SFC 10 Year Anniversary
December 2006
HEADQUARTERS DOCTRINE
HOCK'S DAILY "BLOGGING"
(...or as daily as possible)
"Read by Thousands Round the World!"
29 December 2006: How To Be Sued For a Million Dollars, Part Five
In the following two years or so, my last two in patrol before I did that 16-year stint as a detective, I did see Joe Dipps around town. He got arrested a few times for public drunk and for assaulting his wife, but not by me. In the personalities one meets in life? Color him an unshaven, uneducated, stinky, dirt bag.
While in the patrol division, I arrested Attorney Dogpatch twice and was involved in arresting him at least once with another officer, for a total of three encounters. One cold, winter night, I was patrolling a bar parking lot and spotted him beating a women. They were arguing and he was pulling and pushing her and slapping her around. He froze when he saw my squad car stop. He growled at me and shouted something. No doubt a challenging curse, but I couldn't hear him.
Well, this whole little scene...sort of pissed me off. You know how it feels. He flung the woman aside and marched to my car as I got out of it. He was talking smack the whole way. He is a big, bulky guy and wore many layers of clothing and overcoat. I got an arm and dumped him over my car hood and cuffed him. His march ended with me marching him into a jail cell. He was drunk as a skunk.
About a year later, I arrested Dogpatch again, this time for DWI. As he sat on the book-in room bench, a pee-stain down his pant-leg, he sneered at me,
"I am going to get you, you know. I am an attorney."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," But he tried!
After I became a detective, I was involved in a few high profile crimes that got a lot of media coverage and subsequent name recognition. Rumors at the courthouse has it that Dogpatch and Dipps, over umpteen, midnight, whiskeys decided they should sue someone for that old "false arrest" and the only name the both of them could remember...was mine. Cheers!
Thus the lawsuit and defamation in the newspaper. But, the case was quickly dismissed after the round of legal depositions, in which I made a small, unprofessional, immature scene. Our city attorney tried to calm me down, But it was evident, these two knuckleheads sued the wrong person, the wrong officers and the wrong agency. My redemption was a small paragraph on page 9.
The cast of dubious characters evolved through time:
- Dogpatch went in and out of a few rehabs. I think he may be dead by now.
- Detective Wronghead bounced around a few agencies.
- Detective Buckhead is collecting shopping carts on supermarket parking lots.
- Officer Brighton is still an officer! Dedicated.
- Joe Dipps? In about 1981, Ol' Joe's mother died. She left him a lot of money. A lot. He bought a small metal shop, factory he once worked in. He hired a few new employees and one of them? Was a serial killer. "Rodeo Bob." I got after Bob and he fled Texas, to resurface where I tracked him down to San Diego, CA., where he had a refrigerator full of carved-off, human faces in tupaware containers.
Nice hobby. But, that my friends? Is another story...for 2007.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
27 December 2006: How To be Sued For a Million Dollars, Part Four
What I did for the next two hours or so is a blank. Routine patrol? I do know I was getting curious about how this whole Dipps thing was going. I made my way to the police station. It was now about 2 a.m. I wandered through headquarters and did not see the county deputy, either of the two county detectives. Brighton was back out on patrol.
What I did see was our Patrol Lt. Russell Trapp in one of the offices talking with an unhandcuffed Joe Dipps. I asked the front desk officer what was going on.
"No one from the county showed up," he told me.
"No one? Did Brighton book Dipps in for murder?"
"Nope. Trapp wouldn't let him. Trapp doesn't think Dipps is the killer. He talked with Tyler and thinks it is mistaken identity. Dipps sat in a hallway while Tyler studied him. She changed her mind and said he was too short to be the suspect. We can't reach the county detectives."
"Well, I think Trapp is right. Something ain't right about this, " I said.
This meant the county left us out to dry on this flaky ID connection to the Arkansas murder case. Within the next hour, Trapp let Dipps go. Trapp felt Dipps was a local, and would be around for questioning. Gutsy, but something wasn't right. But basically, the crackerjack county detective team of Buckhead and Wronghead let a midnight shift detective make major decisions on a murder case, an attempted murder case and rape case. Trapp got Dipps a ride back to the bar! I do have a memory of eventually seeing Detective Wronghead talking to Lt. Trapp some hours later, near dawn. Trapp was explaining that he could not hold Dipps, especially after Tyler recanted her ever-so-positive identification..
