Close Combat Systems

[jks9199]

Here's one I've never been able to understand...

A professional cop - one who takes his job seriously - realizes that he can't take on the world. Fights will come to him whether he wants them or not. One lucky punch in any one of those encounters could have him in a wooden overcoat. Most officers never fire their sidearms except on the range. Many never point it at another human being.

And his job isn't kicking tail. A huge part is gathering information, keeping in touch with everyone from informants to citizens to the people he arrests. And when he talks he has to make sure people understand what he's telling them and get them to do what he tells them to. Lord knows those can be harder than the inside of a banker's heart.

A cop uses his gun almost never, his baton once in a while, his hands quite a bit and his communications skills all the time. So why do Academies spend lots of time on shooting, some on baton, a bit on unarmed defensive tactics and just a smidgen on communicating? It all seems a bit upside down.

Unfortunately, training time is often apportioned based on perceived liability. Departments get sued when cops shoot someone, or when they beat someone up, or when they crash while driving somewhere. They seldom get sued over what a cop says -- even if those words led to the cop having to shoot someone.

Additionally, there's been an attitude that we all learn to communicate effectively through life, so it doesn't need to be taught. As someone who had to learn the hard way about communication... I know different. We're only just recognizing it, outside of "special communication" like interview/interrogation and Verbal Judo.

 

[eyecbatty]

Second the recommendation for Modern Warrior. I've spent some time around Mr. Messina and his people. They really are in a class by themselves.
The owner of the school is the NYPD's most decorated cop with the highest number of felony arrests, one of the founders of ASLET, etc. etc. etc. Think of him as about 20% larger than life. I haven't met anyone who I would say is better and very few in his class. "Very few" being people like Dan Inosanto.

Other schools talk about law enforcement. These guys do it. Most of the several hundred students at any time are active duty law enforcement. They regularly train the President's Marine Guards, the FBI HRT and so on. Not just a couple members taking a seminar but large groups being flown there to train. They make a serious distinction between the three parts of their school - Police Defensive Tactics, Martial Arts and Women's Self Defense. Different needs require very different tools. As far as I know all three sections include extensive work on the legal and ethical aspects of self defense including moot court with practicing lawyers. And they are very careful about the mental and emotional areas. There's a lot of stuff designed to prepare the students for post violent event trauma.

They're constantly doing research like going to the morgues to see how officers died. Their work on firearms retention and disarming, ground fighting for law enforcement - NOT BJJ style ground grappling and particularly fighting multiple armed opponents is revolutionary. In particular law enforcement students learn how to fight in their regular gear. And no, it's not just a few exercises and kata applications. It really is integrated into their curriculum from day one. Their record in real life encounters speaks for itself.

In order to pass that knowledge on MW has regular classes as well as short term seminars for police officers in everything from handcuffing to some very interesting baton work, ground fighting, fighting under adverse conditions (such as that sensory overload I was talking about), multiple opponents, and a comprehensive two week Officer Survival program

The facility is exceptional. There are simulation rooms with wind, rain, subway cars, parked cars, sound, light and smoke. Even the mats are designed to stand up to people in street shoes (students train in their everyday clothes) and overlap irregularly to get you used to training on something besides a nice flat surface. It was one of the first to be designed for training under conditions of total sensory overload.

It really is one of a kind. If you're in law enforcement there isn't any other place you should consider until you've checked out Modern Warrior.

This is something that might be perfect for me..i checked out some of their videos they have and the seem interesting..what system is this?
what do the rest of you guys think about it

Of the various Systems and styles mentioned..im looking for something thats Really Direct..no wasted movements...and not some much Kicking..i have fairly Big Quads and Hamstrings from weight training..not asking for the best systems..just the best for me i guess..

 

[chinto]

ohh I agree that being able to talk to people and be polite and other wise get people to cooperate is a paramount skill!! that and get help from other cops when it goes bad on you... I would still say that most of the Okinawan systems .. bread and born of survival on the streets, against both armed and unarmed attackers... that is my suggestion.. that does not mean that things like traditional Japanese jujitsu systems, or Chinese systems that have been around for 200+ years.. or many of the Filipino systems are not good... they are.. so are several Indonesian systems as well .. but my choice would be the Okinawan systems. .. take that for what its worth.

 

[tellner]

This is something that might be perfect for me..i checked out some of their videos they have and the seem interesting..what system is this?
what do the rest of you guys think about it

Of the various Systems and styles mentioned..im looking for something thats Really Direct..no wasted movements...and not some much Kicking..i have fairly Big Quads and Hamstrings from weight training..not asking for the best systems..just the best for me i guess..

If memory serves the system's name "Bo Fung Do" means Way of the Sudden Storm. One of the things it's supposed to mean is that fights are unpredictable chaotic things. The practitioner learns to be the center of the storm, comfortable in ths confusion and able to use the chaos of the situation.

The owner of the school/founder of the system had rankings in a number of Chinese systems with a very strong Wing Chun base. His experience and research - real research, not the usual "do the forms and claim to have found the Hidden Wisdom encoded in them" balderdash - has led him in some very different directions. I've seen WC roots and drills, but it's become entirely its own thing.

And it is as direct, efficient and practical as anything I have seen or heard of.

 

[eyecbatty]

Trying to Find a Good Wing Chun School in queens..seems like alot of officers are practicing this system