An American of Greek descent, Jim was quite the street brawler in his younger days, and his quest for dominance there led him into the formal martial arts. He studied them both widely and deeply, and also rediscovered Pankration, the ancient Greek “all powers” fighting art that encompassed grappling, striking, and even biting. Some theorize that Karate developed in Asia from Pankration brought by the soldiers of Alexander the Great. Jim single-handedly revived Pankration in modern times, in my opinion, and now it’s much the rage among mixed martial arts practitioners. It is significant that Jim achieved that feat in the 1970s and ‘80s when most martial artists didn’t “mix.”

Arvanitis has recently completed some new projects, two books and two training DVDs.  From Black Belt Books (www.blackbeltmag.com) comes the volume martial artists will want to read, “The First Mixed Martial Art: Pankration From Myths to Modern Times.” It’s a fascinating study of the history and the philosophy of the art.  The best “video accompaniment” to this Arvanitis book is probably Jim’s 350-minute, 2006 video from Paladin Press (www.paladin-press.com), which graphically explains and demonstrates the vast repertoire of Pankration techniques. The video’s title is “Secrets of Pankration.”

But for the average person concerned with self-defense, as well as the dedicated martial artist, we have “Battlefield Pankration” in both book and video form, from Paladin. This book is subtitled “Lethal Personal Combat for the Street,” and the reader should take the title seriously. While there are some takedowns and other techniques that could restrain an attacker without physically harming him, Jim often goes on the assumption that you could be in a fight where you face fatal, crippling, or disfiguring injury if you don’t render the opponent wholly incapable of attack. The book shows you how to crack skulls, break necks, and empty eye sockets.

Jim’s hallmark since I’ve known him has been an extremely deep understanding of human kinesiology.  He excels in teaching how to generate power, whether it’s peeling off an attacker who has you down and is strangling you, or delivering your own punch or kick with bone-breaking, organ-crushing force.

Most self-defense books will say something like “gouge his eyes out” or “hit him here as hard as you can,” and will leave the advice at that. In “Battlefield Pankration,” Jim teaches everything from exactly how to perform that eye-gouging to precisely how to set your body to throw a punch or kick with your full weight behind it that will have a good chance of ending the fight.

In a world rife with phony self-defense instructors, I can say with some authority that Jim Arvanitis is One of the Real Ones…and, among those, one of the very best.  I definitely recommend all four of the above works to martial artists and legitimate self-defense instructors, and the “Battlefield Pankration” book and video both to those experts and to ordinary citizens who want to learn more about surviving when someone tries to take their life, and they have only bare hands with which to fight back.

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Awww…how sweet.

The 8^th, of course, was the one year anniversary of the grotesque mass murder in Tucson, Arizona by Jared Lee Loughner.  His most famous victim, left brain-damaged for life, was Arizona Congressman Gabby Giffords.  She was clearly his intended target.

The gun-banners made much of the fact that Representative Giffords was shot with a Glock 19 9mm pistol.  They neglected to mention that Gabby Giffords had, prior to the shooting, proudly stated that she owned and had a license to carry a Glock 19 of her own. The mass-murderer was put to the ground and captured by courageous citizens, including ARMED citizen Joe Zamudio, who was carrying a pistol of his own at the time, a Ruger P95 9mm.

But lighting a candle will prevent the Jared Loughners of the world from carrying out their monstrous deeds?  Good Lord…it’s like the candlelight vigils from the Take Back the Night Movement.

It’s nice to know that people care. Hell, I care. I’ve spent an adult lifetime learning how to ward off monsters such as Loughner, and sharing that knowledge with others.

Some pro-gun bloggers got together and did their own January 8 counterpoint to the Brady thing.  I wish I had contributed more to that: all I did was take a picture of some strong women with candles and nine millimeters at a Glock match in Clearwater, Florida on the 8^th. (Great match, by the way, and kudos to the Wyoming Antelope Club in Clearwater for putting it on.)

The decades have taught me that women won’t take back the night by marching with candles. They’ll take it back when those who prey on them learn – some the hard and final way – that their intended victims can be more dangerous to them, than they are to their intended victims.

Those you see below have it right.

If some monster tries to rape or murder a woman I care about, I don’t want him to see the flickering light of a candle.

I want him to see a muzzle flash, from the front.

I hate to paraphrase Al Capone, but a candle and a Glock will earn women more safety than just a candle. From left: Gail, Kitty, and Lisa Marie of the Alabama Holster Company’s all-girl pistol team, January 8, at Glock match in Clearwater, FL.

And here, more guns n’ candles…

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I really enjoyed reading the commentary on my previous blog entries about his visit, and his familiarization with the guns he’ll be working with in the USMC.  I have no illusions about being able to train the lad better than the Marine Corps, but at least he won’t be flabbergasted by totally new technology and technique when he gets to Basic.  I agree in theory with those commentators who’d like to see some elements of the Swiss Model of citizen/soldier training incorporated in the USA, but I also agree with those who sadly say that the budget isn’t there to make it happen.  That’s why I think it’s important for us, the civilian friends and families of the next generation of fighting men and women, to give them the kind of head start that allowed Sergeant York and Colonel George and Audie Murphy and Carlos Hathcock to come back from war in one piece…and to leave so many enemy soldiers neutralized by the time their duty was done.

As I mentioned earlier, the little .22 Long Rifle Smith & Wesson M&P rifle, an AR15 clone with the exact same “manual of arms,” proved to be a great training tool.  It’s time to be thinking about “Christmas Presents for Shooter Folk,” something I touch on annually here.  The M&P .22 is available for under $500.

In my December 12, 2010 post here almost a year ago (archive function is at the right) I mentioned the Konus spotting scope as an excellent Christmas present. It has certainly served me well in the intervening year. The Konus was on the firing line the whole time the grandson was shooting at Appleseed last week, and is still an excellent buy. Ordering info is in that prior entry.

Konus spotting scope allows doting grandmother to tell when two of her grandson’s .22 slugs have gone through the same hole downrange at an Appleseed shoot.

Firing a SOCOM-16, spent 7.62mm NATO (.308 Winchester) case is jetting from ejection port (arrow) and dust is rising from powerful impact into backstop, but grandson still has muzzle on white silhouette downrange for the next shot.  ”Da kid done good.”

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