How to Pew Vol. 01

Slashing is much less effective than stabbing. It is very bloody and quite dramatic, but it takes too long for the blood loss to work, and biomechanical slashes to the tendons are not always reliable. Stab them. The British used to teach their soldier to only use a couple of inches of their bayonet -- "just the tip" into the abdomen, because that was usually enough.

Chopping with a sword, machete, kukri, or axe is fine, just try to do enough damage to drop them immediately.

Do not "knife fight" on a modern battlefield. If he has a knife, you grab a brick or a rock and use its ballistic advantage. Or use a club or a tire iron or... whatever. The certainty of engaging with a knife is that somebody is going to get cut and you don't want to be that somebody.

Throat cutting. This is done to remove sentries and it is very, very rare now. Killing an armed sentry this way requires stealth, nerves of steel, and not a little luck. Do not grab him, reach across his neck and draw the knife from ear to ear. If you try to do it that way, odds are the blade will ride over the windpipe, and he will both fight and make plenty of noise. Noise is a bad idea right now or you would just shoot him. Instead, come up behind Sentry, cup his chin with left hand and pull up, while kicking the back of his right knee (reverse if you are left handed). Ram the knife through his neck, side to side, just behind the windpipe, blade edge out, then shove the knife forward, opening him up like a Pez dispenser. Be careful not to stab your own arm in the process of doing this. With the blood supply to the brain cut off, he will be unconscious in about 9 seconds, dead in a minute or so. This is very messy work and you will want to wash up before you eat dinner.

The Chinese Spoon is a more difficult process, but with more certain results. Use a spike or stiletto type knife and drive it under the center back base of the skull up into the brain. The result here is nearly instantaneous death, but there's a chance you'll hit too low and get the tip stuck in the spine or too high and blade tip will ride over the skull in a bloody but ineffective wound. It is even more rarely used, and nearly always only used by elite troops.

Hand to Hand Combat

Martial arts are very popular with service members, but there are application problems on the actual battlefield. The average fighting load of a Soldier in Afghanistan turned out to be about 62.43 pounds, with an approach march load of 94.98 pounds.

Reread that last bit, it's important. Basically, the approach march load is equivalent to carrying one Viet Cong.

The body armor vest alone weighs 30-35 pounds depending on the size. The helmet weighs in at around 2 to 3 pounds or so. Not wearing the armor and helmet is a really stupid idea, they actually stop bullets and, as mentioned above, getting hit by bullets hurts a lot.

All of this added weight makes a jumping spinning heel kick a bit difficult to execute. While there are hand to hand combat systems designed around the tactical military gear, they tend towards single-opponent styles. Subduing grips are useful in handling prisoners, but for the most part, martial arts are problematic. Most veterans lean towards a "prison yard rush-and-crush" where all the added weight of their gear is actually useful. Your helmet can be used to beat an opponent unconscious, if necessary.

Historic Weapons

Research is essential in any historic period, weapons can be particularly difficult to get right. One simple example -- ever notice the old civil war and early Wild West movies where the shooter points the revolver at the sky while cocking it? Most people assume that is because it is easier to cock the single action revolvers that way, and to a degree, that is true; but there is another even more critical reason. In cap and ball revolvers, if the revolver is cocked level, the spent percussion cap can fall into the hammer mechanism, jamming it, leaving you essentially unarmed in the middle of a gun fight. Good to know.

A lot of things like that are lost, and you really need to consult an expert if you aren't familiar with historic weapons, but there are a lot of experts around in various societies and they are usually really eager to share their expertise.

Final thoughts

This was really written to clear some space in my head, but I hope this is some help to somebody Or at least entertains a bit. I am planning on a few more volumes covering different things as time allows.