A bit of history for those who may wonder about our hand-to-hand program:
We used to be pretty prolific in this aspect until 1988 when one of our guys in the VP accidently got stabbed through the heart during an exhibition. In 1989, premission was given to start up a new course for instructors, but we did not use the manual, which teaches only basic maneuvres, and most of those in the manual are inadequately described, with a few even being in correct. The instructor for this program was a local bouncer who taught a combination of martial arts designed for close-in self defence. Since then there is a continual see-saw between the need for good fighting techniques and frightened officers who worry about soldiers getting hurt (or severly injured) during training (valid, but prohibited to the point of silliness, another legacy of our peace-keeping days). Nowadays there is more acceptance for the need for close-infighting skills, but you get a lot of flak from JAGs and associated offices if you are not officially sponsored by the CF or in a trade that considers the skill essential. This is probably very different from the stuff people are being taught nowadays, in the old school way I was taught a dozen different techniques from as many people over 20 years.
Things you really need to know:
1) Know when to walk away: One guy who wanted to join my area of expertise said "I can take care of myself, I know martial arts and fight in UFC." Thats nice, but getting into a fight sometimes means you failed your primary task, which was not to draw attention. This applies to many situations on tours of the CF. Its not about how tough you are or whether you can kick the other guys ***, its whether you did your job without sustaining injuries (on them or us).
2) Be willing to kick butt - thoroughly, completely and with complete dedication: On the flip side, you need to know when its time to kick some butt, very important in the infantry where your job IS to make sure you can start a fight and win. Fighting is for when they wont give up peacefully, when you are protecting yourself and others, or when you are ordered to go in there and kick ***. Theres no ref to stop the fight or a manager to throw in the towel. Once you start you cant back out, and you cant give up. Read up on some of parkie's war tales to read about what a man has to do to stay alive (I would say refer to our guys overseas who have had these experiences, but dont know of any other threads they speak in...).
3) Expect to fight dirty!: There's lots of different styles for injuring or killing a man, but the most important things to learn are the vulnerable areas that most techniques dont teach or allow in sparring; know the vital areas and how to affect them; kidney punches, joint disablers, eyes slashes, ear smacks, nose smashes, throat damage, groin attacks, these are the most important that stun or momentarily incapacitate a person in close-in fighting. Get the enemy blind or gasping and the advantage is yours.
4) Improvise from local materials: The great thing about an urban built up area is the crap lying around ready for use in a fight. Learning to use improvised weapons is important, as well as defending agaisn them. Personally I learned bokido style techniques but there are a lot of others that are weapons-based which can be applied to more effective use of your rifle other than a stab or buttstroke.
5) Learn to capture without killing: You will also need to be able disarm or immobilize your opponent so that they can be questioned; higher ups tend to get upset when all you have are untraceable dead bodies, as do civil police bodies, or it might be a suspect you just want to control without harming. You shoud know some aikido or the close-in joint manipulation moves used by dozens of martial arts.
6) Review your fighting gear capabilities: If you are wearing full tactical gear, where are your vulnerable areas? Most non-infantry soldiers (and even a infantry soldiers - note , this is pre-2001) I worked with knew only how to fight when wearing pants and t-shirts, and didnt change their ideas of fighting once they were fully dressed for combat. There are certain combat moves that you cannot perform while wearing webbing or a full tact vest, or at least it throws off your balance. There are also certain body areas protected when you wear different types of gear, so you can spend less time trying to protect them and focus on protecting other areas. Further, learn what pieces of equipment can be used as effective armour or bludgeons. If you can fight with improvised weapons, you are never unarmed! (only outranged...)
7) Reference the one guys comment on depending on your buddies to help you - dont! In close quarters fights, the kick-in of adrenaline causes tunnel vision. All you know about is kicking the guys *** in front of you. When the guy is down and out or dead, then you have time to look around and help others. Only those who have a high level of experience in hand-to-hand combat or training in martial arts are able to avoid loss of situational wareness in a fight. Even if you have that skill, its uncertain if the others on your team also have it (unless you are with the elite units). Counting on others to pile-on is a standard police tactic for dealing with single difficult arrests and riot situations but doesnt work in H2H combat where the odds are usually 1-1.
