The Essentials of A Well Rounded Combatives System - Part Two

In my Blog Post of Aug 13 I talked about what should constitute a well rounded combatives program. I also somewhat addressed the fact that a lot of people criticize the fact that there was no grappling. This criticism was, in various ways, especially directed at the late Carl Cestari.
It’s true that he did not emphasize most ground grappling, but there were several reasons behind this.

One of the foremost being that if you’re on the ground tied up with someone, there is always the chance that he may have friends who will happily put their bbots to you. Some self defense instructors will cherry pick videos where two people go to the ground and nobody jumps in. However it doesn’t take much effort to find an assortment of videos where the opposite is true and people get stomped by friends of the person they’re grappling with on the ground.

Another reason why Carl Cestari didn’t emphasize any grappling other than some stand-up techniques and escapes was that over his years of teaching he realized a simple fact. Grappling techniques are, without a doubt, more technically oriented than striking techniques. Accordingly, more time, effort and physical conditioning is involved in learning those methods. As a result fewer students were willing to make the commitment to do so.

It should come as no surprise in the 21st century, where instant gratification is expected by so many people, that putting in the time involved to learn these methods was not too high on most peoples priority list.

Mr. Cestari held a 1st Degree Black Belt in Judo and a 5th Degree Black Belt in JiuJitsu. So when detractors of Combatives talk about him not having the knowledge to teach grappling, well frankly, I’ll let you wonder what’s going through their minds.

Having gotten all that out of the way I’ll now introduce the material below. These were two connected articles written Carl in around the 2002-2003 period. The first part is an excerpt ffrom the Program of Instruction given to H2H instructors by W.E. Fairbairn. That is followed by what Carl Cestari considered to be the techniques/methods, whichever term you prefer, most useful for defending yourself from a criminal attack.

I hope that anybody reading this Blog Post will be able to gain some insight into the mindset and attitude behind the training of soldiers in both WW2 and the PostWar period, and how that trianing can still be relevant in the 21st Century.

Note: Italicized comments in the first section are comments by Carl Cestari

Essentials

Excerpted from ‘Close Combat - Notes for Instructors’
By W.E. Fairbairn

Part "B"

UNARMED

(For those who have been FOOLISH and caught UNARMED)

Method No. 1 - "Edge of Hand Blows"

Fingers and thumb straight out. Strike with little-finger edge of hand.

Points of Attack: Forearm bone, wrist, side of neck, one inch below adams apple,
back of neck, etc.

Method No. 2 - "Chin-Jab"

This is a close-in blow and must be given with all possible force in an upward
direction.

Points of Attack: Up under the chin with the heel of the hand and fingers extended to
reach the eyes.

Method N0. 3 - "Tigers Claw"

Into the eyes and face with a piston-like forward jab. Fingers bent like a tiger's
claw. Weight of body to be behind the blow with no "telegraphing" of the intention to
strike.

This is the most effective hand blow ever worked out. It has the advantage of three
inches additional length as compared to a "straight" left and can be achieved with
lightening like speed.

It is a complete answer to any attempt at a frontal attack and permits one to deal
effectively with one's opponent before he is really dangerous.

Method No. 4 - "Kicking"

Method of kicking: Turn right foot sideways to the left and kick forward. Make
contact on the shin-bone with the outside edge of the sole of the boot. Follow
through by transferring the weight of your body from the left to the right foot and
smash down with your boot on to the small bones of opponent's foot.

Special Notes:

1. Any student who thoroughly masters the three hand blows and the method of
kicking (no matter what his strength or build may be) will be able to effectively deal
with any un-armed opponent.

2. All these methods are ATTACKING, not DEFENSIVE and should be applied in
conjunction with each other.

Fairbairn on strategy/tactics/mind-set:

"........unfair and unethical methods of fighting in which acts of artifice, force,
vehemence, and shock are of major importance and in which all earmarks of the
concepts of fair-play and good sportsmanship must be eliminated."

(I wonder how many will break open the old Webster to define the above?)

Considering the trend on many posts, i.e, non-essentials, nonsense, agendas, more
nonsense, "pointless" arguments, etc. I feel that presenting the above is a waste of
time for the most part. However, there are a few that will benefit from it.

You see the above few paragraphs virtually gives everything you really need and
answers almost any question, IF (and this is a big IF) one possesses the true
wherewithal to really "get" it.

If I sound mildly disgusted, well I am.

There is a wealth of REAL knowledge to be mined here offered by some very
serious dedicated men. A lot of the bantering sounds like a bunch of schoolgirls!
James is gracious to a fault in NOT taking a sharp sickle to separate the wheat from
the chaff.

