Often the most skilled instructor may use terminology that is not the best way to describe primary practices, however the physical skills, tactics and procedures on evaluation are correct in practice. The concern of this edition of the Close Combat Files is not so much error in verbiage, but is to outline and uncover potentially deadly faults when dealing with weapons in combat.

Let me start by being very direct – you do not defend against weapons. You avoid, escape and evade, or disarm your armed attacker and attack your attacker preferably with their own weapon in combat. You take out or neutralize your enemy or their weapon capabilities. Depending on situation there are various ways to neutralize specific weapon threats ranging from immediately lethal takeouts, weapon disarming, escape and evasion, taking cover and other specific tactical options for specific situations threats terrain and environments etc.

What you don't do is defend against weapons with physical techniques that are completely defensive orientated and often tactically flawed. Defensive orientated mindsets could hardly be described as a proactive outlook in regards to ending an encounter quickly, definitely and safely.

Not only is the unarmed defensive psychological mindset against weapons a disadvantage, but so too are physical aspects where the weapon can remain available to the enemy during blocking unsafe applications for extended periods. While I instil in all the military combatants I train that the reality is they could be wounded, and how to deal with that reality, my primary emphasis is on disarming, disabling and disposing of the threat if no other safer option is available or applicable.

The main categories of combative weapon threats are ballistic, edged and bludgeon. Let's begin with a common and always loaded weapon – the knife. The principles, tactics, and skills involving disarming a knife apply to any short weapon or improvised weapon capable of penetrating cutting or bludgeoning. Remember edged weapons are always loaded and never under estimate any edged weapon. Always employ combative smarts in the assessment, evaluation, and decision making of skills as they need to be the best of the best in a life or death situation.

Ask yourself would you be prepared to employ the said skill with a real menacing razor-sharp weapon in the hands of trained, committed, or fanatical killer? I have observed workshops attended by operators and instructors from the police and military practicing suicidal techniques in a studio environment with cooperative training partners practically wishing the dangerously flawed techniques to work, or even worse employing them in such an unrealistic manner to ensure they do work.

Let's dispel a few myths starting with the fun of practicing with training drones with your buddies and how it will be nothing like a life-and-death encounter with a live blade. The false confidence in the flawed techniques so falsely demonstrated and practised in the studio or dojo will hopefully instantly evaporate and you will realize you had better not employ unsafe practices when your life is at stake. In saying so leaving it until faced by imminent danger and hoping to rely on immediate self preservation is risky to say the least.

Realists should be able to identify dangerous practices that are being instructed and certainly in practice identify unnecessary dangers that would make them think twice before ever employing them in a life-and-death situation. Even untrained primary human self-preservation may be more effective than some of the stupidity I have observed being instructed as self-defence against knives.

The best means of neutralizing a knife is to create as much distance between yourself and the knife as possible, but never turn your back on the knife at close range in the process. If unable to get away, as I was taught by Colonel Applegate, employ your primary weapon. If you do not have a primary weapon use a weapon that is long and robust to disarm, disable, and dispose of the threat by attacking your attacker’s weapon holding hand or their major vitals.

Drawing courtesy of the late Col. Rex Applegate.

Now, if there is no practical weapon available to you then it comes down to unarmed combat options. Rule number one, prior to any actual actions on with a knife, assess the weapon, your immediate environment, your enemy, and other potential threats related to the general situation. Decide on the best plan to achieve your objective as quickly, quietly, and safely as possible.

If time does not allow as you have been compromised you had better get your eyes focused on the weapon immediately and let the weapon be your indicator of evasive direction and then employ your battle proven disarming and neutralisation skills.

Eliminate risk to the lowest level humanly possible by taking into account breaking a reactionary gap, if at all possible, keeping your rear flanks safe, and positioning yourself to keep escape and evasion routes open and at your disposal. Focus on the knife and not your enemy as it is the knife that is your primary concern and that you want earliest warning of entering your danger zone.

Remain vigilant with your peripheral vision at high alert and do not fall into the trap of becoming so focused on the knife that you develop tunnel vision. Never assume a stance that favours one side over the other or identifies your master and non-master sides. The neutral stance is the safest, most covert and proven in combat edged weapon disarming stances and ready positions. Fighting-type stances move one leg closer to the weapon and change evasive footwork dynamics to the point where one side is advantaged and the other disadvantaged depending on the angle and travel of the weapon on its final approach to you its target. Remember the large artery in your leg, the femoral artery, runs down your inner thigh and if severed you would bleed out profusely.

