Caution: The contents of this article are for education purposes only. The principles described are extremely dangerous and are for military close combat training and operations only. Their application applies solely to the military.
I am an American and after checking out several advertised providers of hand to hand combat training have come to the following conclusions.
The advertising for these places would have you imagine they had great big training facilities with all the equipment and hundreds of people training their. You would also believe that they were military close combat experts with a life times experience and had been fully trained and qualified. This could not be further from the facts. I found no such places or qualified instructors. Could you advise where I can contact military qualified instructors that are reputable?
I suggest you check out the International close combat instructors association web site at www.clscbtassc.com. Not all of the association members have large training facilities and some only instruct individual tuition but they are all military trained and qualified and have the knowledge and experience.
I am looking at setting up a training area at my house and wondered if you could advise on if I should get a punch bag or human torso type target for CQC training.
I don't use either but do like a foam covered crash mat against the wall that you can strike with maximum power and low risk for building confidence.
I have friends that travel half way around the world to take your Todd Group courses at New Zealand and they say there is nothing like it in the States. Why do you think that is and with so many people from the West looking to Eastern instructors for knowledge it must go against the grain somewhat?
Yes slots permitting we have visiting exponents all year round down under. Most of them come from the US, Australia, and the UK although now we find more and more Asian exponents on course. I have a Thai, Cambodian and Chinese exponents training right now and recently had an exponent from Japan training. He thought it was ironic that so many styles down under sought their knowledge from Eastern sources when we attracted so many exponents from all over the world. He said the violence in the West was very different to that where he came from and the physical size of the violent offenders in the West was often considerably greater. He said even his martial arts trained friends felt uneasy often when in the big cities of the West and had fallen victim to street violence that they could not defeat. We attract mainly military and security force personnel and civilians that have found out the hard way how lacking they were in real life situations.
The courses we conduct are as real as it gets as expert close combat master chief instructor Lawrence Jordan described them. This is because we have been doing it for over seventy-seven years and know our trade and how to get the best out of our exponents. The system is also battle proven and has been used since world war two and has been constantly updated to make it a most current and specialist military system. After all if it was never instructed to the military and never employed in operations and has not stood the test of time its hardly true military close combat. We also get down as simple and brutal and practical as it gets in training and testing. No protective gear or tens of rules.
We can do this in NZ where many countries can't for liability reasons. The whole operation is geared at only the best in skills and the best of the best in exponents making it up through the ranks. It also attracts expert instructors like Larry Jordan. That is testament to just how realistic the courses are.
Where can I find books on CQB and military self defence? Do you have such publications?
I do have manuals and a video / DVD series that you can find from www.toddgroup.com. Also check out Paladin Press as they have many titles on the subjects of CQB and CQC.
I have an American publishing and productions company that will distribute my titles soon. They will be advertised on Fight Fimes www.fighttimes.com
Operationally where do you recommend I should carry my knife?
I personally recommend carrying several knives as part of your standard kit. Depending on your role and duties you may carry job specific knives or dual-purpose knives.
Anyway a folder and a killing knife or a combined survival knife come killing blade would be the bare minimum to cover general requirements and emergencies. By having more than one blade housed or fixed in various places on your belt order or person gives you backups should you lose one knife or another.
In regards to a fighting or killing knife I prefer it to be fixed to the suspender front strap on your less dominant side with the blade up and the hand grip pointing down.
I like the handgrip to be approximately at nipple height. This position allows you to draw the knife down and away from your neck area.
The dagger I designed is held in the sheath with a bungee cord that is looped through a hole in the rear of the handgrip and then is stretched over the skull crusher at the handgrip end and behind the handgrip. This release system, combined with the sheath, was designed by Ron Evans, our Celtic correspondent. You can release the knife with one hand with this system.
For urban covert carrying the knife in the sheath could be taped to standard trouser bearing braces. The other method of urban carry I think has merit is the around the neck lanyard with a quick release function as long as the knife is hanging no higher than nipple height.
If the knife is hanging close to your throat it can be difficult to get to in a counter strangle situation.
What do you think about advertising for training that makes claims it will enable you to defeat any enemy with ease after buying the course? The other thing I read is adverts by the instructors students or buddies saying things like they have never seen such a great instructor and such a deadly fighter as their man etc.
Well I have read such promotions and on checking the individuals out have found little to rave about. This is big on hype and not much bang for your bucks BS.
I, like you, would like to see it for myself and after viewing some of the footage of these feared practitioners of complete devastation have come to the following conclusions.
The reason for the hype is because they need the business otherwise their perfect programme would have them inundated with exponents once the world had found out that these methods were foolproof.
The military elite would have them busy until eternity, but that does not seem to be the case, so we can only presume fame has not quite come their way other than notoriety by means of self-promotion.
To back up their claims they even enlist the support of individuals who are regarded as instructors in their particular fields. Often friends or business associates. Things like I am highly qualified in this art or that style and didn't know anything until I met the Guru or I have never seen such a master of hand to hand combat as the Guru.
I wonder if they have ever seen a qualified military master instructor at work in their life or real military close combat.
I recently received a video to evaluate on so called ground fighting by a self proclaimed military close combat instructor along with the buddy promotions.
