Military Training Program
American Combatives/C.Q.C. Survival Training Course
FOR MILITARY PERSONNEL

Purpose: To teach special Military and Security Personnel techniques of unarmed combatives which support non-use of firearms when operating in an hostile environment.

Description: The techniques in this course are currently in use by several Military and Government, Agencies to increase personal survival when the use of firearms is, for whatever purpose, not available.

The course information is beneficial to all personnel regardless of billet and is designed to enhance an individuals ability to protect themselves in sudden, unexpected violent confrontations.

Methodology:  The ACI Combative Skills Course is broken down into two sections: unarmed combatives and edged weapons assault. The first section will be dedicated to unarmed combative skill training. The second section will be dedicated to knife defense and the use of edged weapons .

The first section is dedicated to unarmed combatives demonstration and execution of the impact strikes of close quarter combat. These strikes are taught to be executed from various body positions and distances. They are placed in working sequences so the individual can develop flow of execution . The constant repetition of striking sequences enhance the personnel’s ability to counter attack instinctively when faced with a violent encounter.

The second section focuses on knife defense and use of the edged weapons, utilizing the strikes of section one. The counter knife section focuses on demonstration and execution of realistic knife assaults. This part of training emphasizes the importance of awareness, distancing, and positioning. Once the individual is familiar with knife assaults, methods of countering those assaults is covered.

Goal: The goal of this ACI Combative Skills Course is to bring the individual’s C.Q.C. tactics to a level of competence to efficiently and instinctively neutralize a sudden unexpected violent assault.

TRAINING AND TEACHING PSYCHOLOGY
UNARMED COMBAT

1. MILITARY VALUE

It inculcates that spirit of self-confidence, initiative and determination so necessary to the soldier. By those qualities, allied to a sound knowledge of the art, a man is enabled to acquit himself as a soldier even although he finds himself in the most desperate of situations.

Unarmed combat has hitherto been considered mainly as a means of defense in close-quarter fighting, when no weapons are at hand. Its use as a method of attack, however, must not be overlooked, particularly on such occasions as those when weapons cannot be conveniently used, as for example, when the question of noise is involved, with its consequent betrayal of position. Furthermore, by teaching a man to attack on every possible occasion, one develops that fighting spirit so vital to the soldier. Attack is often the best means of defense, for the initiative always lies with the attacker.

No attack will prove successful if performed in a half-hearted manner. Hence, every endeavor will be made to cultivate a real fighting spirit in the soldier, so that when an attack is made it will be carried out with the utmost vigor and perfect timing and control.

The soldier must be taught to close with his opponent, whether the latter is armed or otherwise, and immediately attack the most vulnerable point open to him. The location of this will, of course, depend upon the opponent’s dress and equipment, as well as upon his position, i.e. whether he is standing, kneeling, facing or with his back to the attacker.

The vigor and suddenness of this action will probably catch even an armed opponent at a disadvantage, for it is unlikely that he will anticipate an attack from an unarmed man.

In war, your attack can have only two possible objects; either to kill your opponent or to capture him alive. It must be emphasized that whichever of the two objects is in view, it should be attained with the minimum number of moves.

In the description of the defenses and releases given here, a number of following-up offensive movements is suggested. It is essential to appreciate that these are only suggestions and that the quickest available means to the end should be used.

The use of unarmed combat in defenses is equally as effective as in offense, and whilst the same skill is required for its successful application, the defender should always bear in mind the fact that at the first available opportunity he must assume the role of attacker. There is nothing more disconcerting for an armed opponent than to find that an apparently unarmed man is ready and willing to take the initiative. It argues supreme confidence or possibly concealed weapons and is bound to make the attacker more cautious and hence less sure of himself. Therefore, from the start, the defender should endeavor to make the attacker conform to his movements, and this valuable seizing of the initiative may even enable the original defender to deliver an attacker before his armed opponent. This will not always be possible, however, and if forced on the defensive, the defender must use every means to deceive his opponent. Then, with the accurate timing of a champion boxer, he should parry his opponent’s attack and assume the role of attacker.

War is a matter of life and death, even where unarmed combat is concerned, hence there must be no scruple or compunction over the methods employed. Complete ruthlessness is necessary in order to gain the mastery over one’s opponent, and it must be used without a tremor.

Surprise, speed and smoothness of execution and, perhaps most important of all, the gaining and retention of the initiative, are all essential if success is to be achieved. These cannot be attained without a thorough knowledge of the art, allied to constant practice with a variety of partners and under different conditions, as for example, in the matter of dress, when one is tired as well as when fresh, and even occasionally at night when it is dark.

No two opponents will attack in precisely the same manner, but the skilled exponent of unarmed combat will by virtue of his continual practice under all conditions, have a variety of moves at his command and be able to apply that most suitable to the occasion.

Although the initiative of an attack may appear to be with the combatant who is armed, for example, with a rifle and bayonet, the unarmed man can, and should, by a skillfully-timed offensive action seize the initiative, disarm his opponent and thus secure the upper hand.

Great care must be taken during practice to avoid injuries for a bone might easily be broken or a joint dislocated, hence the speed of a movement may have to be made as realistic as possible. In an actual combat do not be misled by the false cries of an artful opponent.

6. Dress

In the early stages, unarmed combat may be practiced in P.T. kit. Later, however, it should be practiced in uniform, gradually working up to battle dress and full equipment.

