“Realistic” Takedowns for Military/Police

Author: Odhinn Kohout

 

 

   

How do you get a bad-guy on the ground quickly where he can be safely placed in restraints?...

The question should be appended with “while wearing kit.”

Military and Police personnel have limited mobility and are usually top due to the extra weight of plates etc. This should be taken in account when you are teaching takedowns and throws so that the techniques you are teaching are applicable to real world situations and not just in the gym. A good place that I use as a jumping off point is from the “clinch” position. There are many variations to this such as “over/under” or “double under-hooks” which simply refers to the placement of your arms or those of your attackers being under the armpit or alternatively over the forearm /upper arm bicep region.

When a person is resisting arrest you (the Officer) are most lightly in a “hands on” standup scenario attempting to control/takedown the subject. The problems encountered as we have discussed are issues involving mobility and the fact that the person under arrest is difficult to control (fighting back) when you try to use an old school approach like “man handling” them or simply using brute strength. The other issue is that Officers are attracted to learning what they see on TV being used in a cage or other MMA events.

So…Why use the Clinch?

Iron Mike Tyson once said that: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Although not as tactically elegant as the teachings of Sun Tzu it is 100% accurate none the less. The use of the “clinch tie up” position will help you facilitate takedowns from standing as well as avoid the “punch to the mouth.” The clinch offers an endless array of transitional tactics from:

·         Locking/controlling both of the Attackers arms

·         Locking up one arm and controlling the Attackers head/neck with the support hand

·         Used to create a reactionary gap when pinned against a wall or furniture

·         Creates a static position good for sweeps or takedowns using the legs

·         Makes your Attacker vulnerable to single and double leg takedowns

·         And much more…

I teach the clinch for extraction techniques as well as arrest control because it offers a myriad of solutions when it times to go hands on with the bad-guy. In this day of endless litigation it also provides a “soft based” approach to tactics (camera friendly) with bystanders constantly filming law enforcement performing their duties and then uploading these videos to sites like YouTube.

Takedowns from using this clinch position are much easier and will lessen the chance of getting an injury yourself if you both hit the deck from a poorly executed throw attempt. Your takedowns need to encompass variables that are ever present each time you leave the comfort of your patrol car and they are:

1.       You are wearing a duty belt containing a pistol and other use of force options.

2.       Your vest/jacket/uniform will make fancy moves next to impossible to focus on broad gross motor skills as the basis for most control tactics.

Take some time and investigate the clinch tie up in conjunction with teaching your students takedowns and throws. They will make a great addition to your defensive tactics program

Knife Defense Tactics from the Ground (Part-1)

Author: Odhinn Kohout

Most of you have taken some sort of knife defense training within the Military or Police at some point in your careers but did your Instructors only focus on the stand up aspects of a knife attack?

Criminals frequently carry some sort of edged weapon which is usually concealed from view. If you take some time and watch knife attacks videos on the web within Correctional institutions you will see that the majority are surprise attacks in which the victim never sees the knife.

Facing the blade is a frightening proposition and we have discussed in previous articles the fact that that your body under extreme stress will not react in the same way as in a safe training environment. If you find yourself in a restrictive environment you may fall over objects as you try to create some type of reactionary gap and end up on your back. Everyone in law enforcement has been introduced to ground-defense as providing some options to defend yourself and get back up on your feet but what will you do if your Attacker is stabbing and slashing at you from the ground?

Preparing your students for this kind of scenario is essential training. A great deal of time is spent on teaching students handcuffing variations which could be replaced with critical incident survival training. Lack of training time is a constant complaint amongst Instructors teaching in the Military and Police but we need to looks at HOW this limited time is allocated into components and what should be given a high priority for our students.

On the subject of knife defense from the ground the Officer will instinctually try and grab at the weapon hand attacking him. This is an unconscious response which is hard-wired into the fight/flight mechanisms of the human brain. The aspects of controlling the knife hand through rotations should be explored in depth with your classes, first from a standing position to instill muscle memory and then repeating the exercise from the ground placing the student on his back and repeating the exercise.

