Entering SpecForce the signage says it all accept the challenge or walk away.
The Todd Group and SpecForce joint-venture training provision in military close quarters combat and military physical fitness is truly a winning partnership.
This is the second annual combative course to be conducted at SpecForce.
The sound of the 5am opening and making ready for SpecForce circuit training was a great means for those on the CQC course to kick the day off to the PT instructor’s enthusiastic commands and instructions positively while we were still waking up.
These circuits were repeated multiple times daily and the environment was full of positivity and commitment to self-improvement.
Full contact unarmed offensive assault combinations practice on equipment.
This combined with weekly training conducted by John Adlington at SpecForce has led to increased exponent numbers. The course standard was extremely high in both phase 1 and phase 2 training.
The Todd Group and SpecForce members enjoy association with like-minded professionals and those with high level commitment to self-improvement.
You ask them why the Todd Group and you will hear they have been providing training in military unarmed combat and self-defence longer than any other training providers and they have been referred by people that know who the leaders in the field are.
You ask them why SpecForce and they say you are getting great military physical training instructed and overseen by a former military Physical training instructor with a long record of service.
They all agree if you want combative or military PT getting it from a military Combative Master chief instructor and his trained tested and certified instructing cadre is what you seek.
There should be no settling for lesser when your safety is at stake.
Likewise if you want military PT training getting it from a former Senior Military PTI is getting it from a real deal in military battle and physical fitness.
This intensive week-long course of instruction concluding with a phase 1 test is a considerable challenge and not everyone is up to accepting the challenge.
However the committed combatant prepared to accept the challenge thrives on the opportunity to test themselves in relation to their inner resolve tactics and skills.
Phase test long weapon under entry assault disarming.
There is no other training organisation in New Zealand that provides exactly the same systems of the Todd Group and with an 86 year history of military, law enforcement and civilian training; it is easy to understand why the Todd group courses are the choice of many committed realists with the combative smarts.
The applicant with the combative smarts checks out the chief instructors rank qualifications and record of military instructing service and this is the most important consideration to the candidates we see on course.
Hollow hype innuendo and unanswered questions just does not impress the savvy applicant and only fools those that have not done their homework are not combative knowledgeable or are afraid to ask the hard questions.
The reality is providing training in the civilian sector requires disclosure of prior training rank and qualification and this is what attracts applicants on Todd group courses from our master website www.toddgroup.com and free e-mag www.cqctimes.com as well as constant referrals from current civilian members and service personnel globally.
In a referral field those that have the expertise and required credentials are known.
Small specialist group and individual tuition training that is the most current proven and provides the highest level of execution safety and that is hands on and demanding is what the serious combatant knows is needed and what attracts them.
Some simply find the reality of military combative training just too real and demanding and with draw early and that is a reality as military systems CQC proponents self-select endure persevere and achieve by applying themselves to all aspects of the drills skills tactics battle conditioning and the real test of confidence and competence the testing phases.
Training in crowd CQC combat milling.
It’s not for everyone in fact it’s for only a small number of realists committed to practical self-improvement and that is the fact of matter of the Todd Group joining training and testing regime.
Some find the physicality and contact without protectors too much others consider the dirty and deadly nature of the skills outside what they could ever do and over kill.
This course attracted a full phase 1 and 2 muster of individuals from wide ranging professions and backgrounds.
The course attracted exponents in phases one and two including two female exponent’s and some extremely physically capable individuals as well as some big lumps of lads.
Technique to command military CQC drills.
The exponent looking for primary proven combative practices appreciates being able to test themselves against worthy candidates of all physical sizes and capabilities.
Not being gender or weight regulated allows the candidate to test themselves against fellow candidates of varied physical attributes and capabilities.
After a great weeks intensive training, eight worthy candidates were ready willing and able to accept the phase 1 test, combative challenge.
Four candidates passed the test phase.
Phase 1 test combative phase.
You can never definitely predict a phase 1 test outcome based on the pre-training phases as the intensity and risk factor can change individual exponent’s actions and reactions out of self-preservation personal and enemy party safety considerations as well as an increased will to objective achieve.
This is the reality of battlefield close combat where the higher the stress and risk levels and lesser the safeguards and reaction time makes skills employments far from textbook employments.
Battle proven tactics and skills allow for human error and the realities of sudden aggressive shock action and must do to be as safe and effective as humanly possible.
The Todd process of combative assessment is uncompromising in relation to the individual candidate having to surpass the required standards, without exception.
Failing to achieve the objective in any module means the candidate is immediately removed from the test phase.
The eight candidates that tested at SpecForce all accepted the challenge and gave it their very best.
It is a very personal thing and individual candidates know themselves when they have failed to achieve the required objectives. CQB/CQC testing is not an exact science but is more a gross motor skill military science comprising of self- protective and enemy destructive offensive and counteroffensive unarmed combat skills along with self defence armed and unarmed threat neutralisation and the combative conditioning toughener and sickener phases.
The reality is no matter how physically fit a candidate is combative fitness is considerably different to gym fitness especially with the risk factors and the fear of injury or injuring your buddy enemy party.
I have personally tested thousands of candidates over more than three decades including leading sports persons, Olympian and Commonwealth Games competitors, martial artists and combat sports fighters and they all agree that Todd systems military combative phase testing is very different to anything they have experienced.