I heard nothing about this particular case for years. But, I'm told that County Detective Buckhead was fired shortly thereafter, for hanging out at the local truck stop too much while on duty. Someone even suggested he was at the truck stop that very night when he should have been down at our station house working on this crime. Something to do with chasing the women working there. Regularly. Steadily.
Outside of this case and before the million dollar lawsuit, within the next few years or so I had a few run-ins with Joe Dipps and Attorney Rehabber, some violent and involved threats... (see part 5)
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
25 December 2006: "So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over and a new one's just begin" - John Lennon
And so you know, I cannot email all of you in the personal way in wish I wish I could, as I have come to know each of you, but in the words (paraphrased?) from Kinky Friedman- whom I voted for, for Governor of Texas- :
"May the God of your choice bless you and yours."
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
24 December 2006: How To be Sued for One Million Dollars: Part Three
But, I was off to help catch a rapist and a murderer...and there is nothing more I would rather do. For me, there is no greater pastime than catching real, hardcore criminals. None.
As a last string, back-up officer, I arrived on the bar parking lot rather late. This country and western bar was popular and it was packed as usual. Parked cars all over the lot, and on the field next door, and up on the service road. I expected to see County Detective Buckhorn or Wronghead, or both! But instead, I saw a regular uniformed, county, deputy patrolman huddled with our city patrolman Brighton by the front of the establishment.
I joined them and listened in. Sadly, it appeared that the County Deputy was "as in the dark" about all this as we were. He had no insider information, no support suggestions. We were to find and "catch" this bad guy. Since I knew the witness J.L. Tyler, I entered the club and started a hunt for her first. I tried to smile and talk to patrons as though I was making a common "bar check." I spotted her nervously perched at a table. I returned to the club door and told one of the bouncer's to walk over to her, tell her to wait one minute and then walk to the front door and meet us.This was done.
Within minutes, Tyler was outside talking to us. She told us where this suspect was seated, what he looked like and how he was dressed.
"This is him. I know it. I can't believe he came back!" she said.
Okay! We sent her to wait in the hotel office. Once we found our man, we would stand him on the lot and talk to him. She would have to peer out the window and look at him. We needed her to identify him.
We three entered the loud club and spread out. Our killer was not where Tyler said he was! So we started searching. Mine was futile. Then suddenly, I couldn't even see the deputy and Brighten. I made for the door and a bouncer gave me the "thumb-this-way" message. My guys were outside and with the suspect.
There they were with their man, out on the parking lot. I found out later that Brighton had spied him in the club and fearing violence against himself and customers, approached him from behind, grabbed a wrist, identified himself and ordered him outside. No handcuffs.
By now, you have guessed this man was Joe Dipps. He looked VERY familiar to me because he was something of a regular. "Is HE the killer?" I asked myself. I walked over the office and entered.
"Is that him?" I asked witness J.L. Tyler
"THAT is him," she said, peering out the window curtains.
I returned to the group and gave the deputy and Brighten the nod of approval.
Brighten explained to Dipps that he had been identified as a murder suspect.
Dips said, "Is that what you want? (Whew) I know I didn't do that," after having the allegations explained, "I thought you were here to arrest me for hitting my wife. I just left her at the house." This is the kind of cat we were dealing with. His ID shows him to be a local with a local address.
The deputy sat in his car and called his dispatcher, then walked back up to us. "Buckhead said to arrest him .There is an Arkansas 'John Doe' murder arrest warrant for him."
Well, not him-him. Not Joe Dipps. Just someone who someone else raped someone else who used someone's ID to check into a hotel. But, who are we to decide, we are just to do or die...or get sued.
"Okay," we said and started moving Dipps to the deputy's car.
"Ahh, no, no! Since this is within the city? Buckhead said you have arrest him."
"WE do?" Brighton said.
