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ith all the training emphasis

placed on firearms, one aspect
"weapons,
of tactics and train-
ing" that can be overlooked is unarmed
self-defense. In many situations it wiil
not be appropriate to even brandish
your weapon, and even though you
have a gun you'll be glad if you know
how not to use it. To this end, S.W.A.T.
recently attended a two-day unarmed
combat class at the InSights Training
Center in Bellevue, Washington.
InSights was founded ten years ago
by Greg Hamilton, a former U.S. Army
Special Forces (Green Beret) operator.
Though primarily a shooting school,
InSights offers extensive training in an
integrated combative system of
unarmed self-defense that borrows
heavily from the system taught to the
64 S.W.A.|.JUNE
2003
Force$
Way
U.S. Army SpecialForces.Most of the
InSightsinstructorshave SpecialForces
backgrounds,and the senior instructor
for this class was John Holschen, a for- .
mer SF medic and unarmed combat
instructor.
Before discussing individual tech-
niques,it's perhapsbestto discusssome
of the principlesof the system.
PLUS
ONE I
InSights treats every fight as a multi-
ple assailant fight. You're fighting the
PalmorFist? I
"plus
InSights prefers palm strikes, because a
immediate threat in front of you theres less risk of breaking your
one" you don't see.If you're a peace offi- hand. You can therefore strike with ;
cer and see only one suspect, you have {u1l power because you're less afraid
to be prepared for the other suspect in of iniury.
I
the getaway car. If you're a private citi- s
zen dealing with a lone drunk in a bat (
you have to assume that any of the (
 ---1.---
I

www.swatmag.c0m
bystandersmight join in at any time.
This "PIus One" concepthas implica-
tions throughout the course,as every
technique taught has been devised with
multiple attackersin mind. For exam-
ple, InSightsbelievesyou shouldn'tplan
on "finishing your opponent off"
b e c a u s et h a t m e a n s s t i c k i n g a r o u n d
l o n g e r t h a n n e c e s s a r yI.n s t e a d , y o u
might only fight long errough to stun
your opponent so that you can get out
of therebeforeothersioin rn.
MOVE
OFFTHELINE
OFATTACK
Your attacker can run forward faster
than you can run backward. When
under attack, avoid the natural instinct
to retreat along the attack line. Instead,
InSights teaches stepping laterally to
avoid the attack while still beins in
position to attack back.
USEYOUR
NATURAL
WEAPONS
Natural weapons are the fairly inde-
structible parts of the body that make
g o o d " c l u b s " ,s u c h a s t h e p a l m , t h e
elbow and the heelof the foot. Punchine
can easilyresult in a broken hand-, Conversely, the most damaging blows
which could prevent you from being you can receive are blows to your head.
UNARMED
EELF.DEFENSE
ableto useyour sidearmif you needto. To minimize that risk, InSights teaches
To illustrate this point, walk up to a y o u t o b r i n g y o u r c h i n d o w n , y o u r
brick walI and considerif you'd rather shoulders up, and to raise your elbows
punch the wall full-force with your fist above eye level with your open hands
or a palm strike.If you're like most peo- t o u c h i n g o v e r y o u r h e a d . F r o m t h i s
ple, you'll seethat a palm strike is less p o s i t i o n , y o u c a n p r o t e c t y o u r h e a d
risky, and will allow you to throw more against attacks from all angles (remem-
power into the blow becauseyou're not ber that second assailant?) and still exe-
a s a f r a i d t o h u r t y o u r h a n d . W h a t cute powerful palm strikes.
appliesto the brick wall also appliesto
your opponent'sjaw or skull: Use the KEEP MOVING!
palm strike. Muggers and other predators may
not have formal training in conducting
ATTACK
THEHEAD ambushes, but they understand the cor-r,
Body strikes,even strikes to the groin, cepts. When you get jumped on the
can be effectivebut many times are not. street or in the bathroom at the local bar,
With adrenaline, PCP or just physical don't stay in the "kili zone"-keep mov-
size, many assailantswill not be fazed ing! This will prevent your attacker
by a body blow. Even a groin strike from getting "set" before his attacks, ar-rd
takes twenty to thirty secondsto pro- also make it harder for anv accomplices
duce maximum pain, and football play- to corner you.
ers and other athletesroutinely "suck it
up" and keep functioning.By attacking UMVENSAL APPLICATION
the body's "computer,"the head, either The techniques taught by InSights
directly or by striking the base of the were selected because of their universal
skull, faceor throat, you can stun your appiication. For example, their defense
opponentregardless of size. against a standing chokehold also
works if someone straddling you chokes
COVER YOUN HEAD you with your back on the ground.
With these principles in mind, Iet's
look at some of the techniques taught.