Never assume a guard with your hands while in the pre-actions on standing ready phase and only employ your hands as part of your disarm, disable, dispose phases and when it is safe to do so. The only other time you would employ your hands against a knife threat would be in an actions on encounter with a knife, where you have been compromised, or have made a terminal error and the only and last resort option to reduce risk is to guard your major vitals exposing muscle and tissue over arteries tendons and major vitals as part of your risk reduction and disarming strategy.

Situations where evasion is not possible and stationary evasion fails to move your entire mass off the penetration line may require guarding of major life-support vitals by exposing muscle and tissue areas of your extremities followed by immediate employment of disposal or disarm, disable, disposal of your armed enemy threat. Always maintained an affinity with the ground that ensures stability and mobility to get off the confrontation line when controlling distance and in the ready status. Feel the ground with the balls of your feet remaining ready to evade. Never consider a stationary disarming option when an evasive disarming option is available to you. Control your breathing, self reassure, ready, willing, able, and ensure your assessment and decision making is as precise as humanly possible as there is no repeat take. Range plus skill and inner resolve equals your best chance of achieving your disarming objectives and living, over being wounded or killed.

Forget holding ground, sucking your belly in, pushing your buttocks back, and the x-blocking against a razor-sharp dagger. Trial in training with a committed enemy party will quickly identify your chance of achieving your objective by means of the x-block is highly risky, and far from a primary combative acceptable practice.

Rising arm blocks or inner or outer sweeping blocks with your bare arm without a seizure, and securing immediate follow up against a knife holding enemy are an accident looking for a place to happen when you consider the knife holding hand of a trained, desperate, or fanatical assailant where the common modus operandi is simple thrusts, extend and retract, ice pick downward thrusts that are gravity advantaged in their travel path or guidance if their travel path is obstructed by sliding down and back against the obstructing and in the process slicing the arm that is restricting the travel,

Round house slashes likewise will extend and retract in a circular travel path and if the travel is interfered with or obstructed the travel path will slice backwards cutting the obstructing arm in the process.

Tradecraft practices in military close combat, as part of the living subject package, have changed over the decades in relation to operational post-disarming debriefs to ensure practices are the most battle proven current and safe. Many traditional based knife defences have never changed and the same life threatening faults are being instructed today hundreds of years on and in times where armed aggressors have continued to develop their weapons skills.

Unarmed disarming in it's primary military form for disarming knives requires breaking a reactionary gap, controlling distance, and evading diagonally forward and away from the weapons travel when the weapon is beyond the point of no return and fully engaged at you, its target. Evading diagonally forward insures the highest likelihood of making the knife miss you, its target, and gives you constant vision of the weapon before during and post the evasion phase. Evade diagonally forward not backward or sidewards. Immediately post evasion assess decide and employ the most economical and effective means of disposing of the threat or if an immediate disposal is not possible disarm, disable, and dispose of the threat.

For military close quarter combat disarming of a knife in the battlefield by means of post evasion enemy disposal attack your attacker focusing on primary life-support or combative required human targets as in destroying life or limb. Destroy the airway, the nape of the neck, stamp out the knee joint, followed by stomping your decentralized enemy.

In the event of requiring to employ disarm and disabling techniques prior to disposal post evasion attack the mound of the weapon holding forearm with a hand edge strike with the intention of causing your enemy to drop the weapon through surprise shock reaction to pain or because your downward hand edge strike has forced his knife towards his lower quadrants. Immediately the knife is dropped attack your attacker unarmed and or with his own weapon.

Should your post evasion hand edge strike fail to cause a release of the knife but did achieve lowering the knife holding hand down then a sound option is to seize and secure the weapon holding hand and wrist with an opposing forces grip repositioning your self and the secured weapon for neutralization. Never employ double hand grips with both the thumbs pointing in the same direction, groundwards or skywards. Always employ the first grip thumb groundward to reduce the likely reaction of attempting to bicep curl the knife holding hand free and then immediately employ the thumb skyward secondary grip completing the opposing forces grip. Post seizing and securing the knife holding hand and wrist, decentralize your enemy by stamping out his knee joint, thus being able to maintain a compound opposing forces grip throughout the disabling manoeuvre. Once your enemy has been decentralized maintain your compound opposing forces grip and disarm and dispose of the threat with your boots, never unrealistic joint locks or bars that may well have a lesser effect on a physically larger or stronger skilled or desperate subject.

