris and Joe’s force on force house scenarios were “real world” and very practical (also as usual), and Forrest and John Motil gave us all excellent training scenarios on the upper range (those welts on my back were a reminder the entire drive home that I need to keep my “360 awareness” even when exiting a car under fire).
I know that you have heard this before; from me and from many, many others; but you and your team really are top notch. You and your team’s professionalism, experience, and talent for instruction cannot be beat. I look forward to Active Shooter in a few weeks.
Thank you again,
"The instructors were amazing, they instruct you on a very personal basis. TDI grounds were way above and beyond our expectations. John and his staff are extremely knowledgeable No complaints whatsoever."
"I wanted to take a minute to thank you and your staff for the amazing experience that my son and I had the pleasure to be a part of this past weekend. We’ve taken a few classes in the past but none were as comprehensive, enjoyable, and more importantly beneficial than HG I-III. I truly couldn’t think of one thing your staff could have done better. I pride myself on having a pretty good crew here and I commend you on putting together a great staff because I know how hard it is. I’m not going to blow a lot of smoke but I’ll give you the ultimate compliment – we’ll see you again soon."
This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the first offering of the new class, Medical Combatives. For the first time since my first class at TDI in 2008, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. That was good. It made me more attentive since I was being exposed to all new (to me) material. From the start in the classroom, the information was given out quickly, concisely, and pragmatically. We were taught what needed to be taught, and not taught what wasn’t needed. The hands on work in the classroom was the perfect primer for what we would be doing on the ranges. After the class work the range work was amazing and, in many respects, enlightening. I learned what changes to some of my equipment need to be made for me to remain effective in case of injury. But the highlight was day two. Putting the pieces all together on the upper range, the rifle range, and the live fire houses bore one of TDIs trademarks, the perfect balance of stress and enjoyment. You generated enough stress to create learning, and made it enjoyable enough to make me want more. So, in closing, I would like to both thank and congratulate you all. Thank you for offering this new class which is so important, and congratulations for just knocking it out of the park. Well done!
To John and entire staff at TDI:
I just wanted to send a message about how much I have enjoyed and appreciated the training that I have received at TDI. I believe I have been to TDI seven times over the past 5 years. I try to attend at least one or two courses per year somewhere to keep what skills I do have current. Our church security team also meets and trains monthly on security and medical topics, so I am fairly familiar with what good training looks like.
I try to get training from different sources if I can. Therefore, I recently attended a firearms course this summer at another facility that was sponsored by a statewide organization. While the instructors were knowledgeable, they were much less than professional. Out of the dozen or so in the class, they managed to directly berate about half of the students methods throughout the day. All they had to do is say, “we don’t teach it that way, this is what we teach, give it a try”. There was also a lot of unnecessary profanity used in the class with several ladies attending as well. There was more but I will just leave it at that.
I’ve had conversations with almost all of the TDI instructors during my classes at TDI and I have never felt anything but positive attitudes and received constructive advice from each and every one of them. After every TDI course I went home feeling great about the class and wanting to come back for more. When you have a good trainers, good content and respect for your students, everything else tends to take care of itself.
I can’t tell you how many times I have seen TDI instructors pull people aside, including myself, and show them another way to do something and give them a pat on the back or John Motil getting someone’s gun back in the fight. Again, thanks to the entire staff for always going above and beyond what’s expected. This is what sets TDI apart from the rest of the field.