byJoeTorre

COMPNEHENSIVE
SUITE
OFSELF-NEFEITSE
COUNSES
While primarily a shooting school,Insights also offers a completesuite of unarmed self-defensetraining, including
T Unarmed Self Defense I and II, Defensive Folding Knife I and II, Ground Fighting Pepper Spray and more. The follow-
i ing aretwo classeswhich may be of particularinterestto S.W.A.T.readers.

i Street
andVehicle (3days)
Tactics
This courseteaches"streetsmarts"through lecturesand
practical exerciseson predator/prey behavior, body lan-
guage/ verbal confrontation skills, and physical defenses
againstaggressivepanhandlers,gangs,car jacking and other
street threats.The classculminateswith a practical exercise
in which studentswalk through "shady" areasof downtown
Seattleunder the watchful eye of the instructors.If you're a
police officer with years on the beat, you already know this
stuff. But if you're a private citizen {rom the suburbs and
could use a crash course in street savvy, this may be the
coursefor you.
HomeDetense (2days)
Tactics
In this course,you sketch the iayout of your house and,
working with the instructors,devise home defensetactics
such as creatingsecurity zones ("saferooms"),identifying
fields of fire, tacticsfor house-searchingand structure clear-
ing, and learning how to interact with first responderssuch
aspoliceand paramedics.
After all, aside from work, we spend most of our time at
home or in the car so we should know how to fight in those
places.Look {or reviewsin future issuesof S.W.i.T.

s.w.A.T.
JUNE
200365
UNABMED
SELF-DEFENSE I

Delense t

Against
A I

Two-Handed I
c

Choke tt ,
Chris J., a Bellevue, WA corrections officcr, atternpts to
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2 The defender reacts with a rising elbow strike between

attackers arms
3
t h c r r c o c k s l r i >, r r r l b a c k

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and strikes again with another elbow blow. folk>wedby a right palm strike to the head.
4 5
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T l r e d e f e n d e r t h e n c o v c r s l-rishead and scans area for then leaves while ensuring he's not being pursued a.
6 7 1T
otner attacKers...

66 s.w.A.T.
JLJNE
2003
m www.swatmag.c0m UNARMED
SELF-DEFENSE
T h e a t t a c k e ri s a s s u m e dt o b e a " h e " A few words about the training meth-
throughout. ods: The training progressed from strikes
in the air, to strikes against focus pads, to 9}I-E*-$IQPJ
TECHNIQUES fighting full-force against attackers in
www-onestopknifeshop com

Defense
Agarnst
A Right
Haynaker FIST@protective suits. If the student took
This is a favorite opening move of bar- too long to deal with an opponent, a sec-
room brawlers everywhere. When the ond attacker joined the attack to simu-
punch comes,InSights teachesyou to get late what would happen in a real fight.
off the line of attack by quickly stepping Another valuable aspect to the train-
to your ten o'clock and pivoting about ing was InSights' method of rotating stu-
forty-five degreesto your right, while dents after every few repetitions of a
immediately covering your head with technique. Over the two days, students EOGFLASHl&2
both arms in the event of attacks by practiced their techniques against all
u n s e e n m u l t i p l e o p p o n e n t s .A t t h i s body types, from short and stocky, to tall
point, you're in a good position to attack and skinny, and everything in between.
him, but he's not in a good position to This helped the students fine-tune their
continue his attack on you. technique, depending on the attacker's
Strike the base of the attacker'shead size and weight.
soc-FsA7
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scanfor more attackers,and head for the a lot of techniquesborrowed from the
exits. All InSights techniquesend with martial arts and is designedto provide
Cover-Scan-Move. practical self-defensetools in a short Clnrnnto Knrce Conpanv
amount of time, but its purpose is not to
Defense Agarnst Rear BearHug produce "dojo ballerinas"(no disrespect
The attacker comes from behind and intended!). ON.RTAK
gets you in a bear hug. Immediately Peaceofficers would find the practical
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arm back, then strikes again with a hori-
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s.wA.T.JUNE
200367