Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection

Specialty Courses Go Beyond What Most Schools Teach

Jim Wagner 

What civilian self-defense schools teach Light Search & Rescue after a bomb goes off in a building or how to survive after a tsunami wipes out the infrastructure of a city? What other school is teaching professional bodyguard tactics to martial artists who want to know how to protect their loved ones, co-workers, or even strangers? The answer is REALITY-BASED PERSONAL PROTECTION is doing this. 

On June 1,2, and 3 I taught three Specialty Courses followed by the old standards Knife Survival and Knife Expert on June 4 and 5. These five courses were taught at my European Headquarters in Solingen, Germany. The names of the Specialty Courses were POCKET STICK & TACTICAL PEN, PROTECTING OTHERS, and URBAN SURVIVAL; courses I teach there only once a year. 

POCKET STICK & TACTICAL PEN is a very popular course in Germany especially since many European Union countries do not allow civilians to carry knives on their person. To carry any kind of knife in the United Kingdom or France is strictly forbidden. So, what is one to do for self-protection, and of course the answer is a comparable “weapon” such as a pocket stick (one popular brand name is the Kubotan) or a good sturdy tactical pen, which essentially can be used as a stabbing weapon. When I was in France in the month of May, and wanting to obey French law, I carried a tactical pen, which was originally a gift from Nicolas Marucci, the Reality-Based Personal Protection Director of Belgium. Now, for me a tactical pen is just a tool – I write with it. I have no intention of using it as a weapon. However, if I have to protect my life, or the life of another from an attacking criminal or terrorist, I might consider using a tactical pen as a means to stop the attacker. On the other hand, I could possibly go to jail in England for carrying a Swiss army knife for up to six months, but there is no regulations against metal pens – so far anyway.

PROTECTING OTHERS is a course I feel every martial artist should take. Most martial arts schools don’t teach their students how to protect their loved ones, co-workers, or strangers they may be inclined to help. I believe the only people really qualified to teach a course about protecting people are those who actually have protected others, like bodyguards. For two years (2000 to 2002) I was a Team Leader on the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Dignitary Protection Unit (DPU) and protected Sheriff Mike Carona and other VIPs (Very Important Persons). Before that, and after that, I have instructed many close protection courses for many police, military, and security units. In my former military police unit, just a few years ago, I was tasked as a Team Leader to protect a colonel during a visit by the Governor Jerry Brown to my military installation. With this extensive close protection background I don’t want the knowledge to go to waste, and so I teach my Reality-Based students some of the basics that they need to know to protect others in their “reality.” 

URBAN SURVIVAL is truly a unique course in the martial arts community. This class prepares students for natural and man-made disasters. Most people never learn self-defense hoping they will never be victimized, and even fewer people prepare for worse case scenarios: earthquakes, tornados, tsunamis, floods, riots, war, acts of terrorism, and a dozen other disasters that can change one’s life over night or even take it. 

In my Urban Survival course on June 3, 2013 I said to my students, “More people would be physically whole or alive today in Boston had they taken this course or my Terrorism Survival course.” I was referring to the Boston Marathon Bombing that took place on April 15 of this year. I continued addressing them, “Take a look again at the bombings. There were two bombs that went off. The first one was near the finish line, and that was a complete surprise. Short of staying away from special events or seeing a bomber plant a suspicious device the first bomb is hard to avoid. However, after the first bomb went off any Reality-Based student knows that they should expect a secondary device to go off. This is a standard tactic for terrorists. If I would have had my family there I would have left the area immediately after hearing the first bomb.” 

On my YouTube channel jimwagnerrbpp I have a video that I obtained from the Israeli government when I was over there teaching some of their police and military units that shows what Israeli first responders do, and how they immediately prepare for a secondary device. I placed this video on my channel over a year ago suspecting the United States and Europe would experience such attacks. The name of the YouTube video is called Jim Wagner TACTICS: Suicide bomber response. 

