“Transitional Drills from H2H to Weapon Systems” (PART-1)

Author: Odhinn Kohout

  

 

The high ready position when should not exclusively be used for pistol or carbine terminology alone when teaching CQC material to your students. Conceptually the high ready position entails the elbows being close or tucked into the body to help maximize core strength and control. If you as the Instructor maintain some continuity in your defensive tactics program, you can assimilate this into your standup and ground-combatives programs as well unifying the totality of the training.

This makes it much easier as a reference point for your students if you refer to a high ready as the starting point regardless of the subject matter that you are covering for combatives. When teaching one of my students to fight from his back I will look at his arms to see their positioning. All I need to say to the Officer is “get into your high-ready” and he instinctively does so because…he carries a firearm and it is a familiar term. If this was a civilian class you would not be able to use this approach as they would lack the initial point of reference (high-ready)

From the clinch position in standup defense, the high ready correlates a correct physical response of the startled flinch with your hand positions (elbows tucked in) having access to other use of force options such as the baton, pepper spray  or Taser within the circular radius of the duty belt to the upper chest. For Military personnel the upper chest could include a fixed blade for easy access especially if you are knocked down in combat. If you consider that a great deal of Soldiers carry a knife but…in awkward places to draw under stress or the ground (leg, side, or back) you will see why I am stressing the importance of H2H positions in relation to weapon transitions as it will provide a way to always know where the tools are when you need them regardless of lighting conditions or in the worst case scenario if you are wounded and limb mobility is restricted.

Scenario:

You have been wounded or punched and knocked onto the ground. You Attacker jumps onto you to finish you off. How you have trained will now dictate your next actions…

If you are unarmed you bring your elbows in tight and your hands out towards the threat. From this base position you find yourself able to defend from a knife or flurry of punches. It will counter your body’s powerful autonomic response of “turtling” and turning away from the attack to protect the central nervous system.

In the scenario the Officer has comprehension through previous training that his weapons can be accessed from the belt to upper chest in a circular pattern. A pistol draw from this ground position will require an extra step of rolling the weapon side leg specifically the shin into the attacker to break the safeties of the holster easily and possible attain a supine shooting platform.

A soldier using this same scenario can access his fixed blade on the chest and flip it tip up into the Attacker. This will create a very solid obstacle which must be now navigated by the Attacker or he will find himself impaled on the blade by his own weight. 

These are some simple and basic applications which can be added to your current program and provide your students with a template to understanding and remembering their CQC program.

As always…train hard, train for combat.