Recently in Training Category

Tonight is The Night of the Long Blog for me, and I'm catching up on a lot of work I'd been meaning to do, such as publishing my friend Mark Quon's (lower right in photo below) review of a course he attended in January. - Russell

Tactical Response's High Risk Civilian Contractor Course (Shooting Package) 16-20 Jan. 2006, a review by Mark Quon

I had first became aware of Tactical Response back in April of last year when TR's head instructor/founder
James Yeager had posted a thread at Warrior Talk advertising the release of his new High Risk Civilian Contractor DVD.

As someone who is interested in the possibility of getting into this line of work I sent off for a copy ASAP.  Since Yeager (who's a highly regarded tactical firearms trainer as well as a LEO  with over a decade of experience -often in a SRT capacity) had just returned from a contractor gig in Iraq's combat zones prior to filming this DVD I figured it would have lots of current and up to date information for someone who is completely new to this stuff.

Ironically, a week later - before the DVD had arrived - while attending Gabe Suarez's Close Range Gunfighting 2 class in L.A., I ended up meeting Yancey Harrington who as luck would have it, turned out to be an instructor for Tactical Response. By the end of that course, we had become fast friends and were keeping in touch on a more or less regular basis.

Fast forward to December while in the midst of making plans with Yancey to buddy up for a Two Man Team Tactics Course, he mentions to my surprise that their HRCC was going to be held in SoCal. Yancey had attended this course back in late June and had nothing but unqualified praise for it and had even written a comprehensive review of it on quite a few message boards. However, since to date all of the HRCC had been held in Camden (TN) I had resigned myself to the fact that it would probably be awhile before I would ever be able to take this (or any other) TR course since the distances involved made it financially and logistically problematic for me to attend.

After getting off the phone with Yancey I immediately emailed Yeager and a down payment later I was all set for Tactical Response's first HRCC here on the West Coast.

How do I even begin to explain this one...?

I picked up a decent sword stand in San Francisco's Chinatown yesterday. It's 23 inches high, $25 (apparently non-negotiable in the store from which I bought it) and comes in four matt-lacquered wood pieces with a set of wood screws. Power screwdriver in hand, I assembled it in a couple of minutes. Here it is with my Bugei Samurai Koshirae Katana:

The base is indented to hold the end of the saya in place, and seems fairly sturdy. They're available in most of the tourist gift shops in San Francisco's Chinatown. Not as common as the conventional over-the-mantlepiece (or in the tokonoma) horizontal stand, but has a nice "shotgun ready rack" aspect to it.

I'm just about to crash soon, having come back from the first of a multi-day Bujinkan training seminar by Arnaud Cousergue of Paris (Vincennes, actually) at the Bujinkan Martial Arts Center in Sacramento, a couple of hours' drive from here.

That's Dr. Pete Lohstroh, a UC Davis reproductive biologist, and myself. Pete's interested in medical nanotechology too, by the way, but that's deliberately off topic. I really do meet cool people in this art.

The shiner I acquired Thursday night is even more pronounced in this photo, but it doesn't hurt at all anymore. On a related note, Arnaud ended the day insisting on the use of padded training weapons through the end of the year, for various reasons with which I entirely agree. To that end, on the way back from Sack-of-Tomatoes to Saint Jose, I stopped at the Home Despot near the Sacto dojo and acquired the requisite materials:

- a $1.97 bag of thin 6' bamboo rods from the Garden section
- a $1.97 6' section of 5/8" inside diameter foam copper pipe insulation

I then duct taped 3 pinky-width lengths of the bamboo together at 9-inch intervals, put that inside the foam, and placed styrofoam caps at the ends, duct taping those. I finished by taping the entire thing lengthwise.

Looks surprisingly good, and not at all like a late-night vodka fueled project. I took photos of every step of the project which I will be posting in a few days.

Time to crash now.

A gift from my training partner last night, and proof that padded training weapons are a good idea for some types of waza:

I'm rested now and recovered from last weekend's attendance at the 4-day tactical shotgun course at Front Sight Firearms Training Institute near Las Vegas, Nevada. I surprised myself by making Distinguished Graduate, so I'm now qualified to come back to attend the 4 Day Advanced Tactical Shotgun course. On the second day of training, Greg Carroll snapped this pic of me after the two of us had done our respective runs through the outdoor canyon "clean the hostage takers out" simulator exercise:

The (visible) firearm is my Benelli M1 Super 90, with a nylon tactical sling and a GG&G M3 Tactical Illuminator mounting rail in the 2 o'clock position on the foreend, not the 10 o'clock position GG&G recommends on their website (experience in a previous course having shown me that, as a right-handed longgunner, the 10 o'clock position allows the light to bump on.)