"For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."
Rudyard Kipling

The most likely battlefields in the future will be located within the rapidly urbanizing world. Combat in an urban environment will not be the open fields of fire of 50 to 200 yard ranges. Instead, it will be vicious up-close eyeball-to-eyeball combat. It will often require hand-to-hand combat skills for the soldier’s or marine’s survival. U.S. forces lack effective hand-to hand combat skills and needless deaths will result if these skills aren’t developed and incorporated into current infantry training. However, it is well to keep uppermost in our minds that the political and social organization, as well as the culture, of the people determines the way in which its army and marines fight. Its system of hand-to-hand combat to be truly effective must recognize and reflect those attributes.

At the dawn of the Third Millennium, there will be 414 cities in the world with more than a million population, 264 of those in the Third World. A World Bank study predicts that at least 26 of these cities will be megalopolises, each having more than 10 million people. All of these cities run the risk of being dysfunctional centers of mass poverty and social collapse.

Economic discontent will vie, or combine with, disease and malnutrition to provide a continual source of societal breakdown. Conflict, instability and violence will be the order of the day as the law of the jungle replaces the rule of law in the growing new world disorder.

These "Urban Jungles" and future potential battle sites for U.S. forces are extremely volatile. In such an environment, defeating future foes will be extremely difficult as well as costly in both blood and treasure. In this future combat zone, what the Marine Corps terms a "three block war," foes will not face each other from the relatively open environment of most Twentieth Century warfare, for which U.S. forces are superbly trained. In the "three block war" likely future urban battlefields, the law of the jungle will replace the laws of war. The enemy will likely be as close as your fingertips or as distant as across the room. In this battle zone, the ultimate issue of life or death will often depend upon the outcome of hand-to-hand combat. U.S. forces are woefully unprepared for this down and dirty world of eyeball-to-eyeball, hand-to-hand combat. These skills must be developed in order for our forces to be able to operate with confidence and efficiency on the future urban battlefields. These skills must be both effective and easy to learn.

Presently, training in Close Quarter Combat (CQB), or hand-to-hand combat in the U.S. military (including special operations units) is marginally effective at best. Due to technological advancements and severe time constraints on training, CQB training is at the bottom of the training priority list, and is most cases it is nonexistent. The CQB systems currently taught within the U.S. military are based on traditional Asian martial arts. These systems reflect those unique cultures, whose presuppositions are different than ours. Transposing these differences require an enormous amount of time and effort. Those martial arts heavily incorporate fine motor skills in carrying out their movements and strikes. To be even marginally proficient in these requires a long learning period and hours of practice in a world where training time is short and valuable. The British SAS’s Training Wing, for example, has determined that it takes 2400 repetitions for a movement, combined with realistic exercises, to make it into an instinctive maneuver. To make matters worse, these are ineffective in the real world of life and death eyeball-to-eyeball combat.

The purpose of military training and drill is to condition and program a soldier to function effectively under the stress of combat. Yet this training does not overcome all the human psychological defense mechanisms. The stresses induced by a life threatening encounter, makes it physically impossible for the soldier or marine to perform all the intricate fine motor skills required to perform traditional martial arts-based techniques. Instead, this system should be based on gross motor skills and be easily taught to large groups of individuals. A key factor for the effectiveness, and the ultimate protection for the soldier or marine, is that the system must be incorporated in the training routine. Because CQB is a low priority on the military’s training list, a U.S. proposed military CQB system must be one which requires minimal practice and training to achieve and maintain proficiency.

These concepts are not new or revolutionary. The late Colonel Rex Applegate, noted authority on both armed and unarmed close quarter combat techniques, made the following comment on the March 1943 issue of Infantry Journal:

"All types of hand-to-hand combat which demand set positions for the attacker and his opponent [This is how traditional martial arts are taught.] are useless when you find yourself in actual combat. The solution for those who have been students of this type of fighting is months and years of practice so that they react instinctively to the set positions of their opponent. [emphasis added] For those without experience, a type of combat which does not depend upon any certain stance or position to get results must be taught, We must learn ‘where’ and ‘how’ to hit from all positions."

Nor does the U.S. military have to re-invent the wheel. U.S. forces were taught just such a system during the Second World War. The manuals, lesson, and training plans still exist and are on file in the archives. The OSS took Colonel Applegate’s advice and the system used was simple and effective:

"With few exceptions," Colonel Applegate said of the OSS system he devised, "everything is a tried and true means of attack and was selected because it belongs to a simple, deadly system of fighting. . .The importance of this type of combat is not alone in the fact that any man, regardless of size or physique, once well trained, has a supreme self-confidence in himself and his fighting ability, It is a self-confidence that cannot be achieved in any other way. . .

"Unarmed combat training teaches a man to fight and kill without the use of firearms, knives, or other lethal weapons. . . ," concluded Applegate.

These principles are as valid today as they were in 1943. There is a tendency in this age of advanced technology to believe that old methods are outdated, and if a system is not "modern" in origin, it will not work in today’s fast-paced world. Nothing could be further from the truth. We must not forget the hard learned lessons of the past concerning Close Quarter Combat. If we are going to send our soldiers and marines into the vicious, no-quarter-given dirty arena of urban warfare, we must prepare them as best we possibly can to survive in such an environment. Teaching them a proven, effective CQB skills is a must.

The U.S. military should take immediate steps to implement, as part of a soldier’s or marine’s basic infantry skills, an effective system of hand-to-hand combat, based on easily learned and practiced, gross motor skills.

About the authors: Morgan Norval is Executive Director of the Selous Foundation, a former U.S. Marine, an author of eight books, and a member of the International Association of Counter terrorism & Security Professionals.

John Kary, a former U.S. Marine, is the founder and developer of American Combatives, 5 Heritage Park, Huntington, WV 25704, a simple, effective, direct, WW II-based lethal method of Close Quarter Combat.