Honest review of ECQC, Couer d'Alene ID

[Totem Polar]

Just finished my second ECQC, and I am sunburnt, dehydrated, tired, sore, and mildly shot up with sim guns. What a great time.

There is already a ton of information out there on this course-which has evolved slowly and constantly over something like 16 years, so I won't add another verbose, birds-eye overview. Here's the deal, IMHO, on ECQC: this is the best open course–not funded by taxpayers–extant for Joe and Jane citizen looking for ideas and tools to mitigate up close, sudden, violent, human-on-human predation—including weapons–that I've personally seen.

Those that have taken ECQC already know this. Those that haven't should once again give the idea some thought, as they can and are able.

This class is to serious students of interpersonal self-defense what taking a line of coke off a dick is to an unrepentant junkie. No better way to spend a Saturday.
Plus, the people that show up for a course like this (hard work) are very high-quality humans, as a rule, from all walks of life. I'll be back for another round next year.

That is all.


Ps. Craig is a rock-solid guy, and instructor.

Pps. I ran the course with a J-frame: it really wasn't all that much more work, so long as you have a reloading block and a ton of speedloaders.

Ppps. I also learned that there is such a thing as Mil-Spec (Navy strength) gin. Move over Springfield Armory.

Pppps. If you're older like me, having a spouse that's willing to talk to you in soothing tones while she rubs Neosporin on charred, leaking .355 and .357 holes from sim rounds that broke the skin (.38 sims will burn your sweatshirt on contact, just so you know) at night is a definite bonus.

Ppppps. Jiu-Jitsu is a thing. Not the thing, but most def a thing.

[SouthNarc]

Great seeing you buddy and thanks for showing me around Spokane!

[BigT]

Everyone should do ECQC at least once. More would be better.

[okie john]

This class is to serious students of interpersonal self-defense what taking a line of coke off a dick is to an unrepentant junkie.

Sig line material.


Okie John

[Totem Polar]

.38 sim...

[Sigfan26]

Ppps. I also learned that there is such a thing as Mil-Spec (Navy strength) gin.

The best strength! What brand did you have?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Totem Polar]

The best strength! What brand did you have?

Haven’t had it yet; I just learned about the stuff from Craig. Don’t think that I suffered for lack of Naval gin though; the whiskey and scotch took care of things.

[Sigfan26]

Haven’t had it yet; I just learned about the stuff from Craig. Don’t think that I suffered for lack of Naval gin though; the whiskey and scotch took care of things.

LOL. Leopold's is very good (and not outrageously priced) Navy Strength. It makes for an excellent Martini, but overpowers a G&T.

[BJJ]

[QUOTE=
Ppppps. Jiu-Jitsu is a thing. Not the thing, but most def a thing.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the review. I would have liked to have been in that class but I am starting a new job in less than two weeks and did want to risk injury.

Could you expand on what you meant by the above quote about jiujitsu?

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Despite having taken ECQC something like six times already, I was very disappointed to miss this. Every time I go, I get more out of it; there's a lot of layers and I can't soak it all in in just three days.

I know I have said this a hundred times but this is such a usefull class; the combination of headgaming and fistfights with unpredictable gun draws midway through is just so valuable in terms of learning and unlearning; challenging your perceptions of your abilities and your preconceived notions about the direction a fight might take...the experience of what is probably as close as you can get to unequal initiative, surprise assaults is really a gut check. It's just so valuable.

I don't have anything like the BJJ chops to present a serious critique but what I have seen implies to me that while there is a huge advantage to a good ground game, the presence of weapons and the "no idea when or if this will become a fight" factor is a big enough curveball that the skills don't translate perfectly. If the fight stabilizes into something familiar to BJJ practitioners they dominate, but I have also seen people without much (or any) BJJ do really well if they can manage the weapons or, in cars, if they can parse the three-dimensional fighting surface.

But I have extremely limited BJJ experience myself and am not the best person to give a thorough description of anything.

I actually have probably got more time in drunk emailing Craig with regret and apologies for my absence than I do in jujitsu. But that's my experience.


Still bummed that I missed this but just could not avoid other responsibilities.