We have courses confirmed up to five years in advance and constant inquiries to export the Todd Systems internationally from a wide range of services, riot control, prison staff training, civilian self-protection and every possible requirement for combative self-defense prisoner handling control and restraint and crowd management imaginable.
A great percentage of my time is now spent managing and maintaining the doctrine, developing the training packages and writing training programs for the units and departments we train. This includes producing the training DVDs and publishing the training manuals.
I have a considerable instructor cadre and I personally select them from my qualified senior assistant instructors as new instructors to join the instructing team. I personally conduct all the instructor required training and ensure they receive continuation training and are reevaluated several times a year. Management of the Todd Group contract instructing team and especially the logistical considerations is a major undertaking on its own. Uniforms, flights, vehicles, course support packages and post-course reports take considerable time and every attention to detail must be taken.
Some of the Todd Group instructing cadre on course.
It is truly a grey area being a civilian qualified as a military master instructor of close combat who is responsible for everything from the doctrine to the training packages including the selection of instructors and their training and qualifying as well as being responsible for the training of all exponents and the testing assessments and course reports.
I always believed that if you turned down work or trips away then you were making a major career mistake and would be over looked for future jobs. This may have been the case in the past but often recently I simply have not had the man hours available to accommodate the demands for training. The result has been courses scheduled several years in advance or rather than training entire organizations or departments I have been training the trainers and overseeing training management aspects.
Unfortunately most of my civilian self-defense and security client training has had to be shelved for lack of staff and slots. I know my roles and boundaries and never exceed them or breach any conditions and the real proof of the systems has been in the training and employment of the skills by the operators.
The Todd Systems reputation has spread globally through allied forces operating jointly and former military personnel working on the circuit in close protection and security force roles. We have received requests to export courses to foreign allied military units but simply don’t have the resources at present to provide training for another than our current national and international contract clients.
Many of the Todd Group exponents and instructors in the past 25 years have established Todd Systems training in their national or global location. The Todd Group now consists of the headquarters and camp at Dunedin New Zealand and over 30 Todd Group depots providing group or individual tuition training.
Outside of the military and police training we have provided specialists close personal protection training to teams responsible for protection of royalty and the rich and famous as well as leading sports superstars.
International Todd Group CPP Course
Many of the former Todd Group trained personnel have gone on to work at the pinnacle of their fields all over the world. This has led to the establishment of Todd Systems training in whatever location they are working and for the duration of their work there. Being at the forefront of military close combat and being a civilian does from time to time attract criticism from both civilian and from military quarters.
Criticism from the civilian enthusiasts is mostly based on never having been privy to the training and usually never having even met me personally let alone having been trained by me. Usually there are hidden agendas and it’s normally a case of professional jealousy from those that have never received training or been tested or qualified in military close combat.
Many civilian enthusiasts want to be able to use the military combative regime for gaining credibility or business but are not prepared to undergo the lengthily and arduous training and grueling testing required. They feel really threatened by those that have achieved what they have not the correct and official way and will go to any lengths to discredit them. From time to time military personnel are concerned that the civilian instructors and exponents have such a high level of training and that such specialists training should be reserved only for the military. When they are informed of the Todd Groups over 80 year history of excellence in CQB and how there is no slot for a permanent posting of a master chief instructor and there simply are not master level instructors currently serving they soon realize the reasoning behind the organization and the high level working relationship between the military and the Todd Group. Once they have physically undertaken training from the Todd Group staff their concerns are quickly laid to rest.
I have personally known many committed martial artists and fighters that have never financially prospered from their lifetime’s commitment simply because the returns simply aren’t there in the amounts required to make a good living from their art or sport. There have been many fads and flavors of the month in the martial arts however the hard reality is the numbers willing to pay top market rate long-term are minimal and the serious enthusiasts are few and far between.
From childhood it was my career plan to become a qualified military close combat instructor and earn my living from doing what I loved and was best at. I believed there would always be a need for military close combat training and specialist tactical training as well as self-defence training. I knew it would be difficult demanding and costly in my pursuit of training and qualifying from the very best. I also realized that I would need a means of funding my travels training and qualifying during my exponent years. I had to run my facility undertake my personal training and work as a laborer and bouncer then I purchased food businesses in a time that the Café and fast food industry was a good means of making money.
Tank and Eddie working the door, 1982
The Cafe de Curb pie cart, place of a good meal and many a punch-up
You do what you have to do to achieve and succeed in your career goals and I was never afraid of hard work and long hours. I had the full support of my wife Trish who was left to manage the businesses while I was away training and qualifying. I also had loyal assistant instructors who ensured the facility continued to be operated at the highest possible level in my absence.
