JUDO AND LAW ENFORCEMENT: Control and Arrest

Judo has been practiced by police in Japan since 1886 when the Tokyo police department sponsored a competition between the new Kodokan Judo school and older jujitsu schools. After the Judo students soundly defeated the jujitsu schools, the police adopted Judo training methods and techniques. The close association between Japanese police and Judo has continued from 1886 to this very day. Judo has since been used in training for police and military forces around the world.

The duties of a law enforcement officer focus on protecting people and property. They patrol the areas they are assigned, which sometimes include entire jurisdictions, respond to calls, enforce laws,  and make arrests. Law enforcement officers are subjected on a daily basis to two primary complaints, one is that the cops are brutal and rude and the other is that they don’t do enough to stop crime.  On one had they are deemed as being too tough on the other they aren’t doing enough. Balancing more “compassionate” policing with more effective law enforcement is one of the great challenges facing law enforcement agencies today.

The highest probability of assaults against police officers is during the point of the officer’s first contact with a suspect, often during the process of trying to bring an individual into custody. The officer encounters suspects who willfully "resist" arrest, they want to fight, hurt or kill the officer. In some cases it's an ego thing, they ARE looking to be restrained or they don't want to look like a punk and go quietly. In these instances the suspect knows that the officer is not trying to kill him or her, so they resist.

The main goal of policing, whether it is lethal or non-lethal force, is compliance from the subject. However, law enforcement personnel find themselves under constant scrutiny regarding  their use-of-force, from  bystanders  screaming police brutality to the I-Phone Paparazzi  all the way through to the department, criminal, and civilian oversight type committees.  There are a lot of disadvantages when it comes to officers trying to make arrests. It is a complicated situation when the media chooses highlight the worst arrests and never reports on the good examples of officers taking someone into custody. 

The primary purpose of non-lethal force with law enforcement is to get the suspect to comply. What is the most realistic way of getting someone to do something that they don't want to without seriously damaging them? The goal is to remove mobility from the subject and exert maximum control for handcuffing. The principle is that in order to handcuff a subject, an officer needs to control them first.

Judo has historically been an integral part of police training that focuses on control and compliance of a subject.  The control and arrest techniques (renkoho waza In Japanese) found in Judo, were developed to assist in controlling suspects enabling  the law enforcement officer to force compliance and to move a subject without having to use excessive or deadly force. These techniques also provide the officer(s) a low-key, effective means of taking a subject into custody and instill the skills and confidence that will assist in the effective and ethical use of force when it is required and most importantly will help keep the officer safe during this process.

 Judo control and arrest tactics are best suited to street-level policing and self defense. Though an arrest may start on the feet statics show us that approximately  80% of all arrests end on the ground.  Judo can quickly transition between standing and groundwork to tactically re-position or to go hands on when the opportunity presents itself to gain control/compliance of a subject. 

JUDO BREAK FALLING AND BULLYING

At some point in most children’s lives they will have to contend with a bully or some type of bullying. This can have a devastating effect on your child. I very often see children brought to Judo because of it. So, how does Judo help a child with coping with a bully?

Bullies target children who will be hurt physically or emotionally by them. .

Bullies pick victims that they think will be easy targets. What makes an easy target? A child who seems weak, unsure of herself, or easily scared. Judo helps stop bullying by building up the child’s confidence so that they are able to project an aura of strength and ensure that they are not perceived as easy targets.

 Although Judo is a sport there is the physical self defense aspect of doing Judo. Your child will learn skills that they ‘could’ use to defend themselves physically. Your child will, having done Judo, know how to take physical hurt better than others.

One of the very first things a beginning judo student learns is how to break their fall, should the bullying become physical in nature, your child will be best equipped to cope with it. Knowing how to fall protects the student from injury in training, in competition and for self defense purposes. If you fall badly either from being pushed down, knocked down or tripped, you could get seriously hurt.

A typical bullying tactic in school is to trip the victim as they pass by. A student of Judo will learn to do a forward rolling breakfall, gracefully rolling after the trip rather than falling. That will take the wind from the bully’s sails and more than likely earn your child some respect from the other kids for their “cool judo roll!!!"

