(cont.)
Sunday was more of the same, in addition to reviewing and spending some more time on the #2, we also incorporated fending with the support hand using the horizontal and vertical elbow shields. We then integrated the fending with the rest of the presentation. By the end of the morning, we were shooting from the #2 while fending, moving up to the #3 and firing while pressing out to extension while moving away from the target. We also reversed the process, starting from full extension several paces from the target, moving in while compressing the gun (firing the whole time), and moving into a fending position as the gun returned to the #2.
The afternoon of both days was spent working on the empty-hand material and then pressure testing it via use of the FIST helmets and Simunition guns with marking ammo.
If you've ever watched very many fights from the video sites or from dash-camera footage, you'll see that while the fights may start at striking range, many of them quickly collapse to a grappling/wrestling/clinch range. The term SouthNarc uses for this situation is being in a "Fouled-up tangle" (hereafter: FUT) as terms commonly used in martial-arts circles like "clinch range" tend to have a rather technical connotation. In reality, the situation is generally just a chaotic mess.
The ability to successfully negotiate this FUT in order to access a weapon, respond with effective strikes, or break range and escape is dependent on our abilty to regain the initiative and to obtain and maintain dominant position.
Saturday afternoon, we began with some drills to help work on maintaining a stable base so that one can maintain forward drive and not be driven back by the attacker. We then started working various techniques for controlling the opponent to facilitate weapons access and/or prevent the opponent from accessing his tools. Some of the techniques covered included underhooks, collar, wrist, and bicep ties, and overhooks. We also worked a series of techniques to allow us to get to the attacker's back which obviously leaves us in a good position for weapons access. The "duck-under" and the "arm-drag," both common techniques, were a couple of the ones used to pass and take the attacker's back.
In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, there is a saying "position before submission." Basically this means that before you can successfully execute a submission technique (choke, joint-lock, etc.), you must obtain dominant position. Along the same lines, when dealing with what SouthNarc referrs to as "Infight Weapons Access," (hereafter: IFWA) we operate under the philosophy of "position before acquisition." In other words, before you attempt to deploy a tool (gun, knife, sap, whatever), you must achieve positional dominance. Fixating on drawing a weapon before dominat position was obtained typically resulted in either a fouled draw, a malfunctioning weapon (because the "attacker" grabbed the gun causing it to malfunction when fired), a disarm, or some combination of the above. It is critical that you don't go for your weapon too soon. A general rule of thumb for IFWA is that you have to control the attacker's limb that is closest to the tool you are trying to access.
At this point, we moved on to some ground-fighting drills. Topics addressed included keeping an attacker at bay by using your legs to kick and "shrimping" to get to the guard position after the attacker has passed your legs. Once again, the goal is to control the situation long enough to successfully deploy a weapon.
We ended the day by incorporating the FIST helmets and Simunition guns into the above drills. One example of this would be a drill in which two students, one with a holstered sim-gun, clinch up and fight for dominant position. The goal for the student with the sim-gun is to control the other guy long enough to make a clean draw and get rounds into him. The goal for the "bad guy" is to prevent this either by preventing the draw, controlling the weapon once it is drawn, or disarming the "good guy." It should be noted that the "bad guy" was not cooperating at all (in fact, their lack of cooperation was just downright irritating! ).
Sunday afternoon, we began by working on weapon retention with the gun both in and out of the holster. In conjunction with this, we also worked handgun disarms as the same techniques that allow us get someone off our gun allow us to take theirs if they are threatening us with it.
We ended the day with several more FOF evolutions. One was a "scenario-based" evolution that incorporated all the topics address throughout the duration of the weekend (MUC, default response, obtaining dominant position, IFWA, etc.). Two student role-players acted as the Unknown Contacts/threats while a third student had to deal with the situation as it played out. The importance of the MUC portion of the material really became apparent here as ending up in a close-range fight with two attackers makes for a really bad day.
Some reflections:
The "Force on Force" (FOF) evolutions that we participated in over the two days are extremely eye-opening. The emphasis on the drawstroke from the live-fire portion of the class really paid dividends here. Establishing a solid grip and having a consistent #2 position are critical when you are dealing with the dynamic nature of what is basically a free-for-all performed at full speed and resistance. Having a sloppy retention-position can easily result in either having your weapon taken away or having the weapon fouled by someone grabbing it. As I mentioned earlier, if you don't have a consistent #2, you also run the risk of shooting yourself with your own gun as I did during one of the ground-fighting drills (putting a round into your own leg is kind of a sobering experience...just glad I didn't have to learn that lesson in a real fight).
