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Posted: 7/9/2014 12:27:49 PM EDT
“Who are you when no one else is around?”

AAR: Shivworks ECQC
Instructor: Craig Douglas aka “SouthNarc”
Council Bluffs, IA - June 27-29, 2014



There are lots of AARs on ECQC on the web and my experience mirrored many of those very closely. This is more of a collection of my personal lessons from the class than a chronological list of the content of the class, but I know this is going to run long. I hope my experience and perhaps history will help steer someone toward Craig and ECQC and the personal growth that stems from it.

About me. My story is unprofound. I grew up in a small town, in a middle-class family. My exposure to violence was essentially zero; I suppose that is a good thing. Aside from a very few shoving matches, I have spent my entire life as a very non-violent and fairly passive person. That said, I take my own safety and the safety of my loved ones very seriously. I’ve lawfully carried a firearm nearly every day since 2007. Two years ago, I moved near what I consider a “city” of around 100,000 people. As you’d expect, the crime rate is exponentially greater, to include violent crime and criminal assaults.

Probably seven years ago, I started seeing AARs online for a class called “ECQC” and pictures of the instructor “SouthNarc” with his face blurred out or with smiley faces edited over his face. I have to admit, I was intrigued by the man of mystery and the course content. Over the years, I kept my eye out for fairly local ECQC offerings and had many, many excuses from financial reasons, to travel distance to just being honest that I didn’t want to get my ass kicked and look like a clown in front of 15 other people.

I’m self-observant enough to realize I have a long streak of mediocrity; I really don’t excel at things, partly out of lack of interest or dedication to give them the effort that is required to get to a level beyond “not bad”. Shooting has probably always been my greatest skill and interest, but as we all know, your skill is relative to the company you keep. I have attended several formal defensive firearms classes and always performed well by my own standards. However, in the back of my mind I’ve always known the shooting portion of personal protection is only a very small piece of the equation and again protecting the ones I love is critically important to me.

Shit or get off the pot. I found out ECQC would be in Council Bluffs, IA in 2014. Like ripping off a band-aid, I sent the deposit to Rob at LHGK; it was time to show up and now I was committed. I was the fattest I had ever been and realized my unarmed skills were pretty lame, particularly my non-existent ground game. So, I joined the local BJJ academy to start un-fatting myself and at the same time work on skills that have been seen as important by others post-ECQC.


Day 1 - Managing Unknown Contacts (MUC) & Practical Unarmed Combat (PUC)

I’ve always pictured the first evening of ECQC as a dipping your toe into the water for the rest of the weekend; I don’t see it that way any more. If you aren’t up to doing the rest of the course and Craig offers TD1 as a standalone module, do it. I have already tattooed this information in to my brain and started implementing it in to my daily life.

Craig introduced himself and from the beginning his linguistic skills were very impressive; very concise and thorough in what he was trying to get across. He shared that his courses weren’t based on what he was great at, but instead where he found failures in his training, including a couple instances that nearly cost him his life. He said something that really struck me (paraphrasing): “Who are you when no one else is around?” What is your real skill set when no one is there to watch or for you to impress? Are you only “good enough” based on some ideal scenario you’ve dreamt up? I knew this was me, at least in part.

We discussed the Criminal Assault Paradigm, or how bad guys do their job. We also discussed the realistic commonalities in street crimes and violent assaults and how to look for pre-assault cues that are common before an attack. These cues are blatantly obvious in nearly all YouTube videos of sucker punches, street fights, bar fights, etc.

Then on to MUC; MUC is a strategy template for how we handle people we don’t know. What we say, what we do, how we move and what we do with our hands are things that can prevent Unknowns from getting uncomfortably close to us or in a worse scenario, landing a sucker punch or other attack. It allows us to do this without seeming rude or out of place, while at the same time start running down the checklist of “Does this guy really just need jumper cables?” MUC is incredibly valuable and is age, gender and size generic; everyone can benefit from Craig’s MUC module.

