Guns & Knife Fights

Most of you know some of my CQB credentials. Quick thumbnail: I have always been lippy, I have always been physically smaller than most people I get lippy with, and I have trained with some of the most capable Warriors in the world to help keep my heart beating despite the intense efforts of my mouth to get me killed.

I know you train with your rifle and pistol. I suspect you do a lot of drills at the standard 21 feet in low-light circumstances against multiple targets that are moving in different directions and closing in on you...don't you?

I offer you this simple statement of fact, not to impugn your skills or brag about mine, but to articulate a point: In a very high percentage of circumstances were I to be engaged in mortal combat, beginning at 21 feet, with a man who is armed with a pistol and I had only a knife, I'd kill him. Yes, I'd probably get shot, and maybe even die from the wound(s). But that hardly helps the gunner as he bleeds out.

Most grown men who are motivated to kill you can cover 30 feet in 3 seconds or fewer.

How good are you with that rifle, carbine or pistol, really? How fast can you clear leather and accurately doubletap a moving target? Add the adrenaline dump. Add the fact that the guy rushing you is armed with a serious battle knife. Add the fact that he is not coming straight at you without cover. And for the sake of this exercise, consider he is alone. (If you really want a shiver, consider three of his hombres moving at you at the same time, in the same manner, with the same weapons, from three different compass points).

Once I close the gap I can almost always render your firearm useless, simply by deflecting the muzzle off my centerline and controlling yourarms or torso. Since I am a well-trained fighter, and I am well trained with the combat knife in my hand, you will get cut. If I do my job, I'll cut you with three mortal wounds in about 1.5 seconds and you will lose the physical ability to fend me off.

Even if you manage to put a bullet in me as I advance, here is a very simple bit of truth: If you do not blow a hole in my braincase, my spine, or my femur, I will probably still be on you with enough fight left in me to cut you to death.

Here is another simple truth that I have told you many times in the past, and I will say it again many times in the future: In the real world, in every single real fight, both fighters are going to take hits, take damage, and in a lot of cases, if it is a fight to the death, both will die. I do not care how many Hollywood stars you've seen handle 6 Bad People without even messing up their hair...that is just not reality, folks. And that pistol of yours will be used as a brick relatively often if our world really goes to sh*t.

Don't misunderstand me: I am not telling you to drop your gun and become a knife fighter. Hell, I've told you that my favorite weapon is a Chevy driving at high speed into the Bad Guy. But you'd better understand that your rifle and/or pistol is not a magic Win Stick.

If you are standing in Condition Red and armed with a Glock that has all 16 rounds ready to go against 4 men with knives who start at 30 feet and come at you from each compass point, you are going to have to kill at least two of them buckle to buckle.

Do you know to kill 2 men armed with knives who manage to get into your personal space, when you can't get the muzzle of your weapon on them?

You'd better think about it, you'd better train, and most importantly, you'd better do everything you can think of to avoid such a situation, because I am telling you from serious, real-world experience, no matter how good your knife skills or hand-to-hand skills may be, you will probably die in that situation.

And, what if you are in Condition Orange or Yellow instead of Red?

Fail.

Most of you, if you are honest with yourself, are not interested in testing your mettle against a man who is armed with a battle knife at buckle-to-buckle range. Nor should you look for such situations to test your skills. I have spent tens-of-thousands of hours in serious dojos across the country, training often in full-contact, many hours with live blades, and I am comfortable at such close ranges (in fact I prefer it), but I have ZERO desire to meet a man with a knife who wants to kill me at that range. As good as I am (and I am good) I will probably die with him.

If you consider your firearms to be the answer to most of your future violent confrontations, you will lose. Bad Guys can get close and render your pistol or rifle useless very quickly. You can run empty and not have time to reload.

You'd better be working on knife skills and hand-to-hand skills.

You'd better become comfortable getting close to one or more men who are trying to take your life, because in the real world it will happen. You will probably end up on the ground in a hand-to-hand fight, even when the festivities begin at 30 feet with a handgun in your paw.

Personally, there are a great many circumtances in which I would be better armed and suited to accomplishing an ugly task by carrying my Cold Steel than a firearm. I am comfortable up close with dangerous people because of my training and life experiences. A knife is silent. A knife atack can be lightning fast. A single well-placed slash or plunge can be as effective as a .50BMG to the head.

Give your skillset an honest assessment, and get to work on the weak spots.

Kerodin
III