I'd last done a tactical shotgun course about 4 years ago, and so I was quite interested to see how training doctrine had changed in respect of that weapon at Front Sight. The men in the evolution I attended - those 13 in the class who were there for the full 4 days - were all at least previous attendees at another weapon systems class (e.g. defensive handgun, practical rifle) so the class was run at a slightly accelerated pace befitting the audience. Attendees were about evenly divided between cops, active duty military (a Marine heading back to Iraq soon) and private citizens, all of whom were treated exactly the same by the instructional staff, the excellent Chuck Burnett and John Pierson.

One difference I noticed was the much heavier emphasis on incorporating movement, keeping the fight dynamic, and training that way to the limited extent allowed in the "square range environment." I was particularly pleased that, after the Monday (4th day) afternoon skills test, and the "load and go" indoor tactical simulator, I was allowed to do several rounds of 2-man team shooting on the move, with my new friend David L. Loads of fun, and I was pleased to find that a walking skill I'd been cultivating the last few years, walking fast with very short tank-tread heel/toe action to keep the hips and shoulders on level planes, allowed me to get good hits moving both forward and backward, without muzzle bob.

I'm at a level of membership at Front Sight that allows me to take any firearms course free for the rest of my life, much like some golf club memberships. So, I get to take these courses again and again, which allows me not only to revisit, revive, and refine my skills, but also to work out equipment issues. I've discovered I really don't like the Lyman TacStar SideSaddle mounted on the left side of the receiver: it catches on my clothing, when loaded it dampens recoil (and hence reliability) on this recoil-operated weapon, and with the standard provided cross-receiver screw, was coming loose even though I'd installed it properly and Lock-Tited it. I guess a couple of thousand rounds will do that to the Lock-Tite. That, and I'm leery of over-tightening that screw for fear of impeding bolt travel. Oh, and there's the issue of potentially "egging out" the screw holes on the aluminum receiver. My friend David assures me that, should I care to keep the SideSaddle, I can send the weapon to a gunsmith who specializes in Class 3 firearms with aluminum receivers, experienced in setting up weapons to resist receiver failure, but I'm going to switch to keeping my slug rounds on a belt carrier anyway.

Nor am I going to solve the "problem" of having extra ammo by changing out the tube magazine from a 5 to an 8 round capacity. This is my home invasion repellant device... if I can't solve The Problem with what's available in that weapon, then I'm in a very serious situation indeed. I'm more and more preferring lighter, more maneuverable weapons the more I train, with as few bells and whistles as I can get away with. I've heard more than one long arms instructor over the years comment on how students will arrive at a course with their all-singing, all-dancing Space Gun rigs, everything mounted everywhere, only to find themselves quickly shedding equipment after the first day... especially when training in the 105 F degree desert heat. Heh.

Recommendation: check out Estate Cartridge's low-recoil 12-gauge 9-pellet 00 SWAT loads. I've used this buckshot at a previous shotgun course, and had made the decision to attend this most recent course with too little lead time to order more of the same for this class. So, I had a mere few dozen of them to use at various times during this course, instead using a mix of Winchester and Federal buckshot for most exercises. No comparison. At half the price of Federal, the Estate-branded cartridges gave outstandingly tight and nicely distributed (e.g. no annular "donuts of death") patterns, turning heads on the firing line and eliciting a number of "what are you shooting, man?" enquiries.

I had the pleasure of remaking the acquaintance of at least one old friend, who was taking a course on an adjacent range. Additionally, I was happy to have a couple of libertarian friends, longtime (but previously untrained) gunowners, take the full 4 Day Defensive Handgun course on the same weekend. Both men, Alan and Chris, came away from the experience very much more competent than when they arrived.

In my opinion, ninjutsu is not a spiritual system (outside the confines of martial training) or a religion. Some may disagree.

Asking for ninjutsu without the martial aspects would be akin to asking some Navy SEAL "I want the spiritual strength and tenacity of a Navy SEAL but I don't want to do any hard physical training."

