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Never take your eyes off the enemy

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Todd Systems European military close quarters combat advocate hard cover guarding and cover guarding deflection of strikes and countering a kick with a stamp kick for military self-defence and military CQC.

Blocking skills are not primary options in Todd Systems military unarmed combat simply because of leaving gaps in your bodily protection with extended extremities and also exposure risks of your arms being seized or against edged weapon threats being stabbed or slashed.

Hard cover guarding enables the combatant to protect themselves from the top of the sides of the head to their waistline by squat crouching and covering your outer body lines with your forearms and upper arms.

Strikes travelling directly inside the hard cover guard are deflected by means of a slight movement of the torso and deflection with the inner forearm of the directly opposite incoming striking arm.

Hard cover guarding provides the protective capability to employ your visual CQC sighting between your hard cover guard.

Knees or kicks are combated by hard cover guarding squat crouching pivoting turning your body from front on to side on to the orthodox rear boot side and stamp kicking with your lead boot either the threatening leg or the stability leg whichever is closest.

Having just one method from stationary to counter all strikes and one method from stationary to counter/combat kicks with stamp kicks reduces the decision-making and also provides more time and opportunity by the enemy having to get through your hard cover guard over you having to respond to their offensive action with a block that has to travel towards the striking arm and intercept it.

Evasive counter offensive actions are military CQC primary methods of countering enemy unarmed offensive assault, however for specific roles and threat situations such as sudden aggressive shock action threats, stationary unarmed counter offensive assault skills are a necessity.

The most important part of any military combative skill employment is mental toughness to enable controlled aggressive combat or counter measures to be effectively employed to neutralise the threat.

This requires all senses to be turned on and your sense of sight to be on the threat and every action or counter action you employ.

Employing defensive/counteroffensive actions where you turn your head away, take your vision off the actions on or close your eyes is nothing less than self- increased risk by conducting yourself for that moment in time with removed visual awareness of the immediate danger.

Hard cover guarding provides protection against round house strikes and deflection against straight-line over hand or uppercut strikes between your combative sites (your hard cover guard). However, if you close your eyes or take your eyes off your aggressor your capability to counter their assault or adjust your hard cover guard /deflective capability status to deal with their actions and any changes in action specifics at real time is lost and you are vulnerable at that point in time.

Risk and injury are increased by considerable by means of shutting down your primary human sense in close quarters combat that being your eyesight out of fear or fault.

Equally important in the employment of counteroffensive assault actions is having a visual on all your unarmed offensive assault counter actions to ensure maximum effectiveness accuracy and the highest chances of threat neutralisation.

Under assault If you turn your head away looked down and remove your visual capability of the threat or close your eyes you seriously need to train in eyes on hard cover guarding and deflection capabilities as well as enhance your combative mental toughness to make sure you can keep your eyes on the action.

Article written by Tank Todd

Special Operations CQB Master Chief Instructor. Over 30 years experience. The only instructor qualified descendent of Baldock, Nelson, and Applegate. Former instructors include Harry Baldock (unarmed combat instructor NZ Army WWII), Colonel Rex Applegate OSS WWII and Charles Nelson, US Marine Corps. Tank has passed his Special Forces combative instructor qualification course in Southeast Asia and is certified to instruct the Applegate, Baldock and Nelson systems. His school has been operating for over eighty years and he is currently an Army Special Operations Group CQB Master Chief Instructor. His lineage and qualifications from the evolutionary pioneers are equalled by no other military close combat instructor. His operation includes his New Zealand headquarters, and 30 depots worldwide as well as contracts to train the military elite, security forces, and close protection specialists. Annually he trains thousands of exponents and serious operators that travel down-under to learn from the direct descendant of the experts and pioneers of military close combat. Following in the footsteps of his former seniors, he has developed weapons, and training equipment exclusive to close combat and tactical applications. He has published military manuals and several civilian manuals and produced DVDs on urban self protection, tactical control and restraint, and close combat. He has racked up an impressive 100,000+ hours in close combat.