I am not a Dog Brother but I just attended my first Gathering this past Sunday. It was a transformational experience- I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to test themselves, I learned as much in 1 day about myself and my training as I have in 20 years in the dojo.
My background is Hawaiian Kempo (Kara-Ho) and Aikido, no stickfighting or FMA experience except a couple seminars 15+ years ago. If I can do it then you can to-