Defensive Tactics

Safety is the primary concern for all Reality-Based Personal Protection courses, and you will be allowed to go at your pace at your own skill level. The second priority is that everybody keeps their egos outside of the classroom and fosters a positive learning environment. 

Before learning to fight you must know the proper distances at which to place yourself for various threats; different type of people approaching you. You will learn the three Threat Zones by participating in various real-life scenarios (role playing). This is also where you will learn the Alert Stance. This is the position you will be in prior to someone attacking you.

You will learn the Criminal Assault Cycle. Criminals and terrorists are not “ghosts.” They don’t simply appear out of thin air. There are steps they take to select you as their victim, and you will learn to recognize them.

How do you know if someone is going to attack you? There are tell tale signs known as Conflict Indicators, and a demonstration of each will be shown to you.

No matter how much you try to avoid a physical conflict there are always going to be those violent people that are determined to attack you regardless of your wishes or your attempts to diffuse a situation. For such cases you will learn the Imminent Conflict Stance (the fighting stance). From this stance will come your strikes, blocks, and movement.

In any physical conflict you must move. You’ll learn that there are only ten possible directions of Movement in any given situation. Not only will you learn how to move in unarmed situations, but in armed situations as well when a blade is coming at you or if somebody is shooting at you. This will be your second set of hands-on scenarios.

Whether you are a beginner or a black belt you will find a lot to learn on how to strike a human being with your fists, open handed, and elbows. These are all known as Arm Strikes, and like movement there are only ten possible directions. For the worse case situations you may face, that is to say life and death struggles, you will also learn deadly force techniques and training methods using your bare hands. With all of these techniques you will learn legal issues, using the Jim Wagner Use-of-Force Graph, which you will inevitably face if you use your martial arts skills.

Nobody wants to get hit by another person, and that’s why you will learn the ten Arm Blocks as well as a few specialty blocks for unique situations you may find yourself in during a physical altercation. You’ll also learn the Kinetic Sensation Response drill that will help you block or redirect the attacker’s blows in low light or no visibility fights.   

Your legs are very powerful and that’s why you’ll learn how to use them as effective weapons. Like Arm Strikes there are only ten Leg Strikes, be it with your foot or with your knees. You’re not going to learn the Hollywood stuff like head kicks and fancy spinning kicks, but a few good kicks that will stop an opponent with limited risk to you. These are the same kicks taught to every military and police academy worldwide.

Whether you will ever use it or not, you will learn to do Head Strikes, also known on the streets as “head butts.” You learn British, Irish, Australian, and Algerian methods.

GROUND TRAINING

This course is not a sport-based ground fighting class, but a tactical course for real-life street and battlefield situations.

This course starts with teaching you Falls and how to safely land on the ground if you are pushed, thrown, trip, or decide to go to the ground yourself; such as if someone is shooting at you and you are in an open area. When it comes to falls there are only nine possible directions, and you’ll learn them all coupled with tactical situations.

In this course you start learning how to use guns. Yes, that’s right – firearms. It is incorporated into Ground Survival curriculum. After all, criminals and terrorists carry guns. Should you ever have to take one away and save your own life with it you will know what to do. If you currently have a job that requires carrying a firearm this course will add useful techniques to your tactical tool box.

Perceptual Distortion Phenomena is something that few martial arts instructors ever teach their students because they have never been in a life and death fight, but you’ll learn the different phenomena that will happen within your mind during such struggles and how to overcome the effects. 

Once you are on the ground you will learn Ground Movement. This will be stuff you see only in the military, at a SWAT school, or as a sniper. You will learn by doing, and you will get valuable insights into what do during a bank takeover or terrorist attack.

In some physical conflicts you may be required to take someone to the ground. There are only four possible ways that a human being can stand, and only three easy-to-learn Take Downs techniques. You’ll also be able to perfect them in just minutes with Spontaneous Drills. 

There are a lot of aggressive people in this world that would do you harm, and one of the ways that they may try to take you down to the ground is by tackling you. Therefore, you will learn Tackle Defense against the three likely positions you may find yourself in with this type of attack.

Once you are on the ground we will teach you how to fight from there starting with Ground Conflict Positions. You will become proficient at protecting yourself against an unarmed attacker and against edged weapons or impact weapons.

You don’t want to stay on the ground for long so you’ll learn Ground Movement, Leg Strikes from the ground, and how to get back on your feet with two different Ground Recovery techniques.  

One of the most dangerous positions you can be in is when your enemy is on top of you on the ground, Mounted, either on your chest or back, smashing your face in or bouncing your head off the ground that’s underneath you. That’s why we will show you what to do from this situation in order to survive. You’ll learn through practical drills how to block incoming strikes, how to strike back, and how to get your enemy off of you, which we call Take Offs. Many of the training methods are unique only to the Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection system.

