International Close Combat Instructors Association

Mission Statement

Our role is to lead the way in the pursuit of excellence in Military Armed and Unarmed Close Combat. Our membership follows the path of our evolutionary forefathers, a path that carries with it a great responsibility to ensure our combatants’ victory in battle. As an allied group of close combat leaders, we foster a united and combined effort to ensure our doctrine holds only the best of content in the military science of Close Quarter Battle.

Introduction to the ICCIA

Hercules original combat
Original Combat

The International Close Combat Instructors Association (ICCIA) is made up of over 35 military instructors through to master chief level instructors of military armed and unarmed combat.

The ICCIA is headed by Geoff “Tank” Todd, a current Special Forces CQB Master Chief Instructor of New Zealand, and Lawrence Jordan, a US Special Forces Close Combat Master Chief Instructor. Tank and Lawrence have to ensure the Association is kept elite and its standards are never compromised. This means vetting all nominated potential members and remaining true to the Association’s purpose, that is to promote the military science of close combat tactical skills for all military roles, never traditional or competitive methods. There is a clear drawn line that separates us from non-military practitioners.

The ICCIA is all about winning. You select only the best people, those that are committed to being the best. You dispense with greed and glory and you encourage cross fertilization of skills and that is the directive of the association: loyalty, honor, professionalism and commitment. The association sells nothing but offers everything through an elite association of experts working all round the world with a common purpose. Allied elite individuals with a wealth of knowledge and experience. People that can recognize the difference between skills that work and those that just might get you killed. This specialist group may not resemble your military or martial arts movie stars in appearance, but you would find difficulty in locating a deadlier bunch of dirty tricks brigade practitioners anywhere on the planet. The association membership has and always will be made up of operators and operational instructors that employ or promote the battle proven, “get tough”“kill or be killed” principals of their predecessors.

This is where the association differs from the non-military practices. Where skills may well be capable of deadly results and their practitioners may well be just as capable of achieving them, but until they do, or unless they have post battle reports to evaluate their effectiveness and performance, they can not state that the methods are battle proven. It is then just a matter of speculation.

Time has seen the battle proven skills and principals being passed down from chief to chief and further developed to meet modern day requirements. This makes the current association like those that have passed before them, guardians of the doctrine at this point in time. This brings with it a huge responsibility to ensure the evolution continues to develop, as it has over the centuries, a collection of elite specialist principals and people.

The association collectively has experts in every facet of armed and unarmed close combat. Members with backgrounds that have seen them operate or instruct with history making records. Protecting Presidents, Prime Ministers and Royal Families, break mass riots, operate covertly behind enemy lines, train groups that have changed the course of history.