I have seen ridiculous techniques where blocking hands, wrists, and forearms appear to be held against an enemy’s knife holding wrist or forearm by nothing more than hope a wish and air. You had better believe that if you have not disposed of the threat immediately post evasion or have not been able to disarm them of the weapon and the weapon is still at close quarters and within stabbing range, that unlike your studio or dojo one thrust or slash practice you will face multiple thrusts and slashes if you do not employ a compound opposing forces grip.

Ridiculous outer or inner forearm blocks against a knife stand to get your arteries and tendons slashed and leave you unable to utilize that limb. The reality is a seasoned knife fighter or an untrained individual determined to stab you will use multiple hard and fast thrusts or slashes. There are secondary and emergency military combative knife disarming options, however this edition of the close combat files purpose is to cover primary principles and skills options only.

Allowing a knife holding hand and forearm to be in contact with your flesh, muscle, tendons and arteries without being seized and secured is potential suicide and only demonstrates the instructor’s and exponent’s lack of combative smarts, nous and real-world experience as well as not testing the skills and themselves in training.

I always enforce some simple realities when it comes to knife disarming that include: the knife is always loaded; a knife armed enemy trained or untrained is capable of exercising lethal force even in their death gasp; the safest option when unarmed against the knife is avoidance, escape or evasion; primary, secondary or improvised weapons systems as a means of disarming take priority over unarmed disarming; if unarmed disarming is the only option available after breaking a reactionary gap, control distance, remain focused on the weapon, evade away from the weapon’s travel when it is on its final approach, and beyond the point of no return at you, its target, and assume a side guard position reducing your body mass to the maximum and protecting the major vitals as much as humanly possible; post evasion, assess, decide and employ the safest quickest and most economical means of neutralizing the knife and its user; if the knife is within reach post evasion, attack the knife holding forearm with accuracy and commitment to disarm your enemy of the knife then neutralize the situation; if seizure and securing of the static weapon holding hand and wrist post evasion either immediately, because of the close proximity of the knife, or after a failed attempt at disarming the knife is required always employ a compound opposing forces grip restricting the knife holding hand wrist and forearm, to neutralize your knife holding enemy after seizing and securing with a compound opposing forces grip against a formidable enemy maintain your compound, opposing forces grip throughout the disabling disarming and disposing phases; never underestimate the degree of resistance, aggression and force your knife armed enemy will employ to ensure you do not disarm them and to ensure they get their knife arm free and use the knife against you.

Forget all your flashy, flimsy, tap and slap, single-handed grabs or anything but your most committed, aggressive, economical, safe, disarming proven operationally skills. Never defend against a weapon, always disarm and neutralize. Counter-offensively engage your enemy with confidence, commitment and inner-resolve. Realize that the reality is you could be wounded and do everything to prevent this, but if you cannot, then reduce the risk and effects of the wounding to as low a level as humanly possible and without hesitation continue in a tactically correct and committed manner to achieve your objective and protect your life expectancy. Be sure you are proficient in not only your primary disarming options but also your contingency and emergency disarming options.

Remain visually focused on the weapon or on the immediately skill you are employing to ensure risk of contact by the weapon through deliberate or indirect contact are reduced as much as possible. 

In the next issue of the close combat files we will cover disarming over defending against long bludgeon or sharp edged secondary or improvised weapon disarming under phase threat entry assault.

Fast Extension-Retraction Disarm

Over Extended Straight Thrust Disarm

Fast Extension-Retraction Disarm

Over-extended Straight Arm Thrust Disarm

Icepick Grip Disarm

Backhand Slash Disarm

The previous are but some options of attack at a knife armed enemies disposal. We recommend the Todd Systems Phase 1 Self Defence DVD that covers a full range of long and short edged and bludgeon type weapon disarming under entry assault and under ambush (mugging) at weapon point. This DVD also covers hold prevention and hold escapes.