How to break your fall in Judo

Break falling techniques are a safe method of falling that all practitioners of judo learn. An Integral part of Judo is knowing how to break your fall. Judo concentrates on throwing your partner to the mat in training, so knowing how to fall is essential especially if you want you and your partner to be able to get up again to continue to train. Knowing how to fall protects you from injury in training, in competition and for self defense purposes. If you fall badly either from being pushed down, Knocked down, tripped, thrown or slammed to the ground  in a fight you risk disabling injury.

Break falling techniques (Ukemi) allow you to hit the ground without any kind of damaging impact and recover without injury. Basically, break falling techniques spread the impact of a fall over the widest area possible allowing the person getting thrown to disperse that force over that area.  Okay physics time!!!!! Break falls work by using the laws of physics. Pressure is the key force here. Pressure (P) is defined as unit of force (F) per unit of area (A), in mathematical form: P=F/A. When you do a break fall, more of you hits the ground. So this means that a larger area makes impact. Because the force of impact is divided by the area, more area means less pressure. Less pressure means less damage.

In addition, as you learn to be more and more comfortable with falling you become more relaxed. By learning how to place your body correctly and thereby learning to relax as you fall you disperse the force thus reducing the chance of injury. The more relaxed you are also lessens the chance of being injured.

BASIC BREAK FALLS

Break fall drills begin gently and from low postures. As the student progresses they are performed faster and from higher postures.

BACK BREAK FALLS (Ushiro Ukemi)

Squat low, crossing your arms in front of you, and fall backward in a rolling motion up your back, keeping your chin tucked in and slap the mat hard as you fall.  As you fall, slap the mat with both of your arms, striking it with the forearm and hand. It is utmost important to be relaxed and to keep your chin tucked in to prevent striking your head against the mat.

SIDE BREAK FALLS (Yoko Ukemi)

From a squatting position, raise your right arm out in front and across your body, and step out with your right foot. You will now lose your balance and naturally fall to your right side As you fall, to keep your head from hitting the mat keep your chin tucked in tightly to your chest, looking down toward your right foot. Slap the mat hard with your right forearm and hand as you land on your back and let your feet down on the mat. It is important that your feet do not touch each other when falling sideways, as the bones striking each other may cause injury.

Resume the squatting position and practice falling to the left, reversing the above directions. The sideways fall is the most important method of falling in Judo.

FORWARD ROLL BREAK FALLS ( Zenpo Kaiten Ukemi)

Step forward with your right foot, raising your right hand in front of you and curving the fingers inward. Bend forward at the waist, touching the mat lightly with both hands at the same time step forward with the right foot bending at the knee. basically executing a shoulder roll keeping your chin tucked in to avoid hitting your head on the mat. Keep your arms relaxed as you tumble, and do not straighten your arms. As you land on your back, slap the mat hard with your left hand.

THE REALITY OF A KNIFE ATTACK: PART 2

First and foremost I want to say that one cannot defend themselves from a knife attack by simply reading an article. You should study the subject of knife fighting in depth. Yes, you really need to have a strong understanding of what you are doing and what is really going on. 

TYPES OF KNIFE ATTACKERS

The first type is the stone-cold killer type he is most likely an ex-con. He will kill without hesitation to avoid going back to the jail. A wanted felon with a history of violent crimes also certainly fits this profile. His attack will appear to come out of nowhere.

An opportunity attacker is someone who initiates a spontaneous attack.  He has no plan to attack anyone; he just sees an opportunity and in a split second decides to attack.

A criminal caught in the act of a crime could react violently and attack in an effort to get away. He does not set out to attack or to kill anyone, but in such a situation he believes he has been forced to react with violence. This is another surprise attack, but not pre-planned.

The mentally disturbed attacker is most likely a homeless man or woman armed with a knife for reasons of paranoia or protection.

People under the influence of alcohol or drugs can fall under the same category.  The drug-induced frenzy; a crackhead or meth freak who has gone over the edge and has grabbed a knife.

TYPES OF KNIFE ATTACKS

(1) Thrust. The thrust is the most common and most dangerous type of knife attack. It is a strike directed straight into the target by jabbing or lunging.

(2) Slash. The slash is a sweeping surface cut or circular slash. The wound is usually a long cut, varying from a slight surface cut to a deep gash.

(3) Tear. The tear is a cut made by dragging the tip of the blade across the body to create a ripping-type cut.

