Eskrima Kombat

I have just published a book on Amazon Kindle, Steel Baton EDC (Every Day Carry).

If you have you read this blog for any length of time, you know that I feel that many martial arts are trapped in
a time warp, using training methods, weapons, uniforms, and customs that made sense years ago in another culture and another environment. Martial artists commonly don’t examine these cultural trappings and anachronisms, such as going barefooted, swinging swords and nunchaku, kicking to the head, deep stances, etc. More insidious are subtle assumptions, such as fights beginning at a comfortable distance, that combatants are known to each other (and not jumped from behind), or that fighting starts after your weapon is drawn, and that weapon just so happens to be a hook sword or a three-sectional nunchaku.

 

This is a difficulty that I have with the Filipino martial arts: When are you going to have your stick with you? While a 28-inch rattan stick is a good training tool, and fits within the context of the Philippines, it is out of place here in the US. Each of us must ask a critical question –what weapons are legal and practical for me to carry in my everyday environment?

 

If it’s legal for you to have a 28-inch rattan stick, it’s legal to have more effective weapons such as the baseball bat and the short, heavy stick. The club and short club weapons like the sap and the blackjack are ignored in the FMA, yet we know that these are effective weapons, in addition to being more practical to carry.

 

For me, the collapsible baton is a game changer. It is the modern version of the stick, but with the advantage that it can be practically carried on a daily basis. This is the central premise of Steel Baton EDC; carrying a collapsible baton like the ASP P16 and a neck knife. The baton and the knife work synergistically. The baton offers a non-lethal capability that the knife lacks. The knife can be used to deter takedowns and grappling, the weaknesses of the stick. The knife can be used to create room to draw the baton.

 

Let’s return to the problem of Filipino martial artists beginning weapon in hand from a fighting stance. Reality is that you may very well have to draw your weapon while under attack. Steel Baton EDC begins with an instinctive empty-hand counter-ambush technique. This technique can also be “weaponized,” meaning that it can be done with weapons in the hands. The aim is to create a gap so that you can draw your main weapon, which could be the ASP P12, a sap, a blackjack, a knife, or a gun.

 

The big picture is a versatile system, that can be used with a variety of weapons, from knives, to clubs, to tactical pens and guns. Everything in Steel Baton EDC is compatible with everything in Street Fighting Weapons. I was just reading a steel bangle technique while updating Street Fighting Weapons and was surprised at how well it fits in with “The Move,” the instinctive counter-ambush technique in Steel Baton EDC.