iChokePeople
Master
- Feb 11, 2011
- 4,556
- 48
Imagine for a moment that you live in a world where you're not able to always keep everyone beyond the magical 21' radius in which you are lord and master. Imagine that you live in modern society where people are near you all the time, in which snarling and spinning and yelling "back off, scumbag" would cause a commotion and result in your being asked to leave the mall, movie, restaurant, etc. Imagine for a moment that someone who wanted to stab you, or play knockout king, or put a knife or gun in your face and demand your wallet, or attack you for being in the wrong part of town, or being the wrong color, or wearing the wrong color or the wrong shoes wouldn't announce his intentions from > 21'. Imagine that such a person might, as unfair and unsavory and uncivilized as it sounds, attack you by surprise, or approach you quietly from behind, or from an angle that caught you off guard (I know, barely conceivable...). Imagine that he/they might even employ some type of ruse to get close, appearing friendly or in need of help. Close your eyes and imagine such a thing. Does it make you wonder if you've done all you can do to improve your odds of protecting yourself and those in your care?
That's the train of thought that led me to put a class like that at the top of my training list. I considered southnarc's ecqc class first, being the gorilla in the category, until I had a really great training experience with Mike (cedartop) and Suarez International in another class and decided to try their version, 0-5 foot gunfighting. I question the name a little, and put the quotes around it in the title, because it is so much more than just gunfighting, but that's beside the point, a topic for another day.
After teasing me mercilessly for months, Mike finally got tired of my incessant badgering and brought the class to Indiana this past weekend.
Randy Harris, one of the top-level instructors for Suarez, was the lead instructor and is a master of this material and much more, but we were fortunate enough to attract another Suarez instructor from Ohio, John McCreery, along with our own cedartop. Having three (arguably four -- more on that in a minute) instructors was great for the 10 students who came to train. In addition, though, Randy brought along Ryan, a helper who is both a skilled, dedicated, very uncooperative opponent, and a bright guy who has been through the course many times and adds a lot of valuable information, much like a fourth instructor.
I'm not going to give away too much content or detail on the course, except to say that its focus is much more than just gunfighting. Its focus is to teach you to survive in the world I described above. Randy and the others take the class through a series of progressively challenging scenarios and give students the tools and knowledge to survive and win in various real-world situations, at close range, under stress. You'll learn very quickly whether you're really ready, and I think it's safe to say it was very eye-opening for most. Then you'll learn, practice, test some more, lather, rinse, and repeat. Each challenge builds on what you've learned, then sets you up to learn some more. Guns? Check. Knives? Check. Sticks, fists, knees, head butts? Check, check, check, and check.
At some point, if you choose to turn it up a level, you'll get to try to deal with more or less full-speed attacks by a motivated, trained, opponent. Ryan is great at tuning the level of the attack to the participant, to help you learn, maybe by failing. If you're young and strong and sturdy and willing, you're in for a fight. If you're a little more timid and frail, like me, he can go a little easier. You'll get the level of resistance you need, and you'll have the incredible opportunity to validate your beastliness or learn in a forgiving environment that you still have some work to do. I believe everyone in this weekend's class fell into the latter group.
Yes, there's some shooting, too, for those who need that. It flows from some of the previous work, and it's always fun.
I think a course like this should be on everyone's short list. If you're like most of the people here on INGO, you have enough guns, you're a reasonably good shot, you practice situational awareness as much as is reasonable. When you're prioritizing your time and resources available for this gun stuff, it would be ridiculous, in my opinion, to neglect the area in which you're most likely to have a problem to solve.
I'd like to thank Mike for bringing this class to Indiana, Randy for leading the instruction of this critical material, John, Mike and Ryan for adding immeasurably to the class with their insights, experience, knives, and baseball bat, and all of the other students for adding 10 different sets of ideas, experiences, and friendship.
If you haven't taken a class like this, you really owe it to yourself and those in your care to do it. If you have, I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir and you're planning to go again, like me.
That's the train of thought that led me to put a class like that at the top of my training list. I considered southnarc's ecqc class first, being the gorilla in the category, until I had a really great training experience with Mike (cedartop) and Suarez International in another class and decided to try their version, 0-5 foot gunfighting. I question the name a little, and put the quotes around it in the title, because it is so much more than just gunfighting, but that's beside the point, a topic for another day.
After teasing me mercilessly for months, Mike finally got tired of my incessant badgering and brought the class to Indiana this past weekend.
Randy Harris, one of the top-level instructors for Suarez, was the lead instructor and is a master of this material and much more, but we were fortunate enough to attract another Suarez instructor from Ohio, John McCreery, along with our own cedartop. Having three (arguably four -- more on that in a minute) instructors was great for the 10 students who came to train. In addition, though, Randy brought along Ryan, a helper who is both a skilled, dedicated, very uncooperative opponent, and a bright guy who has been through the course many times and adds a lot of valuable information, much like a fourth instructor.
I'm not going to give away too much content or detail on the course, except to say that its focus is much more than just gunfighting. Its focus is to teach you to survive in the world I described above. Randy and the others take the class through a series of progressively challenging scenarios and give students the tools and knowledge to survive and win in various real-world situations, at close range, under stress. You'll learn very quickly whether you're really ready, and I think it's safe to say it was very eye-opening for most. Then you'll learn, practice, test some more, lather, rinse, and repeat. Each challenge builds on what you've learned, then sets you up to learn some more. Guns? Check. Knives? Check. Sticks, fists, knees, head butts? Check, check, check, and check.
At some point, if you choose to turn it up a level, you'll get to try to deal with more or less full-speed attacks by a motivated, trained, opponent. Ryan is great at tuning the level of the attack to the participant, to help you learn, maybe by failing. If you're young and strong and sturdy and willing, you're in for a fight. If you're a little more timid and frail, like me, he can go a little easier. You'll get the level of resistance you need, and you'll have the incredible opportunity to validate your beastliness or learn in a forgiving environment that you still have some work to do. I believe everyone in this weekend's class fell into the latter group.
Yes, there's some shooting, too, for those who need that. It flows from some of the previous work, and it's always fun.
I think a course like this should be on everyone's short list. If you're like most of the people here on INGO, you have enough guns, you're a reasonably good shot, you practice situational awareness as much as is reasonable. When you're prioritizing your time and resources available for this gun stuff, it would be ridiculous, in my opinion, to neglect the area in which you're most likely to have a problem to solve.
I'd like to thank Mike for bringing this class to Indiana, Randy for leading the instruction of this critical material, John, Mike and Ryan for adding immeasurably to the class with their insights, experience, knives, and baseball bat, and all of the other students for adding 10 different sets of ideas, experiences, and friendship.
If you haven't taken a class like this, you really owe it to yourself and those in your care to do it. If you have, I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir and you're planning to go again, like me.
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