Wow, I'm sorry to hear that people have this impression of krav maga. Yes, it's designed to be simple and easy to learn because it strives to use techniques based on your "natural responses" but to think that you could learn the entire krav maga system, or even the basics, in a few weeks of even intense training is really just wrong. For example, in the curriculum 'sanctioned' by the National Tranining Center in LA, you don't even cover gun defenses until blue belt level--the level I was working on when I switched to FIGHT. The 'belt' progression for krav maga is pretty similar to most trad MA's: white to yellow in about 3 months, yellow to orange in another 3-5 months, orange to green in 6-9 months, green to blue in 12-18 months, blue to brown in 12-18 months, and black belt by invitation only. I put belts in quotes because a lot of KM schools don't award belts, only level rankings (I - V). Don't kid yourselves, krav is a demanding art and, contrary to some misconceptions, it does have a variety of techniques, kicks for e.g.--not as many as most trad MA's but it has hook kicks, crescent kicks, and a few others that I can't do very well! And, when you test for your instructor certification they beat the HELL out of you! No, I've never done it myself so forgive me if I sound like an armchair martial artist, but both my instructors said it was the hardest thing they've ever done--one instructor is a 24 year old 2nd degree black belt in Ed Parker's American kenpo and the other instructor is a 4th degree bb in TKD and a 3rd degree bb in hapkido (he's also a triathlete). And, the level tests are ridiculous--they typically last 3 or 4 hours and by the end you really feel like you've been in a fight. And, the two krav programs I was involved in--one in Seattle and one in PA, were adamant that we spar A LOT! We worked standup and ground work during every class. No paper tigers in those programs. Hearing that someone told you that you could learn the basics of krav maga in a couple weeks is really sad.
I should note that my experience with krav maga is strictly civilian so my comments really have no bearing on someone like globetrotter's experience with krav in the IDF. We did have some former IDF guys in our gym in Seattle and they said something to the effect of, "yeah, we got some krav training in the Israeli military, but but it was pretty brief." So again, my comments only apply to krav programs that stem from the NTC in LA and not krav as it is practiced in the Israeli army. I'm not here to offend anyone! Honest 1
cheers