Recruiting for responsible mentally and combatively tough individuals with the smarts is very different to marketing martial arts and combat sports to the masses. The Todd group formally the Baldock Institute will celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2017 and is the oldest specialist training provider of its kind. The CQC operational training provision model for the civilian sector is very different to my other businesses models.
This article is just to outline some of the primary aspects that have led to our national and international training provision success to the military law enforcement and serious combative enthusiasts with practical smarts.
First up, by majority, the people we recruit do their research and are looking for training from instructors with records of military CQC instructor qualification that have been trained and qualified by highly qualified and respected military Master – Chief Instructors.
Direct lineage and extensive records of instructing service to the military are very important to them. Many come from referrals from military personnel that have been trained in the Todd system on their military courses. Training providers in the civilian sector should be transparent and provide proof of qualification and instructor duty service on request and not just use titles and state training or instructing duration without being able to provide proof if they want to recruit exponents with the smarts. If they claim to be military qualified instructors, they will have the proof of qualification and a record of military instructing service. The serious enthusiasts we attract are not impressed by hype, mass-marketing or unsupported claims or sensationalism.
In fact, in our world of training for operators and serious civilian combative proponents hype and sensationalism rings warning bells and makes the majority with the smarts take a wide birth. They know that highly qualified instructors maintain a careful controlled profile and do not make claims that are not factual or cannot be substantiated. CQC training provision requires vetting clearances as the training provider has a responsibility to ensure such training is access controlled. Military CQC skills are not for the majority general population and certainly not for the young as such training requires maturity and responsibility.
Our serious combative enthusiast applicants will not settle for anything less than the best of battle proven and realise that the closest or cheapest training provision is not often the best option and does not always provide the best means to maximize one’s chance of defeating a formidable foe.
The serious enthusiast or proponent with the smarts high level commitment and determination expects the instructor to be highly trained qualified and be able to instruct all aspects of military CQC. You can’t be a lifetime expert in your field of military CQC without having extensive military instructor service. Serious civilian enthusiasts expect current or former military CQC instructors conducting training in the civilian sector to have an established specialist training facility or facilities conduct regular courses as well as being able to provide developed training resources.
Most importantly, with many of our applicants being current or former serving military and law enforcement personnel, they want to be trained by someone with long-term instructing service to the military and especially to the elite services who has maintained a current status that can provide the most proven and current tactics and skills.
These realists with the smarts apply by referral or after checking instructor proof of qualification and instructing service record.
There is a big difference between recruiting for military close quarters combat and military self defence training compared to recruiting for martial arts or martial arts styled self defence training. The type of committed individuals we recruit expect the training and testing to be challenging and realise they must prove themselves and there are no soft easy options or political passes. They don’t want to associate with wannabes or be trained by people that try and gain credibility by association and make outrageous claims without providing proof by means of certification, course reports, references and referrals.
The reality is CQC training only appeals to a fraction of a percentage of the population and all the mass-marketing would make little difference when you consider exponents must train the military combative way and prove themselves on realistic and self-revealing testing phases that would self-eliminate the majority.
Pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into expensive marketing campaigns simply would not be viable in such a minority population percentage activity that requires individuals to accept CQC physical and mental challenges as well as the risks considerations.
In conclusion, I do not know any other instructors that have CQC training facilities with an 88-year history in the CQC trade craft. Having direct instructor lineage to several of the CQC pioneers is something that proponents say is very important to them. Having an HQ and national and international depots with all instructors having had to have undertaken the same training and testing is very important for setting and maintaining standards.
Very important to the serious proponent is the fact that the skills are instructed and have been instructed to the military since WWII. Such required qualifications and instructing service records can not be achieved other than by decades of commitment making military CQC a very specialist field that has its own recruiting marketing and training provision requirements. Enthusiasts with the smarts simply wont settle for instructors that do not have military CQC qualification and military instructing service records. They do not want to learn martial arts or fighting arts they want the most current battle tested and proven military CQC. We hear such comments regularly from proponents.