(4) Hack. The hack is delivered by using the knife to block or chop with.

The sewing machine a rapid fire stabbing attack. It is a truly deadly attack and the intent is to kill you. It is carried out in a series of short thrusts while moving forward with violent pressure to keep you moving backward in a vulnerable and reactive type state.

The slash and stab is the scenario you hope you never have to face. This attacker is usually the most skilled in the use of an edged weapon. This attacker is set upon killing you and has both the skill and intent to do so.

REACTING TO THE ATTACK

Rule 1: Present the least vulnerable target. If someone is shooting at you, you find cover. The same principle applies here. If you are physically attacked, you move, you angle, you put something between you and the attack.

Rule 2: Stop the offensive capability of the attacker as soon as possible. This is where your actual physical training kicks in. This is where you must turn reaction into action and turn the tables on your assailant

Rule 3: Gain control of the individual. This is the final aspect where your training comes into play. However, this principle can only be applied if you have successfully applied rules 1 and 2. Rule 3 is where you take final control of the attacker. The best way to control the weapon is to take control of the individual. “You have far more to fear from a deadly man than from a deadly weapon.”

The first thing that happens to you is your reaction to the attack. This is where your mind is simply saying  Oh No! or WTF is going on? What is Happening? You are basically frozen in time during this phase even if it lasts only a millisecond this provides plenty of opportunity for the attacker to get in one, two, or maybe even three strikes, especially when you are caught totally off guard.

The second phase is when your protective instincts kick in. This is a pure fight or flight mechanism and your conscious mind is still not in control. The next thing that happens is that you start to move, usually backward, away from the danger: the attack.

You can actually practice the above sequence to increase its efficiency. By combining mental imagery with the physical actions I have just described you can decrease the time it takes to go from the “oh, no” phase to the protective phase.

HOW TO DEFEND AGAINST A KNIFE  ATTACK

The best defense against an armed attack is evasion and a well-timed counterattack.

1.) You must block and redirect the attack of the weapon to neutralize its lethal capability and clear the body of its trajectory of fire and angle of attack.

2.) You must stabilize the weapon by controlling the wrist, hand and weapon of the attacking arm of the enemy.

3.) You proceed to disarm the weapon by breaking the joint of the locked extremity or simply by applying power to induce enough pain for control and disarmament. 

KNIFE FIGHTING

A knife fight is a violent physical confrontation between two or more combatants in which one or more participants is armed with a knife.  A knife fight is defined by the presence of a knife as a weapon and the violent intent of the combatants to kill or incapacitate each other; the participants may be completely untrained, self-taught, or trained in one or more formal or informal systems of knife fighting. Knife fights may involve the use of any type of knife, though certain knives, termed fighting knives, are purposely designed for such confrontations – the dagger being just one example.

Modern tactics for knife combat were developed by two British members of the Shanghai Municipal Police of the International Settlement in the 1920s. At the time the Shanghai streets were rife with criminal activity, exacerbated by the political tensions of the time and the breakdown of social order in much of the country.

Captain William E. Fairbairn and Sergeant Eric A. Sykes developed knife fighting skills and defences, which they began teaching to both police recruits and members of the British Army, Royal Marines and U.S. Marine units then stationed in Shanghai.  Fairbairn reportedly engaged in hundreds of street fights in his twenty-year career in Shanghai, where he organized and headed a special anti-riot squad.  Much of his body – arms, legs, torso, and even the palms of his hands – was covered with scars from knife wounds from those fights.

During World War II, Fairbairn and Sykes continued to refine their knife fighting techniques for military and paramilitary forces, teaching British Commandos, Special Operations Executive (SOE) personnel, selected American and foreign soldiers and covert espionage personnel, including members of the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and US/UK combined Operation Jedburgh teams. Their experience in training both soldiers and civilians in quick-kill knife fighting techniques eventually led to the development of a specialized fighting dagger suited for both covert elimination of enemy sentinels and close-combat knife fighting, the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife, a landmark weapon of its type.

The knife was designed exclusively for surprise attack and fighting, with a slender blade that can easily penetrate a ribcage. The vase handle grants precise grip, and the blade's design is especially suited to its use as a fighting knife. Fairbairn's rationale is in his book Get Tough! (1942).