One of the most common problems I observed was people that went for their gun too early. As I said before, if you attempt to access your weapon before you have established some sort of positional dominance your chances of success are extremely reduced.
Another issue I noticed was that there were several instances where someone would shoot their attacker and immediately relax (going to low-ready or whatever), thinking the fight was over even though the "bad guy" was still trying to attack them. I would imagine that this is a result of being so conditioned by range drills and courses of fire (e.g. "draw and fire two rounds center of mass") that they tend to assume, at least subconsciously, that the fight is over as soon as they fire their weapon. The lesson here, obviously, is that the fight ain't over 'till it's over and it may take more than just the double-tap or mozambique-drill that you're used to doing at the range.
I would, without hesitiation, recommend this class to anyone who carries a gun. The Friday night MUC portion was excellent and is the best breakdown of the "pre-fight" that I've ever heard.
The FOF "laboratory" does an incredible job of letting you know what will and won't work. If we're honest, very few martial-artists (empty-hand guys, knife guys, gun guys, whoever) ever test their methods against a truly uncooperative training partner--someone who is really trying their best to prevent your success. Why not? because this type of training is a humbling experience. Most people would rather stroke their egos (practicing only what they're good at) than expose their weaknesses. It's also hard work...we all walked away with bumps, bruises, welts, and sore muscles.
We had a diverse group of students. Several medical doctors, a few of whom were also cops, a lawyer/reserve-cop, an accountant, a real-estate guy, etc. Great group of guys who were a pleasure to train with.
Overall, this class was an excellent experience and I intend to take it again when I have an opportunity to do so.
For more information or instructional DVD's that introduce quite a bit of this material, go to www.shivworks.com
For discussion on this material and a lot of other good information, check out www.totalprotectioninteractive.com. SouthNarc is one of the owners of this forum and it is a wealth of information.
Sunday was more of the same, in addition to reviewing and spending some more time on the #2, we also incorporated fending with the support hand using the horizontal and vertical elbow shields. We then integrated the fending with the rest of the presentation. By the end of the morning, we were shooting from the #2 while fending, moving up to the #3 and firing while pressing out to extension while moving away from the target. We also reversed the process, starting from full extension several paces from the target, moving in while compressing the gun (firing the whole time), and moving into a fending position as the gun returned to the #2.
The afternoon of both days was spent working on the empty-hand material and then pressure testing it via use of the FIST helmets and Simunition guns with marking ammo.
If you've ever watched very many fights from the video sites or from dash-camera footage, you'll see that while the fights may start at striking range, many of them quickly collapse to a grappling/wrestling/clinch range. The term SouthNarc uses for this situation is being in a "Fouled-up tangle" (hereafter: FUT) as terms commonly used in martial-arts circles like "clinch range" tend to have a rather technical connotation. In reality, the situation is generally just a chaotic mess.
The ability to successfully negotiate this FUT in order to access a weapon, respond with effective strikes, or break range and escape is dependent on our abilty to regain the initiative and to obtain and maintain dominant position.
Saturday afternoon, we began with some drills to help work on maintaining a stable base so that one can maintain forward drive and not be driven back by the attacker. We then started working various techniques for controlling the opponent to facilitate weapons access and/or prevent the opponent from accessing his tools. Some of the techniques covered included underhooks, collar, wrist, and bicep ties, and overhooks. We also worked a series of techniques to allow us to get to the attacker's back which obviously leaves us in a good position for weapons access. The "duck-under" and the "arm-drag," both common techniques, were a couple of the ones used to pass and take the attacker's back.
In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, there is a saying "position before submission." Basically this means that before you can successfully execute a submission technique (choke, joint-lock, etc.), you must obtain dominant position. Along the same lines, when dealing with what SouthNarc referrs to as "Infight Weapons Access," (hereafter: IFWA) we operate under the philosophy of "position before acquisition." In other words, before you attempt to deploy a tool (gun, knife, sap, whatever), you must achieve positional dominance. Fixating on drawing a weapon before dominat position was obtained typically resulted in either a fouled draw, a malfunctioning weapon (because the "attacker" grabbed the gun causing it to malfunction when fired), a disarm, or some combination of the above. It is critical that you don't go for your weapon too soon. A general rule of thumb for IFWA is that you have to control the attacker's limb that is closest to the tool you are trying to access.
