Concepts.
How Battlefield Proximity Combat is Different
The simple answer:
Our training starts with full combat kit and ends with full combat kit.
Our system is designed using principles from an era who fought in Kit
You will learn in a short time how to effectively move and fight with the restrictions of a 60 to 125 pound combat kit.
The full explanation:
Battlefield Proximity Combat is different from other combative systems because it is the first modern warrior combat system to focus on training warriors in full combat gear.
This is the foundation of BPC training, and it’s important because the cumbersome and restrictive nature of a full-combat kit changes the dynamic of what is applicable in a hand-to-hand combat situation. Even with recent advancements in the development of lighter and more flexible body armor, there hasn’t been significant improvements in the weight of the combat load. There is still the rifle, pistol, magazines, hydration pack, first aid kit, helmet etc., and all of these things add weight and impose movement restrictions.
Until BPC, the common philosophy has been to train warriors without their gear using the growing trend of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) as a foundation. Afterward, the select few who realize they would have to perform in armor try to engineer a way to use their techniques while in full combat kit.
This way of training has a number of faults. For instance, training time allotted for hand-to-hand combat is limited for most units. Thus, training without gear and then finding which of those techniques work in armor is not given due diligence.
Therefore, most people never pass the unarmored phase. Even if they do, their theories were never put to the full test of time or effort — we do what we are good at and have good results with). Most organizations don’t have the time to do the research and development it takes to truly answer the issues that arise from armored combat.
Additionally, most people don’t want to go through the trouble of getting fully kitted up to prove what works and what doesn’t.
In BPC, the idea is that it’s important to start training in armor immediately, especially for units that have less time allotted for combatives, but still do most of their fighting in gear. Starting in armor first means that warriors find out what works and what doesn’t work right away. They learn a new way of moving and a more efficient combat dynamic by necessity. The true revelation from this way of training comes when a warrior strips down their armor and combat gear. The less armor and equipment, the more agile and dynamic one can be. If it could be done in the armor and gear, then it will only have better results without them.
By doing this a unit not only saves time, they also keep from overwhelming the operator’s mind with to many tactical options. The more options, the greater the chance that hesitation could occur during duress-induced performance.
BPC further separates itself by taking its founding principles of combat from a society and time that has addressed the same issue from years of close-quarters battle.
BPC takes its foundational principles from the ancient warring states culture of Japan. During this time, of roughly 100 years in Japan’s history, warlords constantly battled over territory and thus battlefield fighting was of extreme importance. Since fighting in armor was the norm, how to properly win close-quarters engagements while armored was the focus. Thus, there were whole schools of combat that came from this era.
Instead of trying to figure out things that have already been answered, the BPC committee has spent years dissecting and researching these schools and principles to design a system that is applicable for today’s armored warrior. Unfortunately, many of today’s practitioners spend time trying to use systems that came from unarmored cultures as the foundation of their research and development, which is problematic in principle and design and ultimately wasteful of training time.
Currently, most of the combat schools that came out of Japan that have found their way to the mainstream trace their design and current method of instruction to the peaceful era of Japan. During this time, the battlefield was not the focus so the desire to design based on restriction of armor was obsolete.
There are many other reasons that make BPC different. However, the aforementioned is the main concept that sets this training method apart from the rest.