In close-quarters fighting there is no more deadly weapon than the knife. In choosing a knife there are two important factors to bear in mind: balance and keenness. The hilt should fit easily in your hand, and the blade should not be so heavy that it tends to drag the hilt from your fingers in a loose grip. It is essential that the blade have a sharp stabbing point and good cutting edges, because an artery torn through (as against a clean cut) tends to contract and stop the bleeding. If a main artery is cleanly severed, the wounded man will quickly lose consciousness and die.

The length of the blade was chosen to give several inches of blade to penetrate the body after passing through the 3 in (7.6 cm) of the thickest clothing that was anticipated to be worn in the war, namely that of Soviet greatcoats. Later production runs of the F–S fighting knife have a blade length that is about 7.5 in (19 cm).

In all cases the handle had a distinctive foil-like grip to enable a number of handling options. Many variations on the F–S fighting knife exist in regards to size of blade and particularly of handle. The design has influenced the design of knives throughout the many decades since its introduction. - WIKIPEDIA

HAND TO HAND COMBAT

Hand-to-hand combat (sometimes abbreviated as HTH or H2H) is a lethal or non-lethal physical confrontation between two or more persons at very short range (grappling distance) that does not involve the use of firearms or other distance weapons. While the phrase "hand-to-hand" appears to refer to unarmed combat, the term is generic and may include use of striking weapons used at grappling distance such as knives, sticks, batons, or improvised weapons such as entrenching tools.[1] While the term hand-to-hand combat originally referred principally to engagements by combatants on the battlefield, it can also refer to any personal physical engagement by two or more people, including law enforcement officers, civilians, and criminals.

Combat within close quarters (to a range just beyond grappling distance) is commonly termed close combat or close-quarters combat. It may include lethal and non-lethal weapons and methods depending upon the restrictions imposed by civilian law, military rules of engagement, or ethical codes. Close combat using firearms or other distance weapons by military combatants at the tactical level is modernly referred to as close quarter battle. The United States Army uses the term combatives to describe various military fighting systems used in hand-to-hand combat training, systems which may incorporate eclectic techniques from several different martial arts and combat sports.

Close Quarters Combat, or World War II combatives, was largely codified by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes. Also known for their eponymous Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, Fairbairn and Sykes had worked in the Shanghai Municipal Police of the International Settlement (1854-1943) of Shanghai in the 1920s, widely acknowledged as the most dangerous port city in the world due to a heavy opium trade run by organized crime (the Chinese Triads).

After the May Thirtieth Movement riots, which resulted in a police massacre, Fairbairn was charged with developing an auxiliary squad for riot control and aggressive policing. After absorbing the most appropriate elements from a variety of martial-arts experts, from China, Japan and elsewhere, he condensed these arts into a practical combat system he called Defendu. He and his police team went on to field-test these skills on the streets of Shanghai; Fairbairn himself used his combat system effectively in over 2000 documented encounters, including over 600 lethal-force engagements.[2] The aim of his combat system was simply to be as brutally effective as possible. It was also a system that, unlike traditional Eastern martial-arts that required years of intensive training, could be digested by recruits relatively quickly. The method incorporated training in point shooting and gun combat techniques, as well as the effective use of more ad hoc weapons such as chairs or table legs.

During the Second World War, Fairbairn was brought back to Britain, and, after demonstrating the effectiveness of his techniques, was recruited to train the British commandos in his combat method. During this period, he expanded his 'Shanghai Method' into the 'Silent Killing Close Quarters Combat method' for military application. This became standard combat training for all British Special Operations personnel. He also designed the pioneering Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, which was adopted for use by British and American Special Forces. In 1942, he published a textbook for close quarters combat training called Get Tough.

U.S. Army officers Rex Applegate and Anthony Biddle were taught Fairbairn's methods at a training facility in Scotland, and adopted the program for the training of OSS operatives at a newly opened camp near Lake Ontario in Canada. Applegate published his work in 1943, called Kill or Get Killed. During the war, training was provided to British Commandos, the Devil's Brigade, OSS, U.S. Army Rangers and Marine Raiders.

Other combat systems designed for military combat were introduced elsewhere, including European Unifight, Soviet/Russian Sambo, Army hand-to-hand fight and Systema, Chinese military Sanshou/Sanda, Israeli Kapap and Krav Maga. The prevalence and style of hand-to-hand combat training often changes based on perceived need. Elite units such as special forces and commando units tend to place higher emphasis on hand-to-hand combat training.

