With deep backgrounds in martial arts and the Marine
Corps, Allen Elishewitz is one of the self-defense circuit’s
“best all-around trainers,” says author Paul Pawela.

It’s all about Defining Angles of Attack for Defensive and Offensive Counters with Knives and Guns.

Story and Photos by Paul Pawela

In studying the words of psychologist Jordan Peterson, one of his pearls of wisdom is to observe life’s patterns, which is a rudimentary must for success in everything life has to offer. Former Delta Force Commander Pete Blaber also reinforces this sentiment in his book The Mission, the Men, and Me. Commander Blaber points out that whether it be in combat, business or life, our mind’s ability to
recognize life’s underlying patterns is our most effective weapon.
Ernest Emerson, a master-at-arms and knife-maker extraordinaire, also states that criminals and terrorists follow patterns, even if only general ones. He points out some examples of a mugger, rapist, terrorist or murderer. Often, they plan to tie you up and move you from the initial attack scene. Once this happens, the odds are very high they will try to kill you once they have done what they wanted to accomplish.

Another pattern of criminal behavior is picking the easiest, weakest, most vulnerable and most unaware people they can. They want the people who will give them little to no resistance, and they always use tactics of surprise and ambush to accomplish their goals.
These patterns with regards to self-preservation have been true since the dawn of time and recorded as far back as the 1600s, when famed Japanese samurai Miyamoto Musashi wrote his classic book, The Book of Five Rings. Other classic books that one should read when learning and studying warlike
behaviors or counters to an enemy attack include The Art of War by Sun Tzu and On War by Carl Von Clausewitz. Modern works on the subject include On Killing and On Combat by David Grossman, Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee, The Seven Essential Skills Needed to Survive a Deadly Attack by Ernest Emerson, The Reluctant Partisan by John Mosby, and FBI Miami Firefight by Edmundo and Elizabeth Mireles.

While the average citizen is determined to go about their business to provide for their families with
food, shelter and quality of life, many families don’t have a plan to defend what they love if faced with a criminal confrontation.

As discussed in American Shooting Journal in previous articles, certain elements must be reinforced when learning how to implement self-defense in the realm of deadly force. The key component when it comes to defensive techniques is that the basic skills are always simple, straightforward and practical, and can be applied equally to both young and old, male and female. The other important thing is finding an instructor who knows the right curriculum that applies to civilians specifically, and works on the streets and in our courts to be absolutely correct on both counts.

ONE OF THE few instructors I’ve found who offers top-notch instruction that relates to all walks of life is Allen Elishewitz. He has been on my radar for years, but not for what you may think. Elishewitz has the reputation of being one of the best tactical custom knife-makers in the world. This makes sense because
some of the best ever to make swords or short swords (today, our modern short swords are knives) were the Japanese samurai. Since their swords were a way of life for them, the samurai sword was tested by highly specialized professionals. The sword would be fitted into a special mounting and test cuts would be performed on bodies, bundles of straw, armor and metal sheets. Elishewitz continues the tradition of testing – although with more modern technologies – which makes his knives highly desired amongst the elite counter-terrorists in the world. So it should be no surprise that Elishewitz would also be a tactical instructor, under the company banner Tactician Concepts (tacticianconcepts.com).