One student asked me, “What about saving people?” for he was facing a moral dilemma at that moment contemplating the horrors of the situation, and so I said to him, “You have to expect a secondary device to go off when the first responders are arriving to the scene, like that in Boston. If after the first bombing, provided you survived the initial attack, you decide to get out of the area and to a safety zone, there is nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, if you decide to help the wounded in the initial blast then that is noble, and of course you would not leave someone who care about behind. In this case you have two possibilities. After the first explosion you pull what victims you can with you to a safe area, or you treat them hoping there is no secondary device. If I am with my family I get them out immediately. If I am a first responder I take my chances. However, most of those in Boston didn’t even suspect a secondary device. This is why you are in class today.” 

After discussing possible disasters, even a war between Israel and Iran that could cut off some of the world’s oil supply out of the Strait of Hormuz that could conceivably start fuel rationing and food shortages throughout certain regions (after all, you need gasoline for trucks to transport the food and other goods), I talked about some basic inexpensive items everyone should carry in their car should a disaster strike.

Next came how to draw a Damage Diagram and a Tactical Diagram. Then came Light Search And Rescue should a building sustain damage in a disaster and victims need to be found and extracted. This, of course, dove tailed into victim rescue techniques, and students actually got hands-on training in how to get victims out of the hot zone. 

During lunch the huge blacked out training room was turned into a “disaster damaged room.” Tobias, the Reality-Based Personal Protection Director of Germany, and Patrick Wengler, the Reality-Based Personal Protection Director of Luxembourg, helped me fix the room up with collapsed pillars, debris, “broken glass,” fallen electrical wires, and our professional fog machine pumping in fog to simulated dust in the air. Students were divided into teams and ordered to go into the room and search for victims using the techniques they were taught prior to lunch. The scenario lasted for 45 minutes, but when everyone was finished they all agreed that they knew a lot more about disasters. The scenario I had choses was, “A bomb had gone off in the subway, parts of the structure had collapsed, most of the lighting was snuffed out because the shock front broke all the bulbs, and you have people in there that you know and want to save.” 

After the simulator we went out to the side of the building and learned how to dig victims out of the rubble, and plenty of rubble we had; the amount of an entire factory wall. However, a rescue can turn into a recovery – the recovery of dead bodies. A lesson was given on the proper way to place a person in a body bag. A lot of martial artists scoff at the necessity of such training, but should the day ever come that the corpses, the very ones that the authorities are unable to pick up for several days due to the lack of resources in an overwhelming situation, start spreading disease in their neighborhood they may then come to realize it is not such a far-fetched idea. Yes, the punching and kicking, the gun disarms, and the stick swinging may be the more glamorous part of the martial arts, but lessons like body bags and how to save someone after a mass shooting are just as valuable; not to mention breaking up some “same old” training.

After the Specialty Courses I taught KNIFE SURVIVAL and KNIFE EXPERT. I couldn’t squeeze in KNIFE INSTRUCTOR, like I do for the three-day Knife Camp, because I had to be in formation at 07:30 hours on Saturday morning for my military obligation, and to guarantee this I had to leave Germany on Thursday, June 6, 2013. 

Because I had to be In Germany a few days ahead of my courses I had some time to do a little sightseeing. Two of my good friends, Ernst and Sigi Felix, took me to the ancient Germany city of Aachen. This was a trip that was planned a few months in advance. 

This one-day excursion was important because it was not only a pleasant get-away, but it added to my ongoing research on human conflict. Aachen is an important historical site because this King Charlemagne ruled from when France, Belgium, and Germany were not even countries then. Charlemagne was an extraordinary leader who strengthened Christendom. In the Aachen Cathedral is Charlemagne’s throne, and it is where 30 German kings have been crowned. Several meters from the throne is a large gold casket that is believed to contain Charlemagne’s remains. 

