MSD (Military Self-Defence Unarmed Body Hold Escape)
Prerequisite of a Master- Instructor developer of military close combat doctrine and training packages
The skill, qualification and experience required to develop skills for life or death military close quarters combat operational actions on is extensive as this is a deadly business that does not get closer, more ruthless or terminal.
From senior instructor level proponents that have identified themselves as having the smarts and dedication that are high ranking individuals can be selected for positions on our close combat research and development team.
Such individuals would have already spent 2 to 3 decades as exponents, proponents and instructors on the training team.
Military close combat is a specialist tradecraft that incorporates not only combative tradecraft tactics and skills knowledge and expertise but also knowledge of the military science of close combat.
The Todd Group has a 95 year history as a private specialist training provider of our European military armed and unarmed combat and military self-defence.
We have a lineage of training and qualification credentials from some of the leading allied WW11 Master-Chief instructors of no other private training organisation.
All our Master-Instructors have been dedicated to the tradecraft for their entire adult working lives and are involved in all aspects of our military close combat tradecraft.
Like our predecessors they have proven knowledge in combating enemy fighting styles by the most battle proven deliberate means of threat neutralisation.
They all have signed off credentials/reports and logs of their records of instructing service to support their hands on decades of experience.
The holding of the doctrine and development of tactics and skills programs and packages is a major responsibility that demands official signed off credentials and major records of instructing service.
Trade craft integrity is vital as only those that have been trained in doctrine and training packages and skills development in a trade-craft where it can come down to kill or die should ever be responsible for such responsibilities.
Anyone in such roles will have proof of rank and credentials including course reports signed off by the military close combat Master-Chief Instructor heading such official qualifications authority.
These high level credentials are not common in military close combat as they require such extensive training commitment and only the best of the best achieve such rank and high level specialist expertise.
The nature of the usage of such skills in deadly battlefield actions on requires those that are responsible for the development of training packages and individual tactics and skills to have such proof of qualifications and extensive records of high level developmental and training provision service. There are no prerequisites for any prior training in traditional fighting arts or combat sports as they are not relevant. Any qualifications/credentials records of service must be in official military armed and unarmed combat and military self-defence.
This file will not only include tactics and skills developmental content but also applicable content on training provision, instructors and instructing and on flaws and risks of techniques that are not best of battle proven for military roles actions on close combat.
The photograph at the top of this file depicts a simple primary proven mil CQC unarmed means of escaping a body hold. The second photograph depicts a possible/probable outcome in an open wound finger dislocation and the third is an x-ray of the same open finger wound dislocation.
While under kill or die military battle field CQC actions on unarmed means are far from the best threat neutralisation means and are predominantly a last resort no other option. The depictions do however illustrate a primary proven means of objective achievement based on simplicity and effectiveness of skills that are included in our mil CQC trade-craft arsenals.
Targeting the weakest most exposed targets that provide the highest chances of objective achievement is a mil CQC trade-craft training provision must.
Techniques that require excessive physicality or are more complex that don’t provide the quickest, safest highest chances of threat neutralisation are not in our mil trade-craft best of battle proven primary means of enemy threat neutralisation.
The late Col Rex Applegate referred to such techniques and instructors of such techniques as “the flowing robe brigade” and not instructors of pure kill or get killed close combat skills.
Mil Elite Master-Chief Instructors test skills to destruction to ensure only the best are adopted.
Battle field CQC actions on being deadly terminal outcomes based trade-craft demands the most proven, simple and least physicality reliant methods of threat neutralisation.
Development of such European military elite trade craft close combat kill or die tactics and skills requires a practical realist mind-set as the principles and practices must be all about brutally effective overkill threat neutralisation.
Master-Chief Instructors must have a brilliant mind for dirty/deadly close combat and must have been trained in how to develop, prove and select tactics and skills that maximise both safety and best of proven role specific threat neutralisation objective achievement.
They must also be able to in a glance identify techniques that are tactically flawed or not threat, role, duty or situation specific. This is a must in order to be able to give a less formidable combatant than their enemy the quickest, safest, most decisive chances of stopping them in their tracks.
There must never be a second best or lesser means of threat neutralisation in the mind set of the mil CQC Master-Chief Instructor holder of the doctrine and developer of the tactics and skills when it comes to skills development.
The means and methods of threat neutralisation in our European Mil Elite CQC are to eliminate or incapacitate the enemy by the simplest, quickest, most proven over kill deliberate means of threat neutralisation. This being the fact of the matter, it is armed or covert threat neutralisation that is the best primary means of putting a quick and safe end for the combatant against enemy hostilities.
