Extreme Unarmed Combat

INTRODUCTION

Military, security and law enforcement personnel operate in an environment where extreme violence can erupt at any time. They often carry weapons, but weapons can be dropped, malfunction or run out of ammunition. When all else fails, unarmed combat skills can make all the difference.

The average police officer operating in a civilized area is less likely to encounter extreme violence than a soldier in a war zone, so for the most part we will consider military skills and applications. However, specialist police units such as hostage-rescue or Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), anti-terrorist police and also those operating in unstable regions may well need to make use of the same kind of skills.

Police work can be dangerous, of course, and his uniform can make an officer the target for a level of deliberate violence not normally encountered by civilians. In this situation the officer may be fighting to survive rather than to arrest a suspect and, if so, may have recourse to some of the more aggressive skills in this book.

Law Enforcement

The line between 'combat' and 'law enforcement' unarmed combat skills is a blurry one at best. For example, Eric A. Sykes and William E. Fairbairn developed a system called Defendu, which is used as the basis of many modern unarmed combat systems. Defendu drew on experience gained in policing rather than military applications, but was then developed into a system to be taught to commandos and secret agents during World War II.

If suddenly attacked in close urban terrain a soldier's 'unarmed' combat skills may be vital in creating space to use his weapon. His unarmed combat training also builds confidence and fighting spirit.

The similarly-named Defendo system was developed by Bill Underwood after World War II. His original system, named Combato, was an open-hand 'combatives' system for military applications and was extremely lethal. When asked to teach this system to law enforcement agencies after the war, Underwood instead modified it to create Defendo, which was less aggressive and better tailored to law enforcement requirements. Many elements were exactly the same in both systems.

Similarly the martial art of Krav Maga was developed as a result of its creator's experiences fighting against Fascist gangs in the 1930s and was adopted by the Israeli armed forces. Variants have since been created for military, police and self-defence applications, all of which use the same basic techniques and concepts.

Depending on the circumstances, unarmed combat skills may be all that a soldier or police officer has at his disposal. They may also be used alongside a weapon. For example, a police officer may choose to employ his unarmed skills so that he does not have to use his weapon, and a soldier may have to use his combat skills in order to retain his weapon. This represents both sides of the same coin; unarmed combat skills give personnel an increased range of capabilities, and they are there when there are no other options.

Given all the other skills that police and military personnel must master, there is little time for training in complex martial arts systems. Some personnel do train in formal martial arts on their own time, but given that hand-to-hand combat is not the primary function of soldiers or police officers, the time available for 'official' training is strictly limited.

Thus military and police combat systems are a backup to other skills. They must be quick to learn and simple to use, yet effective under very difficult conditions. Whatever label is used - arrest and restraint, officer safety, close-quarters battle, combatives or hand-to-hand combat - the same factors apply. The system has to work quickly and completely; the opponent must be neutralized as fast as possible. Any other outcome can lead to disaster.

For most civilians, losing a fight can mean taking a beating, which is bad enough. For those who operate in a more extreme environment, defeat means death or capture. It can also lead to a failed mission and friendly casualties. Thus although unarmed combat is not the primary role of soldiers and police officers, they must be ready when it happens.

Law Enforcement Tip: It's Not Like The Movies!

A real fight is never like a choreographed movie scene or martial arts sparring. It will always be a chaotic scramble; frightening, painful and desperate. Police officers and soldiers are trained to accept the reality that a win is a win, even if it looks like a scruffy mess.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) training is geared to a fair one-on-one fight with rules and a referee. It is, however, an excellent way to develop combat skills for any situation.

Martial Arts vs Unarmed Combat

It is impossible to say exactly when the term 'martial arts' was coined. Originally it meant something like 'fighting skills' and referred to life-or-death close combat. However, in the modern age the term has come to refer to a wide range of activities, some of them only vaguely connected with combat.

Some modern martial arts are useless for fighting. That does not make them worthless of course; they simply have other virtues and are often a worthy athletic endeavour in their own right. However, for those going in harm's way as part of their occupational duties, these arts are of little value.

Other arts are more practical and often have real value in unarmed combat. However, it takes time to learn a martial art to the standard where it is useful in a fight, and along the way there are many hours spent learning skills that will never be used.

It requires long training to be able to make high kicks work in combat. For most personnel the time is better spent on other, less flashy, skills.

Special Forces Tip: The Red Light

Many military systems work on the concept of an imaginary 'red light'. When the red light comes on it's GO! GO! GO! until the threat is neutralized. The soldier must decide beforehand what will make the red light come on. It might be seeing an opponent's fists come up or him reaching for a weapon, or it might be an order from a superior. Whatever the trigger, once the red light is on then the violence does not stop until the enemy is down and out of the fight.

For example, a sport martial artist will need to learn how to escape from a range of submission holds that a soldier on the battlefield is extremely unlikely to encounter.

With limited time available for training, the soldier needs to learn to deal with the most likely situations and to demolish his opponent fast rather than rolling around the floor for 10 minutes trying to apply an armlock. The converse is also true. A soldier or police officer trained in 'quick and dirty' unarmed combat methods would probably be defeated in a formal match with a trained mixed martial artist, kickboxer or judo player. Such a situation is beyond his area of expertise.

The fundamental difference between martial arts and unarmed combat training is that unarmed combat is 100 per cent geared towards the destruction or neutralization of the opponent. Restraints might be taught as part of an arrest and restraint package, but for the most part military personnel are trained to destroy their opponent, not merely defeat him.

Simple escapes from adverse situations, such as the 'mount' are a useful part of unarmed combat training. There is neither the time nor the need to get into the complexities of advanced groundfighting.

Where a martial artist might learn complex counters to an opponent's martial arts techniques, the unarmed combat practitioner learns simple moves that will do maximum damage to the target. Not only is there little time for anything else, this is actually the most effective skill set. In an extreme environment, extreme measures are the key to victory.

Elements of military and law enforcement unarmed combat skills are highly useful for civilian self-defence. While the more extreme measures are not appropriate in most situations, a self-defence system drawn from military and police experience has much to recommend it. Not everyone has the time to study a martial art to a high level, and not all martial arts are effective for self-defence.

Military Systems

For someone who wants to achieve an effective level of self-defence capability without putting in endless hours, the military systems offer an indication of what works in a fight, and what can be quickly learned. This has led to the formulation of martial arts based around military principles. For example, the martial art of Krav Maga, based on the unarmed combat system of the Israeli armed forces, has recently become very popular worldwide.

There are also self-defence systems that draw on military and security experience. The Modern Street Combat system taught by the Self Defence Federation is not a martial art as such; it is instead a pure self-defence system drawing on aspects of military combative systems, martial arts such as ju-jitsu and traditional western fighting systems such as Catch Wrestling.

Conversely, elements of some martial arts are used by military and law enforcement personnel. Aikido and ju-jitsu are often used as the basis for arrest & restraint training as they have excellent joint-locking techniques. Other martial arts are used by the military for...