At this point, we moved on to some ground-fighting drills. Topics addressed included keeping an attacker at bay by using your legs to kick and "shrimping" to get to the guard position after the attacker has passed your legs. Once again, the goal is to control the situation long enough to successfully deploy a weapon.
We ended the day by incorporating the FIST helmets and Simunition guns into the above drills. One example of this would be a drill in which two students, one with a holstered sim-gun, clinch up and fight for dominant position. The goal for the student with the sim-gun is to control the other guy long enough to make a clean draw and get rounds into him. The goal for the "bad guy" is to prevent this either by preventing the draw, controlling the weapon once it is drawn, or disarming the "good guy." It should be noted that the "bad guy" was not cooperating at all (in fact, their lack of cooperation was just downright irritating! ).
Sunday afternoon, we began by working on weapon retention with the gun both in and out of the holster. In conjunction with this, we also worked handgun disarms as the same techniques that allow us get someone off our gun allow us to take theirs if they are threatening us with it.
We ended the day with several more FOF evolutions. One was a "scenario-based" evolution that incorporated all the topics address throughout the duration of the weekend (MUC, default response, obtaining dominant position, IFWA, etc.). Two student role-players acted as the Unknown Contacts/threats while a third student had to deal with the situation as it played out. The importance of the MUC portion of the material really became apparent here as ending up in a close-range fight with two attackers makes for a really bad day.
Some reflections:
The "Force on Force" (FOF) evolutions that we participated in over the two days are extremely eye-opening. The emphasis on the drawstroke from the live-fire portion of the class really paid dividends here. Establishing a solid grip and having a consistent #2 position are critical when you are dealing with the dynamic nature of what is basically a free-for-all performed at full speed and resistance. Having a sloppy retention-position can easily result in either having your weapon taken away or having the weapon fouled by someone grabbing it. As I mentioned earlier, if you don't have a consistent #2, you also run the risk of shooting yourself with your own gun as I did during one of the ground-fighting drills (putting a round into your own leg is kind of a sobering experience...just glad I didn't have to learn that lesson in a real fight).
One of the most common problems I observed was people that went for their gun too early. As I said before, if you attempt to access your weapon before you have established some sort of positional dominance your chances of success are extremely reduced.
Another issue I noticed was that there were several instances where someone would shoot their attacker and immediately relax (going to low-ready or whatever), thinking the fight was over even though the "bad guy" was still trying to attack them. I would imagine that this is a result of being so conditioned by range drills and courses of fire (e.g. "draw and fire two rounds center of mass") that they tend to assume, at least subconsciously, that the fight is over as soon as they fire their weapon. The lesson here, obviously, is that the fight ain't over 'till it's over and it may take more than just the double-tap or mozambique-drill that you're used to doing at the range.
I would, without hesitiation, recommend this class to anyone who carries a gun. The Friday night MUC portion was excellent and is the best breakdown of the "pre-fight" that I've ever heard.
The FOF "laboratory" does an incredible job of letting you know what will and won't work. If we're honest, very few martial-artists (empty-hand guys, knife guys, gun guys, whoever) ever test their methods against a truly uncooperative training partner--someone who is really trying their best to prevent your success. Why not? because this type of training is a humbling experience. Most people would rather stroke their egos (practicing only what they're good at) than expose their weaknesses. It's also hard work...we all walked away with bumps, bruises, welts, and sore muscles.
We had a diverse group of students. Several medical doctors, a few of whom were also cops, a lawyer/reserve-cop, an accountant, a real-estate guy, etc. Great group of guys who were a pleasure to train with.
Overall, this class was an excellent experience and I intend to take it again when I have an opportunity to do so.
For more information or instructional DVD's that introduce quite a bit of this material, go to www.shivworks.com
For discussion on this material and a lot of other good information, check out www.totalprotectioninteractive.com. SouthNarc is one of the owners of this forum and it is a wealth of information.