From the ground you will learn how to do Choke Escapes from someone is choking you with his weight on your neck, or if he has you from behind and is lying on your back.

Few systems teach ground fighting from your side, but RBPP does. You’ll actually throw Side Position (Horizontal) Arm and Leg Strikes. 

It’s most likely that your attacker will also have a weapon during a ground attack, and that is precisely why you’ll learn how to deal with weapons from this vulnerable position. The Ground Weapon Retention drill is a segment of instructions that can mean the difference between living and dying. Even the veteran cops and soldiers find this portion uncomfortably realistic, but highly informative.

Even though you may be on the ground in a compromising position to begin with you will learn how to turn the tables on your attacker and get into a better ground fighting position with the basic principles of Getting into the Guard Position and side Mount Escape. And, should your opponent ever get you between his legs in order to pull you into his web you’ll learn Counter Guard Techniques. 

The course ends with teaching you how to use your surrounding Environment as Weapons, which is just one more thing that separates us from all other martial arts systems. When you see the various attacks demonstrated you will instantly recognize them as the same type attacks that gang members do, inmates, and vicious street criminals. You will see what it is like from the perspective of your enemy in launching brutal ground attacks and how to defend against them as the law abiding citizen using walls, floors, chairs, or anything else around you at the time.

KNIFE SURVIVAL

Other than a gun, the knife is the most common weapon used in crime. Yet attacks are not just with knives, but with a wide variety of edged weapons: screw driver, syringe, broken bottle, a shard of glass, a shank in a custody environment, and anything else that can cut or stab. Knowing how to survive these gruesome tools is vital.

Right from the start you will see full-speed, full-contact, unpredictable criminal style knife attack demonstrations. Most participants with previous martial arts training will find that everything that they learned about knife defense will not work. However, you will be taken step-by-step through the Knife Avoidance drills that will immediately increase your survivability by 50%. You’ll then get a taste of the all important 21 feet / 7 meter Rule.

If you ever get into a real knife fight you will probably be injured after it is over. That is why you’ll learn Self Triage and First Aid when it comes to knife wounds.   

Knife fights are scary events, and that is why Mental Preparation is extremely important in this course along with the physical techniques and conflict drills. You’ll also get a little insight into how police officers prepare for knife attacks and the criminal mind that carries knives.

From the ancient book The Art of War by General Sun Tzu we get the famous expression, “know your enemy.” For just over an hour that is exactly what you are going to learn – how to think like the enemy. After understanding the Weapon Deployment Cycle you will see first hand World Wide Edged Weapons Attack Methods: gang attacks, prison-style attacks, criminal attacks, Middle Eastern terrorist attacks, military attacks, and the way various martial arts systems learn how to use a knife offensively. However, by the end of the day you will learn how to defend against any knife system once you know the Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection Knife Survival. This part of the course is purely for INFORMATION ONLY.  

Not only do you need to know how to defend against a knife, but you need to know how to use one yourself in self-defense situations. But, it does not necessarily mean you will have a knife. In a real situation you may be fighting for your life with a fork in a restaurant or aboard a passenger aircraft with a metal writing pen – the principles will be the same. To learn how to use a knife properly we start with the Edged Weapons Grips. You’ll know the good ones and to avoid the bad ones. It will only take minutes to literally master each one of them.

You’ll already have the perfect conflict stance after you have taken the Defensive Tactics course, but applying it to a knife situation is easy becoming the Knife Conflict Stance.     

In the world of knife fighting there are only ten angles in which to stab a human being, and only ten angles to cut someone. We call them the Jim Wagner Primary Knife Strike Directions. You will remember the rest of your life after graduating, because they are that easy. Immediately following the ten angles on both your right and left sides you will then be mastering the Directions Combinations.

For the purpose of understanding stopping power when it comes to knife conflict you will receive a brief lecture on the Medical Implications of Knife Injuries.

You will get a chance at using Improvised Edged Weapons in a controlled training environment and a look at the ingenious ways that the bad guys hide them and use them on your before you even know what opened you up. 

If there are only ten striking angles then that means that there are only ten primary Knife Blocks against an incoming blade. You will practice all ten of the blocks one at a time, and then you will advanced to blocking irregular realistic attacks. But, because real conflict always has exceptions you’ll learn a few Specialty Knife Blocks to help you survive those unique situations. 

What happens if you are up against someone equal or better than you with a knife, like, God forbid, another Reality-Based Personal Protection student. In that case you need to know Fakes. You’ll learn how to fake high and go low, and to fake low and strike high.

