ECQC AAR - Florida, Feb 2019

[GuanoLoco]

I took Craig’s ECQC class this past weekend, 20 hours of training from roughly 6PM Friday to 6PM Sunday.

I have quite a few thoughts on my experience in the class that I would very much like to share, but work travel and some personal challenges have delayed my ability to capture and record them. It will probably take me a number of posts before I am satisfied.

First, a little about me and why I sought out instruction from the infamous Craig Douglas aka @SouthNarc.

Once upon a time I was very active in the grappling arts, with a focus on sport submission grappling. I am mostly a grappling mongrel, with training and experience in Sombo, Judo, a couple of flavors of Japanese Jujitsu, a little BJJ, and smidges of other stuff. I started my Martial Arts career relatively late in life at about 30 YO, and was pretty active running a local club from my basement dojo until about 43. That was 10-11 years ago...

For the past 5 years or so I’ve been very active with firearms, focused primarily on sport action pistol applications. I’m a solid USPSA A-Class in Production, knocking on the door of M-Class. I hold or at least have held a variety of certs (USPSA RO, ISPA SO, NRA RSO, NRA Pistol Instructor, etc.). I also engage in some self-defense firearms training, most notably a couple of classes with Gabe White @Mr_White where I have earned a Light Pin twice but fell a hair short of Turbo Pin in the most recent class.

Recently I took a ‘Stop the Bleed’ class and now have a SOFTT-W tourniquet and considered Trauma Kit with me or nearby pretty much always - one in the truck, another in the Range Bag or in my business travel kit. If I get on a plane and can’t be conventionally armed, maybe I/another could at least be able to survive until medical professionals arrive. I’d like to invest more energy to build my competency in this area - maybe a weekend class with Dark Angel or equivalent.

While I have done a little knife defensive work in years past in Sombo and Japanese Jujitsu class, I don’t consider myself to be competent in this space. I do generally carry a Clinch Pick and a Kershaw/Emerson wave style folding pocket knife and have been meaning to get more meaningful training.

It’s been over 10 years since I’ve stepped onto the mats, and to be honest I am pretty active with a very high metabolism but I don’t work out, stretch, do cardio or anything else. I’m 54-year old, 6’0”, 175-180 lb. So, I’m no spring chicken, but I’m not throwing in the towel either. What’s next in my life? More pistol work putting more and more energy into smaller and smaller increments of improvement? Action long guns? Get back on the mats with a BJJ class? Break down and start actually working out?

I went looking for instruction that appealed to me and Craig Douglas just jumped off the page at me. I spent a good while researching his multi-disciplinary approach to MUC and ECQC. Almost immediately I decided that it was the right thing to do to help me decide what’s next. I found an upcoming class and signed up.

I’m pretty confident in my pistol skills. I was hoping that my (well-aged) grappling skills would re-manifest in my moments of need. My biggest concern was physical ability and interity: Would I have the strength, flexibility, endurance and durability to complete and survive an ECQC class? Assuming I did, would I be able to complete the almost back-to-back professional conference I was attending afterwards, and what would my recovery be like?

I have lots more, but this is all I have time for at the moment.

[GuanoLoco]

Some random thoughts on gear for the class:

I’d say my P-F Rash Guard was an MVP for the class. Discussion here. I ended up wearing it for all 3 days, it was comfortable, didn’t stink at all, and saved me quite a bit of subburn and abrased skin on the grass/rock/root/brass surface we were rolling around on. It is showing a little abrasion wear from lots of dry fire and ECQC - but that’s wear that isn’t on my tender flesh.

I think a pair of protective fingerless gloves might make sense for the Evos. I lost a fair amount of skin on my hands, most notably in a night evo against a larger, younger, skilled opponent where we were ground fighting near a tree.

A sturdy strap-on pair of protection-rated goggles might not be a bad idea either. I had a worn strap on my protective glasses but they wouldn’t have been an adequate substitute for close-fitting, tightly strapped on goggles. Craig provides gear but I would have been happier with my own set under the FIST helmet.

The Boombah Hellcat trail shoes that I use for USPSA were a winner. Light enough to not get in the way, protective, and the agressive rubber soles were useful in grappling scenarios.

I brought a trauma kit and a boo-boo kit. I used the former not at all and the latter quite a bit. I’ll be adding a bottle of Liquid Skin to the bo-boo kit and more alcohol wipes. A small bottle of 99.9% isopropyl alcohol was rather handy.