They are unanimous in the fact that they consider it to be extremely challenging psychologically and in relation to battle fitness.
Really candidates achieve the objective or fail to achieve the objective themselves with the enemy party contributing a far lesser input to the outcome.
I’m often asked if martial arts or various forms of physical fitness are vital to phase testing success.
I reply while being physically fit and strong is beneficial to any fighting or combative requirements; it is practical skills that often provide far more benefits.
Farmers that know how to handle livestock, bushman and hunters as well as those that work in the building industry have good practical practices and practical fitness and strength.
Lifting and lugging sacks of grain coal or moving bales of wool require practical physical capabilities that enhance close combat performance. Slaughter men and hunters know the practical ways to carry deadweight and sheep shearers use skill to get sheep out of the pens to maintain the highest levels of physical capabilities.
Scrap metal dealers and demolition workers and many trades and labourers perform duties that enhance combative capabilities.
Such practical skills provide the combatant with some real physical capabilities to enhance close quarters combat.
Todd systems phase 1 testing is something the candidate will remember for the rest of their days simply because it is as real as it gets without the loss of life or limb and is not made unrealistic by unnecessary unrealistic full body protection copious rules and regulations and so many interpretations that outcomes can be far from definite.
The realist with the intestinal fortitude inner resolve and commitment combined with combative smarts realise what are primary proven required attributes and skills practices. They seek out Todd group intensive courses of instruction and test phases and this was the reality with this year’s course at SpecForce.
As the chief instructor it was pleasing to hear a visiting senior military instructor on course commend the Auckland SpecForce instructor John Adlington for his high level of expertise slick footwork and commitment to his phase 1 exponent’s progress on course. I personally had the pleasure of training a phase 2 group that committed diligently to a long week of phase 2 training with enthusiasm and a hunger for knowledge committing to constant repetitive training practice.
Modules such as multiple armed and unarmed attackers tactical control and restraint, ground combat, military combative strangulation and choking that employed with phase 1 offensive and counter offensive skills are cohesive without hesitation stalling or momentum reduction provide the phase 2 proponents with advanced knowledge and increased options.
Two of the phase 2 candidates had passed their phase 1 tests only last month in Thailand and it was pleasing to see them getting up their phase 2 training hours.
The course attracted many visitors involved with military combative and law enforcement defensive tactics training as well as close personal protection specialists.
It is a great time to catch up with proponents that have come up through the ranks in the Todd group over the decades.
The Todd group and SpecForce have some major plans for providing specialist subject short courses and exported courses of instruction nationally and overseas in the near future.
SpecForce is a place where responsible committed realist’s looking for specialist physical fitness and combative and self-defence training go.
The Military physical training and CQB that SpecForce and the Todd group provide respectively delivers some very specialist and unique methods of personal safety enhancement and increased health benefits.
Every time we conduct an intensive course of instruction at SpecForce, course goers and gym users as well as visitors recognise the truly specialist training provided for those that have what it takes. The weekly training evening sessions in phase 1 and 2 conducted by John Adlington at SpecForce provide year round continuation training and new entry level exponents can apply year round.
John also instructs individual tuition self-defence, CQC, tactical control and restraint and the Todd group developed D-WAR (declare war against rape) anti and counter rape short course by arrangement. Inquiries [email protected]
The Todd group has exported courses of instruction coming up in Close protection CQC counter and anti-rape in Australia South Africa and Thailand in 2013 and all general public courses of instruction can be found posted at www.toddgroup.com free online e-mag www.cqctimes.com
I personally injured my neck early in the week on course but duty came first and immediately post course some six days later it was off to Auckland hospital for an x-ray and scan that identified some undesirable cervical damage. Back to the HQ the following day and two visits to the local hospital and it’s a neck brace for me and a visit to the fracture clinic before heading off to Australia in a week on course.
My duty to my exponents is uncompromised by a little bit of pain and leading by example is a must and that is the type of innersole and commitment I expect in my rank and file.
Upcoming courses.
•August 2013 Todd Group HQ Dunedin CQC Intake
•August 3rd – 13th 2013 Todd Group members and selected non-members close personal protection specialist course of instruction
•September 8th – 17th 2013 South Africa phase one basic intensive CQC course of instruction. Defensive tactics, tactical control and restraint, D-WAR anti and counter-rape training
•September 22nd – October 2nd 2013 Close personal protection specialist course of instruction Thailand
•November 25th – 30th 2013 Todd Systems European Military CQC Close Quarters Combat Course Thailand.
Courses information and application details www.toddgroup.com
On the annual HQ course in Dunedin in March this year long term members of up to 30 years all agreed how the combative standards have increases by considerable over the decades and this was the total consensus in Thailand last month and at SpecForce.
The living package military CQB/CQC is never stops improving and increasing to ensure it provides the best of battle proven means to neutralise the most current threats.
It attracts those that want to train under the training providers to the elite of elite. As caretakers at this point in time our duty is to protect the integrity of the systems and future proof it.
This is why our HQ and exported courses of instruction are so important.
The SpecForce course identified and qualified 4 worthy phase 1 candidates and also has identified more future candidates for phase testing.