Ahhh, the old arrest, paperwork dodge? The city jail? Damnit, well...he does have us on some kind of technicality. We are in the city. But, why not just take this county suspect to the county jail. And, where are Buckhead and Wronghead anyway? Don't they want him at the county to interrogate him? Well...he has to be arrested somewhere, I guessed. You just can't tell a traveling rapist/murderer to be in the office Monday morning for a chat, huh?.
"This is a big mistake. I didn't kill anyone," Dipps said calmly. "Y'all are crazy, man."
"Will Buckhead and Wronghead met us at the city jail?" Brighton asked. " And, straighten all this out?"
"Oh yeah, yeah, sure thing," the deputy said. And he got the hell out of there.
Dips consented to go to our city police station where the matter could be sorted out by the crackerjack county detective team. He got into the front seat of Brighton's car, UNHANDCUFFED and drove to the station where some kind of a decision would be made. J.L. followed in her car, presumably to give a written statement on her identification. The deputy left, presumably to our station for more follow-up? I was left standing on the parking lot with nothing to do. I just resumed my normal patrol duties.
I didn't find him. Didn't touch him. Didn't handcuff him. Didn't arrest him. Didn't transport him...and I got sued for a million dollars? Why? The saga continues after Christmas..
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
21 December 2006: HOW TO BE SUED FOR ONE MILLION DOLLARS: Part Two
Here's the truth. Yes, in the In Fall of 1978, a woman was indeed abducted from a local city hotel, taken out to the country, raped and strangled and left for dead on a Texas, county road. The criminal incident started inside the city limits, yet ended up out in the county, making jurisdiction for the case a minor legal question, but not a problem. Either agency could effectively be the "case agent" for the crime. The County Sheriff's Office was called first and took charge. The actual acts of rape and attempted strangulation did occur out in the county.
Detective Deputy Buckhead, under the loose supervision of a Detective Sgt. Wronghead took over. Buckhead had virtually no investigative experience. Wronghead was well known for deciding on a suspect in a case too early, then sticking with that suspect stubbornly well after evidence proved otherwise. You see, Detective Wronghead often went "with his gut" too early and often had to vomit out his theory too late. He is kind of your worst nightmare as an innocent citizen who falls under the scope of an investigation. You couple a jerk like this with an over-zealous prosecutor and your worst nightmare materializes into a hellish reality. Both these animals exist in our criminal justice system. I know them. I've seen them. The next time you moan or make fun a criminal defense attorney? God made for them for a real reason.
Me at the time? I was just a dumb kid in a patrol car. That's correct, I wasn't a detective until 1980, despite the fact the lawsuit and newspaper made it sound like I worked the case and arrested the wrong man. I was working patrol the night of the original crime and recall all the County Sheriff's radio traffic when the girl was found.
Buckhead and Wronghead quickly developed a suspect. This country western bar where the suspect met the victim was attached to a hotel. The hotel clerk turned out to be a key witness. A lady named J.L. Tyler checked in an Arkansas, traveling salesman named Rory Clinton. Tyler saw Clinton and the victim leave the club together as they walked though the lobby, happy, hugging and drunk. Clinton returned alone and then checked out early the next morning. You know...rounds to make.
Within a day, Clinton was developed as a main suspect. BUT! There was small problem. Clinton was dead! Actually, the real Rory Clinton was dead. Clinton, a real traveling salesman had been killed a day earlier and when Buckhead put Clinton's name as wanted into the police NCIC system, authorities from Arkansas called. Even Buckhead deduced that the Arkansas murder suspect was probably the same as the Texas rape, attempted murder suspect. The man used Clinton's identification and checkbook( God had not fully invented credit cards as yet) to check in. The man became "suspect unknown" - which is always a hassle when investigating such things.
For those of you keeping a chronological checklist on all this? I am still a dumb kid in a patrol car driving abound. My biggest concern in life back then was dodging spit from handcuffed drunks and where I might find the largest pool of available, wanton females. Discos or country bars? Ladies night or discount drinks? Decisions. Decisions. But anyway - I digress - we were told this in a midnight shift, patrol briefing in the week that followed the crime. If memory serves me well, Detective Wronghead himself came to the city squad room and explained that the suspect could be a city resident, etc,. The crime was also covered in the local newspapers. Plus, years later, after extensive legal, depositions, I got these layered backdrops to this story, as I relay them all in order here.
