Eskrima for Military Forces

Eskrima is not only suitable as a sport or self defense

practised by civilians, military personnel also use this
realistic martial art from the Philippines. Eskrima is ideal for
self defense as it has almost unlimited flexibility. Think of
short stick, knife, telescope, lantern, the possibilities are
endless. So at the request of Military Forces worldwide
Frans Stroeven has trained a number of them in the Martial
Art of eskrima, in the system known as Stroeven Combat
System. At our request we asked Frans to talk about
training the special forces. First we came to talk about the
Brazilian Federal Police Special Forces (C.O.T.)

Brazilian Federal Police Special Forces

(C.O.T.)
The COT - Commando de Operaes Tticas (Command
of Tactical Operations) of the Federal Police was created in
1987 with a mission of responding to terrorist attacks inside
the country. They participate in high risk missions as drug
seizures, expropriation actions, rural conflicts, VIP security,
dismantling of criminal organizations, and are commonly
used to escort high risk prisoners.
This special unit is located in Brasilia, the capital city
of Brazil but can be operational everywhere in Brazil
within 2 hours. At their request Frans trained these

special forces in eskrima and

Knifefighting. These guys are
already very well trained in Brasilian
Ju Jutsu, thai-boxing etc. My
assignment was to teach them
knifefighting and stickfighting (short
stick). The training lasted for eight
hours a day, which of course is quite
heavy for most of us but for them it
is normal. These guys were in top
condition so I gave them high level
workouts.

Box system
The box system is a concept that
Frans specifically designed for
specific groups. Such as the police,
military and special forces. The box
system focuses on short effective
training methods that are easy to
learn and highly effective. Frans:
Actually I designed it for a simple
reason. Hand to hand combat should
be as short as possible and the
techniques as simple and effective as
possible. The COT Special Forces
were trained in this system and that
worked out perfectly. I taught them a
variety of attacks which can be
executed from any position. We also
trained on blocking and disarming,
locks and aggressive drills. You can
imagine that within 8 hours a day of
training these guys achieve incredible

results. The last day of training we

ended with special training in full
uniform and with all weapons.
Frans told us afterwards that these
guys got 50 strokes with the stick
when they let loose of the stick or the
knife during training. No pain, no
gain Frans added, with a smile.

Knife fight
Knife fighting is also an important
part of training. Fighting without
fighting, Frans calls it. Because
fighting for special forces
must be as short as
possible. So we use very
direct techniques aimed at
finishing off the opponent
as quickly as possible. But
also we trained on
awareness. What a knife
can do as an effective
weapon is often under
estimated, to demonstrate
this we did an exercise.
Knife against gun, I can
imagine how surprised
many of them were when
they noted how fast a knife
attack can be carried out.
They did not have time to
draw their weapon in time,
let alone fire it.

To the other side of the

world:
Training with the Armed
Forces of the Philippines
At the invitation of the Military
Forces of the Philippines, Frans gave
a two day teaching course to various
combat units and special forces.
Frans: For me this was a big honor to
be out there and train Filipino men.
Since I am not a Filipino myself. So to

train them in my way of eskrima SCS

was quite exceptional. These guys
already mastered in eskrima and many
of them are members of the Arnis Team.
So they already have a background of
intensive eskrima training.
Frans: To be honest, training these
guys is a big challenge. The guys of
course wanted to experience and test
my eskrima and my system, so the
atmosphere was a little tense at first.
Me and my parter Ahmed performed a
first action and after a short silence we
got a big round of applause.
They also had to make contact with
the body and get used to it. Cause in
my system we train with the stick on the
body (full contact). They eventually liked
working like this. After two days of
training in my system, these
eskrimadors started to ask me
questions about my style. The results
were great.

Knife fight
Knife fighting was also highly
appreciated by the Filipino military.

Since knife fighting is in their blood and

the best knife fighters come from the
Philippines. But one can tell that SCS
knife fighting is different than what
others might be doing. Frans' knife
fighting is a mix of Filipino techniques
and
European
techniques
supplemented by the Dutch school
which aimes at realistic fighting
methods. Not some weird training
methods from which you will not gain
anything but realistic aggressive
techniques that can be put to use at any
time. Frans: Only in this way you can
train soldiers so that they can use it in
action.

SCS
The Stoeven Combat System as a
concept will work for everyone.
Regardless of if you are military or
special forces or just someone who
wants to open a school and want to
teach these dynamic fighting skills,
contact Frans Stroeven and you may
also be trained in SCS. He welcome you
in his World in the World of Eskrima.