To become even better at blocking an incoming knife, whether you are armed or unarmed, especially in low light or no light situations, you’ll get to perfect the Armed (Knife) Kinetic Sensation Response Drill.

Now that you know how to strike, block, and move it all comes together in four Knife Conflict Drills. The final drill, the Freestyle Drill, is as close as you will ever come to a real knife fight, minus real knives. It is the final goal of the course – no rules, just like real life. However, we still maintain the utmost in safety.

One day your attacker may attack you in a confined space, such as in your home, in an elevator, or up against your car. In these cases you must you the revolutionary four steps in the Jim Wagner Knife Disarm Rule. Something that you can master in mere minutes, this rule is used by many police and military units worldwide.

Probably one of the worse situations in the world is you on the ground with someone on top of you sticking you with a knife. You are going to take some of the earlier skills you learned in the course, combine it with the Jim Wagner Knife Disarm Rule, and learn to get out of the kill zone. This not so pleasant drill is called the Freestyle Ground Drill.

The final two techniques of the course deal with Hostage Situations at Knife Point. This is when someone has a knife on you and you have no idea if they are going to kill you or not. You’ll learn a few techniques on how to get away.

CRIME SURVIVAL

This is an entire chunk of instructions missing in the traditional and sport-based martial arts. In this course you will learn how to survive the most common criminal attacks: robberies, bank hold ups, drive-by shootings, gang swarms, and more. This is the course that really makes you Become A Hard Target.

This course starts off by having you witness a crime. You will react as if it were the real thing. After the reenactment is over you will be taught the proper way to  Call the Police, Evidence Identification and Preservation, Contact with Law Enforcement, giving a Suspect and Vehicle Description, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and Courtroom Survival.

The next part is not easy – Multiple Attacker Survival. This portion of your training will prepare you for those fights when you are outnumbered. You’ll also learn how to protect someone who is with you in gang attack type situations. After this lesson you will truly know what works in a real fight and what doesn’t.

Look in any major newspaper and most crimes are committed with weapons: knives, guns, and impact weapons. You don’t see too many empty hand attacks. In the Knife Survival course we deal with knives, and in this course we meet head on the challenges of guns. There are two type of gun attacks, those at point blank range (in your face), or those at a distance (gun out of reach range). Both are extremely dangerous and that is why you will learn easy-to-learn and easy-to-remember Firearms Survival from all possible attack directions and aim levels. For close range distances the training includes Gun Disarms and from out of reach distances using the O.O.D.A. Process along with Moving Target Principles. For the close stuff we use rubber or plastic guns, for distance we use air guns that shoot plastic 6mm projectiles that sting a bit. You will know if you got “shot” or not. 

What is a Store Robbery really like? What is a Bank Robbery really like? How do criminals really act during a Street Robbery? Jim Wagner, the founder of the RBPP system, knows because he was a street cop for years and responded to robberies in progress and took reports for those already committed. Those years of experience come through in the training you will receive, and you’ll experience them through true-to-life scenarios.

If you are ever attacked you may not be alone. You may be with a loved one, a coworker, or a friend that you may have to protect. Jim Wagner’s years of bodyguard training and work experience in the field will benefit you in Protecting Others. You’ll learn the same up-to-date bodyguard techniques used by protection agents the world over. With micro scenarios you will be taught Pre-Conflict Preparation and then you will rehearse the techniques: Body Shielding, Bagpipe Hold, Cover & Evacuate, and then be tested with a realistic full scenario.

Have you ever thought about what you would do if someone threw a cup of acid in your face or sprayed you with incapacitating pepper spray? Most people don’t and most systems don’t teach how to defend against such attacks. Jim Wagner was the first instructor ever, civilian or professional, to teach Criminal Chemical Attack Defense beginning in 2002, and you will learn the same moves.

If a criminal does not come after you with a gun, knife, or chemical, the final weapons is an impact weapon such as a baseball bat, crow bar, candlestick holder, or something similar. Learning how to defend against bone shattering weapons is easier said than done, but you’ll learn how. This part of the course, Impact Weapon Survival, is done with padded weapons; enough to sting a little, but not enough to hurt you. In no time you will learn the right timing in how to escape or how to move in quickly and effectively and neutralize the threat. 

