May 13-15 Wallingford, CT
Hosted by Mitchell Esq.
About me:
In order to give some perspective about the reviewer, I think it is best I relate where I came from and why I chose to attend ECQC with Craig/SouthNarc.
Age: 38 (my birthday present to myself was this course and it started that day)
Size: 5'6" 130# Wet Cat.
Martial Experience: 25 yrs of martial arts. 15 years full time teacher of martial arts. No, I don't teach Take My Dough (TKD).
Ground Experience: Zip.
Knife Experience: Nothing more than curiosity.
Pistol Experience: Dabbling in shooting since I was a pre-teen, but really didn't get in whole hog until the last 3-4 years. Plenty of NRA and local classes under my belt.
Mil/LEO Experience: Zip.
Recommendations: TGS took the course in Culpepper back in March and said I'd love it given my background.
Expectations: Wreck my sh*t, be a sponge and hope that it wouldn't mean sponging up my own blood, puke, sweat and tears.
The Man
It's hard not to become smitten with Craig, so being a fanboy is an instructional hazard. Meaning, if you've chosen to study with Craig, you most likely know a bit about his background and you can't help but respect that he's served his time in the fire and knowing that makes you want to be pushed by someone who hasn't been broken.
Craig's an awesome man and a world class teacher. The kinda guy that you just want to sit and have a meal, a beer and look at skirts with all day shooting the breeze. He's the kind of guy you'd want at your back, but preferably leading the charge to eff sh*t up, but also the guy you'd feel comfortable having over for dinner with your ultra polite, pinky-in-air grandma, who thinks dirt under your nails is fit for corporal punishment. In simpler terms, he's a balanced warrior-a samurai if you'd like, but my nickname would be High Priest of Pain.
He can speak as if he's still a UC and you're just a bunch of thugs he's looking to score from or he can articulate in three words what would ordinarily take other professionals a book, a week seminar and a portrait.
The Class
Don't blink, b/c Craig doesn't waste time. What you learn in the first hour will carry through to your last breath. I'm not going to go over the course material, but I am going to go over my impressions of each section.
Day 1
Criminal Assault Paradigm
Unequal Initiative Events
Managing Unknown Contacts (MUC)
Practical Unarmed Combat (PUC)
I knew some of what he would cover under the first 3 from my own studies, but the package Craig puts together is tight. Easily understandable, very clear, very informative and carries through every second of the 3 days. Even if you knew everything that he was going to discuss, like some people, who were coming for their second time (which I will be doing next year), it bears repeating and his language is very well thought out.
Regarding the PUC, he has a very unique method (to me at least) that quickly illuminates to a novice or an expert how and why one must establish a good foundation or 'base' with your lower body. You will earn your Unicorn Scab here.You will learn his default cover method, which again is a brilliant and a simple cover position which will protect you from the most common types of strikes and it won't take you years to learn. Lastly, you will learn a simple effective strike that doesn't require years of training and bag work to be effective.
My Unicorn scab 1 week later and it extends up into my hairline-tough to see.
Day 2
Combative Draw Stroke (CBS)
Building #2 Position
Firing Throughout Horizontal Line
Off-hand Fending Positions
Default Position
Basic Empty Hand Blows
Theory of In-Fight Weapon Access (IFWA)
Grounded Basics
Here's where the rubber really met the road for me regarding my pistol work and martial work. Day 1 got me psyched getting to know the crew and seeing how articulate, capable and concise Craig was as a teacher, but now it's on!
I can't say enough about the efficacy of his language and presentation of material. The first 3 parts from CBS to firing along the horizontal line are incredibly relevant to us PT/F guys. Everything he teaches in ECQC supports what we do here. What I found particularly useful in cleaning up my presentation/press out was the firing throughout the horizontal line of presentation. I was having a real crappy month or so of shooting prior to ECQC and these 3 parts really re-built my confidence again and it felt good.
From off-hand fending to basic empty hand blows, Craig doesn't waste time. He gets in, gives you elemental and effective tools and gives you REPS! I haven't mentioned this yet, but as much as I'm impressed with his ability to articulate, Craig gives you monstrous numbers of reps to work out given the compressed time that is available. You will not be 'fast-forwarding through commercials'.
IFWA is money! In-fight weapons access is the lynch pin, IMO that ties day 1 and 2 together. IFWA, if I were to bestow a title upon Craig, is his crowning achievement. Don't take this as me being in an authority passing judgement upon Craig, take this as a guy who has worked his own ass off for 25 years in his own art (albeit unarmed) and has a) never come up with such a succinct language as IFWA and b) such an important concept when talking about switching from unarmed to armed combat. This is what I paid for and I got my 7 course meal and a bag a chips to boot.
