Got me excited. I completely understand why you do it. May I suggest you allow skilled gun fighters into you're level III if you're not full up. Or do an III for people who can prove / demonstrate proficiency? Just can't see investing $1200 and 6 days to get to a Sim experience. Now I'm not in any way comparing the two and apples to apples. Just saying if you're a Rogers Advanced shooter and solid IDPA shooter it may be a bit of a time and money hurdle? Going into some unknown "FOF" scenario's is appealing to me. Even better if some of the scenario's are designed to not be deadly force encounters to test one's judgement.
I don't know how I would go about certifying someone as a "skilled gunfighter".
I'm always flexible. I would be willing to let someone skip the Level 1 class if they had demonstrated a minimum proficiency level, or had already attended similar training with someone I knew that conducts good training in the subject matter.
Fact of the matter is, shooting IDPA and USPSA, and attending the Roger's Advanced course (excellent training that it is!) is not the same as being training in Room Clearing. Just because a guy is a Golden Gloves boxer he shouldn't be automatically granted a black belt in jiu jitsu; while some of the skills may translate over, there are more differences than similarities. Rob Leatham is a better shooter than any of my close friends, but if I have to clear a room I'm taking any one of them before I tap Leatham in. It's a matter of skill sets, tactics, and techniques, not necessarily how well they compete or have done in dissimilar live-fire training.
I can't see letting anyone I don't already know quite well personally go straight to the Level III class. I'm not going into a live-fire shoothouse with someone that I haven't already spent time with and know how they operate. I've got plenty of insurance, but I'd prefer not to use it.
ALL of my FOF training incorporate shoot and no-shoot scenarios and situations. It would be piss poor training if it didn't.