You Must Have Unarmed Combat Ability

© COPYRIGHT 2011 BY BRADLEY J. STEINER - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Sword and Pen – January 2011 Issue

[Reprinted With Permission]

www.americancombato.com
www.seattlecombatives.com

THERE are those who love firearms (“gun nuts”). There are those who love
knives. Both interest groups enjoy an abundance of monthly periodicals that cater
to their interests, just as “martial arts” aficionados enjoy a ton of monthly appearing mainstream “literature” (albeit 99% of which is of highly questionable value, if not outright bullshit — precisely as is true in the case of 99% of that which appears in the gun and knife rags!), Oddly enough, the overwhelming majority of those in any of those three categories think of their little niche as exclusive, and they disdain involvement in and mastery of that which the other categories offer.

Fatal mistake, as far as practical defense and actual combative preparedness is
concerned.

This much is true: There are times when you need a firearm; times when you need
a knife; and times when you must rely upon your bare hands. If you are thoroughly prepared and competent in but a single approach to individual combat, then you are two thirds unprepared! (We should also consider the stick in our discussion, as stick work is certainly essential in the individual’s total scheme of defensive preparation. And we might thus legitimately assert that by possessing expertise in but one of four necessary areas of training you are three quarters unprepared). You hopefully get the drift of where we’re going with this.

Combat handguns, shotguns, and shoulder weapons certainly occupy an important
place in self-defense training. So do knives and stick implements. However, good
as any particular fashioned and manufactured weapon may be, it is not only
inappropriate to resort to the use of weaponry in all instances, it is often not possible. Those who spend time practicing quick draw at the range because they wish to be able to speedily access a sidearm in a close quarters crisis when, say, they are suddenly jumped in a street attack, have no idea of what real world violence entails, and what — realistically — they will be able to do about it, if it comes unexpectedly to them.

It takes a relatively long time to execute a “quick draw” from a maximum
concealment holster that is worn under normal daily attire (quite possibly attire
that includes a coat), as opposed to simply driving a powerful leg-breaking kick
into an assailant, or chopping him across the carotid artery! More: While you are
attempting to execute that quick draw, your attacker (or attackers) will — a) Have a great opportunity to seize, punch, and beat you into unconsciousness, and b) Be made plainly aware that you are armed, and no doubt will take that gun away from you, either while in the process of carrying out, or shortly after accomplishing “a”.

We have seen and heard of absolutely ridiculous “techniques” being taught — using folding knives (and in the case of law enforcement officers, their
“expandable batons”) — where, having been seized from behind in a mugger’s
strangle, the defender acquires his weapon(!) and executes some technique against
his attacker that frees him from the hold. Again — unarmed action is the only speedy action that stands a chance of being speedy enough in such a situation . . . (unless of course the “attacker” is a practice partner) to actually work. One’s concealed weapon — or one’s holstered sidearm, if one is a uniformed officer — cannot be brought into play quickly enough. That mugger will have snapped you backward and perhaps choked you out before you can even get your folding knife or expandable baton in hand!

We are 100% in favor of the use of modern weapons in personal defense and close
combat. We regard weapons as integral to the overall program that we ourself
teach, and this has always been the case. But make no mistake about it, weapons are not enough.

You must have unarmed combat ability.

Often, in situations where you are not only justified but well advised to access, say, a loaded handgun, you will be unable to do so until and unless you secure sufficient distance, time, and space. Well executed blows of the hands and feet, and practiced maneuvering that works in hand-to-hand situations will enable you to do this — and will enable you to save your life and quite possibly the lives of others. Your “target” in a close quarters combat situation will not be a cardboard outline, conveniently placed ten to 30 feet away, in broad daylight, giving you time to prepare ahead of time for the event, and giving you plenty of distance, time, and space right now to enable you to draw from your range rig, and place two neat holes in the kill zone. Get real.