A few nights later, an hysterical J.L. Tyler, key witness, called the Sheriff's Office from the hotel bar. She breathlessly reported to the dispatcher that this...this "Rory-Clinton-feller, " the one she'd checked in last week...the murder suspect and attacker of her hospitalized, barely-alive friend...was right then and there back inside the country bar. She said she was sitting at table in the bar with friends. The bar was very crowded. She was frightened to death that he might recognize her and silence her.
Now get ready for a series of "call-fors." The County dispatcher called for Detective Buckhead. Buckhead called for Wronghead. They called for backup. Since the bar was in the city, the dispatcher called for city police back up. This was beat cop and city officer James Brighten, who called for back-up, which was me. I had no one to call for, as I am at dirt, dog-scratch level of this totem pole.
But, I was off to help catch a rapist and a murderer...
For the rest of the story - tune in tomorrow!
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
20 December 2006: HOW TO BE SUED FOR ONE MILLION DOLLARS
The names have been changed here to prevent another lawsuit. Lord knows I don't know where I might come up with another million! That's right! Me! Joe Ace! The 500-pound gorilla, hissef! Sued for a Cool One! Here's how the front page of our local, Sunday newspaper read back in 1980:
MAN FILES SUIT AGAINST CITY, POLICEMAN
A Texas man, alleging false arrest for rape and murder, has filed a $1.75 million federal lawsuit that claims his civil rights were violated by the city and police detective W. Hochheim. The complaint, filed July 16 by Joe Dips seeks $500,000 for damage to Dips' reputation and credit rating, $250,000 damages for "undue humiliation, shame, embarrassment and fright," and $1 million in punitive damages from Hochheim.
The plaintiff is represented by attorney Roofus Rehabber.
In the complaint, Joe Dips claims he was arrested without a warrant and without probable cause on________, 1978, in the Wagon's West Ballroom by Detective Hochheim. The plaintiff was told by Hochheim that he was under arrest for rape and murder, handcuffed, taken to the police department and jailed, the petition says
The city of is named as a defendant on grounds that since the detective acted under city authority and followed city policy in making the arrest, the city has failed to "properly train" the defendant in the legalities of making an arrest. Attorney Rehabber said the plaintiff was apparently mistaken for a suspect sought by police in the September 11, 1980, abduction, rape and murder of an 18-year-old, Texas waitress. The woman was assaulted, strangled and left for dead in woods near Hickory Creek Road, according to
County Sheriff's office offense reports.
"Investigators later identified as a suspect in the attack, a man who was also wanted for murder of a female in Arkansas. That suspect was later arrested in Syracuse, N.Y," the paper further reported.
Yep. Yessir. There I was cruising down the old Interstate, burdened with one of those pesky unsolved murder cases. I needed a suspect, so I coasted into a bar parking lot, two-step, waltzed on in and looked the crowd over for a prime one.
"Well, there's Joe Dips over there," I said to myself. Never have liked em'. Why I shuffled on over there, arrested that sucker, slapped them cuffs on and yanked him out for rape and murder. Case closed, by God! ... sure.
What more can I say than the plaintiff's case is sheerest of horse's manure, in the deepest sense. Yes, he was the wrong man, completely wrong. But you know I didn't arrest him; I didn't even find him that night--another officer did. And this other officer didn't put him in jail either. So, in an ironic twist Dips and Rehabber were doing to me what they are accusing me of--picking on the wrong man!
My end of the ugly deal? One million. This was the first time I was sued in my young life, so you know, I took it a bit personal. EVERYONE in our city got to read what a untrained, screw-up I was. But, internally, our city PD from the Chief on down knew the knuckleheads at the County that were really responsible, knew Joe Dipps was..well...a local, alchoholic, dip-wad and esteemed attorney Rehabber was just out from another trip from the rehab house.
Murder, bad cops, doppers and drunks. And little ol' me in the middle. For the rest of the story - the part even Paul Harvey doesn't know - tune in tomorrow!
