6 weeks or 10 years, your choice..

That’s awesome and ironic in someways. In reality, somethings just take time and hard work & perseverance. Then life throws little gems our way, that take hardly anytime at all, just plenty of Hard Training. It’s a brave new world…. Life is good lol.

Dear Damian,

First of all let me say that my brother recently bought Module 1. It was very interesting and impressive. Your ideas are the most realistic ones i’ve seen. But there is one thing i cannot comprehend. You say that blocking wastes time. I am ok with that, but there is something worrying me. Let’s say that the enemy in front of you attacks you with a knife towards your head, or stomach… how should I counter him? with the technique you showed in Module 1 or how?

Thank you in advance! We are waiting impatiently for Module 2 to arrive.

This is covered in Module 8, but technically you already know what to do.
Unless you are in a mugging situation (module 4). You have to assume he is armed, you don’t know if it’s a punch are a stab. You must assume the worst.

Here’s reality: you will get cut, but you will survive. Any one who is willing to stab you will be aggressive and violent. It will be multiple stabs, combined with other strikes. A good street fighter may even use the knife as a distraction to knock you cold. Your best bet is to attack the man.

Put a knife in your brothers hand. Start slow so you can get the feel for it. You are going to move in 3 directions. Forward, left and right (back is not recommended).

Establish distance. If you can move side to side, do the side step, side kick multiple edge of hand attack. If moving forward it’s the front kick, heel of hand edge of hand.

And just pummel him. Yes you will get cut, but being stabbed while you’re beating the shit out of someone is a HELL of a lot different than being stabbed to death.

It’s not neat, it’s what works.

In module 8 you’ll also learn how to use the environment. Chairs, tables, trash cans, dirt, rocks and…pepper spray! If I’m faced with a guy with a weapon, I’ll juice the SOB!!!

The main thing is this, the beginning modules train you to hit with power, hit with hate and hit to hurt. By the time you’re at module 8 you’ll see exactly how it all fits in and have the AAHAA moment. It’s so simple because you’re already developing those techniques now.

DO NOT chase the weapon. While you’re chasing the weapon he will be punching the living shit out of you. Our philosophy is train for the worst, hope for the best. I’m not worried about an ex-girlfriend (who could be extremely dangerous), I’m worried about the ex-con with the “born to lose” tattoo on his forehead.

Thank you!

One more question: is it necessary to have a training dummy to train on?

You need something to hit. A heavy bag or something you can beat up. Striking a target is the only way to develop power and confidence period.

Training partners get hurt and cause you to pull your strikes. Hitting the air is all but useless.

You must hit something!

Well that title sounds a lot better than saying one of my fellow fire fighters brought over a friend of his family to share a beer with us at our social club after a nights training. The friend works as a private contractor and has been to both fronts in the war on terror (overseas contingency operation my ass), and is a veteran police officer and law enforcement instructor.

He shared some stories and put a positive light on the war you never hear from the media, and talked about the heroics of Iraqi police officers and the kindness of the people. He was also very clear about the ruthlessness of the enemy and compared them to the VC.

Anyway we talked about hand to hand combat and I showed him a few things and he showed me a few things, and he acted like a real professional. There was no sarcasm or denial that nothing could work besides his training, and he didn’t brush me aside because I wasn’t a police officer which happens all to often. He had his techniques he’d used and tested in battle, but was still willing to listen.

In the end though we weren’t to far off in what we were doing. It was still about taking ground and brutally replying an attacker. He agreed that if a suspect went for your weapon your first move was to hit them get them back and than draw your weapon. He knew all to well cops get hurt and even killed while fighting for a holstered firearm. His gun disarm was a little more complicated than I would have liked, but I saw what he was doing with it, but he liked what we teach.

The fact is if your in a situation where a gun is at your head you’re probably dead already, and whatever you do is your last ditch effort. Once you start attacking don’t ever stop, and if you get a chance to pull a weapon take it.

He also understood that firearms training and close combat tied in closely together and recalled the struggles he had getting police officers to listen to those “martial arts guys” over the years. He saw several impressive martial artists who taught practical techniques disrespected until they showed what they could do.

His spent the last three years overseas teaching and fighting and doing his part. The media only reports negative stories about contractors, and never mentions their sacrifices.

Good luck “Gordon” on your latest assignment.