Gun trumps knife, right? We have heard potbellied, beer-drinking, gun buff
“yahoos” who “roll their own” in their garages assert that, in a situation where a punk pulled a knife they’d “just shoot him”. Really? You think so? Well, if you had a handgun positioned and leveled at the “punk”, and if you were all set to pull the trigger, and if that “punk” was perhaps 25 to 30 feet away, and had not yet drawn his knife, but was seen by you in time to be undertaking to do just that . . . maybe you could “just shoot him”. But in the real world, if you lack unarmed combat skills, any determined would-be killer will get you first. He will get in close and he will have stabbed and slashed you ten times before you can even think of reaching for that holstered sidearm under your jacket.

Not that you could be certain of defending yourself adequately even if you were an unarmed combat expert. The knife attacker still has a great advantage. But if your body is trained to move correctly and to make ferocious and immediate use of your natural weapons, you stand a chance of surviving.

Real world, people; real world.

And the idiocy that is advanced as “self-defense use of the folding knife” would
be comical, if it were not presented seriously, and in a tone that suggests the
advocate of this crap is some kind of “combat expert”!

Yes, certainly a stoutly constructed folding knife can be an excellent weapon in a
defensive emergency. However, it is nowhere near as effective a weapon as a fixed
blade combat knife, and all of those who believe that their “combat folders” make them bad news for muggers are fools.

It takes time to access and then open a folding knife. Time is what you have
precious little of in any violent emergency, and “going for your folding knife”
sets you up exactly as going for your holstered handgun does, in any predicament
where you are attacked by one or more street bacteria up close. And face it: This is how it generally happens.

Again, unarmed skills are instantly available, and will clear the way for your being able to access that folder. What’s more, hitting your attacker — jabbing, smashing, and pounding him real hard in his vulnerable target areas — with the ends of your closed folding knife in hand is often the best preliminary tactic that allows you the time to open the folder, in the first place. Unarmed combat training teaches you how and where to hit your attacker with that closed folding knife, and this is important.

Few weapons are as effective for practical defense as a good, strong walking stick
(or, for a police officer, a simple hardwood baton — NOT one of those damn “expandable” pieces of s—t that deserves to be discarded along with pepper spray and mace). Still, one might find that an attacker seizes one’s walking stick (or baton), and a struggle ensues in which unarmed combat skills will prove essential for achieving dominance over the aggressor.

Quality training in unarmed close combat provides the key foundational elements
for success in all close combat — armed included:

√ It teaches you to have self-confidence (as opposed to confidence in a hand held
weapon).

√ It teaches you how to move, position yourself, and interface with potential and
actual troublemakers.

√ It teaches you how to strike and how to kick, and it trains you in the enemy’s
vital target areas . . . areas as susceptible to weapon as to unarmed trauma.

√ It teaches you attitude and mindset, without which no weapon on earth is of any value; and with which, even some random object-at-hand will serve well and lethally in a dangerous emergency.

√ It trains you in general self-defense tactics and strategy, in the principles of
protection, and in the realities of close-in individual battle.

√ It enjoins you to establish a serious routine of personal physical training, so as
to get and stay fit, strong, conditioned, ready, and confident that you are able to
meet whatever comes.

The modern student of self-defense, as we have been emphasizing since the late
1960’s, needs unarmed and armed modern combat skills in order to be a rounded, balanced, ready-for-anything combatant.

The word to all of you weapons buffs: If you keep those weapons for self-defense, then make certain you’ve got a solid capability with unarmed combat to
bolster and to back up their use!

How Much Do You Know About Psychopaths?

© COPYRIGHT 2010 BY BRADLEY J. STEINER - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Sword and Pen – December 2010 Issue

[Reprinted With Permission]

www.americancombato.com
www.seattlecombatives.com

IF your answer is “Very little, if anything,” you are in excellent company. Most practicing psychologists know very little if anything about psychopaths. And, truth be told, there are almost certainly more psychopaths teaching the martial arts than there are martial arts teachers who know anything meaningful about psychopaths, per se!