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
19 December 2006: Here's Spit in Your Eye! Taking One for the Team.
The USA sports world is abuzz this week with foul fight news that Dallas Cowboy Terell Owens spit on an Atlanta Falcon football player's face. Plus, the NBA punishments were announced for a basketball gang fight. Yet, hockey players beat the snot out of each to the glee of the fans.
But with this spitting incident, the Atlanta player held his temper. He knew to attack Owens would mean his ejection from the game, fines, suspensions and in some cases, loss of the player for the whole season. He, in essence took one for the team, so he could keep playing.
In sports we see a lot of dramatic "victims" when they are fouled. The fouled like to be seen by the referee and they overact their injury. This is evident in soccer, basketball, karate tournaments, well, in any sports really, and in life! Frequently when police arrest people, the poor suspect screams out for all to witness to hear how they have been injured and abused by the officers. The police may do the same in reverse. A very common ploy, but it always seems to work at first. Which is the real subject of this essay.
Have you ever taken one not for the team, but for the cause? I have been in a few, odd situations this year, as I will not describe them for a variety of reasons, in public places such as in court rooms to name such place. The situation heated up and it looked as though there might be a fight. There is no question that if I got hit in public, in the long run, it would be smarter to drop and cry out like a wounded, soccer player! The bailiff would have cuffed the puncher, built a better case for my client and entangled the puncher and the puncher's side in even more distracting trouble.
This did not happen to me, but once did to another associate of mine at a divorce hearing we were working and it turned into a push and shove match. The instigator was shoved and the associate, a "good guy" was tagged with starting the assault! Good acting and shrilling cry-out on the part of the bad guy. We had to attend a hearing for that also!
I often ponder what it would do for the martial arts world and my business to learn that I was decked in a shopping mall all or a courtroom and I dropped and yelled out like wounded, basketball player who was fouled and horribly injured. Yet, such acting would be infinitely better strategy in the long run for the cause.
Ever take one for the Team? The cause?
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
17 December 2006: Real Fighting? Spring on!
Lots of people watch the UFC and Pride to see reality fighting. Yet, if you want to see how 90% of the population will attack you? Watch the Jerry Springer show.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
15 December 2006: My Brushes with Television
"I coulda' been somebody. I coulda' been a contenda'!"
I had planned to write a lot this year on the successes and failures of my ten years that I have been practicing this CQC business. But damned if the year isn't almost over and I;ve failed to write much on the subject. One of the stories I wanted to tell was a few close brushes with being on television and what went wrong.
Probably the biggest near miss was a just a few years ago in 2002, but the beginnings started in about late 2000, and early 2001. A production company with Sony called me - when I was the head of the Close Quarter Combat Magazine and somewhat known amongst a small, disturbed group. And after some discussion they asked me to send them a bunch of material of me speaking etc. of which I had many training videos and so forth. I even had my old, north Texas Counter-Crime news shows I had done for TV there. I shipped them all off to La-La Land. I have been beaten down thought the years and I know NEVER to get excited about stuff like this. As Larry David would say," curb your enthusiasm," is a motto I follow.
But, I heard back from the Sony company and they wanted me involved with several television show projects. The main one was a show Sony had funded for production called Worst Case Scenario, (heretofore called WCS) based on the wild, how-to books that were moderately popular back then. The show would be visual versions of the written events usually depicted in the book. You know, how to jump from a moving bus to a moving bus. How to escape a fire, etc. At first, I would be regular segment on countering WCS crime problems. They wanted to meet me and on a trip to California, we did...lunch...
Young people. Sports cars. Honestly? Rich air-heads. How do such young people get in these important positions? Anyway, they went from me doing the crime segment to wanting me to possibly be the host of the show. There were just a few other possible hosts. I signed a one-year contract binding me to take the job if selected. They'd let me know. So, Mr. Sports Car calls later me later with another project - having a tv show with SWAT teams competing like the old American Gladiator TV show. Would I possible host that? Could I help them organize it? What would the events be. Can I get the SWAT teams? Then more shows, I mean, these ideas are streaming.
Meanwhile, they tell me, "oh, by the way, the WCS show has been changed a bit." With the then success of the new Survivor show, the braniacs at Sony decided to make half the WCS show some kind of survivor competition, like a dangerous race. Well, they were all flaky to me, so I just listened and I didn't care. My job was to be simple. Squint. Growl some lines from some cue cards and walk from one taped X on the ground to the next X with a swagger. Collect money.