Although hand-to-hand fighting was accorded less importance in major militaries after World War II, insurgency conflicts such as the Vietnam War, low intensity conflict and urban warfare have prompted many armies to pay more attention to this form of combat. When such fighting includes firearms designed for close-in fighting, it is often referred to as Close Quarters Battle (CQB) at the platoon or squad level, or Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) at higher tactical levels.  - WIKIPEDIA

WORLD WAR 2 COMBATIVES

The ninja were for all intent and pruposes were the special forces operatives of their day and I have always been interested in the special forces operatives of our day and their history, particularly in close quarter combat (CQC) and World War II Combatives such as William E Fairbain's Defendu and many others.

Growing up I had always heard people say don’t ever mess with a WW2 combat veteran they will kill ya. I remember my mother’s cousin who was a WW2 vet, one day at a family reunion his three sons who were grown men at the time got upset with their dad and decided that they were going to teach him a lesson in front of the entire family. Well that didn’t quite work out the way they had planned. My mother’s cousin made pretty easy work out of kicking all three of his sons’ asses.

I was a boy at the time but I remember that when his sons jumped him from behind he made short work of them. I am thinking now years later that his sons were lucky that he did nt really hurt them I am sure he could have.

 WWII Combatives relied on speed, surprise, and overwhelming violence.  They were not teaching recruits in World War II how to arrest people.  They were not teaching chokes so the enemy could wake up later. It was all about war and killing. Quite simply it was KILL OR BE KILLED!

World War II combatives are close quarters combat techniques which include hand-to-hand close quarter combat methods, advanced firearm point shooting methods, and weapons techniques like the knife, the bayonet and improvised weapons. I mean talk about being able to defend yourself and fight like Jason Bourne!!!! This combat method was taught to allied special forces in World War II by such famous instructors as Rex Applegate, William E. Fairbairn and Dermot (Pat) O’neil.

W.E. Fairbairn taught unarmed combat to the famed British Commandos and the U.S. armed forces during World War II.  Fairbairn was recruited to train the British commandos in his combat method. During this period, he expanded his method into the 'Silent Killing Close Quarters Combat method' for military application. Fairbairn who was a 2^nd degree black belt in Judo and trained in boxing  and other martial arts contributed more to the knowledge base of how to kill the enemy in close quarters than perhaps anyone else to this day.

W.E. Fairbairn, the father of close quarter combatives,  established his own method called Defendu (Fairbairn Fighting Systems) with Eric A. Sykes. Defendu was based on Fairbairn’s training in Kodokan Judo, and other fighting styles; and was designed to be highly effective.

In 1941 Rex Applegate was recruited by Wild Bill Donovan for the OSS, specifically to build and run what was called "The School for Spies and Assassins", the location of which is now Camp David. Donovan had Applegate learn all that he could about armed and unarmed fighting from William E. Fairbairn to form a brutal and effective system.

U.S. Army officers Rex Applegate and Anthony Biddle were taught Fairbairn's methods at a training facility in Scotland, and adopted the program for the training of OSS operatives at a newly opened camp near Lake Ontario in Canada. During the war, training was provided to British Commandos, the Devil's Brigade, OSS, U.S. Army Rangers and Marine Raiders.

Applegate was the close-combat coordinator for all clandestine missions and this role brought him into contact with other fighters and martial artists of the time period such as a Finnish soldier who killed 21 Russians with a knife and the founder of the British SAS: David Stirling. At one point during the war, Applegate served as the personal bodyguard to President Franklin D Roosevelt.

Dermot O’Neill  was a devoted practitioner of Japanese judo a fith degree black belt awarded by the kodokan while living and working in Japan. He was also considered by many to be the protégé of William E.  Fairbairn.

O’Neill came to the United States at the behest and recommendation of WE Fairbairn who was at this time involved with the OSS. O’Neill was slated to work for the OSS, but was sent instead to serve as an instructor with the First Special Service Force, a joint Canadian-US commando unit known as the “Devil’s Brigade.” When the 1st SSF was sent into action, O’Neill refused to stay behind and declared that since he trained these boys he would damn well fight beside them.