We drilled some MUC scenarios, some PUC position drills (including the much-hated Mountain Goat drill) as well as a default protective cover position and a simple pre-emptive strike that isn’t likely to send anyone to the ER if you were to make a mistake in judging a person’s intentions; the last two were two extremely valuable techniques that I really like. After sweating all over the floor, we wrapped TD1.

Shit, this is getting long. Snack break!


TD2 - Shoot, Smile, Drill, Sweat, Drill More, Weep

We of course started with a thorough safety brief, then moved right in to shooting. The furthest distance we shot was around 4 steps. Amazing how much you can screw up even when you are less than 4 steps away. The shooting was realistic, efficient and diagnostic of your issues and mistakes. Getting the gun in to play without giving it away to the bad guy was a critical focal point. How’s that for a range report?

We drilled a lot of PUC positions and techniques; we drilled them a lot. We drilled them a bunch. It was hot, we were all covered in sweat and exhausted. Hasn’t it been like an hour? SWITCH PARTNERS, FIND A NEW BODY. Craig makes you switch partners regularly, I’d say for reasons ranging from size differences to getting you out of your comfort zone and not letting you buddy up with one person the whole class.

First Evolution, 1-on-1. Craig hates me; he made me be the bad guy first to ensure I only had a half tank at the most; I’m certain it was a conspiracy. This pattern of going last would continue for every evolution I participated in, I’m lucky like that. I put the on FIST helmet. These things really do make you claustrophobic. Luckily I’ve spent the last several months being smashed in side control, so I know I can breathe! I got my ass whipped, plain and simple. I let Tom pass my guard and gave up side control like it was my first day of jits. I could hear Craig coaching him through how to go North-South to further smash the helmet in to my face. What a pal! I knew what I needed to do and Craig reinforced it: get off my back, get my knees on the ground and get up. As Tom went for my gun (carried appendix) I made a push and got to my knees and stood up. Just as my position started to improve, Craig called it. It sucked.

That evening I questioned myself. I questioned what I was doing there, thought of all I had done wrong and thought of another notch on the belt of mediocrity; I just wasn’t performing well. I went to bed thinking “People do this class multiple times? Are they out of their got’damn minds?”


TD3 - Wet Feet, Drowned Egos, 3-Ways and My Milkshake

Training Day 3 started with more range time and one hell of a thunderstorm. Mags were stomped in the mud and so was my sense of where my skills lied. We worked through shooting throughout the line of presentation, protecting our melons, etc. Craig ran the range with a sharp eye and a coaching hand. He has an innate ability to go from watchful rangemaster to joking buddy with the ending command of RELAX, RELAX, RELAX. The brass and the rain stopped falling at about the same time.

2-on-1 evolution. Again, I was the last man at bat in my group of 3. I felt at this point my performance can only get better, so why not. Oddly, I felt okay; anxious, but okay. And...BEGIN. I was encroached on and MUC-ed fairly well I thought. I went verbal and ran through the dirtbag checklist and Dude was looking sketchy. I struck first and moved. He came after me. The fight went to the ground and my terrible jits came into play as we tangled on the ground and he went for my holstered T-gun. I ended up with him in a semi-triangle choke position. Perfect, I’m going to lock this triangle up and shoot him in the head; it didn’t work out that way. I made space with my legs, swept him, drew the pistol and took a couple shots from 2. Then I GTFO of there, told him to stay on the ground and started yelling for help. After the Trayvon Martin shooting, I remembered people hearing the fight, people yelling for help, etc. but no one knew WHO was yelling. So I started yelling for help, saying my name and that I needed a police officer. Seemed like a good idea at the time though I had never rehearsed it.

Enter guy #2. YOU, ON THE GROUND! I didn’t know his intentions, so as soon as he was in view, I ordered him to the ground. I pointed the muzzle at him; in hindsight (Craig’s and my own) I probably shouldn’t have. He called 911 (because I had told someone to) and in my amped up state I didn’t realize he was calling them and telling them I was pointing a gun at him and that I had just shot someone. Not an ideal situation at that point, but I felt I was handling it okay. I was yelling over him, saying my name and that I needed a police officer. Might look good in court.