The thumb pad of the human hand controls the strength of the knife grip to a great degree so although most people focus on the wrist I believe that it is the wrong approach. If we focus on the rotational axis of the wrist we observe a 360 deg rotation which logically…would make grabbing the wrist redundant as the weapon hand still has a high degree of movement. In point of fact the Attacker can effectively use the blade to cut their way out of a wrist lock countering many defensive tactics techniques.

Leverage would be better suited for the blade edge of the weapon hand (ulnar) side or the thumb pad (radial) side. This makes rotating the wrist very difficult and offers a high degree of control both standing or on the ground.

From the ground the Officer will attempt to parry and block slashing/stabbing angles from both inside the Attackers forearm and outside. From this position the student should be taught how to control the knife as previously discussed prior to attempting to get back up to their feet. Most people will use some sort of post with their hands to assist in standing from the ground which will leave them even more vulnerable when an edged weapon is in play. Once the knife hand has been controlled by the Officer, escape becomes the focal point as the threat has been (to some degree) lessened.

Practice an inverted “ice-pick” grip with your students and the normal forward grip. It will get them accustomed to learning new defensive tactics regardless of how the Attacker is holding the blade. Once the techniques are engrained from a right-handed perspective try the same skill-sets from the weapon being placed in the left hand. Your students must be ambidextrous in acquiring new cognitive reasoning and recognition. We will continue to discuss ground combatives against knives in future articles

Military and Police Knife Defense Training Tips (Part 2)

Author: Odhinn Kohout

 

 

I have seen a great deal of knife defense programs which assume…that your Attacker who is armed with a knife will only use the weapon hand. What I tell my own classes is that unless you have been attacked by a pirate…your attacker will probably have TWO hands and you need to orient your training as such.

Example:

When you are practicing how to escape from a hostage situation against a blade (you do practice these worst case scenarios right?)Make sure that your student with the training knife uses his support hand to grab or lock up his training partner because this IS what would happen in reality.

Can you picture ever picture a hostage scenario in which the Attacker with the knife has his support hand down by his side? Then why is this so common place in training…

A bad-guy who assaults you with a blade can use strikes and jabs and counter your attempts to disarm him all with the use of his support hand. When you teach your students to trap the knife hand you must also make them understand that the Attacker gets the next turn and this must be prevented with a takedown, disarm or some other technique that will disrupt this cycle.

Example:

Most Instructors that I have seen teach step 1, step2, etc. when it comes to teaching a knife defense technique. Ask yourself a logical question…

Do you honestly think that your armed Attacker is going to just stand there and let you perform your knife defense sequence? Then why…teach this way?

After you perform step 1 it is (unfortunately) your Attackers turn. To stop this from happening requires you to rethink what step 1 is in the first place. In reality, step is a flinch response from the attack. Many Officers I train are resistant to this concept at first but it is a hard-wired autonomic response which you cannot control.

To say that you will not flinch from a sudden attack is the same as saying that you will not pull your hand away when you accidently touch a hot stove or raise your foot if you step on a nail in bare feet. It is not the same as a “reflective” response as in fight/flight because there is no cognitive process involved in a flinch.

Your body will want to throw both hands in front of the face in the direction of the threat. You can adjust the angle so that the hard ulnar bones of the lower forearm (pinky side) can be used to STRIKE the Attacker’s weapon hand off a flinch response. This will change the flinch from a block into a strike… 

Now your step 1 has changed into an offensive and aggressive response to an Attacker trying to slash you instead of a defensive one and the pain to the Attacker’s forearm will slow down (not prevent) his ability to take his turn.

I cannot stress enough that as an Instructor, the onus is on you to provide realistic training which is based on the principles of body mechanics, leverages and physics instead of “martial-art type moves”

If your students do not understand what you are demonstrating and are asking you to breakdown the technique over and over because they are confused it is "probably"not a technique worth teaching in the first place. The most important thing that I want from my own classes is retention so that they can use what they have learned on the street the next day to save their lives or their partners.

