Originally Posted by
Cecil Burch
And here is the great secret of whatever H2H ability that SOF guys have for the most part - it has almost zero to do with technique, and everything to do with attributes. These are people who have been through an incredible crucible of selection and have demonstrated that they have superior physical and mindset attributes at a higher level than 99% of the population. And then that is reinforced through dedicated training (not H2H, but general mission oriented) and for most of them over the past 19 years, they also have actual combat experience. Take that stew and tell them to fight someone else empty handed, they will do pretty well against most people.
But that does not mean they know much of authentic, TRANSFERABLE H2H knowledge. When I first got to be buddies with Kyle Lamb, I was still in the "man, these Tier 1 guys are deadly fighters" and he set me straight right away. Few of them get any training beyond the already in place military combatives stuff, and even the units who do spend a little more time finding something else tends to do it in a short term course - i.e. maybe a 5 day long class with some expert, and then after have to squeeze in bits of practice time around all the other stuff they do. H2H is not high on the list for most when they rarely operate solo. It is much more efficient when they are in contact with a bad guy to have another unit member blow the guy off them with gunfire than it is to punch/elbow/knee/headbutt/eye gouge/choke. Most guys who go to a BJJ academy 2-3 times a week for two years have more dedicated empty hand training than all but a tiny fraction of SOF members.