Jeff Sherwin

One afternoon last week I rented an electric boat and plied around the north lake in Beihai Park. After returning the craft to the boathouse, I came across this guy doing taijiquan near the shore, practicing a jian form:

When he'd finished several iterations of the same form, he walked over to the bench where a couple of older women had been watching intently. He then started pushing the tip of the jian into the bench near them! What the hell?

Ah... it was a collapsing practice piece, neatly converting into an 8-inch assembly, which he then slipped into the carry pouch his wife held out for him. Neat! I wanted one of those jian then and there, but didn't have time left in the trip to shop for one. Rest assured it's on my shopping list for my next Beijing visit.

Speaking of good martial arts training, which I just mentioned I undertook last weekend with Don Angier (and the weekend before with great teachers from my own art), I just stumbled across this Jan 2005 article by Peter Boylan, "The Costs of Training with the Best" author of "Angry White Pyjamas: A Scrawny Oxford Poet Takes Lessons From The Tokyo Riot Police" (which I've read and recommend).

Boylan has some good points to make, and some sad observations to share.

I mentioned here a couple of years ago that I attended a seminar given by Don Angier of Yanagi Ryu Aiki Jiu Jitsu. I missed last year's event in northern Californa, but I managed to make this year's event last weekend. I attended both days (as did another Bujinkan practicioner), and met one other Bujinkan student during the Sunday session at Aikido of Diablo Valley.

As has always been the case with Don's seminars, I enjoyed it immensely. Both days were Yanagi-style taijutsu training, no weapons this time (e.g. the jojutsu we did in April 2003.)

The first day, we did 3-man training involving breaking from 2-attacker both-arm wrist grabs (morote in aikido parlance). The second day, we did 2-man Yanagi "kiri dori" with reversals. Both days ended with recap training.

As usual, the training was incredibly useful: the principles of Angier's art are shared with our own, with an interestingly different emphasis on how to convey them. I didn't attend with the intent of "learning their art" - that really only happens with core Yanagi students, in their dojo environment, as is the case with us and our art - but what I do expect, as I've experienced in previous years' training with the Yanagi folks, is that I'll be able to see aspects of our own art from an outside perspective.

One solid claim I can make for training with these guys is that I'm forced to re-examine all the "unclean" (or sloppy) elements in my own movement.

Really, I can't recommend highly enough that Bujinkan students take the time to attend a seminar by this incredible 73 year old practicioner of a rare Japanese family art.

I should also add that the people I trained with, mostly aikidoka, were very good training partners, and incredibly welcoming, which made the experience all the more rewarding.

Last Tuesday night, I had the interesting, frustrating, enlightening experience of training in a few pieces of modern armor. My teacher, Dale Seago, had some observations which he wrote up on MartialTalk.com. The pics of him in armor were taken by me with my Olympus E-1; the other pics were taken by someone else with their camera.

I'd love to find an affordable set of well-constructed, wearable, Warring States Period yoroi I could train in, but the most popular set of modern-made gear, Hanwei's "Nobunaga" style armor, has gotten reviews which pretty much sum up to "good basic craftsmanship, very poorly conceived & ahistorical design." Still looking.

For a martial art to be a martial art, rather than some other form of physical expression (some other "art" entirely), its focus must remain on fighting. A truly accomplished warrior may renounce violence -- but only his or her mastery of violence makes this possible. If the style or system you study leaves you unable to defend yourself in a realistic self-defense scenario, it may indeed be an art -- but it is not martial at all. Its practitioners delude themselves if they believe that it is.

In the same vein, a martial art or martial artist whose attitude towards weapons is one of contempt, mistrust, fear, or condescension tells you volumes about its, his, or her "martialism." Weapons are force multipliers -- tools that perform the same function as hammers, levers, and pliers in that they make it easier to accomplish a specific task. As the purpose of a martial art is to deliver force against another human or group of humans, only the most ignorant of martial artists would dismiss or reject tools that make performing this task more efficient and less risky. There is no such thing as an immoral tool. There are only immoral tool users.

Phil Elmore

My Bujinkan teacher Dale Seago mentioned this a few days ago:

Some VERY good pages on Japanese armor which give a clearer understanding of why armored fighting methods are the way they are; also sections on historic Japanese clothing & accessories, the design and layout of Japanese estates during the Heian period, etc.

For those with a bent toward Humphreyesque "cultural detective work", there's an essay on "Rape as the First Act of Romance in Heian Japan" which makes it pretty clear that the feudal Japanese viewed some things quite differently from the way we do in our society today... (Whaddaya mean I should wait 'til the 3rd date?!?)