After the war O’Neill served as a consultant on police and security for various Federal agencies, including the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency. In the mid-1960s O’Neill located in the Washington, DC area and began work with the International Police Academy there. This organization was funded by the Agency for International Development and was a cover for para-military operations and training run by the CIA.

O’Neill was considered a very tough man in his day and had a reputation for not backing down from anyone. His skill in judo was highly praised even at the kodokan.  The methods of hand-to-hand combat he devised and taught were greatly effective and such was proven in actual battle numerous times. O’Neill greatly influenced military close quarter combat for the United States Army, the United States Army Military Police Corps and the United States Marine Corps.

WW2 would be the pinnacle of close quarters battle, hand to hand, knife and bayonet it all would gell during this time. Designated as the 1st Special Service Force, the Devil's Brigade was a joint World War II American-Canadian commando unit trained at Fort Harrison near Helena, Montana in the United States. Many modern American and Canadian Special Forces units trace their heritage to this unit. For the movie of the same name, see The Devil's Brigade.

Members of this unit received rigorous and intensive training in stealth tactics; hand-to-hand combat; knife, the use of explosives for demolition; parachuting; amphibious warfare; rock-climbing and mountain warfare. From the outset, the 1st Special Service Force was armed with a variety of non-standard or limited-issue weapons, such as the M1941 Johnson machine gun. The Johnson  LMG in particular helped greatly increase the firepower of the unit and was highly regarded by those who used it in combat and a fighting knife made exclusively for the Force called the V-42 combat knife.

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In japan the Japanese military were doing the same with a special forces group of their own at the “Nakano school”  and were  coming to the exact same conclusions with close quarter combat  as Fairbairn, Sykes, Applegate,and O'Neill had. Hit hard, fast, hit the vulnerable areas, kill. NO BULLSHIT. Get IN and get the JOB DONE as quickly and brutally as possible.  

The Japanese military did employ a "knife" design as a combat knife as well as the traditional so-called "Tanto" design. The term TANTO merely describes a "hand sword" NOT particularly a "design" TANTO-JUTSU can refer to ANY knife. The tanto design that is familiar to most of us is actually called a "kogatana".  As I understand it Tanto-jutsu/Kaiken-jutsu usually means "knife fighting technique". TANKEN-JUTSU refers to the use of the BAYONET as a knife. This is taught as part of the JUKEN-JUTSU (bayonet fighting) syllabus.

COMBAT JUDO: JUDO IN THE MILITARY

Judo from its very beginning has been a self-defense and combat discipline. The original Judo from Jigoro Kano was and still is a full featured combat discipline which formed the basis for many Military and Police tactics around the world. Pre-WWII Judo was a far different thing than what we see now. 

The Japanese in particular, being on a global war footing, practiced a type of Judo that has little in common with the "sport" of today.  This form of Combat Judo was a type of hand to hand combat that was perfected and used during WWII, modern warfare and self defense. 

Judo served well as an official system of Japanese Imperial armed forces and Japanese police. In 1886 the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Academy hosted a tournament between the Kodokan (The Kodokan Institute, is the headquarters of the worldwide judo community in Japan.) and the prominent Jujutsu style, to determine which "style" the Academy would adopt into their training regimen. Out of the tournament's 15 matches the Kodokan won 12 and had 1 draw. The reason why the Kodokan was so successful at this historic meeting lies in one word: Randori. Randori or free sparring trained Kanos judokas in as close to real life and death combat as possible.

Judo was probably the first Japanese martial art introduced to the west, most notably through the U.S. military in the modern era. As American GIs were introduced to the Japanese culture from the early 1900’s onward it was inevitable that the martial art of Judo found its way into the American culture.

CPT. Allen Corstorphin Smith of the United States Army trained at the Kodokan in Japan. CPT. Smith was awarded a  judo black belt from the Kodokan in Japan in 1916 and was the hand to hand combat instructor at the Infantry school at ft, Benning Georgia.

JUDO AND WWII COMBATIVES

World War II combatives are close quarters combat techniques, including hand-to-hand

(H2H), advanced firearm point shooting methods, and weapons techniques (knife/bayonet/improvised weapons) that were taught to allied special forces in World War II. The most successful programs were offshoots from the British Commando training taught by William E Fairbairn. Farbairn, a second degree black belt in Judo, had trained the police force in Shanghai, China before the war.  

