The Todd Group has a seventy-eight year history of close combat excellence in military close combat training. Tank Todd the chief instructor has been instructing close combat for over twenty five years full time and has racked up more exponent and instructing hours than any other military qualified master chief instructor. He has a lineage and qualifications of no other living military close combat instructor today.
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The Todd Group courses and International individual tuition service for visiting exponents and instructors are in constant demand. Tank's system is described by practitioners of many other combative systems as the best they have ever seen.
Exponents on the annual close combat course come from around the world and from all services and walks of life. The one thing they have in common is that they are prepared to put themselves on the line and not just talk the talk or type the text. They are all doers or they won't make it in the Todd Group and many of them have formidable experience in combat or in the realms of no holds barred or ring combat sports. They want to be trained in the best by the best and are not easily fooled by hype or 'buddy' promotions. They have checked that the system is truly military close combat and that the instructors are highly trained and qualified with decades of instructing experience at the highest levels.
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This is the calibre of exponent the Todd Group attracts and by doing so its ranks are made up of combat ready and willing exponents and instructors. Every year over one hundred such committed combatants and instructors turn up on course down under for hell week, that is actually two weeks. They are from all three phases of training and range from basic instructors through to the course Master Chief Instructor.
The course also attracts Military Chief Instructors from all around the world who regard this course as the best in close combat and the testing phase the most realistic and demanding. This year's course was no exception and exponents included soldiers, police, university lecturers, doctor's, a lawyer, farming and forestry workers and university graduates and individuals of all professions.
They all did themselves proud and when the wounds heal will be far better for the experience. The course was conducted at a satellite facility in the great outdoors which included several shooting ranges and the testing phases were conducted in the Todd Group head quarters in the city of Dunedin in the south of New Zealand.
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The testing phase is strict and to the point employing the military close combat marking process that neither favours nor prejudices anyone. Exponents must exceed the required levels, as they will never be lowered to accommodate anyone. The test weapons are real and nothing is predetermined making it as close as possible to true combat with out the loss of life or limb. The exponents individual inner resolve and combative readiness are tested as well as their defensive skills and unarmed combat under combative test conditions.
Some years not a single exponent will pass and in 2004 only one exponent passed the gruelling phase one test. This year the pass rate was just above average with thirteen exponents of the possible fifty passing. There were the usual injuries that go hand in hand with the territory and no one got away with out spilling blood or bumps or bruises but fortunately the serious injuries of the last two years were not repeated.
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The no rules, no protective gear, no weight divisions, or gender categories make this course and testing realistic and prove that the individual combatants have what it takes or expose those that don't have the goods and will to win.
Todd Group instructors and exponents understand the reality that not everyone can pass and although they provide every opportunity and assistance to exponents on the training phases they no that they must be on their own and do it themselves under testing.
They want the ranks to be made up of only the skilled and determined and there is no exception to this rule. No testing can be conducted by anyone but the Master Chief Instructor.
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The Todd Group has over twenty depot or individual tuition instructors around the world and the next group course is set down for August on the Gold Coast of Australia.
Already the 2006 annual course planning is underway and inquiries have already been received from around the world. For more information contact [email protected].
Interested in Close Combat Training? Todd Group Depots are located throughout New Zealand and at various overseas locations.
For more information on Todd System of Close Combat see the following books, dvds and cds:
- Close Combat Books
The Do's and Don'ts of Close Combat – Tactical C&R – Control and Restraint – No Nonsense Self Defence – Military Close Combat Systems Phase One – Combative Masters Of The 20th Century - Close Combat DVDs
Self Defence of the Elite – 80 Years of Combative Excellence – Primary Option Control & Restraint – Military Unarmed Combat – Phase 1 - Close Combat CDs
Technique To Command – Combative Code of Conduct