How I Went From Traditional-based To Reality-Based

Jorg Kuschel 

I’ve been a traditional-based Karate practitioner for more than 30 years now. Since 1993 I’ve been the chief instructor of a small self-defense school called Kenju-ryu in my hometown of Neuss, near the metropolitan city of Cologne). March 2011 was my first contact with Jim Wagner and the Reality-Based Personal Protection system. I started with his Knife Survival course and at another time finished up my knife training with Knife Expert and the Knife Instructor courses that comprise the Knife Camp package. I brought along two of my black belts with me. Around the same time watched two of Jim’s DVDs that are sold in Europe: The Metric Arm Strikes & Blocks System and the Metric Leg Strikes & Blocks System. This gave me the desire to take other Reality-Based courses.

It was not long after being certified as a RBPP knife instructor that I started teaching my own students what I had learned from Jim.  Pre conflict, conflict, and post conflict was explained for the first time. I started included scenarios and introduced the Reality-Based Impact-Head. This is a wonderful tool, and if you use it once you will never go back to the normal focus gloves ever again.

At the beginning of the year 2012 five of my students enrolled into the Level 1 seminar, including me, because I just couldn’t get enough and I wanted to be certified as an instructor. After that I signed up for the Level 2 Instructor course that came around at the end of the year. Then a few of us even took some of the Specialty Courses that were taught by Jim at the beginning of this month: Tactical Pen, Protecting Others and Urban Survival.

Since I have been offering Reality-Based training at the school we have a few new members sign up, all women.

The school teaching traditional-based Karate all week except Friday; that day is set aside for Reality-Based training. In this training we have expel all the fancy techniques and train in only what is useful. For example, we no longer do the high kicks or Hollywood-like throws. When it comes to arm and leg strikes we do it the Reality-Based Personal Protection way and follow the 10 Angles of Attack. 

For me there is no reason to go back to all the fancy stuff or the Hollywood-like training anymore. I want to keep it simple using proven techniques that will only increase my chance of surviving a real attack. Believe me, to train in Jim Wagner’s Reality-Based Personal Protection System is an experience that will benefit any martial artist; even those who are traditional-based like I was.

Women’s Survival in Switzerland

Christophe Besse

Not far from Geneva, Switzerland 16 women gathered on June 8, 2013 to face their fears or toughen themselves up; or both. They wanted to be prepared for that possible day where they just might be attacked by someone who intends them harm: rapist, criminal, or even some sick psycho. The two-day course to prepare them for likely conflict is the Reality-Based Personal Protection Women’s Survival course developed by Jim Wagner.

Reality-Based Blade: Giving German Soldiers The Edge

Jim Wagner 

Mike (last name withheld for security reasons), one of my Reality-Based students and certified under me as a Knife Instructor, is an army officer currently serving in Afghanistan. He just sent me an email from the battlefield to let me know how things are going, and this is what he had to say:

“The day before yesterday an Afghan with gun did a “fast-attack” on our Belgian comrade mentors.  Yesterday there was a suicide bomber in Kabul, on our side the bastard was ‘neutralized’ because we are constantly tuned for combat.

It always comes back to the men at any moment whether they respond quickly or not, correctly, or efficiently. Therefore, we practice every day; even in 104 degree heat Fahrenheit.

Jim, do you recognize the knives?”

I looked at the photos that Mike had sent me, and I saw the knife that I had designed, and the very one I carry personally, in the hands of German soldiers.

Mike has been faithfully teaching his troops my Knife Survival techniques and training methods, and has actually supplied his men with the Jim Wagner Reality-Based Blade; manufactured by Boker, and one of their top selling tactical knives in the world.  I’ve had similar photos sent to me by American troops, and needless to say that there is a deep satisfaction knowing that I have contributed to the war effort. 

I’m praying for Mike, and all of the soldiers in his unit, that they all make it home safe. More than ever my motto is for you: Be A Hard Target.