Yesterday, I attended Dale Seago's "Return from Japan" seminar in San Francisco. I'm reminded that my friend Monica attended a Bujinkan seminar in London, and had some good things to say about her training experience.

By the title, I mean I didn't expect that my friend Andy would be taking a picture of me at this moment:

It was pretty dark in the shade of the shooting stall, in stark contrast with the sunny range, and no fill flash was used. I managed to extract a bit more information using the GIMP.

Firearm was a full-frame H&K USP in .45ACP, firing on a "hostage rescue" metal silhouette at 15 meters. Hard shot, wouldn't want to have to do that for a living. I would never seek to be in such a horrifying predicament, and certainly wouldn't want to have to use a pistol, at relative long range, unsupported, to try pulling it off. Still, one should always train for the unthinkable.

I do not believe that fighting is the primary goal of martial arts in contemporary times. I believe that it has far greater potential. Hatsumi Sensei [says] that it is to produce higher human beings and create peace. Although these may sound like lofty ideals, we have all witnessed the personal evolution of practitioners and seen the spirit of friendship flourish between countries. In many cases, the Bujinkan has created friendships between students even when their home countries were still hostile.

Martial arts provide a model of life. They teach us to be positive and resolved in the face of adversity. They teach us to seek truth (albeit at first through technique), they teach us to seek harmony rather than accord, they teach us cooperation (which is necessary during practice) and they teach us the humility to know that we must act as part of nature not contrary to it. If we must fight, then we should do so with a pure heart. To harm an opponent more than is necessary is savagery and is unbecoming of an artist. It is better that we are judged on our dignity and humanity, rather than by how fearsome we are.

In Japanese martial arts, there is a saying, ‘The sword that kills and the sword that spares’. This is usually taken to mean that the swordsman would have such skill that he could choose whether to kill or spare an opponent. Hatsumi Sensei said that there is another meaning, that one action may have included both. An example of this may have been when faced with no other choice, a samurai would have killed an attacker to prevent him from taking innocent lives. Although regretting the taking of life, his one sword cut would have killed and spared life at the same time. To make such a judgement for the correct reasons, the swordsman needed to have had a highly developed sense of humanity and justice. Taking life cannot be compared with giving life. Hurting cannot be compared to healing and destruction cannot be compared to creativity. We are not just martial practitioners, we are martial artists and we should create beauty through the movements of our bodies and hearts.

Peter King, on "Fighting"

On our dojo mailing list today, sometimes-training-buddy (and all around good guy) Irishman Stephen Ewart forwards this excellent essay, "Fighting," written by the U.K's Peter King, a superb Bujinkan practicioner and teacher with whom my friend Monica White has the privilege of training in London. An excerpt:

Hatsumi Sensei criticised martial artists who act like they are dangerous animals. He said that man has been able to use his intelligence to be able to kill dangerous animals in the world. Such people will be defeated – in a way that they had not expected, because they were outwitted by brain and not muscle. When Takamatsu Sensei was in China he was known as the Mongolian Tiger because of his martial prowess. However on his return to Japan, a friend said that he was more like a Japanese cat. Takamatsu Sensei was happy to agree. He said that, in China, it was necessary for him to be fierce like a tiger, but that now that he was back in Japan it was not. He added that women like cats and would often stroke them. Although said in humour, it illustrates the need to be hard only when needed, and then be able to return to gentleness.

Steve Pegram passes this on:

Note the name of the castle first build specifically to protect against firearms.

The first castle in Britain to be designed specifically for defense by guns was Ravenscraig Castle located in Scotland. Built in 1460.

Today's the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. I'm reminded that a couple of weeks ago, a couple of friends of mine and I went shooting at a rifle range in northern California, taking a number of weapons including an M1 Garand rifle which probably saw action in WWII. Here, my friend Andy Chen, a brand new shooter (and 18 y/o college classmate), fires my other friend's Garand:

This was Andy's first time out shooting... and on steel reactive targets set out at 100 meters - after having been briefed on safety and weapon operation - he kept up with us two trained, experienced shooters, at least on the sandbag rests. He's spent his high school years reading military history, and knows an incredible amount of factual data on weapons history. He's also used to playing first-person shooter games - in which I've never been interested, thinking them useless for training - causing me to start to re-think my opinions of twitch games.

An older gentleman at an adjacent shooting stall took some time to discuss the Garand with Andy, pointing out that he had ordered his own Garand (which he was also shooting) from the U.S. federal government's Civilian Marksmanship Program, which I've heard about over the years, though I'd bought my own past two Garands from commercial sources.