In touch with them, mostly about these other hair brained shows (subjects of other stories) I listened as the WCS scenario format de-evolved away. They now hired a raven-haired beauty, to be clad in leather, that was an action girl and doing highfalutin', fight scenes and James Bond material. In fact, the host would also be required to dress in leather and do some action lead-ins. But the subject matter was turning more and more into fairy tale segments. Okay. Leather. Squint. Read. and do some movements. Collect money. Okay
Then months later, I was told that from a group of five guys, a Mike Rowe was selected to be the host. I was, alas, brushed from the WCS show and the other shows they were making were nutty (and as yet-unfunded)
Oh well, says I. On TBS network in 2002, Mike Rowe and Worst Case Scenario premiered. I couldn't bear to watch it as it was quite bad. And it had half its time with some kind of lame survivor/adventure game. The show lasted only 13 episodes and became TV trivia question. http://onthebox.netfirms.com/Articles/WorstCaseScenario/WorstCaseScenario.html
Mike Rowe went on to host Dirty Jobs on the Discovery channel
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/dirtyjobs/bio/bio.html By all accounts he is a good guy.
But the irony continues. On Dirty Jobs, in one episode, Mike learns about the tire re-cycling business and has to load old tires into a truck trailer. I recently had to help out my father-in-law and help remove some 1,000 car and truck tires from his property. YES! That many. Each tire (often full of mud and water) must be hefted into a transport and then at the local dump unloaded and RELOADED again on a special, tire truck trailer. Make no mistake, this does qualify as a Dirty Job.
In a TV commercial for the very episode, Mike opens a truck trailer and some 30 tires fall out. 30 tires and that unfortunately is an educated guess from my nasty experience. I declared, "Now, I know that is a dirty job, Mike Rowe!" My wife laughed, and obviously forgetting he and I had more than just bad tires in our background, she continued on to say, "hey, he's kinda cute!"
This of course - just added worst-case-insult to worst-case-injury!
But Mike and I had come full circle - er - full recycle.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
12 December, 2006: Military Knife Combat Book, Excerpted from Hock's 1998 book introduction
"U.S. Army Lt. R. Nett led his company into heavy Japanese resistance (at Ormac Valley, Guam). His troops were very low on ammo and heavily engaged in hand-to-hand, bayonet and knife combat. Lt. Nett lowcrawled up to, and jumped into afoxhole, his knife slashing. There, he killed the first line enemy rifleman that was pinning down his men, and he continued onward, though seriously wounded, furthering his company's position. Taking shrapnel, and parrying off Japanese sabers, bayonets and knives, Lt. Nett used his knife to kill seven more enemy soldiers." U.S. Army Synopsis Report,
Public Affairs Office, Medal Winners WW II
"Could you stick a knife in a man ... and twist it?" was an early litmus test question of British Commando and U.S. Ranger recruits. The anxious candidate would of course answer yes, knowing full well that the elite cadre needed such killing in their missions. " ... and within a year," reports British Commando historian James Ladd, "he had done so." But what is "Military Knife Combat? Where and how, in this age of 20th Century projectile weaponry, does it really occur?
At first, a naive researcher would assume that there is considerable knife fighting in war. Then, upon further examination, he deduces that soldiers are shooters first and foremost and there is very little, if any knife combat. Within certain focused scopes of study, there is none and the knife is reduced to utilitarian uses in the military theater, like cooking, camping, shaving, mechanic work, and a host of other mundane tasks. Mirrors have been wrapped to its end and poked into the unsafe air to peer around comers and over trenches. Knives have been traded for other services and products. On the more violent side, the knife has been used for torture and interrogation of prisoners, or buried tip-up, pungi-stick style and in other manners to arm various mantraps.
