setting the record straight

Clearing up some far fetched claims by some very confused people


There have been some claims made in the past few weeks by certain instructors in the knifing community. Outrageous claims that they have been training elements of the Special Forces Community as well as the South African Police Services. When I mentioned this at a braai in my backyard attended by active N.A.T.O. Quick Response Force operators; former members of the training provider Seal Team 6 and members of the SAPS among others it was very hard to hear myself over the laughter.

So let’s set the record straight as I am sure next month we will have to do it again as someone else claims something else ridiculous.

We’ll start with the claim that they are training the SAPS. The South Africa Police Service has had its mandate revised from purely a crime fighting organisation to a service provider and community organisation. The SAPS wants the public to feel that SAPS is approachable and no longer the iron fist of the government. They had to relook at what force was acceptable for an officer to use without seeming barbaric and violent and more importantly disproportionate to the crime or offence. One of the major changes was to deem pepper spray and the very handy Tonfa Baton illegal. It was easier to outlaw these tools than to train officers how to identify at which point during the escalation to stop speaking and to whip out the Swat spray or the Tonfa and spray and irate man or woman in the face or whack them on the head. The Tonfa takes mastery and extensive training to enable to use it effectively without hurting yourself never mind someone else. There are just too many strikes that can kill someone without really meaning to do so. The task of teaching recruits coming out of the sausage machine how to use this otherwise non lethal tool was too great. I think more worrying was that you would have to trust an officer to use his discression when engaging a suspect with the tool. It is for this very reason that when officers started carrying knives without an official rit on it, a very speedy end was made of the practice. A debate then opened up with the motivation that what would happen if an officer has to cut an accident victim from a car. This argument did obvious not fly because officers must offer as much assistance as possible but should not move accident victims so no real cutting required. It was decided that the risk of even the Victorinox used in a manner other than intended was too great so knives were outlawed for officers. An officer can argue in a court of law his right to use his sidearm and the Police act makes provision for this. However society will never stand for pictures in their beloved Sunday newspaper of an officer covered in blood with a knife in his hand standing over the body of a suspect that he had to put down.

An engagement with a knife is very risky and messy. 90% of the time and untrained attacker or defender cuts him or herself. Training an officer how to engage his firearm takes 7 months. There is a culture attached in using a firearm can you imagine the time it would take to teach a recruit how to correctly use a blade. So that being said SAPS is not being trained in edged weapon defense.

Now the military can use a knife because the military is expected to somewhere in its duties to take a life and a knife is a very effective killing tool. So effective that Special Forces units have since 1996 used a method for sensitive target illumination. This method is called slinking. When we speak of slinking it is important to remember that the primary weapon is a 7 inch Bowie like fixed blade knife. The method was devised by Israeli military that would sometimes have to send an operator into an area without a firearm. They would have to use a knife to assassinate members of Hamaas’ armed brigade. They found that it was much more effective to send one man with a recovery team into enemy territory than to send an entire battalion. The Job of a Slinker is to shadow his target until he is alone then to make movement to confront the target. The aim is to make the target aware that his death is imminent and to make this death the most terrifying thing this man or woman has ever experienced. It’s a personal message to him and his comrades that there is nowhere to hide. The Slinker took his time with his victim. This is the face of revenge warfare. The Slinker then meets up with his recovery team and they supervise the extraction usually under heavy artillery bombardment. This method was extensively used in the Balkans. One of the requirements for teaching edged weapon assault is that the instructor must be and active member with combat experience. He can also be semi retired as long as he has had a baptism of fire. This is so that the instructor can relate to his students and so that his students can respect him. These are a very special group of man who were their opinions on their sleeve. A civilian will never ever be allowed to teach any branch of the military how to kill because they lack the experience. No will they teach soldiers how to defend themselves because this is part of their SOP training which they should receive at basic. A knife in the military context is used as a utility tool and most importantly it is used to kill and there are very specific ways in which this is done.

So there are no civilian contractors teaching any Military branch to kill with a knife.

Next we will get back on track and discuss what I believe to be an integral part of your self defensive survival. Threat assessment. This is the ability to see the attack happen before it actually does. Knowing when you are in danger before there are any blatant signs I think is very important and will save your life.