I started doing Karate in 1979 and continued for about 14-15 years, reaching black belt 2nd Dan in 1991. During this period, I participated in several karate competitions, winning gold, and several bronze medals in competition. From 1985-1986 I did my national service in the South African Defence Force (SADF), doing border duty for 9 months in the combat area (red zone/war zone). This is where as a 20-year-old I saw my first contact (real life shooting) as a group of ANC/ SWAPO terrorists attacked our perimeter base. From about 1987 till the early 90’s I worked doing door duty at clubs, sometimes on my own and sometimes in a team. During this period in our country, you very seldom found men suing each other or presenting the case to the police, as they normally took their punishment like a man, and that was where I had most of my street experience situations up until about 40 years of age. Personally, and in the capacity of a soldier, Close Protection Specialist (which has the extensive use of pistols) I have used pistols extensively. People mostly want to know what you based your training on and what experience you have. It is good for someone to ask because your life depends on the training you will receive from an instructor, you need to know that the person who is teaching you has experience in real combat. What does the person teaching you have to draw from as an instructor if he has no experience? Without a penchant for training in combat you won’t have the will to succeed, you need a certain disposition.From about 1992 I became interested in Close Protection (CP), which was a very new occupation in the public sector in South Africa (SA) at the time. There was not much in the way of sophisticated training courses for civilians. So, whenever there was a possibility to train with an instructor that knew what he was talking about in CP, we would jump at the opportunity. During the period 1992 till 2005 I attended 4 separate CP courses and several other related courses such as shooting in low light, advanced foot and vehicle drills, Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) recognition, unarmed combat, knife fighting, and numerous others. These instructors ranged from civilian instructors to ex Special Forces (SF) and FBI certified instructors that were in the private sector at the time. During my CP experience, I have looked after celebrities, businessmen, royalty, and diplomats. During the years I worked as a close protection specialist, I had the opportunity to apply skills learnt to prevent IEDs being placed in areas around a venue. I was able to apply IED recognition experience in counter terrorism operations. In 2000 I was tasked to come up with a plan to minimize IEDs being placed in The V & A Waterfront in Cape Town. South Africa has a tradition of hunters and shooters because of the nature of the land and its tumultuous history over the last 300 years, where hunting and fighting were the order of the day, and this gave most South Africans a good taste of reality in combat. Therefore, it was more likely that we would be exposed to weapons living in South Africa, like the USA, we still have the God given right to defend ourselves as should all first world countries’ citizens. From about the age of 9 I had already shot with numerous weapons – basic lessons learned at such a young age are normally kept for life. My understanding was further developed by training in the army and being exposed to fully automatic rifles and heavy weapons, such as the 12.7 mm Browning, and this gives one the understanding of capabilities of the smaller and larger calibres of military weapon systems. In the military we dealt with all sorts of weapons and equipment, such as radar and radio communications etc. High threat CP is commonly referred to as Private Security Detail (PSD), and during 2004 the conflict in Iraq attracted a lot of PSD operators from all over the world. Having military experience and about 13 years in CP by that time, I decided it would benefit my overall abilities to get some PSD experience and training. During my time in Iraq, I was able to use my issued rifle in close situations having to deal with the threat that sometimes materialised during our daily operations.You soon learn it takes a determined, focused, and deliberate mindset balanced with self confidence that will allow you to win in a real gun fight; there is no room for negative thoughts or thoughts that detract from the winning, orientated, and focused mind. When you train for combat it helps to train instinctively and to train so you react and don’t have to think about tactics, because there is only time for reacting. With training you can speed up your mental calculating process; you can do this with intensity training that allows your brain to run through hundreds of options in a split second to conclude that best suits your dilemma.My experience with martial and unarmed combat spans about 38 years where I trained not just with Karate systems but also to a minor degree Aikido (which is not a self defence system), Judo and some ground fighting. My weapons training was with various weapon systems, handguns, and rifles etc. which spans about 29 years. To better understand where my skill level was in terms of international standards, I did an advanced certificate in handgun and rifle skills to round off my weapons qualification. This certifies a person to teach to an advanced level anywhere in the world and is internationally recognised. This doesn’t automatically qualify you as an advanced weapons instructor in my books; I personally think that some have an eye for detail and an innate ability for combat. My Close Protection experience covers roughly 17 years during which I did most functions of a Close Protection operative. During this period, I was tasked as team leader about 70 times or more. That might sound like a lot of CP operation, but being in civilian context Close Protection, most of the jobs are short term. In the period 1990-1991 I studied physical education which has helped me better understand the body and how it functions. I apply this in my unarmed combat and weapons training courses. Read more about this authorRead less about this author