Close quarters combat // Tzviel ("BK") BlankchteinBut will it work, Sir?

This is the first installment of my semi-monthly column on close quarters combat. In my column I will address both typical issues and more uncommon circumstances which come up when training law-enforcement and military personnel as well as the differences in training these two very different populations. I will address topics such as legal issues with use of force policies; effectiveness of different techniques, training philosophies, and how your department or agency can improve on the defensive tactics program it currently has in place. Readers may send me questions on topics and issues which are of interest to them. I will post some of these questions, and my answers to them, in the column.

During the past two decades I worked with many military and law-enforcement personnel around the world, and saw different combat and defensive tactics systems. Take, for example, handgun disarming: I must have seen more than fifty different ways to accomplish the task of dealing with a handgun threat and gaining control of a suspect. Every single technique I have seen had some merit, some application, some innovation, but the question that must be asked is: will this technique work when the ultimate test arrives and it must be used in real time?

As a defensive tactics instructor I teach techniques to address various threats — from bare hands to weapon defenses (firearms and edged weapons) and even defenses against suicide bombers and individuals tossing hand grenades. Theories and preferences aside, one rule and one rule alone must apply: The technique I teach must keep the soldier or officer safe.

Let us take the handgun threat again as an example. I saw techniques that included pushing the handgun into the opponent’s chest or hip, arm bars, wrist manipulation; some techniques did not even address the immediate threat (the handgun). I always have the students go through the same drill to evaluate how applicable the specific method is to real life: I have the “assailant” put soap on his arm to make it slippery, simulating sweat, blood, or other substances that may affect grabbing his hand or arm under real life conditions. I also have the defender sprint prior to addressing the handgun threat. The sprint does not simulate simulate themental or psychological stress to the same extent as a gun threat would, but it does create similar physiological response by increasing heart rate, causing the hands to shake, creating tunnel vision,