This will require you to change your attitude as a teacher and check your ego at the door. Many Instructors want to dazzle their students with a multitude of complicated techniques in a short amount of available training time yet this accomplishes little and will frustrate even the most eager group of adult learners.

Incorporate the startled flinch response into your program in conjunction with the effects of rapid heart-rates and loss of fine/complex motor skills on reaction time. This change will rapidly alter your defensive tactics for your Military and Police students into a course focused on the bottom line. Which is getting these Officers home at the end of their shift…

MMA vs CQC..(What’s the difference?)

Author: Odhinn Kohout

 

 

    

Mixed Martial Arts has made the jump from “sports fighting” to Military and Police training over the last 10 years which presents some challenges from my perspective as an Instructor of Defensive Tactics.

The primary one I have experienced is Jiu-Jitsu being used extensively as part of a ground-fighting program for both law enforcement and Military CQC training. I had the opportunity some months back to review a current Military program that was being taught when I was brought in as a guest Instructor. The first thing that I noticed was that the “Lying Armlock” had a prominent place in the ground-combatives portion. Having training many Soldiers over the years I asked the SME in charge of the program “how soldiers could possibly perform this wearing full kit?” He answered “I don’t know…?”

The SME didn’t design the program but was merely tasked with delivering the content.  If… the program that you (as the Instructor)are teaching will not work wearing your uniform and kit then it needs to re-evaluated for its suitability in terms of practical field applications. Police Officers should not be encouraged to get into some kind of ground fighting position seen on TV due to the fact that there are no rules or referees on the streets when you’re trying to control a person under arrest. Hidden weapons and multiple attackers are not seen on TV MMA events.

A simple example to illustrate this is the “GUARD” position which is a prominent aspect to many ground-fighting systems. Let’s take a quick look at this position from a Military/Police training standpoint:

·         Why?. Would you ever want to tie the bad guy to your own body in a position that puts you exactly where he want you and causes him ZERO discomfort

·         Get your students to try the GUARD on gravel and shrimp away. It is excruciating and you will find the pain of applying it a huge wake up call. (Sorry, but there are no soft mats to fight on when you are on duty)

·         If your Attacker pulls a knife and cuts out your femoral arteries from the GUARD you will not have to worry about “Tapping Out” because you will be dead

·         Your Attacker has a friend that you didn’t see from the GUARD position who begins to stomp on your face with heavy steel toed work boots

·         Have you ever tried to draw a pistol from a holster in the GUARD?

·         A low GUARD (which most people will do under stress) places your legs wrapped around the HIPS of your Attacker instead of higher at the floating ribs. Your Attacker can from this position has the ability to pick you up off the ground and repeatedly slam the back of your head into the asphalt below crushing your skull like a melon.

·         In my own UZIEL Military classes I show counters to the GUARD position that will leave your lower spine broken in about 2 seconds and you can spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair thinking about how you would have done things differently

The defensive tactics program that you are teaching needs to have a basis in actual combat so that your students will have confidence of its effectiveness when their safety is at risk. Teaching your students what to do if they knocked to the ground should be thoroughly covered as it is a reality that they may face at some point in their career but it does have to be a facsimile of sports fighting methodology. You MUST take into account the Officers ability to transition seamlessly into use of force options including the pistol which obviously points to a safe field of fire being adhered to in order to avoid shooting your own legs. Is this currently covered in your ground-fighting material?...

Getting your Officers back up to their feet when they have been taken to the ground should be emphasized over any ground-fighting program that you want to incorporate. Creating a “reactionary gap” is very tough to do from the ground but is a point rarely discussed in classes.

As part of my own training I offer a section of my course entitled “Counters to popular MMA techniques” which addresses the fact that CRIMINALS are training in these techniques and it is not being addressed by most law enforcement Instructors. Take the time to educate yourself as a Teacher and find solutions to your Officers being caught in a “rear naked choke” or various types of “Kimura” locks. I can tell you from personal experience that they will appreciate your efforts and it will keep your own courses from becoming out of date with the time and stagnant.

TRAIN HARD, TRAIN FOR COMBAT!