"This Is Not All..." (Basic Military Combatives Training)

We were in our 5th or 6th week of Air Force Basic Military Training (BMT) at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas in 2015. The story I am going to tell occurred during BEAST Week. BEAST week was designed to challenge us both mentally and physically enduring long hours of physical training, combatives, and tactical skills tests. I will never forget the training night where I had to stand guard in the late hours of the night only to transition back to a cold, hard and stiff genuine US Army issue folding cot with an aluminum frame. This was the night I did not sleep because I was coughing and had the beginning of the flu. Many of us in the flight were sick as we caught it from another trainee. The next day we all met under a large roof area with open walls. The ground surface was small rocks and dirt. There was a stage with BEAST instructors on it. The topic of Air Force Combatives was next.

I can remember the instructor showing basic stance work, use of the M-16 training weapon for defensive tactics, how to stand up, the push kick, how to do a cover block, and maybe a straight punch. Everything was taught very fast and the instructor said several times, "I would not do it like this." Each time he said this I felt he was trained in Martial Arts. During the training, different trainees that knew me kept looking at me to see if I approved of the techniques we were practices. There was a sense like we were not really going to learn much for combatives at BEAST week; like our expectations of Military Fighting were not going to be met when the instructor showed and called the technique a "Hair-Comb-Block."

When BEAST graduation concluded, my flight took a bus ride back to our BMT dorm building. Many of the trainees asked me about what I thought of the Combatives we were taught. A few all agree like it was sort of a waste of time and said, "Was that it?" I confidently said without really knowing the full Air Force Combative Program that, "This is not all." It was during this ride back to the dorms that I knew I wanted to take the time after BTM to write a manual for the Air Force. By May 2016, I was already taking photos of what would become: Total Air Force Military Combatives. I completed this manual in 2016. It was my way of speaking to these BMT graduates and new Airmen to discover Military Combatives and built off the BEAST hair-comb-block (Cover Block). Interestingly by 2018, I had become certified in both the Modern Army Combatives Program (MACP) and Air Force Combatives Program (AFCP) so I had a better grasp of the structure of what is and what is not being taught in the Military for Combatives at it was easy to see that my manual completed in 2016 was comprehensive in its detail of the topic.

Total Air Force Combatives was broken into Striking Arts, Grappling Arts, Weaponry Arts, and Security Forces Arresting Technique. All of this was the roots and structure of what would become Gunji Taiho Jutsu (GTJ) - Military Arresting Technique. I hope this gives a little history and background on how this relates to the next topic I wish to explore in this writing: The use of Striking for Arresting Technique.

The other day one of our GJT practitioners and student of Gunji University asked the basic question on the Gunji University Private Support Group on Facebook: What is the role of Striking in Gunji Taiho Jutsu (GTJ)? He (Dan) went to express, "Ideally, we (as a GTJ practitioner) want to take a person into custody without any striking at all. So I would like to ask a few questions on what everyone’s opinion is as well as what their official departments' guidelines are on striking."

1. Do you feel striking is an effective tool to gain compliance or is it just a tool to be used when the situation calls for it, like when being attacked or fully engaged in combat with the suspect?
2. Do you prefer an open hand or closed fist? Are there any official guidelines anyone here has to follow?
3. At what level of non-compliance would you use striking?
4. What striking arts do you train?

My answer to these questions are below and I want to expand on my answers in this writing after:

This is a great topic to explore during the COVID-19 Quarantine. I am like you very much taking this time to study striking based martial arts because of my limited training partners available. In GTJ, the manual on the system does have the striking arts in it as you know. A lot of the techniques and strategies are basic military combatives with extensions of knowledge. I originally wanted people at the least to be exposed to clean and simple techniques of striking so they could practice the techniques and have these types of techniques come at them. To simply get used to being punched or having a punch coming in their direction for awareness.

If you look at the overall scope of how GTJ is laid out, it’s very easy to say that I personally would favor Filipino martial arts because the mixture of the legwork and weaponry-based techniques and how they apply to empty-handed technique; however, this approach is ultimately not up to me: it’s up to the practitioner of GTJ. We are keeping the context of PCS and strategies 1-3 so that you can make the arresting technique by yourself or with a partner. Somewhere in there having a skill set and striking is important.