Well a grappler would have identified that this individual done more talking than doing and what he did do was so flawed in the basics of ground fighting that all it showed was how inept he was. Now ground combat is considerably different again to ground fighting when you take into consideration the use of firearms, edged or improvised weapons in the clinch or on the ground but they do share many common sense basic principles that this individual did not employ.
It comes back to credentials, service and experience in one's trade not credibility by association or buddy promotions, innuendo or self-promotion. The credible have done the hard yards on qualification courses and have the runs on the board. The others have who knows what, but it certainly isn't a military close combat qualification.
I prefer to train from and with the credible like getting any repairs done on your house, car or yourself, the best practise is to go to those that are qualified.
Hi Tank, is the temple area a good unarmed striking area or not?
The temporal bone is located above the ear on the side of your head and is not a good target as the cranial bone is some of the strongest bone in the human body and the temporal bone is very thick and resilient.
I have found that many instructors confuse it with the sphenoid bone, which is located about 2.5cm back from your eye. This bone is thinner and concave so if was damaged it could be forced inwards and the result could be fatal.
Many of the old time instructors that I have trained from did in fact confuse these to vital points.
Hello there. This is more an observation rather than a question. I have for over twenty years been involved in self defence training in New York. I know many of the people who instruct civilian and military. There appear to be two categories of instructors out there. There are the qualified who instruct the military and have proven histories and there are those that would be if they could be qualified instructors to the military and have official Government contracts. For the wise identifying the qualified is easy.
Dear Tank, this is more what I know and have discovered rather than a question that I will share with readers. I have been looking for military close quarter combat type training and have found you have the background and the methods as well as the credentials I am looking for.
I am about 6ft 2, 220lbs, 33yrs old, and married with 3 kids. I am not in the military or professional fighter like some of your students. I previously worked in banking, and am now about to join the aviation industry.
My martial arts experience includes Shaolin Kungfu, and Judo, also did a bit of western boxing and freestyle wrestling.
However, on occasions when I have had to defend myself in street fights, those techniques fly out the window and I instinctively revert to knees, elbows and head butts to win fights. I am not a troublemaker, but Nigeria where I live can be a rough place and one has to be able to take care of himself.
However, I love Nigeria and would live nowhere else. The martial arts available here are Judo, Karate, Shaolin Kungfu, TKD, and western boxing and wrestling. Most street fights in Nigeria are won by boxers or wrestlers, the traditional martial arts are taught as sports, not for the street, and will definitely not work against a hardened street thug armed with a stick or knife with some boxing training.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply to me. I am just a guy that wants to be able to protect himself and his family in the quickest and most efficient way possible, anywhere on the planet.
Keep up the good work.
Hi Mr Todd. I know many people that have been on your courses around the world and that have passed their testing and moved on to learn the specialist and armed combat training.
They also have told me about your ground combat techniques that are unlike anything these people have been taught before even though they are well versed in practical martial arts. They will not show me and I wanted to know why they can't and why you do not have manuals and video's on the more specialist subjects you are respected world wide for.
Thank you for your com and I will explain why I don't have such material publicly available. The Todd Group's HQ is responsible for the doctrine training and management packages for military close combat with a lineage not only to the forefathers of military close combat but also to current special operations.
We must when we have current elite training skills and concepts restrict the material for as long as possible to maintain advantage to our operators.
We also must maintain exponent and instructor standards by ensuring our people have completed the training and testing phases hands on and are fully trained and qualified.
We do not want individuals that think they know what the skills are that are a poor reflection of the Todd Group in relation to skills and inner resolve.
If an individual does not have the commitment to train and test it says a lot about their personal combative qualities.
We do not sell rank. It must be achieved and our role is to maintain standards by vetting, selection, training, testing and promoting. We offer manuals on basic training and on some tactical training modules but everyone needs to pass the phase one testing to advance to phase two and three training to ensure our ranks are made up of highly committed and highly skilled people not just anyone.
To me, to train non-tested individuals in advanced and specialist training is an insult and an injustice to those that have put themselves on the line. Close combat is black and white when it comes to training, testing, rank and qualifications. There simply is no back door or easy way.
The only manuals I provide on specialist warfare related close combat are to the military. The best want to be trained in the best by the best and don't want any easy ride, they expect to be beasted and tested to the maximum and have to rise above and prove themselves. This is why we attract so many professional combatants and fighters on our courses.
To have hundreds of members that have all had to prove themselves and that share in something that is not freely available and that is high risk and a real test of courage and combative ability is what makes it so special.
Interested in Close Combat Training? Todd Group Depots are located throughout New Zealand and at various overseas locations.
For more information on Todd System of Close Combat see the following books, dvds and cds:
- Close Combat Books
The Do's and Don'ts of Close Combat – Tactical C&R – Control and Restraint – No Nonsense Self Defence – Military Close Combat Systems Phase One – Combative Masters Of The 20th Century - Close Combat DVDs
Self Defence of the Elite – 80 Years of Combative Excellence – Primary Option Control & Restraint – Military Unarmed Combat – Phase 1 - Close Combat CDs
Technique To Command – Combative Code of Conduct
