The first time I trained professionally was in July of 2009, with Tactical Defense Institute. I attended their Tactical Rifle 1 class, and it opened my eyes to all the things I didn’t know, I didn’t know. From there, I started branching out to other training cadres and again had my eyes opened. Something that had a great impact was the “combative fighting stance.”

The Combative Fighting Stance

The scariest part about all this is that back then, I was still a full-time cop. I quickly came to realize that as good as my academy training had been, and it was considerable, I was now in the deep end. I had finally entered the place in life where the “safeties” had been removed.

Over the next several years I attended different types of training classes that ran the full spectrum of weapons, tactical, and medical disciplines. It wasn’t until I trained with Dave Spaulding of “Handgun Combatives” in September of 2016 that I understood what had been missing all those years. It was the “combative fighting stance.”

Be Pugnacious If Demanded of You

Dave Spaulding begins every class with a brief PowerPoint presentation about the concepts of a combative mindset. The first thing he defines for you is the word “combative.”

“Webster’s dictionary defines combative as one who is ready or eager to fight,” Dave would say.

I have always found that definition a little bit loose, but it does get to the point. Having a combative mindset, to me, means that when I am in a public space, my eyes are sweeping over everyone and everything to ensure I don’t get caught unawares.

No one is capable of always “being on.” However, we’re all capable of varying levels of observance of our surroundings. That is part of what it means to have a combative mindset.

When it comes to the fighting portion, you must have a combative fighting stance. A combination of Dave Spaulding and Rich Nance of Wartac CQC has helped me fill in all the gaps missing from my law enforcement training.

The only two stances taught in the Academy were the Weaver and the Isosceles. Not only were they the only two that were taught, they were the only two that were acceptable. Everything else was “tactical tomfoolery.”

Instructors who don’t understand concepts will ridicule them in hopes of invalidating them. The fighting stance is most assuredly one for which I have taken a lot of ridicule. This is because anytime you watch me in any of my videos, you will see me begin the fight in the Combative Fighting Stance (CFS).

Training the Combative Fighting Stance with Wartac CQC

As I mentioned earlier, Rich Nance of Wartac CQC is the other half of my adoption of the CFS. Rich Nance wrote a book that truly transformed my outlook on altercations involving handguns. The name of the book is “gunFIGHT!: An Integrated Approach to Shooting and Fighting in Close Quarters.”

That book changed my total view of handgun and empty-hand techniques. I attended two of Rich’s classes and, as with Handgun Combatives, wondered why I’d never seen these concepts before. It’s because LE training is driven by an effort to minimize litigation. It is not focused on the well-being or survival of the law enforcement officer.

So, in essence, if not in reality, LE training is written by attorneys. It bears noting that Rich Nance is a police officer. So, for him to write this book is a massive departure from the things he was taught, as well.

Always Be Ready to Move

The CFS begins with your feet spread wide apart. This is unlike in the Weaver or Isosceles stances where your feet are shoulder width apart or thereabouts. However, the CFS demands that your feet be spread wide apart, like the base of a pyramid.

This, in turn, demands that your knees be slightly bent and that you are leaning forward at the waist so that your body’s balance point is actually forward on the balls of your feet. This puts you in a position where you are ready to move and fight.

Your arms are bent at the elbows and pushed out halfway in front of you. Correspondingly, your hands are just below eye level, splayed out in a gesture of “Whoa, I’m no threat to you.”

The other key part of the CFS is that your trailing heel should be slightly elevated off the ground. This gives you somewhere to go should you take an impact and are shoved rearwards.

An Intuitive Fighting Stance

The CFS is a total departure from everything I was ever exposed to. Yet, it seemed the most intuitive way to stand for fighting purposes. All of the legacy fighting positions I had ever been exposed to always had my body squared off to the threat.

Much of this comes from the LE mindset that our body armor should always be facing the threat. As a result, the incoming rounds are more prone to hit the front panel rather than skipping past or off the edge.

Even though modern body armor has wraparound side panels, the armhole is always a thing of great concern. Therefore, I believe that LE will always teach a “squared-off” fighting stance.

The funny thing is that the CFS also allows you to squarely face your threat. The “problem” with it is that it looks, well, combative, and combative is not politically correct. As a society, it is easier to bury cops than it is to train them, all of them.

The Demure Stance of Acquiescence

That was actually going to be the title of this article, but I figured you guys would probably pass over it if you had read it. However, that is what the CFS actually is. To the uninitiated, it is the body language of surrender.

There is nothing more alluring to a criminal than their victims being in submission to them. The best part about the CFS is that you can be glanced at and immediately dismissed as a “non-threat” when, in reality, you are the most dangerous person in the room.

When I teach this stance, I show two different ways to begin the fight. I then ask the students to tell me which one is more threatening and which one is more likely to get you shot. The first is the CFS, and the second is the one we most often see in competitive shooting, where the student is wearing the weapon in an Appendix Inside the Waistband holster, also known as AIWB.

However, since the CFS also goes with AIWB, we’ll call the second stance the Competitive Stance Appendix or CSA. That stance usually begins with the student’s hands hovering on or near the hemline of their cover garment.

I have railed against this for a decade, and it is still a thing. Why is it a problem? Remember the question I posed earlier? I ask the students to tell me which one is more threatening and which one is more likely to get you shot. If the options are A. CFS and B. CSA, the answer is B for both questions.

The Case for AIWB Carry

A Delta Operator once told me that the reason that they started using AIWB was because they were going to places in the world where they were not supposed to have handguns on them. I know this is really hard for some of you to believe, but the United States military isn’t exactly known for making wise choices regarding protecting our warriors. Shocker, right?

Anyways, this Operator told me they started cobbling together concealment holsters that could be worn in the AIWB position. The reason involves being patted down. In some cultures, getting close to someone’s genitals is considered impolite. So, the person checking you is less likely to grope your groin for fear of offense.

So, if you’re carrying a sidearm in a modified holster that you can easily tuck down into your crotch, it is less likely to be found. When self-defense is paramount, you will find a way to have your sidearm with you. Even if it’s not presently being worn on your “side.”

Right in the Kisser!

The other part of the CFS is that it positions you to launch forward with a forceful strike. This is obvious if you’re talking about empty-hand techniques. However, even more interesting is when you use your handgun as the punching implement.

During my training, I’ve had the benefit of making full-force contact against a rubber ballistic wall in a live-fire range. This was immediately followed up with shots to the torso and face of the target. The amount of sound and blast pressure that comes back at you is enough to put your eyes into nystagmus if you do not squint just before the moment of impact.

As with any training, it is important to train in as many live fire techniques as possible.

This class required that we stan within arm’s length of the ballistic wall. Coincidentally, the name of the class was Arm’s Length Gunfighting, taught by the aforementioned Wartac CQC. Rich Nance had us face the wall and muzzle strike the threat, then tap rack and bang.

It will pucker you up to feel that pressure wave hit you from the muzzle blast. Even practicing the technique with safetied pistols was still enough to really give you a sense of how utterly violent—but effective—it would be to strike and/or take a hit delivered by a steel pistol slide and muzzle. I’ll pass!

Combative Fighting Stance: Setting Yourself Up for Success

I am grateful that I’ve had a chance to train with so many people. Likewise, I will always do my best to convey these techniques and experiences to you all.

The combative mindset is still not being adopted by people, and it is to their own detriment. There is no better way to set yourself up for success than learning and implementing the Combative Fighting Stance.

As always, God bless you all, get those guns out and practice. Have a good one!