Fairbairn was likely the single greatest authority on hand-to- hand close combat and personal defense skills with and without hand-held weapons of the 20th century.  He was the most prestigious, sought-after, and influential close combat trainer throughout the Allied Forces of WWII. The Commandos, the secret agents of England’s wartime Special Operations Executive and of America’s Office of Strategic Services, and special agents of the FBI all learned Fairbairn’s special system.

Mikonosuke Kawaishi an 8th degree black belt in Kodokan judo developed and taught a terrific and extremely deadly form of  close combat/self- defense. Mr. Kawaishi's methods are probably the most ruthless form of Judo ever to be put before the public, and were designed for the keen Judoka, and the Police Forces and Military Establishments all over the world.

Finally there is “Pat” Dermot O’Neill the fabled hand-to-hand combat instructorr for the Canadian/American First Special Service Force (the “Devil’s Brigade”). O’Neill had been a detective with the Shanghai Municipal Police Department, and had learned Defendu directly under Fairbairn. O’Neill was the highest ranking Caucasian judo black belt in the world in the 1940’s.

Fairbairn, Oneill and Kawaishi were all Judo trained men. All three of these men were incomparable masters of practical, all-in fighting and close quarter combat.  EACH ONE taught a repertoire of vicious, direct skills to disable the enemy as quickly as possible at all costs.

Various aspects of Judo were taught to all U.S. military police as an effective way to deal with arresting and controlling drunken, brawling GIs without seriously harming them.  The great Judo legend Masahiko Kimura shared a story in his biography about being approached shortly after WWII in the summer of 1946 by a Capt. Shepherd of the U.S. Military Police to train Military Police personnel in Judo.

The United States Air Force has at times in its history been at the forefront of Combatives Training. Soon after the establishment of the Air Force as a separate service in September 1947, GEN Curtis Lemay was appointed as the Commanding General of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). GEN Lemay, who had masterminded the US air attacks on the Japanese mainland during World War II, knew that more US bomber groups in Europe had suffered more combat casualties than the US Marine Corps had in the pacific. Many of the lost Airmen ended up as German Prisoners of War. He was determined that all of his flying personnel would have a working knowledge of hand-to-hand combat to aid in escape and evasion.

In 1951 GEN Lemay appointed Emilio "Mel" Bruno, his Judo teacher and a former national American Athletic Union (AAU) Wrestling champion and fifth degree black belt in Judo, to direct a command wide Judo and combative measures program. He devised a program combining techniques from Aikido, Judo and Karate.

 In 1952 the Air Training Command took over the program. The Commanding General was General Thomas Power. Because of the deficiency in qualified instructors, Power sent two classes of twenty four Airmen to train at the Kodokan for several weeks. 

Based upon the success of this trial and after an official delegation from the Kodokan toured SAC bases in the United States, Bruno set up an eight week training course at the Kodokan. Students trained eight hours a day, five days a week and upon return to the United States were assigned throughout SAC. The course was a Japanese designed mix of judo, aikido, karate and taihojutsu.

From 1959 to 1966 the Air Force Combative Measures (Judo) Instructors Course was taught at Stead Air Force Base in Reno Nevada. The 155 hour course consisted of: 36 hours fundamentals of judo, 12 hours aikido, 12 hours karate, 12 hours Air Police Techniques, 12 hours Aircrew self-defense, 18 hours judo tournament procedures, 5 hours code of conduct and 48 hours training methods. There were also a 20 hour Combative methods course and a 12 hour Combative survival course for Aircrew members.

Being recognized as so effective in combat, Judo/Combat Judo became the basis for most of the hand-to-hand combat skills taught to soldiers throughout all branches of the U.S. military.

Judo is a sport but it is much more "combatives" oriented.  The judoka trains at a close quarter combat range developing avenues to quickly put an end to a hand to hand or close quarter combat situation. There is a reason that old school law enforcement and the United States military taught Judo...IT WORKED.

"Judo instruction is one of the high spots in the life of the latest addition to the Leatherneck Marines here. An instructor shows a recruit how to make the enemy's bayonet useless. Cpl. Arvin Lou Ghazlo, USMC, giving judo instructions to Pvt. Ernest C. Jones, USMCR.", 04/1943 - Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. U.S. Marine Corps