Tank and wife Trish with Charlie Nelson
Eventually it became evident that the training facility required all our available time and needed to be expanded into not only the training but also the support and supplies areas. We established an expanded office that enabled us to publish books and manuals as well as produce DVDs.
We purchased a building in the central city opposite our training facility and moved our combative combats sports and martial arts supplies store there. We secured agencies and began importing regular shipments.
Camp Todd
Annual International Close Combat course, Camp Todd
We purchased the New Zealand Martial Arts magazine in 1996 and eventually renamed it Australasian Martial Arts and finally Fight Times. The magazine was the number one seller in NZ in the field for the entire 10 years it was printed.
We published the paper version for 8 years and in 1994 decided, for economic and expansion requirements, to make Fight Times a free online e-mag. This meant expanding our IT side of the business and fortunately we were able to draw from our own ranks and enlist the services of Graeme Wilson one of our long-term exponents of CQB and CPP as our IT specialist.
The cover of the last printed issue of Fight Times magazine.
The Todd Group now consists of an instructor cadre of over 100 and a fully staffed headquarters.
Following in the footsteps of Colonel Applegate I have spent the past 15 plus years developing weapons devices and training equipment. I initially began with developing training equipment to enhance close combat training and then entered into designing knives and batons.
Battletech Fightman
Like Colonel Applegate I have been fortunate to have major respected manufacturers that see the value in my inventions and that are prepared to invest in them. Colonel Applegate encouraged the inventive aspects of my work and had one of my original design collectors issue daggers in his collection.
An early Todd dagger from Col. Applegate’s collection
Knife display and Todd Group certification, Col. Applegate’s history room.
TSB45
I was recently commissioned by Samuel Staniforth a Sheffield knife maker since 1864 to design two models of combat and field knives. This is very special to me as some of the legends before me also had their knives made by Sheffield knife makers and history has repeated.
Chris Hopkinson of Staniforth Knives
Early model of the Todd green role knife
Newly released Green and Black role Todd knives made by Samuel Staniforth
Knives, Sheffield, England.
Sometimes it’s difficult to recall the long road to achieving my career goals especially the many in-betweens and the exact time frames. The early advice I got from Harry Baldock as to how I needed to proceed to make a career as a military close combat instructor was simply the best advice I could have been given.
I believe now that I have achieved all my career goals and it’s very much a case of protecting the doctrine and ensuring it is as current and battle proven as possible and future proofing the Todd Group by ensuring I train and qualify understudies to the highest possible levels to ensure the continuation of my work.
To have been able to achieve at the highest levels in close combat there has had to be many aspects to the Todd Group and that is very much the nature of the niche and unique specialist position and status we have achieved and occupy.
Annually on our international combative course we attract full musters of willing exponents from around the world and from a wide range of services professions and occupations. Many of these annual course goers return year after year and qualify going on to operate their own Todd Group depot.
We tend to attract realists from all walks of life that have included Olympic gold medalists, ring sport champions, rugby all blacks and high-ranking martial arts black belts as well as hunters farmers doctors laborers and businessmen and military personnel from all over the world and all services.
1st course with nominations from international exponents, 1996
Tactical C&R course at Todd Group HQ
International Courses, Camp Todd
Combat Milling, at the range
Legstamp practice on the Todd Stamper
International Courses, Camp Todd
My career has been my hobby and is a commitment more than an occupation. I have been introduced on courses as the expert that eats sleeps and shits CQB and it’s probably a true description and I’m proud of it. My wife says that they will find my corpse over at the old Todd Group facility one day as I spend so much time there. My working life has revolved around the Todd Group seven days a week and has seen me clock up over 100,000 hours in my trade.
I have a commitment that goes well beyond financial reimbursement for my expertise and if the units I train could not afford my services but needed me I would still be there.
Many self-proclaimed experts think by reading manuals or watching publicly available video footage they can fully understand skills and systems of experts. I can tell you from 30 years of hands-on experience and global travel to train and qualify from military experts that there is no substitute for being physically trained by the experts themselves. I have taken my assistants around the world and they have excelled on courses.
Tank and Howard from the Todd Group with Charlie and Herb from
the School of Self Defense New York.
Howard Bell with Col Applegate on training visit with Tank.
Many civilian combative course goers simply chose to avoid the Todd Group annual international close combat course as the testing phase is grueling and the highest standards a must. They prefer the safety of seminars that are no great challenge but are good for paper hounds that are not prepared to commit themselves fully.
