Force Necessary: Knife / Counter - Knife Combatives Course

Knife vs. Knife

Knife vs. Stick

Knife vs. Gun Threats

Knife vs. Unarmed Adversaries

Let's get right down to it, folks. This is my KNIFE / COUNTER - KNIFE weapon course. Sorry, if you are looking for fancy, exotic, flashy, foreign, mysterious knife material with wacky names and weird people? I only teach you the very essence of knife fighting or knife combatives.

Criminal and military history reveals that a real world knife fight is more like football and less like fencing. So-called "dueling" can happen, but it is an event least likely to occur in our modern times. In this course, I have carefully crafted a doctrine where you will learn how to use a knife to its maximum potential in all grips: standing, kneeling, sitting and on the ground, with less-than-lethal and lethal results. In this course, I has carefully crafted for you a doctrine where you will learn how to use a knife to its maximum potential. This doctrine includes the better parts of military knife fighting-such as Russian Speznatz Knife Fighting, South African and Rhodesian knife fighting, as well as Filipino knife fighting, American and European knife fighting. Also, this includes a study in criminal and prison knife fighting. Plus training innovations.

The training methodologies are:

1) The Psychology of Knife Violence - You learn criminal and military psychologies, research and history.

2) Solo Command and Mastery of the Knife - You learning body movement and synergy by practicing movements "in the air.” You learn to strike stationary training objects for goal-specific power and experience.

3) Partner Knife Drills - You slash and stab moving targets held by a partner. Later he strikes back at you. You learn a limited amount of established skill and flow drills to improve your balance, coordination and savvy.

4) Combat Knife Scenarios - You work in standing, kneeling, sitting and ground combat scenarios, staged as realistically as possible. This is a case I worked as a detective. That is not a brain laying on his stomach!

This is the ugly truth of knives. It is not a game of tag with a rubber toy you play "passy-passy, tappy-tappy" with in the corner of some gym.

Knife Levels and Instructorships?
You can train just for knowledge, for rank or knife instructorships. The knife instructorship progression is as follows:

. Knife practitioner: A regular student
. Knife class organizer: A practitioner authorized to gather people to work out and develop skills
. Knife basic instructor: After Level 3
. Advanced instructor: After Level 6
. Knife expert instructor: After Level 9
. Master instructor: (as in Range master, or Master SGT-not martial martial arts master)
. OR! Just simply train with the knife for knowledge and take a pass on all rank and instructors.

Your knife training progression looks like this:

Level 1:
Introduction to Edged Weapons and Combat Stress Knife “Quick Draw” Module

Level 2:
The Saber Slash Module and Dueling for the 21st Century

Level 3:
The Reverse Grip Slash Module

Level 4:
The Hacking Module and The Spartan Combat Module

Level 5:
The Reverse Grip Stabbing Module

Level 6:
The Saber Grip Stabbing Module and The Chain of the Knife Module

Level 7:
The Pommel Strike and Closed Folder Striking Module

Level 8:
“In the Clutches OF” Module” (most knife vs. knife ground fighting appears here)

Level 9:
Unarmed versus the Knife and The Counter-Crime Module
(Most unarmed vs. the knife ground fighting appears here)

Level 10:
Combat Scenario Testing.

Level 11 Knife Ground Fighting
Level 12 Stick and Knife
Level 13 Bowie and Big Knife Dueling
Level 14 Machete Combatives
Level 15 and more, topics as asked for and approved by Hock as Masters Level studies

Hock's Casebook, Photo Lab and Combat Notes

These two photos, in a series to the left and right below are an unknown case to me. They have been passed around in 2006, but FLETC trainers sent them to me in 2005. People think this is a police officer, but a close look at ALL the photos show this happened in a prison. He is probably an inmate.

My case from the 1980s. This is a serious knife belly slash, yet the man won this fight by grabbing the attacker's weapon arm, punching him in the throat and disarming the knife (acts many naive martial artists say are impossible) The wound opened up more and more until it looked like this at the ER, where I took the picture as evidence. This is the true, ugly business of knife violence. This is no "passy-passy, tappy-tappy" game of tag with rubber toys in the corner of some gym. Take a good, hard look."

"This a man who was also unarmed and attacked by a knifer. When I asked him how he survived, his answer was classic - "I just grabbed a hold of the arm holding the knife and fought like hell." Unlike the game of dueling tag played by most knife systems, people may survive multiple slashes and stabs and still win. Learn to fight on after the knife wound. Never believe these ignorant martial artists who tell you grabbing the knife arm or disarming is impossible."

I forget where this series of photos came from, I've had it for years.

Another one from my old case files. This totally untrained kid found himself attacked by a knifer in a road rage deal. The kid took this deep slash on his bare arm and then, unarmed fought on. He disarmed the knife, chasing the attacker off. I tried to conceal his identity here which is a shame, because he is smiling in the photo. The slash was quite deep.

Other Knife Notes and Edgy Observations

To Drill or Not To Drill? How Much?

"We do some knife drills, but with the "football" approach, explaining that the skill learned in a drill, may be used in a split second. Too many Filipino systems have over-elevated the drill patterns, becoming drill masters, losing the true value of the practice. If you do not drill with the knife, as espoused by several so-called, modern systems? You are a fool. It is not about the drill pattern! It is all about the insert. Keep your head on straight about this and you will be practicing combatives and not martial arts. This course is about developing options in combat scenarios, not memorizing collections of knife drills-" But football players run tires to drill. The military drills. You have to drill. But not too much or you will become a drill master.

Does your knife system work knife ground fighting? If not, the doctrine is faulty, dangerous and incomplete. I simply cannot understand these other knife courses that do not worry about knife ground-fighting! You must have tactics, strategies and drills involving knee-high, seated, side-by-side, top-side and bottom-side knife ground fighting. I cannot emphasize how important this is. "

"Does your current knife course have less-than-lethal knife tactics concerning the apprehension, capture and control of your enemy? If not, the knife doctrine is unrealistic, incomplete and faulty and could have bad legal ramifications for you later."

"In the same way, crazy, violent names for knife combatives, titles like 'cutting-up-people-in-small-pieces', and 'running-amok-and- crazy' with a knife are immature, dangerous and completely unprofessional. Also! Take great care in the marketing name of the knife you carry." The police and prosecutors will."

The Myth of the Knife Duel

"The "myth of the knife duel" is about limiting yourself and/or over-training knife dueling methods. Training to knife fight and using, say-fencing as the model, is the definition for falling for the myth of the duel. Such a knife course is therefore unlikely to have "mixed weapon options, like gun versus knife, etc, because of the very name. We live in a mixed weapon world. Many criminal and military knife attacks are like football or rugby with a knife.

Of course, a good knife course covers a proper proportion of so-called "knife dueling," because knife dueling may, has and does occur inside an overall knife fight. We duel/spar a bit at every knife level. We do the Killshot Knife Fighting adequately and more realistically cover the subject.

...are all those stabbings and slashings around the world, all Zorro-like, face-off duels? Or, are they sudden, passionate charges (like football players with knives) that involve a sucker punch, a thrown ashtray. A knife in the back? A chair vs. a knife? A struggle on the ground? Two bad guys cornering one guy. A very small knife vs. a machete? Or worse, unarmed vs. the knife?

The very term "knife duel," fancifies and misleads what is really a homicide or an ugly, vicious bloodletting. The training for knife fighting, as done by so many martial systems today, is a prissy, unrealistic game of tag." - Hock

For more discussion, observations an talk on Knife tactics, go here: Knife Combat Centric