It’s obviously important to learn fighting skills in order to protect yourself, but prevention is far superior. The only way you are going to avoid getting attacked is to be trained in Situational Awareness and to learn about Criminal Counter-surveillance. Again, Jim Wagner’s years as a cop and as a counter-terrorist, not to mention being trained by the British police and American government in surveillance, is worth the price of this course alone. You will actually go on the nearby streets of the training facility and learn all kinds of important things: Types of Criminal Surveillance, the difference between Soft Targets and Hard Targets in the eyes of the criminals, Detecting a Foot Surveillance, Evading a Foot Surveillance, and Detecting a Vehicle Surveillance. These same skills can be passed on to a spouse or partner or to children so they can be safe in the environments that they move through.

You will finish Crime Survival with practical tips on Home Security.     

TERRORISM SURVIVAL

The Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection was the first civilian self-defense system to teach citizens hands-on survival techniques against terrorism and is still the leader today. The reason for its success goes back to Jim Wagner’s extraordinary training history and professional background. Not only was Jim Wagner a counterterrorist agent for the United States government, but he was also hired by other counterterrorist teams around the world to provide instructions: German GSG9, U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group, FBI SWAT, ICE Terrorism Task Force, Israeli National Police Academy, Royal Dutch Police Shiphol Airport, Brazilian Air Force GEPA, and the Argentinean GOE.

The first lesson begins with Hand Grenade / IED (Improvised Explosive Device) Survival. In just a few minutes you will master the same technique that combat troops learn. You will also learn how to protect others who may be with you during such a horrible attack. As a bonus you’ll be able to identify various after detonation scarring; something that Jim Wagner picked up in Israel from a police bomb technician.

After your first hands-on training has been completed you will get a brief lecture on the Definition of Terrorism and how to make yourself a Hard Target. You will then discover the different Categories of Terrorism, both International and Domestic brands. The final part of the lecture will be the identification of possible Terrorist Targets in your area or if you are traveling.

Next you will do a Public Transportation Seating Selection worksheet designed by Jim Wagner. After the worksheet is complete you will learn the Position of Advantage for the various modes of public transportation in the event of a terrorist attack while you are being transported. Discussed will be trains, buses, aircraft, and ferries.

Everybody needs to make their own Go Bag to have at hand in the event of a terrorist attack. These are the items you should always have with you in high risk locations. You will be shown what items you should have, and why.

Probably the most dramatic part of the course is learning Small Arms Attack Defense. This will prepare you for rapid terrorist attacks where hand grenades and assault rifles are used. Yet the skills that you will learn here are not only applicable to terrorist attacks, but the same survival skills you will need for an office massacre or a school shooting that seems to be increasing at an alarming rate. 

You will become familiar with the Terrorist Attack Cycle, which may one day help you spot an attack before it goes down.

Reinforcing some skills taught in Crime Survival this course goes a little more in-depth concerning Cover & Concealment Movement Exercises. Of course, all of this is learned the hard way as a “terrorist” is shooting at you with an air gun.

Learning how to survive means Room Entry Evasion. This means that you will learn how to get out of a kill zone, how to avoid the Fatal Funnel, your priorities once you have reached your first temporary safe area, and even how to do a Door Ambush if necessary.

Terrorists have been known to use high powered rifles to hit their victims. This means long range wounding or killing using sniper skills. As such it is necessary that you know some basic Counter-sniper Tactics; enough to know how a sniper operates, what to look for, and how to stay out of his sights. Jim Wagner’s extensive training in police and military sniper craft is a significant contribution to this course.

One cannot escape the fact that many terrorists use bombings to inflict destruction. That’s why the Terrorism Survival course includes a section of training titled Bombs. Should you ever get a bomb threat you will learn how to search for a bomb, how to identify a bomb or other destructive device, and how to properly evacuate the area. Even if the police come and search for it themselves, they do not always find it and you will end up coming across it anyway if it was originally overlooked. A bomb does not have to be planted by a hardcore terrorist, but some high school students have been known to make bombs, a recently terminated employee, a jilted lover, etc. You’ll get the same search procedures that the police and military get.

Do you know what the acronym CBRN stands for? The four letters mean Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear. These are the four possible methods of attack, in the order of sophistication, that terrorist will use. These dreaded weapons must be considered when you are living, working or traveling in certain areas. Some people think that there is nothing you can do if one of these things go off near you, but that is not necessarily true. It depends on the scale of the weapon and where exactly you are located at the time of the attack. You will learn what you can do and take a more proactive approach to your safety.    

The course finishes off with Kidnapping Survival. Whether the kidnappers want to take you for ransom, political gain, or just to kill you, you’ll learn how to avoid the situation all together. You’ll get to see kidnapping techniques firsthand, and more important, the ways to escape it. However, should you ever be taken hostage like one Reality-Based Personal Protection instructor has you will also be taught the crucial pointers of Surviving as a Hostage. 

Want to read about Level 2 Courses? Click here.