I'm encouraging Andy to join a local CMP-affiliated club and shoot a match this summer, so that he can be eligible to buy at least a "rack grade" rifle for as low as $350... shipped Fedex directly to his door (yes, they do that)! I don't see Garands selling at gun shows for less than around $800 nowadays. Here's a very detailed and interesting account, with photos, of the experiences of two CMP participants in the purchase and shooting of their own CMP Garands.

It's especially worth noting, for California residents, that a Garand is "Kalifornia legal", making it an excellent rifle to keep locked in the trunk of one's car... just in case. Also note that a number of companies (such as Smith Enterprises) do "tanker conversions" to shorten the overall length, and one can convert the weapon to .308 caliber.

...when I saw Vlad in Carlsbad he patted my stomach and said big (fat) men make great fighters, then smiled and said they can't run away like everyone else so they have to be...

Clayton

BTW, do you know what you say to a person that walks into a gun store where you work, asks to see a "9mm Automatic" and then, when it is handed to him/her, slide back, promptly lets the slide slam jarringly shut on an empty chamber and then ejects the magazine onto the floor?

"How are you today, officer?"

Forrest Halford

Last night in the dojo, our teacher Dale Seago inquired as to who might be attending this coming Saturday's Systema seminar to be given by Kwan Lee at Mountain Lake Park from 10am - 3pm. I'd missed the announcement from a couple of weeks ago:

I'm not in the habit of recommending other martial arts' seminars: to date, the only exception has been for those taught by Donald Angier, Soke of Yanagi ryu.

Russian Systema, however, is worth checking out. It's the closest thing I've yet seen outside "the Booj" in terms of movement, concepts, "feeling", and philosophy to what Hatsumi sensei has been trying to get across to us. To get a better sense of what I'm talking about, check out some of the discussions [here].

I'm going to be at this one myself, and I hope to see some of you there as well.

-- Dale

If I'm recovered from a hip bruise I somehow picked up in training last night, I might consider attending myself.

Last night in the dojo I was stuck. Truly, brain-locked stuck. I was the proverbial soup sandwich. It was one of the most frustrating experiences of the last several years for me. We all (those of us who strive, at least) have these occasional tests of resolve, the desire to push on. However, as I was telling myself on the ride alone home last night, I was very happy I kept going: even a bad night training is better than not having trained at all. Must keep going...

Apologies for Bob Tipton for not having gotten back to him in email, but I'd like to take the time to announce here that he's launched an interesting new blog, "Serenity: A diary of our family's experience in moving to the country." Included is a review of handgun training at Storm Mountain and other interesting material. Oh, and he does post photos; I'm a sucker for eyecandy, so I like that.

I just got back from attending Michael Janich's Martial Blade Craft Course Levels 1&2 (MBC) this past weekend (Nov.8/9th). The class itself was hosted by Suarez International and was held at the Angeles Shooting Range just northeast of Los Angeles.

In addition to being an instructor renowned among students of edged weapons, Mr. Janich is also the author of numerous survival/self-defense books and videos published by Paladin Press.

Day/Level 1 started off with the usual (and necessary) mission statement as well as the defining of the overall goals of the classes followed by a short but informative lecture. Soon afterward, we were taught the basics which the rest of the course would build upon i.e. grip, stance, different methods of deploying a folder, Five Angles of Attack, Zones of Defense, and Defensive Responses. Afterward, we pretty much spent the rest of the day drilling on the various aspects of attack and defensive responses. We were also introduced to various drills taken from the Filipino Arts e.g. Largo Mano Flow Drill, Six-Count Flow Drill etc. in order to sharpen our technique, teach us to chain our responses and help develop an appreciation for the ability to perceive an attack and responding in a smooth and instantaneous fashion. In between all this, we were given a lecture on things to look for when choosing a folder and the numerous pros and cons of the various carry locations/positions. Later in the day, we were also given a demo on lethality and effectiveness of the fighting knife against flesh and blood targets as Mike slashed and ripped away at a pork roast (tied around a wooden dowel and wrapped in saran which was in turn sheathed by layers of denim) which was meant to simulate a human limb. The results were quite grisly but impressive.