1. Atemi or striking for taiho jutsu technique is an effective tool for gaining or regaining compliance. Having a skill set of striking and techniques and strategies that go with it are tools that need to be developed.
2. Open-handed technique use is less risk of injury vs closed fist.
3. If the goal is to use more grappling to make the apprehension or arrest, I would use striking where it is necessary to free up my hands to transition to better control or if the situation calls for use of striking techniques because the level of energies escalated.
4. Military Combatives MACP & AFCP, Muay Thai, Krav Maga, Tae Kwon Do, and IKCA Kenpo Karate.

Above is what I added to the discussion. Later in the evening, I discussed striking arts with my Kenpo instructor on the telephone. He (Bill Parsons) made excellent points about the use of striking arts for GTJ and Martial Arts in general that related to striking points, stance work, distance management, how striker's think, and finally ideal vs adaptation. These are topics that I want to explore in another writing specifically after more reflection.

Nonetheless to focus on Dan's question about the use of striking in GTJ we need to look at firstly the original intent of the system. I have written in the GTJ Manual and on Gunji University that Gunji Taiho Jutsu is the new era for taiho jutsu techniques (arresting technique) as it is a progressive way to teach Military or Law Enforcement personnel many of the traditional and contemporary jujutsu techniques of control and arrest while at the same time keeping mindful of secondary weapon systems during training and complementing all of the current and evolving Military Combatives programs in place for the different branches of the Military.

Above you will see that I always wanted GJT to complement any United States Military Combatives Programs currently being taught in the different branches. GJT can and does this. When you explore the GJT manual and/or train as a student of Gunji University in the Striking Arts modules/material, you can learn how to expand on Basic Military Striking Combatives. You will see that Martial Arts this base is made up of mostly Boxing and Muay Thai Kickboxing. So the logical question like riding on the bus with Air Force trainees in Basic Military Training back to the dorms, "Is that all?" My answer is, "This is not all!" This is just the start.

Striking or Atemi in GTJ has to have the governer of using PCS strategies 1, 2, and 3. Without using phases of making the ideal apprehension, it is too easy for Military personnel or Law Enforcement personnel to head down the path of performing the wrong tools to complete the job, look and feel untraining, and/or moving out of ignorance instead of knowledge. Training in GJT gives the right professional practices to understand the arresting technique(s) and be trained to move with expressions of knowledge.

This final sentence of being trained to move with expressions of knowledge must have continued study. GTJ is not enough for someone to explore striking arts or grappling arts. The student must research many systems and styles. On the one hand, I am saying use striking with the context of PCS strategies found in GTJ to be effective; however, on the other hand, I hope you fully understand that I want you to find your way in many different arts for striking or grappling or weaponry arts. The governor must come off for you to expand on your knowledge and skillsets. It is like a knowledge circle that continues to get bigger and bigger. The trick, however, is to know when to place a governor back on to refine your effectiveness in meeting your specific objective for the use of Striking techniques. Our context is Arresting Technique (Taiho Jutsu); we need to remember this.

So what is out there for learning striking? To give you a start:

Boxing

Muay Thai Kickboxing

Kali

Karate

Kung Fu

Krav Maga

Tae Kwon Do

At this time, I am currently studying and training Kenpo Karate. There is a rich history of the developments of Kenpo/Kempo from China to Japan to Hawaii to the United States. It is interesting to learn how and why many of the founders of kenpo system off-shoots developed their own styles such as Kajukendo, Hawaiian Kempo, American Kenpo and etc. It is in the main principles and basic techniques where you will be able to see how your background knowledge will be relatable. Even if you have a certain comfort level in striking, it is ok to be uncomfortable in the new learning process. It is like a new language to learn or like my instructor Bill Parson said the other day, "Tony, it is a new suit to be in and to break-in."

This is not all when it comes to training in striking arts. We have the content in GTJ that should be used to develop the system and find future inputs for the best practices of GJT. I have given you a base to build on for striking arts that come from Military Combatives. The answer I can give you into what striking arts you should train in ultimately comes down to, "What better suits you for the situation, so become a good tailor for knowledge and you will be able to walk with style."