We had an awesome time!
For me the Camp was a wonderful experience.
With DBMA's three areas (DB Real Contact Stick Fighting, Kali Tudo, Die Less Often) choosing the curriculum and the right co-instructors is a subtle thing.
This year I decided to focus exclusively on "Die Less Often" so as to enable a deeper immersion into the material.
To this end as one of my co-instructors I chose DBMA Guro Splinter Dog Antone Haley. Within the Dog Brother tribe there is great respect for his RCSFg skills. As a national Tactical Games champion he tests his firearms skills at the highest level short of the two way range. As a street LEO in San Francisco Antone has substantial experience arresting seriously recalcitrant people and as the Defensive Tactics instructor for the SF PD substantial experience in teaching others how to do what he does.
For my other co-instructor I chose the legendary Original Dog Brother and my very good friend of 40 years Michael DogZilla Tibbitts Ex-US Marine and 33 years of deep work in US federal prisons. As you can see in the DB videos he is a really big and strong man. Sometimes the really big and strong have a hard time understanding what it is like to live in a world where one is not really big and strong, but in Mike's case his prison experience includes dealing with plenty of people who are bigger and stronger than him-- all in the context of prison weaponry.
Antone and Mike had a riff going about Antone apprehends them and Mike incarcerates them.
For me some of the best moments of a DBMA Camp come from the stories over dinner at the Pho Restaurant.
Last year it was Wolf Dog Randall Gregory regaling us with stories of war over three continents.
This year the stories included Antone being assaulted by a pot of beans and a large dildo by a naked oiled up man with a vibrating cock ring over his erection who after being cuffed deliberately defecated over himself and did his best to flick the poop at the officers as they carried him away.
Dogzilla's stories cannot be shared here, but one of them began with "Remember that big prisoner in 'Green Mile'? Well, this guy was that big and naked and covered with soap. After we surged into his cell I got behind him and my head was only halfway up his back." The story proceeded from there.
Their instruction was first rate-- with Mike sharing towards the end of the Camp some of the dark developments in prison knife since Don Pentecost's underground classic "Put 'em down, take 'em out-- knife fighting secrets from Folsom Prison". (BTW though it is out of print, it is available to members of the DBMA Assn)
In my teaching one of the central themes was using stick fighting power strikes in the context of 'monkey dance' interactions. Upon that foundation we moved to using them and certain knife-based movements in the context of increasing our violence against knife attacks.
Our Camps are also a wonderful opportunity for me to size up how students are progressing in the DBMA System.
In that context, DBMA Group Leader Jay Colligan brought a large contingent of his students and seeing what he has imparted to them makes promoting him to instructor and easy call.
Indeed, I have jumped him two levels, to Yellow Tag Instructor. Those who have been around me for a while know that this is not uncommon. Many of the people who train with me over time through the Association and its online classes do not get the in person time necessary for me to assess the reality of how they are doing- so when I do get to see how they are doing I promote accordingly.
Also jumped two levels is DBMA Group Leader Ken LaFleur, also to Yellow Tag Instructor. Though not at the Camp, Ken was at the seminar hosted by Maul Dog Carlos Flores I did recently in Chicago and I noted quality movement and work on his part.
For the Camp, he primed me to keep an eye on his student Holden Caufield Seeing Holden and moving with him tells me what I need to know to promote both Ken and Holden. In Holden's case it is also a two step promotion-- he is now a Yellow Tag practitioner in DBMA.
I love doing our annual DBMA Camps, for me they are wonderful opportunities to share and to grow.
As always they are held at State College, PA at the school of DBMA Guro Guard Dog Ryan Grühn and his partner Elise Pone Elise is a pro MMA and Muay Thai Champion (if I have it correctly she fights soon for the big title). Ryan is a _____ level black belt under Erik Paulson and teaches very strong amateur boxing and Muay Thai programs (do I state this correctly Ryan?)
Their school is a wonderful facility and an ideal place for us to hold our Camp. It is big and clean, with quality bathrooms and showers, and attendees have the option of sleeping on the mats. Several of our attendees arrive the day before so they can jump in the BJJ class the night before.
Anyway, there it is. As I sit in the altered space that comes after a big effort, no doubt I have forgotten to mention some people and some things (feel free to remind me btw) but I am blessed to share the DBMA mission "To Walk as Warriors for All Our Days".
16,073