Day/Level Two began with a brief review of Day/Level One before proceeding onto more advanced concepts/drills such as retraction cutting, Crossadas, Sumbradas, varying your range, etc. In between these comprehensive drills we were taught and given the time to practice both targetting and application for all the techniques we had spent the better part of a day and a half practicing. Towards the end of Day Two, we were also shown how the concepts and techniques that we were taught could also be applied to other contact weapons (canes, sticks, chains, belts) or in some cases, empty handed fighting.

Overall, I found the two day course to be a very gratifying experience. Mr. Janich is a top notch instructor who is not only intimately familiar with the subjects at hand but he also able to present the subjects in such a way that was easily understood and the fact that he had a sense of humor sure didn't detract from the experience.

As for the curriculum itself, I found it to be quite practical and thought provoking. The techniques taught were easy to learn and more importantly easy to apply in a real world situation. I think one of the best things about the concepts-based system of MBC is that by attaining familiarity with just a few basic concepts plus mastery over a few techniques the student is prepared for the entire spectrum of conflict involving contact weapons (or even empty hands) and this aspect of it should be very attractive to those of us who are seeking a simple, direct and highly adaptable fighting system to add to our Combative Skills Composite.

I laugh when some trainer advertises his class as “for police only,” as if that phrase somehow makes the class more advanced or the topics more "deadly." Rubbish. The state of the art resides in the private sector salles d'armes, the unofficial shooting schools.

Gabe Suarez

Survival Arts welcomes back old friend and contributor from the early days of this blog, Eric Cartman. - Russell

In September 1999 I had the opportunity to attend the 20th Annual SOF Convention. Part of my reason for going was to take advantage of the various training seminars offered which included jump, medical and underwater airframe escape. As it turned out most of the classes were canceled for various reasons, but the underwater airframe escape, given by Learn to Return Training Systems of Anchorage Alaska was not. Being a pilot, I this would be an interesting opportunity to expose myself to something new. Even though I had been flying for some time, I had never considered such training on my own, even though I regularly attend various training courses. The thought of what might happen if I ditched a plane or helicopter into water seemed simple enough. Emergency checklist, radio calls, open the doors or windows to keep water pressure from sealing you in, crash and exit the craft when/if you can. Seemed simple enough. Well, not really, as I was about to find out.

The Class

Training consisted of 4 hours of classroom time followed by hands-on simulator training in the hotel swimming pool. Although large facilities exist with mechanical “dunkers” which include complete sections of various airframes, LTR has also designed man-portable devices that they can bring to any facility that has a reasonably sized swimming pool.

The class consisted of about 8 people from various backgrounds from the military, law enforcement and civilian worlds. Everyone was treated pretty much the same. The class was taught by Brian Horner, the President of LTR, and John Evans. Both have extensive military and rescue experience as well as numerous other credentials. Their rescue experience became immediately evident during the initial slide show, which included a large number of photos from actual rescues. The slide presentation included some great images of helicopter ditches in progress, as well as some “rescue faux pas” such as a rescue boat getting caught up in the rotor of a sinking Sikorsky helicopter!

If you carry a gun, people call you paranoid. That's ridiculous. If I have a gun, what in the hell do I have to be paranoid about?

Clint Smith
Director, Thunder Ranch

[Survival Arts resumes its regular service with the publication of Mark Quon's first article on this blog. Welcome, Mark! - editor]

Last Friday 23 May 3003 I completed the 5 Day Combatives Skills Courses taught by Gabe Suarez, which I found to be one of the most enlightening, comprehensive, high speed/low drag defensive shooting classes that I've ever had the privilege of attending.

For those of you who are unaware, Gabe is the author of numerous excellent books on the tactical employment of all the major small arms weapons platforms. I bought his first book The Tactical Pistol back during its initial release and found it to be the definitive book on the subject of fighting with a sidearm. Since then I have gone on to obtain every new title authored by Mr. Suarez as soon as it's released and consider his works to be among the most invaluable reference books in my firearms library.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to taking my first class with him and was quite pleased with the results.

DAY 1 Tactical Marksmanship Enhancement

On the first day, we started off with a review of all the fundamentals of combat marksmanship. Stance, firing grip, the "3 Secrets", follow-through and the presentation were all reviewed in depth along with some helpful hints on fine tuning and improving our present skill levels. This was basically the type of stuff that other schools would cover in a two or three day entry level course condensed into an eight hour session. In addition to being a skill building course, the secondary intent of this class was to help Gabe gauge the present skill level of all those present and bring those who were lagging up to speed for the rest of the week's curriculum.

