Hello Mr. Skaggs,
I am not sure why you asked that question on this site. You know you are not going to get a straight answer. I posted a question earlier about training for a physical conflict and got "aikido is not for fighting", "what are you fighting for", "what kind of a scenario are you talking about", "what if a nuclear missile was shot up your arse?"
(just kidding about that last one.) I found I get more of a straight answer when talking person to person.
Best,
Eric