The books and videos military experts may sell to the general public can vary considerably in content and extent when compared to their actual conducted training programs. Another interesting point is that military close combat is a living package and that many of the books were published in the experts early days and simply cannot include later or current skills.
In the words of Colonel Applegate we must include quality skills in books and videos but must never be reckless in divulging restricted practices that have no place in civilian life or in the wrong hands could be used against the people we train.
You can’t substitute hands on training under the control of an expert master instructor who can critique you and set the pace in relation to your level of competency and progress. There is no need for concerns with interpretation when you are trained hands on directly under the master chief instructor himself.
New Zealand has had a very committed history to military close combat and part of my work has involved learning as much as possible about the chief instructors before me and their lineage and skills.
I’ve been fortunate to work closely with many former soldiers that were trained and qualified by the pioneers of New Zealand military close combat. This has given me the opportunity to learn my predecessors methods from their qualified understudies firsthand and preserve the history of my countries military CQB. Besides Harry Baldock there have been two other major experts in NZ military close combat in Jimmy Page and Shocker Shaw.
Shocker was trained by the legendary Brigadier Mike Calvert in the system of Captain William Fairbairn and his service in the SAS is legendary.
Shocker Shaw
Jimmy Page
From Colonel Rex Applegate I was fortunate to be given information on the skills and systems of Fairbairn and Sykes and from Charles Nelson I was shown aspects of the skills of Patrick Kelly and his instructor Pat O’Neill. Although this exposure to colleagues or instructors of my instructor’s skills and systems was limited it was still exciting to have access to such historic methods from their colleagues or understudies directly.
Much of my work is in a gray area and is restricted and goes unnoticed and that is the way it should be. However when the world martial arts Hall of Fame and Karate Union Hall of Fame had its first Australasian induction at Townsville Queensland Australia in 1996 I was the first Kiwi to be inducted as instructor of the year for close quarter combat. This really surprised me not being a traditional or competitive martial artist and being involved in the practice that some martial artists frown upon. However I humbly accepted the award on behalf of my expert instructors that made it all possible for me.
Hall of Fame induction 1996
The first international course I conducted to the world in 1996 was named best world seminar of the year at the induction.
One of the current elite forces systems I qualified in is the Deadly Dozen of Larry Jordan, which has given me real life experience in current special operations close combat and to him, like to all my previous instructors, I will be forever grateful.
Tank and Larry Jordan, El Paso Texas
This is what my rank as a master instructor has been made of and the rare and unique opportunities I have been fortunate enough to be provided and the challenges I have accepted. Time goes so fast and there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done. My focus is on the serious exponents and instructors I must train and on all the positives of being a master instructor of military close combat.
My work has taken me to the United States the United Kingdom Southeast Asia the Middle East and Australia and I have trained a wide range of specialist military, police and close personal protection operators. The greatest satisfaction to me personally at this stage of my career is the achievement and accomplishments of my understudies. I have reached the highest rank in my field and am comfortable to commit my time to research and development in skills equipment and weaponry and to future proofing our close combat training as well as assist others with their development and promotion in close combat.
While I don’t take kindly to less than battle proven practices or fools I don’t have the time for negatives that don’t physically affect me or my people and I choose to take the advice of my mentor the late great Colonel Rex Applegate in such matters and not give them the time of day over my previous tendency of not taking kindly to such fools.
A quick look into most detractor’s credentials, qualifications and combative operation will tell you a lot about their credibility expertise and worth.
Charlie Nelson a qualified USMC hand to hand combat instructor had a simple saying when questioned by fools or those looking for trouble that were casting doubt on his teachings and it went like this, I know what I know and he knew it well having done his time as an exponent and instructor before opening his school and operating it until the day he retired.
School of Self Defense New York
Charles Nelson, USMC, WWII
The past three Close Combat files, although of considerable length, have been a mere glimpse of the 30 plus years I have spent fulltime as an exponent and instructor of military close combat.
My facility is the oldest of its kind in the world and I have military instructing qualifications of no other instructor past or present and I very proud of that.
I train thousands of exponents and instructors annually and surround myself with kinred spirits that are respected in the combative field by those that count and that are highly qualified lifers of close combat.
International Close Combat Instructors Association Convention, Las Vegas
International Close Combat Instructors Association
Convention and Course of instruction, Thailand
This is how my working life has taken me as a civilian to the top of my field as a master chief instructor to the military elite in CQB.
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
