Wilmington NC FOF training group - free - 1st meetup weekend of Oct 28

Status
Not open for further replies.

conw

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2007
Messages
3,364
Hello,

I am starting a self-defense group focusing on dealing with problems facing civilians in everyday life. Some of the skills are very applicable to LE, and some may be applicable to military. LE, Mil, and CHP holders get priority but I will consider letting you participate without the above prereq(s) if you're serious.

Who: Me - I have experience with 5 formal classes, representing about 120-125 hours of instruction. I am not and do not pretend to be an expert but I have a good idea of what a well-rounded self-defense curriculum using gun, knife, empty hand skills in buildings, cars, and on the street looks like. This is heavily influenced by the Shivworks/TPI methodology and I give them full credit. Hopefully in the future with enough members we can host Southnarc. In addition, 1 other person with similar experience to me, 1 person with limited formal instruction, and 2 people with no prior instruction wish to participate. If you are an "instructor" or "expert" we would be glad for you to join to audit, participate, and learn/teach, but this will NOT be an instructor-led course. Everyone will give and take. Macho attitudes will not be tolerated. In the future if we raise funds as a group we can host instructors, which is a secondary goal.

What: The focus of the group will be on strategies and tactics applicable to personal defense and defense of family and loved ones, i.e. a lawful application of force using various implements; mindset required to do so; a varied curriculum of skills that ultimately integrate robustly into a personalized (by you, for you) system of self-defense; and simultaneously, an audit and assessment of extant skillsets. Material will be borrowed with permission from other instructors, with a focus on active participation by group members. Force-on-force training, which has been popular in the military and LE circles for 15-20 years now, will be a component. So will drills to practice the skill-sets and learn them from the ground up. This can range from verbal drills or light non-contextual sparring, to unscripted full-tilt scenarios using safe training knives or airsoft. While martial or live-fire shooting skills are a plus, they are not mandatory and will not be "taught" or heavily practiced without context in the context of this group.

Why: It is difficult to practice real-world self-defense techniques "solo." Many people go to the range and/or take martial arts and/or have some experience in real-world applications, but few people have an opportunity to develop and audit their skillset with likeminded peers in a safe and consistent environment. Moreover, most people don't know what they don't know, so a group setting provides a great venue for personal growth. Again, the goal is for each participant to develop a well-rounded skillset that can be used for self-defense. A small tight-knit group of people who are not ruled by ego(s), and can practice together, can make great strides toward this goal. A primary goal is stress inoculation in a safe environment. This has been shown in studies to increase the resilience of individuals in real-world encounters.

When: Tentatively, a two to four hour period during the weekend of Oct 28-30 may be the first meet-up of the group. (Focus will be on discussion of expectations, audit of existing skillsets, and some light, "consensual" drills; if things go exceedingly well, maybe more). The goal after that is to meet roughly every 2 weeks or as often as schedules allow.

Where: Email or PM for details.

What to bring: Clothes you don't care about too much (but which are preferably fairly similar to your daily dress); eye protection; airsoft guns, blue guns, inert safe training guns or knives, etc are optional; live weapons (i.e. handguns/long guns/knives) will not be used and will not be allowed in the actual training space for safety reasons. Mouthguard and athletic protector optional. FIST helmets will be provided, and airsoft protective gear is available, as are airsoft guns. If you bring yourself, eye pro, and clothes, you'll be fine.

I encourage anyone interested who feels the group may be a good fit for them to PM or email me. Ditto if you have any questions. Really we just need one or two more people to get started. Let me emphasize that while the curriculum will involve some force-on-force scenarios and stress inoculation, I will ensure that everyone stays within their comfort zone and do my best to keep people focused on the primary goal: to learn and grow in a safe environment. Also, the ability to keep your ego in check and actually learn is MUCH more important than prior experience, although it never hurts to have gun, knife, or martial skills.

Thanks and hope to hear from you!
 
Last edited:
Edited for readability and added some info.

I encourage anyone from surrounding areas to consider coming up to train regularly with us. It would be worth the drive from Raleigh... if you want to really be able to defend yourself you need to be multi-dimensional and pressure-test your skills. $50-80 worth of gas and a 3-4 hour drive twice a month would be well worth it.
 
It really sounds like you might want to reach out to a few folks for admin and logistical help.

