British Military Combatives in the Queen's Service

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

FCCT has a fair amount of knife work, and was widely known; there are probably still practitioners.

Could I make a case for any practisioners that are still spry enough in 2005 to work full-time as instructors to healthy young people, many with a background in military or police work? As far as I know, organised training in the style mostly ended with WWII, i.e. sixty years before the first quick-reaction team started to form.

Originally Posted by johndallman

Does anyone know anything about Gurkha martial arts? There's nothing in GURPS Martial Arts, and while Stealth + Knife is clearly the core, there must be more.

Bando teaches kukri forms as part of its advanced curriculum, at least in the US (ABA Bando). It also seems very practical for overpowering possessed people and a fine basis for a general self-defence style. All in all, I would like it if I could justify Gurkha instructors teaching Bando to recruits, complete with instructions in how to use the kukri to decapitate.

On the other hand, I can't find any evidence that Gurkhas are any more likely to know Bando than any other soldier. In fact, I'm not sure that someone living near Oxford or Cambridge could find any instruction in Bando and it could be hard even for someone in London to find high quality training.

Basically, most Gurkhas seem to know a very basic form of military hand-to-hand, with a somewhat greater focus on knifework, specifically kukris. In GURPS terms, if such a style was defined, it would consist of Brawling, Knife, Spear and Stealth; with Judo and Staff as optional skills.

Edit: Combat Bando in East London looks intriguing. This could actually be it. I especially like that Lord Mountbatten is quoted on the page, because it provides a connection to the Queen. It wouldn't be all that implausible to postulate that some Gurkhas, interested in formalising their already formiddable mastery of their kukris, would study bando and other thaing.