TABLE

OF
CONTENTS

Foreword by Kelly McCann ..............................................................ix

VOLUME I: PRINCIPLES AND TACTICS

Chapter 1: Basic Principles of Close Combat .......................... 3
Simplicity Control Offense Power Effectiveness
Chapter 2: Aggressive Attitude .................................................... 9
Chapter 3: Modes of Attack ........................................................ 15
Stop-Hit
Chapter 4: Principles of Power .................................................. 21
Stay Relaxed Weapon First Acceleration Move Plunge
Chapter 5: Circle of Defense ...................................................... 27
Chapter 6: Primary Targets ........................................................ 29
Eyes Throat Fork Knees

VOLUME II: STANCE AND MOVEMENT

Chapter 1: The Guard .................................................................. 37
Chapter 2: Passive Stances .......................................................... 41
Bodyguard Jack Benny Ed Sullivan The Fence
Chapter 3: Movement .................................................................. 47
Advance and Retreat Pivot Shuffle
Lunge Vault Whirling
vii

Volume I

Principles
and
Tactics

CHAPTER 1

BASIC
PRINCIPLES OF
CLOSE COMBAT
This action is simple, but it must
be fast, automatic, a conditioned reflex.
When fighting fiercely for your life, you
have not got much time to think and
the more automatic movements and
reactions you have prepared for your
defence, the safer the result will be.
Dr. Gordon E. Perrigard, 1943

When you find yourself in a violent attack situation,

there are certain principles to which you should adhere. To
make things as simple and as easy to understand and retain
as possible, I have placed these principles into five categories that can be identified by the acronym SCOPE. The
five categories are as follows:
Simplicity
Control
Offense
Power
Effectiveness
SIMPLICITY
Simplicity in close combat can be defined as keeping
the techniques as basic and simple as is practically possi3

Volume I: Principles and Tactics

ble, with one technique flowing into the next without any
excessive movement.
Studies done during World War II showed that when a
person is put into an extremely high-stress situation, they
tend to lose all fine motor skills, develop tunnel vision, and
experience auditory exclusion. With these in mind, we have
to wonder if complex body movements are really practical
for violent attacks. If the answer is no, then we must
remove these fine-motor-skill techniques from our closecombat curriculum.
When a violent attack occurs, you will not have time to
think about what to do. Your body will react instinctively
with what is most familiar. And what it will be most familiar
with is what it has been practicing the most. Therefore, it is
not advantageous to learn 100 different techniques for 100
different self-defense scenarios. A handful of basic techniques that become second nature is far superior to a
truckload that have to be thought about. Remember that it
is better to know 10 techniques at 100 percent efficiency
than 100 techniques at 10 percent efficiency. Training with
excessive numbers of moves will just become confusing to
the individual who is learning these techniques. A violent
confrontation is not the time to stand around trying to
figure out what to do. The body must react swiftly and decisively. This can only be achieved by the constant drilling of
simple, basic techniques.
CONTROL
The main objective of any violent confrontation,
whether on the street or the battlefield, is to gain and maintain complete control of the situation.
An assailants goal is to get control of his victim. Once
this is accomplished, he can do anything he wants with

Basic Principles of Close Combat

him. Our goal should be to reverse that situation and to do

so as soon as possible. The longer the assailant has control,
the better the chances of your losing it forever.
How do we gain control? Simpleyou must become
everything your assailant is and much, much more so. If he
is aggressive, you must become more aggressive. If he is
ruthless, you must become more ruthless. If he is animalistic, you must become more animalistic. These miscreants
who prey on the weak and innocent dont understand
begging, pleading, and reasoning. They actually feed their
egos off those things. What they do understand is what they
are: violent. And violent is what you have to be to survive
their assault.
OFFENSE
Once you have made the decision to defend yourself,
you must immediately go on the offensive.
Take a good look at the results of the battles that this
country has been involved in, and you will you find that
they were won by offense. A good example of this would be
the Pacific theater of World War II. The Japanese were dug
into their strongholds, ready to defend themselves and the
property they occupied. The Marines hit the beaches and
kept driving forward with a merciless offensive attack that
defeated the enemy on island after island. The Marines hit
them hard, fast, and continuously until they fell under our
offensive onslaught. This has been a Marine Corps tactic
since its inception. When attacked, go on the attack. Put the
offenders on the defense and keep them there until they are
no longer a threat.
When attacked by an assailant who is out to harm you,
dont try to defend yourself. Go immediately on the offensive. Remember, in close combat there is no such thing as

Volume I: Principles and Tactics

defense. There is only attack and counterattack. When

involved in a violent situation, you are literally at war with
the enemy. War calls for extreme measures. After all, the
bottom line is your life. Therefore, when its time to defend,
go immediately on the offensive and stay on the offensive
until your assailant loses his will to continue the assault.
POWER
Execute each technique with all the explosive power
you can muster and keep executing them until the assailant
is under your control.
Why does the sport of boxing have weight classes?
Simply because of the power a heavier man possesses. A
heavier man is at an advantage to knock out a lighter opponent. Of course, there are other factors involved, such as
speed, conditioning, skill, and will. But even with these
factors thrown in, its usually power that decides the final
outcome. Its the power blows that take a toll on a boxer. Its
the power blows that put the opponent down and out for
the count. And its the power blows that we should be
employing in our close-combat techniques.
Trying to wear an opponent down for the final blow is
asking for trouble. What youre actually doing by playing
pit-a-pat is giving him opportunity after opportunity to
counterattack and defeat you. Once again, you want to hit
him hard, fast, and continuously until he is no longer a
threat. Striking vital areas as hard and fast as you can hit
them is the only sure way to a successful defense.
EFFECTIVENESS
Only use techniques that have been proven effective in
close combat.

Basic Principles of Close Combat

The violent confrontation is not the time and place for

experimentation. You better be sure that the techniques
you are using are effective. The best way to be sure is by
using only those methods that have already been tested on
the streets and battlefields.
We live in a very good age for learning effective combative techniques. The hard, dangerous work has already been
done for us. Those who already have experimented, and
were successful, have passed these techniques down to us.
It is up to us whether we want to take that step of faith and
believe these techniques to be true, or practice something
else and have doubts about the ability to defend ourselves.
Is there a guarantee that these techniques will work
every time? No. Assaults are never exactly the same. Each
time there will be different factors involved. No one can
predict exactly how, when, where, and under what conditions someone will be attacked. That is why it is of the
utmost importance to understand the basic principles of
close combat and to be ready to implement them at any
given time.
By keeping your techniques basic and simple, immediately going on the offense to gain and maintain control,
and employing battlefield-proven techniques as fast and
hard as you can deliver them, your chances of surviving a
violent attack will dramatically increase.