However, a more thorough and diverse research into the oral histories and accounts of modern-day warriors around the globe reveals that military knife combat is a definite reality. In some instances entire units fought each other knife vs. knife, and not always because of stealth or lack of ammo, although that has happened, but because close-quarter firefights would accidentally kill their own intermingled comrades in crossfire. There is a weaponry continuum in warfare that has always included the knife in the battle plan."Close-quarter battle commences with the rifle. If this fails, the traditional backup is the pistol. Out of ammunition, or with no other alternative, the soldier falls back on edged weapons, starting with the bayonet. A step down from his bayonet is the entrenching tool as a cleaver. Down again the utility knife ... "
Jim Shortt, British Paratrooper and Combat Instructor
This classroom advice is retold again by the desperate words of a U.S. Army Ranger stranded in the wild, hostile streets of Somalia in 1993:
"If there was a sudden rush from a large enough group, however, they could be overrun. He began preparing a checklist for himself, the steps he would take in a final fight. He was going to take as many of them with him as humanly possible. He still had six or seven magazines left for his CAR -15, along with his .45 and some shotgun ammo. He would shoot his rifle until it ran out of ammo, then the shotgun, then his pistol, and finally he would use his knife."
Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down, Atlantic Monthly Press
In the trenches, alleys, foxholes, and ruins, houses and bunkers of war, and in the drama of its espionage, knife combat has always existed. Whenever and wherever a soldier needed silence, or ran out of bullets, or couldn't reach his rifle or pistol (the majority are not issued pistols), or couldn't shoot due to proximity of comrades and explosives, the knife has left its scar or corpse. If you research the case histories of Medal of Honor winners since WW I, you would learn that about one of every 20 or so are MOH stories of brave men who fought their enemies in close-quarter combat with their knives. Inside these heroic records you'll find the winners often surrounded by others in edgedweapon combat, such as WW II Medal winner U.S. Marine Capt. Louis Wilson:
"Seven times the Japanese charged (with short swords, knives andfixed bayonets.) Seven times Company F, under Wilson's indomitable leadership, fought them off. Several times ... brave men wrestled the Japanese, using bayonets and knives to kill them."
Edward F. Murphy, Heroes of WW II, Ballantine Books
More excerpts continued from this now out-of-print book in
next month's blog. These stories appear in Hock's new
Training Mission Books.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
9 December 2006: Mucho Thanks...
...to Air Force Police who sponsored my recent trip to Lackland Air Force Base. In the works is deal for multiple trips here, starting next with another one in about 5 weeks. They understand my wishes to invite local police and special approved citizens and we can get you in also! Get in on the beginning as we certify folks in the CQC courses and Force/Necessary: Police Judo course.
I did feel a sense of irony this weekend. As many know from my retelling of this in seminars, I was a once a tall, skinny kid in my 20s attending police training conducted by old police vets who came in and taught "police judo" hand, stick, knife and gun training tips and tricks. Today, in my class, and now the "old fucker," I walked up to a tall, skinny Air Force, military policeman in his 20s and told him to "pass it on."
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
8 December 2006: Diminish to Degree
I think that one tactic really forgotten in most grappling training are diminishing strikes. Damage his abilities to fight. I list it as the "Damage, Injure, Stun Continuum." For police work, at least we can weaken the limb with things like hammer fists, elbow and forearm strikes before limbs are twisted and bent as part of grappling move.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
7 December 2006: Pelle in Afghanistan
When I opened the new, December issue of Black Belt Magazine, I saw an article and photo series of where my friend John Pellegrini of Combat Hapkido fame, sneaked off into Afghanistan last Summer to teach various Army units. Several of his students who are officers and serving over there, made the tedious arrangements to get him over and in. Three cheers for Pelle for making the connections and making the trip.
Pelligreni in action, teaching tactics to the troops in the field.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
6 December 2006: A Barbershop in Waco
Another story you won't find in the Texas Ranger Museum is about the David Koresh Waco raid/standoff that captivated the world for so many months and to this day represents a transitional time in law enforcement history where police officers...peace keepers...donned militant uniforms and performed military operations.
In the early 1990s as a Texas detective I worked with ATF investigators quite a bit. They were under DOD pressure to attack gun crime and hit the streets along with us looking for gun felons and gun cases. Some of these very agents were ordered to Waco on the Koresh case and told to suit up in black and participate in that fateful, opening day when the compound was first raided. The officers retreated under much gunfire. Somehow none of my friends were shot or killed. The rest is history. After a long standoff, the building were burning and many died. For more see: http://www.culteducation.com/waco.html . It became known worldwide as the Waco Davidian Standoff.