In unfortunately too brief and encapsulated an explanation, the psychopath is an individual who possesses no conscience, for whom the person and property of
others means nothing (save that these others represent “things” for his use,
manipulation, and consumption), and who apparently exists in a kind of “world
consisting solely of himself” and in a universe in which “only the gratification of his own personal impulses” holds any motivational power over him. The psychopath may be defined as being, in his philosophy and behavior, antisocial.

Not all psychopaths are violent offenders. Most violent offenders, however —
certainly the horrific violent offenders — do tend to be psychopaths.

Rent or purchase the motion picture FUNNY GAMES. That is a chilling and
outstandingly enacted presentation of the psychopathic victimization of, for want
of a better term, “normal” people. IN COLD BLOOD is another motion picture
that you might wish to search out, as is the documentary HELTER SKELTER. Of
course you could always read those last two books, as we require our students to
do, but if you’re more inclined to sit back and watch and listen than you are to
read (as many people seem to be, today) then rent the two movies.

The psychologist Robert D. Hare is certainly one of the world’s great authorities
today on psychopaths. In fact he may be considered to be the authority on the
subject by many. His books are highly readable by lay people, and we recommend
them strongly.

TWO OF Dr. HARE’S GREAT WORKS ON THE PSYCHOPATH. WE RECOMMEND
THAT EVERY STUDENT OF SELF-DEFENSE OBTAIN AND STUDY BOTH THESE
OUTSTANDING BOOKS.

Alan Harrington authored a wonderful book, PSYCHOPATHS, which has been on
our students’ required reading list for decades. In fact, one of our students, the
late psychiatrist Gary Tucker, MD (who was head of Psychiatry at the University
of Washington School of Medicine, and who appeared in the “top 100 physicians
in America” book) knew Harrington, and agreed with us that the book is
excellent. Unfortunately it is out of print; but it is well worth hunting for.

THE MASK OF SANITY, by Hervey Cleckley, MD is the classic text on
psychopathy, and has long been on our students’ list of required readings, but
many find this valuable tome to be too onerous a task. We think that tackling it is
well worthwhile.

Some visitors might ask: “I am studying self-defense. Granted I need to know how
to recognize and handle potentially dangerous violent threats, but why would you
recommend my studying psychopaths per se in such depth and detail?”

Our answer is: The martial arts is inundated with mystical and fanciful, and also
with utterly irrelevant B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T. Your objective, whether you realize it or not, requires that you become a hardheaded realist and focus upon learning about whatever constitutes the real threats in the real world; and psychopaths — especially the violent ones — are your greatest potential problem. Learning about them, getting to understand how to identify them, coming to grips with the serious life-threatening danger that the worst of them may pose to YOU and to YOURS is critical. Do not think that “you can tell” if someone is or is not a danger, merely by his appearance, his initial behavior, or whatever stated beliefs and convictions he might express. Mundo nulla fides (“trust no one”; at least no one who you do not know, personally and well, and for a long time!). Nothing can achieve the necessary cautionary mindset and — if required — mercilessly aggressive and decisive offensive mindset that you MUST POSSESS for self-defense better than coming personally to grips with a serious understanding of how predators think, feel, function, and will gladly strive to violate and injure you in the worst possible ways.

Some unfortunate innocents believe that we exaggerate or embellish when we
speak of the pure evil and the ferocious danger posed to them by would-be
assailants and trouble-making violators. The cure for this — for them — may well be their independent exposure via a careful study on their own of the works of
psychological and psychiatric professionals, to an explanation of the hideously real
threat that the psychopath presents to all decent human beings in modern society.

Our advice: Throw away the books on fanciful nonsense and the macho crap about
how to be the baddest dude in the world of challenge fighting, and start educating
yourself in that which you really need to know about the very real enemy whom you are likely to face if you are ever attacked, and against whom you will also want to be able to defend those you love.

If you know little about psychopaths, correct that as soon as possible! Study this subject! If you are a self-defense instructor you have an obligation to become educated in this area.