C4 Combatives

               By Matt Larsen :                What does it mean to be a warrior? The word warrior gets thrown around a lot these day, especially in today’s military, but getting a hard and fast definition is difficult. Perhaps, this is because so many people who haven’t a warrior bone in their body, non-the-less want to identify with the image.                                  In the Army of the 1980s and 90s it was common to refer to both units and military occupational specialties (MOS) as either combat or combat support/combat service and support, effectively dividing the Army into those who would do the fighting and those who supported them. This bifurcation came crashing down with the experience of the 507th Maintenance Company and its most famous unit member PVT Jessica Lynch .                                 There are some details of the combat action they found themselves in that are very informative about what was going on within the culture of the un

If you have even the slightest involvement in self-protection you’ve probably heard of the infamous Gabrielle Rubin of Women’s Awareness. A self-proclaimed “Self-Defense Expert” given a huge platform to display what we will refer to as ineffective defensive moves designed specifically for women. The issues with her techniques have been broken down by far too many credible instructors to name each individually. Most of these instructors were even kind enough to share effective technical answers to certain types of attacks free of charge on their Facebook or YouTube channel. Blake Hayes , a Gracie Humaita black belt and the Co-Founder of Sheepdog Response with his wife also a black belt; did an incredible job breaking down the many issues with Rubin’s “techniques.” Interestingly enough Royce Gracie Black Belt Eli Knight of Knight Jiu-Jitsu shared many credible defenses on his YouTube Channel days before the release of her video. Eli’s channel is also a great resource for fu

By Matt Larsen : Kratophobe – A person who claims to be a warrior and yet has an irrational fear of realistic hand-to-hand combat training . Etymology, from the Greek kratos meaning strength, might or power. As in the name of the ancient Olympic sport of pankration which means competition with all powers (No holds barred) and the Greek word phobia meaning irrational fear. In a recent conversation about people who are afraid of Combatives. I was reminded of the word "Hoplophobe" coined by COL Jeff Cooper to refer to people who have an irrational fear of guns. The root word is hoplos, as in hoplite, which means arms in Greek. COL Cooper said it this way: I coined the term "hoplophobia" in 1962 in response to a perceived need for a word to describe a mental aberration consisting of an unreasoning terror of gadgetry, specifically, weapons. The most common manifestation of hoplophobia is the idea that instruments possess a will of their own, apa

Many people would argue that the most important event in martial arts history was when a largely unknown slender Brazilian by the name of Royce Gracie entered a no-holds-barred competition and defeated all comers of all sizes using a martial art called Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. While I wouldn't exactly disagree with that it's important to understand a few historical elements of the martial arts. Insight into the past does a great for us as far as providing foresight for the future. With that being said this was not the first time "ground fighters" or fighters who use live ground grappling as their primary Training Method facilitated a monumental shift in how other martial arts train. Another well-known martial art that took over as one of Japan's top fighting systems was Kodokan Judo founded by Jigoro Kano. However prior to the 1900s there was little or no ne-waza as part of the Judo system until an unknown School of jiu jitsu calling themselves the Fusen Ryu challe