DAY 2 Combative Shooting and CQB Skills

On day two, we began to learn the combative applications for our newly honed core skills. Subjects such as shooting on the move, addressing threats from around the compass and CQ retention shooting were all covered exhaustively as well as a session of low light shooting. Since it does not get dark in SoCal at this time of year until well into the night, we were not able to do a lot of low light drills. However, I did learn a new and improved version of the Harries Technique - one that isn't as tedious to use - as well as numerous tips and techniques on using the shooting flashlight in a tactical environment along with some neat modifications to make the Surefire light a bit more user-friendly.

DAY 3 Team Tactics, Team Movement, and Advanced Shooting Skills

On the third day, the subject of moving and shooting with a partner was addressed. We were taught the principles of moving with a partner, utilizing both verbal and nonverbal communications and mutually supporting fire in the early part of the course. The later part of the day, we learned numerous wounded operator techniques, which entailed a lot of ambidextrous shooting - both one and two handed - and having the students shoot each other's weapons (to simulate a scenario where we might find it necessary to fight with a bad guy / partner's dropped weapon) as well as firing from atypical firing platforms e.g. supine etc.

Day 3 ended with a lecture on Tactical Emergency First Aid given by Suarez International Staff Member Jeff Mayberry. This is not to be confused with ditch medicine or emergency war surgery type subjects which require a comprehensive course of their own. Rather, this was a lecture on what to do to keep yourself alive long enough to reach medical first aid if you're stabbed or shot in the course of a fight. Of course, all this is predicated on the fact that you need to neutralize the threat first. But beyond the bare minimum of first aid techniques presented, the main focus of this lecture was the attempt to inculcate in the students the need to cultivate a Never Say Die mentality and mindset so crucial to winning a lethal force encounter where the Good Guy (or gal) may have sustained injuries. Personally, I found this to be one of the most critical and rousing lectures I've heard in any self-defense course.

DAY 4 Vehicle Defense (Fighting From, Around, and Inside Vehicles)

The objective of day four was to train us in deploying weapons in and around vehicles along with plenty of other related subjects. A lot of the drills we were taught could also be adapted to respond to an immediate threat from the seated position. The latter part of the day involved the students testing various carry ammo on car doors, windshields and such in order to gauge the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of our ammo of choice on such media. The results were astounding, to say the least.

The day ended with another thought provoking lecture given by Gabe on the aftermath of a shooting. This lecture also encompassed discussions on pre-shooting preparations and dwelled on post shooting problems and the most feasible ways of dealing with such contingencies. Very practical knowledge to have.

DAY 5 Weapon Retention / Alternative Force / Weapon Disarming

The final course blends empty handed combatives with the handgun. We were taught various methods of retaining control of our pistol - both in holster and hand - as well as disarming our adversaries and using the handgun as an alternative force impact weapon. I found the techniques presented to be simple, easy to learn/master, low maintenance, and brutally effective. An added bonus for those of us with previous training in martial arts is that our prior training makes actually enhances these techniques.

For those of us who have had some training under our belt, a big plus in training with Gabe is that most of the stuff he teaches is concept-driven rather than based upon rigid doctrine (which would be ineffective outside of the controlled enviroment of a square range). A lot of what Gabe teaches is based on his experiences and observations as a seasoned gunfighter: during his decade and a half as a peace officer with the Santa Monica PD, he was involved in over a half dozen lethal force situations with urban street predators. So, the student knows that what he's learning is based upon stuff that works in real time against flesh and blood threats rather than the musings of armchair warriors. This is not to say that one cannot learn to be technically proficient with firearms from the strict theorists, but I do believe that in order to attain the necessary mindset to prepare for a life-and-death encounter - along with technical proficiency - one should seek out an instructor who has Seen the Elephant.

All in all, I found this five day course to be a most rewarding experience. My classmates were a highly motivated and competent lot who were all extremely eager to learn and I felt honored to be training among such a hard charging crew. Both Gabe and Jeff were superb instructors. They were thoroughly knowledgeable on the given subjects, willing to answer any and all questions and sincerely interested in imparting said knowledge to us. I truly feel like I got more than my money's worth and I highly recommend Gabe's classes to anyone who's serious about the business of gunfighting.

Thanks to my friend Steve Pegram for passing along this incredibly interesting thread on the AR15.com Forums: "USMC after-action gear assessment". Pay particular attention to the reports on the adequacy of 5.56mm vs 7.62mm carbine/rifle ammunition, and the spectacular satisfaction of operators with their M16 & (especially) M4 carbines.

