CLOSE QUARTER COMBAT
Much to the dismay of modern marketing you do not need camouflage pants & a beret to practise CQC. You do not even need to carry three knives & a hand gun. It is definitely not about KILL, KILL, KILL. Like everything physical we do CQC simply becomes part of our arsenal in case things turn ugly. If our avoidance & de-escalation skills are employed effectively we should very rarely have to get physical.
Although developed last century by the military, Close Quarter Combat or CQC has become the new catch cry for reality based self defence.
We study and use concepts developed by the early pioneers (Fairbairn, Sykes, Biddle, Styers, Applegate) & the new breed of instructors (Kasper, McCann, Morrison).
The main concept is “K.I.S.S." (Keep It Simple Stupid). There is no room for flashy techniques in the real world. It is purely about survival & being able to do whatever it takes to survive under the worst conditions.
Trainer Profiles
Jim Armstrong
Official title:
'Grandmaster Funk'"TTFU"
I started my classical training back in 1987 with a guy called Barry Norman who was teaching E.C.K.A (freestyle Karate/Kickboxing). I moved on to Muay Thai for a number of years, then got into Eskrima.
I grew up in Newcastle in the United Kingdom. I don’t remember the last time I saw a fight in Australia but in Newcastle it was almost a daily occurrence – largely due to the UK being more violent than Australia. My real life training began from around the age of 8. This consisted of fighting or being involved in violent confrontation almost every other week until the age of around 14. The confrontations grew less and finally petered out around the age of 22 when I started to mellow, (funnily enough, this was about the time I met my future wife and moved to Australia).
When I’m talking about fighting as a child/teen, I’m not talking about a few slaps, I’m talking about serious confrontations where I had to stick up for other who couldn’t defend themselves.
I have a couple of black belts; one in Doce Pares Multi Style Eskrima, and one in the A.I.M. Academy which is run by Rob Halaijan. I still train my Combative Boxing and Eskrima as well as a bit of everything else that interests me and is fun; such as stand-up locking, trapping or grappling.
In terms of reality training, I’ve always tried to make it as real as possible. Over the last 3+ years I have become more involved in the psychology of the confrontation/fight which has changed my perspective on what and how I teach. I’d also like to develop more anti-bullying techniques for kids. I think this is an area which remains largely untouched, I don’t see many people doing anything about it and I see too many parents who don’t know what to do.
The highlights of my training career are training and fighting in the Philippines and most of all; the friendships I have made over the years, in particular my fellow instructor; Jeremy Desilva and my Eskrimador brother; Vlado Sedlarevic.
Jeremy 'Jezz' Desilva
Official title:
'Coconut'"Always wear a smile... but carry a big stick!"
For as long as I can remember I always wanted to feel confident and be capable of defending myself and the general public during violent confrontations. Due to my weight I was very insecure growing up which made me an easy target for bullies. This eventually lead to my hatred of bullies in all their forms. This hatred is especially intense when I witness other people being victimised.
The more I trained the more confident I became. The more confident I became the more I enjoyed life. My confidence has not grown because I have been transformed into a lean mean fighting machine. To be honest I will never be a fighter in the common sense of the word. The difference is I am now able to protect myself and also help the general public feel more confident in themselves.
I grew up in a secure middle class environment and now work as a Project Manager. I have never experienced true life and death encounters. Given my easy going personality and lifestyle there is very little chance of me ever having to. This is why I train seriously with and study people who have spent most of their lives surviving life and death situations. This is the only way I can ensure my confidence is based on reality. Due to my background I am often able to bridge the gap between fighters, predators and “normal” people. I fully understand how “normal” people feel when they commence serious training because I experienced the same emotions.
In my ongoing search to improve my self protection skills I have trained in Judo, Freestyle Karate, Kick Boxing, Boxing, Eskrima, Combatives and Reality Based Self Defence. I also became a professional self defence instructor and crowd controller. I continually research the work of Geoff Thomson, Dave Grossman, Richard Dimitri, Loren Christensen, Brent Sanders, Gavin DeBecker, Deane Lawler, Ray Floro and countless other infinitely more experienced people to improve my understanding of self protection and more importantly; myself.
Over my years of training I have been able to lose a fair bit of weight. This was made possible by the discipline I developed during my training. I still battle my weight every day and the regular binges I enjoy prove that I have a fair way to go, but the fight is still on. The one thing I have found is that it is not about how you look, it is about how you feel about yourself that is important.
I love what I do and I love the people I do it with. The greatest reward I can ever hope for is seeing people’s confidence grow as they realise how powerful they actually are. With any luck I hope to be helping people feel better about themselves for a long time yet to come.
Take care
Jezz