As an old dude I pre-loaded on anti-inflammatories and tried my best to stay hydrated and well fed but not over-fed. Some protein heavy drinks would have been a good idea to speed recovery at the end. I went through a LOT of fluids, mostly water and Power-Aid.

Capsaicin (aka sunburn) creme for sore muscles is not conducive to sleeping, or compatible with hot soaks. Learnign occurred.

Some wore hoodies and whatnot when the Sim/UTM guns came out. I went light with a rash guard and 1-2 (usually 1) T-shirts tops as I valued not overheating over minimizing welts. I played a LOT of paintball back in the day; welts are not the end of the world. I MIGHT wear heavier long sleeve protective wear if it wasn’t too hot.

I had 2 training knives, a Clich Pick and a Kershaw/Emerson wave knife. I drew neither of them in the Evos. At the end of the day I preferred pistols and unencumbered grappling in my Evos, but was a little frustrated by those who rather effectively employed their training knives.

Having your preferred AIWB/IWB/whatever holder for a Glock UTM gun is handier than having to carry it Mexican style for the Evos. I ended up loaning out my JMCK 2.5 AIWB Glock 17 holster a few times.

Lots of concealed draw holster and reholster work - the Tau SCD was a IMHO a winner, providing a touch more confidence - especially when shirts start getting untucked during live fire sequences.

Sunscreen. It’s Florida and I forgot the sunscreen. Fortunately a fellow student helped me out.

Flashlight. It’s winter, and even in Florida it gets dark early. It was useful for Evo’s after dark, locating lost/dropped gear, etc.

Disposable Ear Pro OTHER than muffs. Muffs can get in the way sometimes. Having ear pro when working with Sim/UTM guns is a good idea, just in case of a stray round. I’ve seen a dude get hit in the ear/canal with a paintball - not pretty. It’s easy to lose in-ear pro (I lost and luckily recoved some custom plugs), so disposable is a good plan.

I wore a hard cup, inside. A couple of folks chose to wear theirs outside. Meh. I think the primary risk is getting hit in the junk with a sim round. A soft cup like I used to wear for grapplign in years past would have been more comfortable and provided adequate protection. I wasn’t too worried about an inadvertent groin strike in the Evos.

[GuanoLoco]

The MUC (Managing Unknown Contacts) portion of the course was priceless. One quickly learns that close quarters gunfights, and especially entangled gunfights, occasionally with hidden knives, are risky propositions at best. I have a vastly better appreciation for the ESSENTIAL skills that Craig teaches to avoid letting yourself get into a positon where you are playing catch-up.

In one of my evolutions my ‘Unknown Contact’ came in pretty agressively both verbally (volume, agressions, threats to do me harm immediately) and physically in terms of closing the gap. I briefly tried verbal de-escalation with hands up, and began an arcing rearward movement - to little avail. I changed channel to a “BACK the FUCK UP!!!” command and got no change in behavior so I decided to take the initiative with a hopefully untelegraphed eye strike.

Even wearing a FIST helmet and goggles, this caused the aggressor to pause a tick, time that I used to take a step or two back and do a concealed AIWB draw. As my opponent closed hard and fast I was able to get two hits to the chest before the gun failed to fire. I’m not sure why it failed but I was now in contact distance to I underhand tossed the gun away, bet on my rusty grappling skills and went hands-on.

I immedialely tied up my opponent standing and went for a trip type of throw. I didn’t get video but I think it was a kosoto gari (minor outside reap) with my strong side leg and I almost immediately found myself on the ground in more of less a side control on top of my opponent. I started working for arm control when I realized that my opponent has produced a hidden training knife and was attempting to get to work on me. I have no idea whether the knife was produced before or after my takedown but I’ll admit to being a little shocked my it’s sudden and wholly unexpected appearance.

After a VERY brief bit of what Craig described as knife “tip-work” on me I was able to capture the arm and apply a bent arm bar, when I started to hear some yelling. I was able to almost immediately get control of the knife and chose to toss it as well as I realized that the SECOND unknown contact (oh crap, forgot about that!!!) was yelling at me to “Get Off Him”. I also perceived that this second contact had a pistol so I did my best to verbally recruit the new contact to my side, loudly stating that the other guy had attacked me.