Especially interesting is a point I've known all along: a lot of issue military gear quickly gets replaced with individually selected commercial "sporting goods" equivalents, e.g. Panoptx goggles replacing the awful issue crap.

Another interesting point: the M9 pistol still sucks. It should be replaced with the Glock or whatever the individual soldier wishes to otherwise carry.

Dale Seago will be teaching at the Schola St. George Swordsmanship Symposium the weekend of 7-8 June 2003 in Benecia, California (near the San Francisco Bay area), bringing a cognate perspective to this historical European martial arts event:

Dale Seago will demonstrate and teach techniques of armoured Japanese combat, and Japanese armoured wrestling.

See Dale's excellent comments of today on SDF on the rebirth of traditional European martial arts.

Phil Elmore, a prolific contributor to the Self Defense Forums, has his own related site: The Martialist: the Magazine for Those Who Fight Unfairly.

"...and I'm a selfdefenseaholic."

A few days ago, I discovered the Self-Defense Forums, and have been reccommending that high-quality site to a number of people. My teacher Dale Seago has been doing a lot of posting there, including this introductory piece with lots of great photos of Scottish dirks.

Teri Seago will be teaching "Women's Safety Series - The ABC's of Self-Protection" on Saturday 17 May 2003 at the San Francisco Buyu Center:

This seminar is the first in a Safety Series of workshops for women to learn the basic self-defense skills that will keep you safe in day to day life. It has been created for non-martial artists who want to learn simple concepts, tactics, and movement to improve awareness, confidence, and physical competence. This seminar is limited to women, and taught by Teri Seago.

Highly recommended.

Another discovery from my server logs: "Self-Defense Forums: For A Fighting Chance".

Proof that some of us pay very close attention to our server logs: howdy, Australian Survivalist readers! A special hello to "Warrigal".

Just saw this mentioned on Fox News, figured I'd Google for it immediately. I wonder if there's a "Fox News effect" similar to the "Slashdot Effect". Some of this is just plain goofball, some of it's stuff I've seen and done in climbing gyms and on rockfaces. Good fun, in any case: House Gymastics.

Looks like I'm going to need to "bust at least one classic Harrison & Ford move" to get into their gallery; watch this space...

Now that I'm mostly recovered from this weekend's training - though still moving slowly - I'll mention this weekend's training I attended in Concord, California, conducted by Soke Don Angier of Yanagi Ryu Aiki Jiujitsu at Aikido of Diablo Valley, graciously hosted by Rick Rowell and Shari Dyer (who provided the photo below).

Mr. Angier is the only American soke of a Japanese family martial art, Yanagi Ryu Aiki Jiujitsu, an offshoot of the Daito Ryu tradition. He'll be turning 70 this year, and has been doing his art since 1958. He has an interesting story to tell, recounted in the article "'So Sorry! Jiu-jitsu Please, Not Judo!' My Career in Yanagi-ryu Aiki Jujutsu", originally printed in the May 2001 edition of Aikido Journal, and reprinted by the Journal of Combative Sport (an interesting venue, since Yanagi Ryu, like the Bujinkan arts I study, utterly lacks sporting elements).

My American teacher in the Bujinkan, Dale Seago, some years ago strongly recommended that his students take advantage of the fact that Mr. Angier was visiting San Francisco for a weekend seminar on the principles of his art. A number of us did indeed take Dale up on his recommendation, and a small core group of us make a point of training with Mr. Angier on the roughly yearly schedule he visits the San Francisco Bay area.

Don Angier teaches these 2-day seminars with a very small number of very specific techniques, which are vehicles for the important lessons: the principles behind martially effective movement, e.g. commutative locking, finding the opponent's weak lines, taking advantage of hardwired mammalian and reptilian visual responses to misdirection, etc. All physics, all anatomy & physiology.

As is usual at these events, we had a larger (18-20 people) group training the first day, and a small group of about half that size training the second day. Mr. Angier and his direct students Jeremy and Mort (great guys) circulated the room giving intensely minutely specific directions for correcting our movements.

The attendees were predominantly aikidoists, with a much smaller number of Bujinkan students. The purpose of the training was not to make us practicioners of Mr. Angier's art, but rather to take home the lessons of his training to our own arts and our own movement. I can't recommend his training highly enough. At $70 for the weekend, too, it was practically given away free. Train with him, if you have the opportunity.