Guy #1 decided to get up and charges me again. I gave him 3 rounds or so and the gun was empty or malfunctioned...so I smacked him in the head with it. Now guys #1 and #2 jump on me and I start playing my best rendition of the mud pig catch contest from the fair. Back to the ground. I did okay but I have a big criticism of myself. I used the guard position to control guy #2. I have no gun and am fighting two guys. Do you think guard is any position you want to find yourself in? Hunt for sweeps and get back to your feet. Stop punching from guard and get back to your feet. BREAK! Thank God. We debriefed and Craig was pretty complimentary of my performance sans muzzling guy #2. I was happy, but I had learned a valuable lesson about position yet again.

Lessons from the 2-on-1. Jiu-jitsu is extremely valuable without question but keep in mind the surface under you is hard and you’re fighting two dudes; bad day. Using guard or similar positions in evos or unknown circumstances is a good way to get curb stomped by a second guy; sweeps are better and should probably be your go-to. There is no free lunch carrying edged weapons or spare gun. There were several times I could have used the Clinch Pick trainer I brought with me. After an educational Day 1, I left it in my bag because I was getting enough of a workout in trying to retain one tool. Preemptive strikes have huge value - recognize you need it, execute it, MOVE.

Car Evolution. The fight inside the car was fun. I got to be the bad guy first and my ruse was sharing my musical talents via Kelis’ smash hit “My Milkshake”. It actually had nothing to do with the ruse, I just love that song.

My turn to drive. I did not jump as soon as I saw hand movement and the gun, because I wouldn’t be expecting it in real life. Note to self, don’t pick up hitchhikers. My bad guy had the gun pulled to 2; it might as well have been across the street. When I had the opportunity, I went for it. It was way too far away. I learned a lesson about position (how many does that make?) and did okay based on the circumstances.


Wrap It Up, Yo!

I entered ECQC uncertain, lived it while questioning myself and left it a different person. My strengths and weaknesses are far more apparent than they have ever been. I’m one of those freaks that wants to do it again. Craig has put together an incredible curriculum; a roller coaster of ego-crushing and soul searching that makes you take a hard look at yourself.

I think a big part of armed self-defense is just having a gun and being willing to use it to defend yourself. I don’t think you need huge amounts of training to meet the shooting requirements of the average armed encounter. However, bad shit happens to good people and it doesn’t get much worse than being in an entangled gunfight or fighting over your own gun and not knowing where to start fixing the problem. I think if you are serious about carrying a gun to protect yourself, you should get to a level of safe competency with your gun handling, holster presentation, etc. and go take ECQC, period.

I don’t want ECQC to sound like some gauntlet or make it sound like something you should be intimidated by. In fact, it is the exact polar opposite. It is the single most educational weekend I’ve had in my life, taught by one of the most genuine, good people I have ever had the opportunity to meet. Craig’s failures many years ago have created a forehead-scarred army of men and women who are ideally deselecting themselves from the victim pool, asking you to give them space, telling you to give them space and if need be unleashing the fury of the mountain goat.

Craig, thank you, brother. I hope to meet up again in the very near future. Thanks to all my classmates for pushing me to be better to protect that which is most important to me. I guess that leaves only one real question…what kind of STDs do you have?
Link Posted: 7/14/2014 12:47:53 AM EDT
[#1]
Great AAR.  I took ECQC last spring and I will take it again.  Other "gun classes" leave you feeling ready to take on anything.  ECQC leaves you knowing just how bad things can get and makes you a lot more interested in not getting into a fight in the first place.  ECQC is a dose of harsh reality that everyone who carries a gun (or who doesn't, for that matter) needs very badly but that is so ego-crushing that most men will never build up the courage to take it.
Link Posted: 7/14/2014 9:23:36 AM EDT
[#2]
I agree 100%. When the targets aren't moving, wanting to kick your ass or wanting to shoot you with your own gun, the Superman complex is much easier to walk around with. The feeling of someone smashing you in to the ground while yanking your gun out of the holster is a cold dose of "get your shit together". Thanks for reading and stopping by man.
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