One of my friends was able to take one of my "must take" classes. Figured I would share his report.
BOOM! Long AAR, I wrote it on a car trip. If theres typos/grammatical errors I apologize.
Who: Jacob, the beaded-bracelet-wearing-hippie-mountaineer with a gun
What: Shivworks Extreme Close Quarters Concepts
When: June 22, 23, 24- 2012
Where: Post 46 Pinckney Michigan
Previous training: Multiple handgun, carbine, close contact, less lethal, edge weapon defense courses.
Gear: G17 with serrations by ATEI, grip chopped to a 19 by DFC. Raven Concealment VG2 and ACR. Ares gear belt.
What I Expected: To learn a lot. This class was recommended to me by people that are knowledgeable and respected trainers, and seemed like it was a must take. I knew I would get to fight with FIST helmets and build on my close contact skills
What Actually Happened:
I got my ass kicked, kicked some ass, and walked away with a changed mindset and a bunch of new techniques/skills.
Day1: ~4 hours
We did intros and then Craig begins to tell a little bit about himself, his history of violent encounters, and why he teaches what he does. Craig has an incredible knowledge base, real life real-world experience to back up his teaching, and the unfortunate history of facing death as an undercover officer.
He starts to delve into the criminal mindset and how some encounters/attacks may or may not play out. There are a few different themes he talks about such as equal initiative/unequal event and un-proportional armament as well as elements of an event; close encounters, multiple attackers, presence of weapons. In everyday life our awareness is described as a cone, sometimes it is wide and sees a lot, and others it narrows as we focus in on something. This Transitioned us to the MUC (managing unknown contacts) and we go over verbal responses to the MUC, movement, and where our hands should be. A lot of times we unknowingly give our backs to an unknown and dont identify what is behind us fast enough. Craig says that success or failure is a result of not assessing the situation and making the appropriate decision fast enough.
Body position once engaged is discussed and shown which leads us to talk about pre-assault cues and body language. Throughout the discussion we break every so often to work with another student on what has just been taught and it gives us time to analyze what were doing and see that it actually makes sense. We work on body positioning, creating base, recognizing pre-assault clues, grabs and holds, eye jabs, level changes, blocks, and get a feel of what is to come tomorrow.
There are consentual/non-competitive portions where you and a partner just go through the motions to learn the correct movements, and non-consentual/competitive portions where you are trying to win (pushing your partner, getting control of a limb etc.) This is a challenging and physical part of the class, and its barely an intro which just reaffirms that you have about 45 seconds of fight in you before youre whipped (covered in the Blue Cell Protective Services/MDFI Less Lethal Defense Options course and the MDFI Close Contact class). We wrap up the night with an overview of what was discussed and break for the evening.
Even though this was the shortest portion of the class and there wasnt any live fire, I believe I gained the most knowledge from this portion thanks to Craigs way of explaining his methodology. The MUC segment is something that all of us use quite regularly whether we realize it or not, and I have a completely new way of dealing with unknowns.
Day 2: ~8 hours - live fire, sims guns, and force on force w/ fist helmets
We all convene at the range in the morning and are all noticeably sore, some more than others, but were all excited for the day. A safety brief is conducted including the go-to medics and evac plans, life safety rules, and range commands. Craig is VERY deliberate with his words, requests, commands, and changes the gait and tone of his voice accordingly. This makes following his instruction a simple task.
We get on the line and discuss draw stroke and its importance when entangled with an adversary. Ive been taught going to a 2/retained position near the armpit with your wrist straight and thumb flagged high a few times before and I thought I was comfortable but Craig pointed out that I was inconsistent in my positioning due to some vertical stringing on my target. My shots would have been effective pelvic hits but I carry appendix so my wrist was angled on the draw and I wasnt consistent on making sure it was straight. Craig is not one to pat you on the back unless it is deserved and will correct you if you mess up, helping you be more successful. I really appreciate since Im paying for his instruction and not a gold star sticker, check your egos at the door.
While I was paying attention to keeping my wrist straight I didnt flag my thumb high enough and when I pressed off a shot the slide hit my shoulder and caused a pretty good failure to extract/double feed malfunction. I recognized this, delivered a eye jab to the target, stepped back and fixed my gun. Just goes to show that you have to remember all the fundamentals and its easy to mess up shooting from retention.
We shoot until lunch going over draw stroke, muzzle awareness, shooting from retention; all things that were review for me (thanks to the MDFI CCS class) but it was great to hear Craigs perspective on the subject.
After lunch we remove all pointy and things that go bang from our bodies and move into the force on force evolutions. We review some of the previous days work and learn some new holds, positioning, how to gain advantage, controlling the arms, and gaining position of the attackers back. In a weapons based environment youre not really concerned with head control if they have a knife in their hand, so controlling their arms and staying on their inside is crucial to your survival.
Trying to slip an arm for inside control
Our evo was 1v1, your attacker was not armed you were, the goal was to retain your weapon, and if needed/possible draw and employ you Glock 17T sim gun. The evo was over when Craig said it was done. We formed a circle aka the thunderdome so we could watch the evos and be safety spotters, I learned a lot from just watching all the other evos going on. In my evo my attacker took my guard, pinned my left arm, got control of my weapon, and shot me. This is bad, dont let that happen. Even though I had been popped twice Craig keeps coaching me and tells me to not lose the fight. We squirm around a little longer and the evo is called.
Lessons Learned:
If you lose position early its really hard to get it back
Dont get shot, especially with your own gun, thats not cool
KEEP FIGHTING
After all the evos were done we discuss what worked and what didnt, give observations, and point out strengths and weaknesses. Craig goes over some common mistakes and offers possible solution. One of his quotes/mottos is Identify the problem and do the work which definitely held true today. Theres no one solution that can fix everything so you have to be a thinker.
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