A Timeless Knife Design

You don't doodle on the Mona Lisa to improve it, and you don't paint flames on a Rolls Royce to make it cooler. A classics is a classic, and I hope it will encourage you to see a design that works as well now as it did before the middle of last century.

The London Daily Star carries this article: Soldier stabbed ISIS terrorist to death with WW2 fighting knife in Afghan ambush

A British special forces member found himself in hand-to-hand combat with two ISIS militants. He used his Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife to kill one, and the other took off running.

A Near Tragedy of Errors.

"A Cautionary Tale for CCW Permit Carriers" describes an actual event in which an armed citizen could well have killed a plainclothes officer by mistake or been killed by a uniformed officer who arrived on the scene. 

Some good lessons here.

Warning of a Coming Punch

The stranger approaches and engages his mark in conversation. Then, almost without warning he coldcocks his victim and begins to rifle his pockets. The key to avoiding this scenario lies in that little word almost.

Most people cannot change from conversation to attack mode without an accompanying change in tone of voice. Vladimir Vasiliev (Systema) has constructed a drill base on this.

"Follow the Gleam" -- A Song of Christendom

"Follow the Gleam" is essentially a song of Christendom. It acknowledges the King and challenges the listener to extend His rule over all the world.

My mother used to sing "Follow the Gleam", and I found great appeal in the combination of knightly ideals with a lilting melody. Although it originated in a song writing contest of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), I think it reflects the character and mission of Christian manhood.

According to Kihm Winship, the inspiration for the song came from Arthurian legend. Specifically, it originated from . . .

Tennyson’s 1889 poem, “Merlin and the Gleam,” about the quest for the Holy Grail, which ends:

“O young Mariner,
Down to the haven,
Call your companions,
Launch your vessel,
And crowd your canvas,
And, ere it vanishes
Over the margin,
After it, follow it,
Follow The Gleam.” (Read, Seen Heard)

In later life, the lyricist Helen Hill Miller wanted to cut all ties with the song, presumably because she had abandoned the faith of her youth. By way of contrast, composer Sallie Douglas Hume regarded her contribution of the melody as a high point in her life. (To hear the melody, CLICK HERE)

Here are the lyrics:

To knights in the days of old,
Keeping watch on the mountain height,
Came a vision of Holy Grail
And a voice through the waiting night.

“Follow, follow, follow the Gleam,
Banners unfurled o’er all the world;
Follow, follow, follow the Gleam
Of the chalice that is the Grail.

“And we who would serve the King,
And loyally Him obey,
In the consecrate silence know,
That the challenge still holds today:

“Follow, follow, follow the Gleam,
Standards of worth o’er all the earth,
Follow, follow, follow the Gleam,
Of the Light that shall bring the dawn

Armed Volunteers Provide Church Security

"There's no scripture that shows me that we need to keep weapons out of the church. There is scripture that says we are supposed to protect the flock.” (Pastor Frank Pomeroy, quoted in article linked below)

Bless those who shoulder the responsibility.

Guns and God: Growing number of churches want armed security

Bertucci Field Watch

I can confidently say it's the best watch I've ever owned. The price has gone up $10 since I bought mine seven years ago, but I remain convinced it's a great deal.

 

I've changed the battery three times since I've owned it, and it keeps incredibly accurate time. I now need a new strap, and it looks as though they have one to fit my my oversized wrists.

Here's my original post from another blog in December 2011:


A couple of years ago, I bought a Marathon watch, because that company makes the watches for the U.S. military. Their watches overall may be as great as their hype, but mine quit, and that sent me on a search for an affordable replacement.

I looked at several possibilities, and I compared customer reviews. Finally, I settled on the Bertucci Field Watch, and ordered one last March.

I have not been disappointed.

Okay, maybe its solid titanium case means that it's overbuilt. But I wanted a rugged watch, and solid titanium is a good start.

Also, the virtually unbreakable bars that retain the strap are molded right into the case. Ergo, no more lost watches due to failure of the retaining bars. As a bonus, the one-piece strap is much easier to install and remove than the standard watch strap.

