Cold-Steel "Sharkie"

06 Nov 07

Cold-Steel "Sharkie"

Lynn Thompson at Cold Steel is currently producing the "Sharkie." It is a functional pen, with a screw-on cap. However, with the cap firmly in place, it is thick enough to make a near-perfect Yarawa-stick. I carry my copy in the right, inside pocked of my CCW vest. I can access it quickly, and a crisp strike with it on the back of a bully's hand will cause him to let go, right readily. Follow-up strikes to the jaw, collar-bone, and ear can be even more persuasive!

I flew cross-country with my Sharkie last weekend, and TSA never even noticed it.

The Sharkie is low-profile, inexpensive, and, like everything from Cold Steel, robust and extremely well made. When you can have in your possession neither a gun, nor a blade, it makes a wonderful companion. Recommended!

/John

Close Combat

06 Nov 07

Last weekend, in concert with several colleagues, I conducted a Close-Range Combatives Course in SC. We spent a day in live-fire drills and a second day in roll-playing drills using Airsoft pistols. Scenarios were allowed to" free-play," and students were confronted with hostage situations, car-jackings, and numerous other contacts with VCAs.

My observations confirmed what has been observed at the NTI and every other close-range, violent-encounter drill in which I've been involved. Students invariably came to the identical conclusion:

When confronted with imminent violence at close range, who (1) aggressively (but precisely) explode off the line of force, without delay, and continue to move aggressively, rarely get shot, and unfailingly inflict lethal wounds upon astonished VCAs. Who (2) move off the line but then stop moving, get shot more often. Who (3) hesitate, dither, or surrender meekly, seldom live through it.

A precise, but explosive, counterattack, combined with unrelenting and aggressive movement upsets VCAs' plans so completely that they rarely regain the offensive. Successful students don't let VCA(s) breath. They finish the fight!

There is little doubt that the longer you allow yourself to be under the control and domination of a VCA, the more likely you'll suffer serious harm. There are surely risks involved in acting immediately and decisively, but there are even greater risks that attach to doing nothing. When they commence their attack, VCAs are always weakest and most vulnerable. After they gain control over you, they will become progressively stronger as you become progressively weaker. In the end, when you're gagged and tied up, all options will evaporate. You'll perish, wishing you had acted when you had the chance!

"Delay in the use of force, and hesitation to accept responsibilityfor its employment, will always be interpreted as weakness. Such indecision will encourage further disorder, and will eventually necessitate measures more severe than those which would have sufficed in the first instance."

United States Marine Corps Small Wars Manual, (1940) page 27, paragraph (d)

Back in the days when US Marines were armed all the time, they served as escorts on trains delivering supplies to remote outposts. These trains were often the targets of bandits looking for an easy score. Standing orders for all Marines so deployed directed that, in the event of an armed assault on the train, all Marines will start firing immediately! It didn't matter what the odds, every Marine fired, without delay. Bandits were thus put on notice that there would never be an "easy score." Whatever happened, whatever the ultimate outcome, bandit blood would be on the deck, without fail, before it was all over.

Not surprisingly, armed attacks dropped off dramatically and eventually stopped altogether! A far cry from today's universal " surrender-at-the-drop-of-a-hat" policy, eh?

/John

Master-Grip

06 Nov 07

Master Grip

We train students to acquire a strong, Master-Grip on pistols any time they are handled, as grasping a pistol any other way invariably causes it to point in unsafe directions. Here is confirmation from a student who just returned from New Orleans:

"In New Orleans last weekend I went to the French Quarter, discovering, to my disgust, that violently aggressive pan-handlers are more numerous than they ever were before Katrina. There is (still) little to recommend it!

I noticed local police moving in on a nearby group of sleazy-looking characters. I did my best to separate myself from them, but I was close enough to see one of the officers confront a suspect and subsequently remove a pistol from the suspect's waist-band. In so doing, the officer put his thumb through the pistol's trigger-guard, pointing the muzzle at himself, other officers, and me. That is when I went from walking to running!

I see now why you are so insistent that pistols be handled exclusively via the Master-Grip. The officer in question could have inadvertently shot himself, me, or one of his colleagues. It makes me wonder how many preventable NDs occur every year, for that reason alone!"

Comment: Careless gun-handling, particularly allowing muzzles to inadvertently point in unsafe directions, is a plague, even among the ostensibly trained, as we see here. When handling pistols, competent gunmen employ a strong Master-Grip, exclusively!

/John