I would make a civil statement about "offending" list members, but I seriously
doubt many will ACTUALLY READ THIS!




“ESSENTIALS.............Part 2”
By Carl Cestari

Well here's a different approach.

Let's put the "shopping" lists on the back-burner for a moment, cut to heart of the
matter and ask the FIRST logical question, WHY?

ALWAYS seek out the BIGGEST BANG for the BUCK! See if this is logical;

Edge of Hand:
Can be used literally from ankle to temple with effect. Can be used against a
STANDING, stooped, or grounded assailant (whatever position). Can be used
around a 360 degree circumference, with little re-positioning. Is effective as a
"defensive" manuever as well as an offensive attack. Can be used while grappling
standing or on the ground, from a seated position and of course from standing.
When trained PROPERLY can deliver very fast trip hammer blows. Can be used
against armed assault, as well as unarmed. Force can be moderated to damage, stun,
break bones, cause a KO, and kill, if need be. Little chance of damage to the hand.
Can be delivered with VERY HARD impact even when a good foundation is
impossible AND even when YOU are being driven backward. Virtually a
COMPLETE system unto it's own.

Chin-Jab:
EXCELLENT maneuver at close quarters. Can be used as a hard shove or as a
vicious blow, both are followed up by eye gouging. Very good in close confines were
the "double slam" effect can be useful, you slam home a Chin-Jab and drive said
assailants head HARD into a solid surface or a sharp edge. Can be used singularly
or again in fast multiple hits with either a single hand or in combination. Can be
used in many directions IMMEDIATELY with POWER and with a MINIMUM of
telegraphed intent.

Tigers Claw:
A COMBINATION heel hand smash AND eye gouge. A distance weapon that can
be used as a fast stunning "lead" OR as a power shot. It does NOT need "specific"
targeting. The claw hand slams into the face and then drives through with the
clawed spread fingers. By a simple twist of the body can be delivered to the front or
either flank. Is simply an EXTENSION of the Chin-Jab for longer range. Can be
used in devastating combinations.

The Boot Kick:
This should not have been referenced as a low "side-kick". It's NOT. Hard to
describe BUT easy to learn. WEF termed this kick with the outside edge of boot as
the "flick" kick. Simple, NON telegraphed and very damaging. This can be used at
distance as a "kick" or at close quarters as a ripping shin scrape and smash. We
train this with a specific footwork sequence as well as "wagon wheel" style, either as
the "hub" kicking out in eight directions or as the "rim" moving circularly and
kicking in at the hub. There are MANY, MANY mis-conceptions about how this kick is
executed and how effective it can be against a VARIETY of unarmed and armed
assaults. It is also a "defense" AND an "attack".

ALL of the ABOVE constitute a COMPLETE method of unarmed combat. And
that is NO shit! You LEARN the maneuvers separately, but the GOAL is to
FIGHT with them, just the same way a boxer learns his basics and THEN learns to
FIGHT with them.

I would have added the knee smash in this because it WORKS perfectly with ALL
of the above, but I believe that the outline comes from WEF's syllabus for the OSS,
and he did NOT include the knee in the final outline, but does reference it in the
technical descriptions.

These were NOT just a handful of maneuvers lumped together for the hell of it.
WEF had a "method", a DEFINITIVE method of how these maneuvers are USED
IN A REAL FIGHT.

That is the part that MOST are MISSING! They see these maneuvers as an
unrelated "hodge podge". This is NOT the case.

O'Neill preferred different methods -including finger jab type blows (though
WEF's 1915 SMP manual DOES include the "finger jab"), smashing back knuckles
and PRODIGIOUS use of the elbows and knees, as well as several kicks. O'Neill
ALSO taught this as a SYSTEM, not as a handful of "do this" or "do that". He also
taught doubled forearm blows at GRAPPLING range, NOT as a "defense" against
blows as some have suggested.

So let's review: Edge of Hand/Chin-Jab/Tigers Claw/Boot Kick. FOUR simple
direct and EFFECTIVE methods that can be used against virtually ANY type of
unarmed attack from standing to rolling in the mud, while seated, while being off
balanced and driven backwards, against an assailant in virtually ANY position and
in a 360 degree sphere. Also can be effective against a number of armed attacks,
and can be very effective against multiple assailants (if one UNDERSTANDS
the proper method of use).

E.A. Sykes used what basically was a "combination" of the two as well as teaching
fundamental boxing blows to vulnerable targets.

Well that lays out the WHY and fulfills our "BIG BANG" mandate.

That's about as logical and pragmatic as I can get. We really DON'T just pull this
stuff out of our ass, REALLY we DON'T. We've given it just a wee bit of thought.

Like most things in life, it starts by asking the right questions FIRST.