Compliance seemed an excellent idea at this point, so I carefully got up off my opponent ... and the 2nd contact promptly shot my opponent in the face. Later I found out that the 2nd contact was equipped with my malf’d and now cleared pistol that I SHOULD have thrown into next week - not just out of our immediate area. I also learned that in the fog of war, contact #2 was supposed to be a friend of contact #1, but got confused and shot him in the face instead - with my gun. Fog of War indeed...

I’d say this Evo went about as well as I could have hoped. I was able to use a number of the MUC techniques I had been taught, AND some of my grappling skills. Still, it was an engagement that could have easily resulted in serious injury or death from either individual #1 with the concealed knife or individual #2 - his confused buddy.

In hindsight I think i would have been better off arcing hard instead of retreating straight back during the draw. This MIGHT have hindered Opponent #1’s ability to close to contact distance while I pumped him full of sim rounds. I have a pretty fast concealed draw, had/made time and space, and STILL was only able to get off 2 shots + the malf shot before my position was overrun.

Sobering. Sobering indeed.

I did not get any video of this Evo. If anyone in the class watched this and had a different take on it I’d be interested to hear it - particularly on where/when that knife was produced.

[GuanoLoco]

OK, time for some good stuff. Here’s a video of an evolution where two opponents in a “non-consentual, competitive” engagement fight until there is a decisive advantage or potential safety issue like a helmet coming off.

The start position is one person on his knees, pistol gripped in strong hand, the muzzle of the opponent’s pistol gripped it the weak hand. The other person in on his side/back, knee in the opponent’s belly, pistol in strong hand, the muzzle of the opponent’s pistol in the weak hand - this is the ‘advantaged’ position.

In the first evolution I was on top, on my knees, and quickly lost control of my opponent’s pistol and took a shot to the side. That pistol failed to cycle as my hand was on the muzzle, and my opponent ended up discarding it and focusing on my pistol. I was sloppy and let him push it behind my back, lost control of it, then spent precious cycles chasing it as he passed it back and forth between hs hands behing my back. I finally tracked it down and took ANOTHER shot to the ribs before I could get control of it. I opted to roll and throw my leg over to get control AND space to operate but Craig called it. My loss.

In the second evolution I started on bottom, the advantaged position. Taking a trick from my opponent’s book I was able to twist the muzzle and pop a shot into his ribs with my pistol. His hand was still on it, therefore it couldnt’ cycle as was jammed. I then started working to take his pistol, using my left hand and both legs to pry off his death grip. As soon as I got it I released my jammed gun, made space with my legs and worked to flip the gun around into a workable weak hand grip.

The angle was difficult, but I managed to get a could of ‘gangster-style’ shots off into his ribs as he discovered the pistol was jammed and started to clear it. That seemed an awkward and risky position with respect to controlling the firearm, and I’m sure he was quickly clearing my firearm to reciprocate. Time was of the essence and my ‘survival’ was at stake so I opted for a blind, weak hand, carefully placed but rather ungentlemanly shot to the gooch. THAT made him jump pretty good and stop what he was doing, giving me time to get off two more shots, shrimp out tp make some space and then a third shot. Craig called it ... my win.

I feel a little bad, but damn that shit was funny!

[feudist]

You taint shot him you cad!

[GuanoLoco]

Guilty as charged. You can see the mark on his pants and the paint pellet bouncing off.



It was a dynamic critical incident and I needed to quickly adapt, improvise and overcome. Time was of the essence.

It was effective but I still feel a little guilty. @SouthNarc told me this wasn’t the first such [dastardly] deed committed in his classes or published. I can only imagine.

I’m thinking this is meme-worthy material so I took a few shots at it:

[feudist]

[WobblyPossum]

Great AAR. Taking ECQC last year was the best training experience I’ve ever had and I’ll definitely be taking it again. I learned a lot about several concepts and it was an excellent audit of my personal skills.

[Totem Polar]

Regarding the clinch pick, and its use in the FUT: I'm pretty sure that Craig is a busy guy; I doubt that he would have been so dogged in bringing that design to market if there wasn't a reason. In my own experience of ECQC, that little thing appeared as if by magic with astonishing regularity, and it always ruined someone's evo when it did. I was on both sides of that phenomenon, myself.

[Gewehr3]

The taint shot seems somewhat malicious or uncontrolled shooting your fellow student on the thigh would have made the same point.

I've seen similar intentional low blows in other ECQC videos. I'd hope students would show each other a little more respect. It's a training class not life or death have some self control.

Yes, I have been through ECQC and AMIS.