Last part of Day 2 was ground basics. Even if you're a BJJ guy and this is old hat, you get to roll it with some good guys and help those who are new to groundwork and that will always improve your skill set if you are capable of helping out guys like me. I didn't see one guy, who had ground work experience, say, "Aw man, I already know this, can we move on?" As a matter of fact, no one ever said or felt that way about anything no matter how 'expert' they might have been with any given unit and I was in a class with some Mil/LEO operators IIRC.
Day 3
Challenging Potential Attacker
Preemptive Weapon Access
Multiple Attackers
Negotiating FUT
ECQ Handgun Retention In Holster
ECQ Handgun Retention Out of Holster
Handgun Recovery
Handgun Striking
On this day you will recognize the whole package coming together. What was seemingly foreign to you on day one will become your baseline entering into the 3rd day. Now is where you begin to try and 'live' with the information you've been given.
Our final evo was 2 on 1 and it was as random as could be. Maybe you were a smooth talker and your MUC was working so well that neither party bothered you or maybe both guys had a hard on for you and 'they drank your milkshake'. All of life's possibilities get thrown into the muck when you're MUC'ing on the last day. Since it was raining, it was particularly mucky for us on this final day.
I came to ECQC to fail and I think I learned to fail well. If you don't want to fail during ECQC, then you won't be thinking about what to do when you fail. Fighting is nothing if you're not Thinking.
All of Craig's techniques are well thought out and easily verifiable to see if they work, but it takes a massive number of consensual repetitions and non-consensual repetitions before you can run this live like a champ. It is why you should start a crew to practice with when you get back. As for me, I've already got TGS here and we're gonna run the curriculum the best we can this weekend.
The Men
Douche-Free Zone as Craig puts it and it holds true. There wasn't a guy there that wouldn't drink your milkshake and then graciously pour you a new one. Everyone showed up with a good attitude and we had a great time, but one guy really shined for me, b/c he really put his heart and soul into it and his name is Joe. So if he's reading this, I just drank your milkshake
The Host
I know Mitchell is our resident 'get the crook out of jail free' guy here, but at one time in my life, I was a guy who used to salt slabs of beef at a kosher deli in order to make ends meet, so...take the lawyer/liar stuff with a grain of salt-Mitchell certainly does and he's got thick skin, so he's fun to rib and get ribbed right back.
Anyway, I got to know Mitchell a bit more during the last two days and he's a funny, fast-talking, lawyer from Connecticut, so all of those stereotypes apply, but then there's more. He's a guy that works his ass off and is out there finding good instructors, training hard with them, asking good questions, pushing himself, making ECQC happen for a guy like me and will bail your ass out if you're in CT, so that's a pretty big bonus to all of his other generic stereotypes.
Lastly, he's educating himself with ECQC and other gunmanship in order to better understand the lay of the land and become a better lawyer so if any of us gun guys do find ourselves in front of the pointier stick of the law, guys like Mitchell will have an understanding of what real life can throw at you.
My Gear
I didn't wear a cup or a mouth piece. It is recommended and if you're not used to being in that environment, then it's better to have it on hand then not at all. Definitely bring some rain gear, b/c we got rained on half the time we were there-particularly steady on the 3rd day. If you have a pair, bring water proof boots too, b/c that definitely kept the blisters from forming when you're digging into the dirt for purchase. Suntan lotion would've been a good idea if I had thought that far ahead, b/c you're outside for a good 8 hours a day.
I ran my JRC CDA-AIWB and my Keeper's AIWB for my P30 and P30L. Both did extremely well, but I opted to use the Keeper's the last day and a half when it started raining, b/c I just don't know enough about leather to know if I'd eff it up.
My ammo was Aguila and I had 2 over pressured rounds the day before I left when I was doing a function check of my pistols and I had 1 over pressured during class that cleared on a TRB. Other than that, my gear, guns and ammo ran well. Oh, I almost forgot, if you don't have waterproof electronic ear pro, I highly recommend getting your hands on some-it was invaluable during this rainy coursework.
Note to On-The-Job Types
If you are in some type of alphabet soup agency, Craig is very good at being approachable and answering questions about your potentially unique environment.
Hope you find this review helpful and if you'd like more detail on anything I glazed over, then feel free to ask or PM me.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Al T.
sorry for PHRASING!!