Through time, knowing many of the agents and many Texas Rangers, I wound up attending various events and dinners etc, and a growing knowledge of "behind the scenes" first-hand, information becomes known to the insiders. One such story, kicked over by LEOs, newsman and magazines like Texas Monthly, goes like this...
In the inception planning of the Davidian compound raid, many agencies were present. The raid was ramrodded by the Feds of course, but as routine, all related agencies with jurisdiction were present, city, county, state, etc. This meant Rangers from the local Ranger company were also present. Paraphrasing the words and memories of these Rangers, as I cannot remember to quote them exactly, the Feds treated the whole operation like a D-Day invasion, and they were all dressed accordingly. Many of the ATF agents had no SWAT training and were just agent-trained. Yet, they dressed like SWAT. The big fear, as it did come to pass, was a big military shoot-out. But, at one point in this planning meet, a Ranger (legend has it-while chewing some tobacco) interrupted and said,
"You know ol' David gets himself a haircut bout' every third Wednesday downtown. Why don't we just set up there and we'll walk in, catch em' in the chair and arrest em'. Put em' in jail. Then we'll drive out and have a talk with the folks at the compound."
The idea was immediately nixed. I'll bet this vocal Ranger was thought by more than a few buzz-cut, spec ops types to be simple, foolish and out-of-touch. There is no doubt in my mind that was a better plan, and now as we Monday-morning quarterback the Waco Stand-off, that would have been a much better option than the hardcore, militant approach.
This very babershop story has a lesson and symbolizes a great deal to me. First off, isn't the visage of the barbershop solution a very cowboy and western setting for many confrontations? But, that ironic note aside, I see here the "old school" way to solve some problems, not all. Just some problems. In this light, the Waco event represents the key moment, the transition movement to militarize the police in clothing, haircuts, jargon, tactics and approach. We can hardly find ANY gun or police magazine on the marketplace today that doesn't depict police officers as SWAT warriors under Star Wars helmets and brandishing sci-fi weaponry. This all has a lasting subliminal effect on our young officers and agents. These magazines and catologs even worship the Middle East Contracter look. In both worlds, everybody's got a machine gun and the right clothing!
I believe we the police are supposed to be officially be "quasi-military," and we can't forget the quasi-part - a mix somewhere between Andy Griffith and Rambo, not either one. I hope we never forget considering the old-school options as viable plans.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
4 December 2006: Some New Name Changes
As 2007 rolls in, I will be adding the term Force Necessary to other courses. I already use it in conjunction with the Force Necessary/Unarmed Combatives Course. It designates the concept, "using only that force necessary to win and survive." Plus, it is suggestive that sometimes in life, "force is necessary."
In 2003, our "agent" in Denver, Colorado - Steve Lowery - when he heard that I used the term associated with the unarmed combatives course, thought it best that I use the term with every course and then set about advising me that I should do so. I finally listenened! (Steve was the guy who who told me to use the term "Ring of Fire in 2002").
As Ringo Starr once said, "I get by with a little help from my friends."
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
2 December, 2006: Texas Ranger Museum
I had a chance yesterday while driving from Ft Worth to San Antonio to stop into the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco, TX. I haven't been there in about 20 years! It was a bit odd to see some of the weapons and gear displayed now were weapons. I actually carried or was issued some of this stuff (no, not the flintlocks). And, it is a bit odd to see some of the Rangers featured and displayed there, as I had worked with a few of them like Phil Ryan and Weldon Lucas.
I was working the night that Ranger Doherty was killed.
See - http://www.texasranger.org/halloffame/Doherty_Bobby.htm .
As usual, there is much more to the story than listed here.
But anyway, I caught my reflection in some of the display glass cases and I see my face is slowly degrading away with time. Kind of a ghostly experience really. Such is life (and eventual death) I guess, huh?
Anyway - check out the museum! - http://www.texasranger.org/index2.htm
Now that I think about it, I think this month I'll write about working with Ranger Phill Ryan on the Henry Lee Lucas serial murderer case.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