In unarmed actions on it is the targeting of life support vitals, delicate human senses or the destruction of extremities to incapacitate the enemy, prevent escape and reduce or take away any combative capabilities.
The instructed skills must have full initiation/execution strategies as well as full contingency options that have commonality and employment cohesion as in same system skills.
Depicted at the top of this file the open finger dislocation illustrates a primary unarmed option escape means that would quickly weaken/break not only an enemy’s hold on a combatant but also could adversely affect their inner-resolve.
Such skills are primary options in unarmed mil CQC because the effects and outcomes enable the combatant to defeat formidable foes; in short they provide the best chances of victory over defeat.
There is no time for using multiple actions to achieve the application set-up of a decided action or employing techniques that would best or only work for a physically and more highly skilled combatant against an inferior enemy.
If techniques require enemy set reactions or responses to set up techniques as in moving in multiple directions and relying on enemy cooperation they are tactically flawed over identifying bodily targets that will eliminate or incapacitate the enemy immediately.
Mil elite CQB/CQC/MSD close combat trade-craft tactics and skills are for war and must be based on a best of battle proven dirty/deadly mind set and threat neutralisation specific tools.
This mindset and modus operandi along with considering the enemy to be armed, skilled, physically capable and dangerous eliminates take on techniques or any techniques that are for anything less than war.
Skill development must also take into account threat and role considerations and battle dress, body armour, terrain and many other operational factors and considerations.
I’m often asked not only from a current skills development perspective but also from the modus operandi of my former military close combat chief instructors, what is the thought process and considerations behind their developing of primary terminal skills for the battlefield of yester year.
Not all mil close combat instructors have come up through the ranks and have been trained, tested and qualified up to a Master-Instructor rank and some may have a background in traditional fighting arts or combat sports and predominantly base their programs on such techniques.
This file is an insight into trained Master-Instructors in the development of mil elite trade-craft training for life or death operational actions on.
Mil elite Master-Chief Instructors have a responsibility to maximise safety and objective achievement success of those under their training and their commitment and dedication must be uncompromising to best arm the combatants they train with the best capabilities.
It is important that instructors have knowledge of the enemy skills fundamentals and capabilities that they are developing means and methods of combating or countering.
There are three main means of objective achievement.
- lethal threat neutralisation
- enemy incapacitation
- detainee handling
These required outcomes determine the required tactics and skills for specific threat neutralisation.
The mindset in relation to the capabilities of the enemy must be one of the enemy being armed and dangerous and committed and capable of dealing out deadly force.
Anything less could increase risk and decrease threat neutralisation by underestimating ones foe and opting for a less safe and effective means of objective achievement.
They must never be underestimated because of their physical size, wounds, injuries or any acts or appearance of helplessness.
Unlike in combat sports with gender categories or weight divisions there are no such even playing fields for the battlefield and as such there are not safe environments, officials or rules and regulations in a close quarters actions on.
When in kill or die actions on the mindset must be one of overkill threat neutralisation in relation to specific threat categories means of threat neutralisation.
Rules of engagement apply in relation to commensurate threat neutralisation for example, but victory over defeat is what matters most.
In kill or die actions on the primary consideration is overkill deadly force threat neutralisation.
One must understand that in military close quarters combat, armed options maximise chances of threat neutralisation and increase safety by the highest levels, combine this with covert elimination and the objective achievement outcomes are as guaranteed as it gets.
Primary weapons backup weapons, non-ballistic close quarters combat weapons or improvised weapons/kit all increase the odds of enemy threat neutralisation including that of highly trained physically superior enemy combatants.
Formidable enemy foes are not going to provide easy opportunity and as such there must always be strategies for when quick take outs are not possible and this requires incapacitation to enable terminal threat neutralisation.
Always believing the enemy is dangerous and formidable determines the needs for deliberate immediate threat neutralisation and is the incentive and motivator that should make the decision on the best means and methods to overcome the adversity of the actions on.
All such considerations must be part of tactics and skills development and selection and be the primary practices provided on all mil close combat courses of instruction.
The military combatant must know how to hard target themselves and reduce risk to the lowest level they possibly can. They must be trained in tactics and skills to overcome all the realities of a lethal actions on against them by being trained in capabilities under immediate life threatening situations including when they will be wounded to reduce the extent of wounding and enable threat neutralisation. Those responsible for developing the required training for the combatant’s specific roles must factor in methods to counter or combat life threatening compromising deadly threatening situations.
Combatants must have been trained in how to identify enemy exposed and vulnerable targets and how to effectively make hard contact/destruction of them.