One feature I really like is that the crystal is inset, which protects it from impact. I like that because I've damaged many a watch crystal in my usual ramming around -- and that includes the high impact plastic crystal on my Marathon (which put it outside the warranty).

Also, this watch is big -- bigger than the pictures seem to indicate. That's because of the really wide wrist band. Bottom line is that it "looks right" on my big, beefy wrist.

And speaking of my beefy wrist, most wrist watches give me a sore spot where the stem abrades my skin. The Bertucci has the stem offset at 4 o'clock (instead of the more common 3o'clock), and it's slightly inset as well. Result? I can wear it, and it doesn't wear on me.

As to the watch's primary purpose, I can say that mine keeps fairly accurate time. I just reset mine to nist.gov time, and found that it had lost 3 seconds over about 2 weeks.

How about minuses?

Well, the extra-length nylon strap is thick, wide and rugged, but still a little too short for my wrist. I fixed it by punching another hole and installing a grommet which almost matches the grommets around the other holes.

Another problem with the strap is that it absorbs perspiration and does require occasional washing. This may be true of all nylon straps, but this is my first, so I can't say.

The black finish on the buckle wears, which you may consider a minus, although I think it adds to the rugged appearance of the watch.

At $99 (and free shipping), the watch is not cheap, but I think the Bertucci offers the benefits you'd find in watches that cost several times more. For me, it has been a good choice.

If you'd like to know more about the Bertucci Field Watch, I suggest you click on the link above and check out the customer reviews.

Can You Really Gouge Out an Eye?

I have never shown the actual technique for gouging an eye in the WARSKYL blog. This article by Tim Larkin of Target Focus Training does not give the actual technique, either, but discusses something that is actually more important: "What is at stake?"

“You can't gouge my eye out. Go ahead, try”

He loudly proclaimed this to the assembled gaggle of men as he squeezed the lids of one eye as the other guy tried to “gouge it” …and he was right the other guy couldn’t do it.

The guy tried to get in there and gouge his eye out. I wouldn't say he was completely committed, but he was giving it a good effort but to no avail. They stopped after a couple of seconds and then the guy just pushed him away and arrogantly dismissed him.

Now people paid attention to this guy with the “inpeneratable eye” because he is a Tier One combat decorated operator. He’s from the US Army’s Delta Force and well known in the tactical training world.

Not a bad guy, but again, misinformed.

I've heard variations of this “you can’t gouge my eye in a real fight” for years. And this is not just limited to eye gouges.

The statements usually are crafted like this; combat sport practitioners say “You can't do x”, and the Reality Self Defense gurus will say, “Oh yes, you can!”

So who's right?

Well, my impulsive answer is they're both wrong, but to be fair, here's the answer.

It depends..

Because both sides rarely ask the correct foundational question:

“What are the stakes?”

When that Delta Force operator squeezed down on his eye, shutting his eye closed, and the other guy tried to get his thumb in there to no avail … everyone watching nodded their heads and agreed eye gouging doesn’t work. But noone asked….What were the stakes?

Was anybody's life on the line?

Was anybody devoid of choice?

The answer is to all of the above is…. NO!

In a training demo of course it won’t “work”, that is unless you're a functioning sociopath who would just take out another person's eye just to prove a point. But the dangerous problem is uniformed people look at a canned scenario like that and think, “See, eye gouges don’t work”.

Then you've got the guys that I'll kindly call “Reality Self Defense Experts” who sit there and say that combat sport practitioners are all vulnerable to their “deadly techniques”, but that they can't show their “deadly techniques” in the ring...which of course is a bunch of crap.

The reason you won't ever take anybody's eye in a “fight” is because a “fight” does not have high enough threat level. Whereas in a life or death, violent struggle, numerous examples exist where eyes came out, throats were crushed, joints were ripped apart, and all sorts of horrific acts of violence occurred.

So you constantly have to ask yourself, what are you training for?