Skip Gochenour and the rest of the NTI crew have been doing a monthly Study Group for about the past 15 years. Tom Givens at Rangemaster is another good resource. As is Karl Rehn in Texas. I suggest reaching out and asking about setting up your own Study Group, and see what advice they have for you.


If you can get SouthNarc to come and conduct some drills that would be awesome. He runs a great program.
 
It really sounds like you might want to reach out to a few folks for admin and logistical help.

A SE NC equivalent of the ATSA Study Group* would be a genuinely good thing to have. Fran (my wife) and I are going to try and make it to the meetup, family obligations permitting. I'll drop you a PM as soon as it becomes clearer whether or not we'll have that weekend free. Even if we can't make the first session, I feel reasonably sure we can get there for later meetings.

*http://www.teddytactical.com/Redesign/Study.html
 
Guys, your input has been much appreciated. Lee... I sure hope you guys can make it!

Ken, over on TPI there is some good info on starting training groups. I have been following that template. The biggest part is finding people who are passionate enough about realistic self-defense that they are willing to get somewhat physical, and not be ego-based.

And of course you have to start with what you have, within reason, and hope to grow.

After that there are logistical issues about curriculum (how to keep it somewhat democratic, but still focused - my quick and dirty method is simply to keep it tightly focused to the stuff I learned, explicitly and implicitly, from Southnarc and feel is expedient), training space, group size, and so on, but I'll be happy to deal with those once we get this rolling.

A goal is DEFINITELY to have Southnarc down. (His weekends are booked for a lot of 2012 already unfortunately it looks like...) Actually I am taking a Givens class this weekend. So all my formal training experience will have been with SN and Givens. I am obviously not Southnarc but he serves as a great role model for how to conduct this stuff, and I am pretty familiar with his material. Of course, my reasons for trying to do this are selfish: I want to keep the material fresh in my mind and grow!

Oh, and Lee: trust me, it'll be an ongoing thing...even if it's just 3-4 people to start with. We SHOULD have 5 bodies minimum plus you and whoever else can make it, but you can count on me doing this as often as possible.

I also have an unconventional, but serviceable and safe and appropriate, space. So the basic requirements - equipment, concepts for training, training space, and some participants - are met. I'm excited to see where it goes.
 
Bump. Location is definitely within downtown Wilmington, 4 pm Sunday October 30.

I'll give the necessary info to those concerned.

Still room for 1-2 more. We'll max out at 10-11.
 
OK, I dug around till I found the blue guns - a Glock 19 and a S&W 36 2". Don't have any focus mitts, pads, gloves, headgear etc. on hand but have ordered a pair of focus mitts and a Spyderco trainer and will bring them along if they get here in time.

We'll call when we get into town Sunday...
 
Hey that's great, Lee, looking forward to seeing you. I think we will definitely have enough people to get a decent start. It'll be a process of shrinking and growing until we find a good balance.

Oh and thanks for ordering the mitts!
 
conwict,

Everything came in yesterday, and we'll give you a call tomorrow when we get close to town.
 
When you get free time they have great restaurants downtown & go play on the battleship North Carolina--One of my sons worked in the local hospitals (MRI) for 2 years
 
A most useful and productive session and a good mix of people - I'm glad we were able to be there and look forward to getting back in the future.

A note from John Farnam, for the reassurance of the OP: D:

Training, that is worthy of the term, is invariably frustrating, exhausting, and uncomfortable. It is silly to go to the range and spend our time doing all the things we're already good at, all on known challenges! We need to spend at least some of our time exercising those important skills which are, by their very nature, awkward and clumsy (such as shooting from the support-side shoulder), on alien challenges.

In training, we should be no more afraid of failure than we are of success. We fail boldly! That is where real learning takes place.

Bad habits, unfailingly gleaned from poor training and practice, will prove themselves fatal during any kind of real challenge.

We train to impress our enemies, not our friends!
-- http://www.defense-training.com/quips/12Oct11.html
 
Lee, thanks for coming and we enjoyed and appreciated lunch as well as the training. I think everyone did a great job and put a great effort in. I didn't feel frustrated very much at all - everyone performed and learned at or above the level of what I've seen in classes that select for motivated members by charging a lot of money. I think we have a good group!
 
By the way, our next meetup is definitely 2 weeks from yesterday, same time (4-8), same place.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top