The tactics must provide highest level risk reduction and means of fast safe threat neutralisation.
Adopted primary contingencies as part of threat neutralisation strategies that enable real time fast mapping assessment decision making and executing of the best contingency options to neutralise the threat are another responsibility of the Master-Chief Instructor tactics and skills developer.
The physical skills must be cohesive through same system with commonality to maintain highest levels of momentum with hard fast tracking forward threat neutralisation.
They must include means and methods of enemy seizure and securing maximising target access and fixed target destructive output.
So the skills developed by highly qualified and experienced Master-Chief instructors from our perspective must be able to stop a skilled and dangerous enemy in their tracks or if not immediately possible wound injure or incapacitate them making escape or continued formidable threat close quarters combat actions on not possible or ineffective.
Fortunately through armed or as a last resort unarmed vulnerable delicate human senses and life-support systems as well as extremities and genitals destruction, there are always available targets to cause elimination or incapacitation.
Targeting may include unarmed penetration of human senses or delicate life-support systems or the use of penetrative weapons to destroy either external or internal targets.
The use of sharp edged and bludgeon type weapons or improvised bludgeon type weapons to deliver maximum destruction are all CQC trade-craft training considerations in military battlefield threat neutralisation.
The destruction of human anatomy mechanical joints to destroy mobility or achieve the release of grabs and holds can incapacitate and leave the enemy vulnerable and less capable.
Not only knowing about such means and methods are important, but mastering them and the effective employment of them under threat is what increases chances of threat neutralisation.
The skills development is the responsibility of the Master-Chief Instructor and to best arm the combatants with the primary developed skills training the instructing cadre must be highly trained and experienced and overseen by Master-Instructors.
The modus operandi in military close quarter’s combat tactics and skills development is the immediate employment of the quickest, safest, most deliberate and definite overkill means of threat neutralisation.
Anything less reduces chances of fast threat neutralisation and increases not only actions on duration and threat exposure but also provides opportunities for a formidable foe.
There are safe tradecraft means and methods of training in lethal actions on skills and as such there is no need to use lesser training methods that are not the very same as will be employed in operational actions on.
Mil Elite CQC Master-Chief Instructors in our world know how to deliver safe effective primary skills training under wide ranging conditions and situations including under varied threat levels to provide combatants with realistic battlefield actions on specific threat neutralisation training.
It is not only mil CQC tactics and skills development that our Master-Instructors have been trained in but also wide ranging methods of training provision and design of trade-craft training specific weapons and equipment.
Highly trained mentally tough combatants must know they have the capabilities to stop a formidable enemy in their tracks by means of foul/deadly overkill military close combat armed and unarmed methods of threat neutralisation/objective achievement. Getting in first and being relentless with military skills of elimination/incapacitation maximises objective achievement and minimises being wounded or killed.
There is a definite process of proving and adopting best of battle proven tactics and skills in our European military armed and unarmed combat and military urban operator’s self-defence that is always adhered to.
The CQC military elite Master-Chief Instructor knows the importance of mil close combat mental toughness enhancement training and ensures our training packages in this most important requirement for threat neutralisation are included with physical CQC threat neutralisation skills training.
Skills are developed out of necessity because of changes including in threat and are never just changed just for the sake of change.
The Master-Chief Instructor will if at all possible develop a principle based means of neutralisation of an entire threat category.
This is important to make fast decisions in threat neutralisation.
Utilising all trade-craft training resources that are part of our close combat tradecraft including our CQB/CQC threat destruction tools are standard operating procedures. Testing skills to destruction/failure is just one of the important tools utilised to prove skills under assessment.
Anything that provides less than a primary threat neutralisation capability cannot be adopted as a proven primary threat neutralisation means including skills that would only work for a physically superior combatant.
While there are many different ways in achieving threat neutralisation under same/similar threat categories and conditions, it is only the very safest, most effective and proven primary means of threat neutralisation that must apply in tactics and skills adoption decision-making.
The considerations and the tradecraft means and methods of tactics and skills proving and adopting are musts that enable best arming and protecting of close quarters combatants.
Targeting of the eyes, orifices, the airway, spinal cord, blood circulation, fingers and thumbs joints, elbows, knees, wrists and ankles joints and other targets of elimination or incapacitation are all primary tradecraft practices in the deadly tradecraft of military armed and unarmed combat.
Knowledge is power and combined with capability provides the best chances of enemy threat neutralisation and arming combatants with such knowhow comes down to tactics and skills development selection and training provision.
Pictures Copyright © 2015 Turan Cihan Dülgeroğlu et al and Todd Group 2022.
