[JeffStewart]

what im really trying to say is, will learning kendo help me with sword movements and such so that i can incorperate them into the way i fight now, or will i have to learn the style as a whole and having to commit to everything in the style and drop my old movments and patterns.
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If you decide to actually learn kendo, you will have to learn it cold turkey. Like you say, drop your "movements and patterns" all together and start from scratch. Kendo, in general, is a very "restricitive" martial art in terms of that. You don't play out in the forests or woods, you don't run around and swing at each other "wildly". (though ppl do that still in the kyu matches...)

Like I said, chambara is better suited for what you are doing. A lot of things are used in kendo because things like what you did actually mamed, mutilated or killed the practicioners granted that you were using real bokken or real swords.

Tim