Indigenous Ability

[ I offer the following in advance of our addition of Frontier blade, tomahawk, and like weaponry to the RAW Program beginning 2019 .] Much advice on early frontier blade work [Bowie knife, dirk, tomahawk, etc.] is speculation. In some cases, good speculation, but in execution it appears to be a variation of some eastern blade work transposed with alternate terminology to give it a patina of New World verisimilitude. If one takes a deep enough historical dive there are enough resources to give a more accurate eye as to what may have actually occurred with early continental edged weaponry. References buried in contemporary letters, journals, archives and the like abound regarding such things as “ bad doin’s with Kansas neck-blisters .” [Knife fight using bowies.] Many of these refences make no mention of tactics or strategies just as most of today’s blade [and gun encounters for that matter] have little to do with skill and more to do with willingness to engage or respond w...

For those not in the know… James Albert Keating: Master at Arms - Astonishingly good with all small weapons. A graduate of the ESI Bodyguard academy. A knife designer of note. A writer of poem, prose and storied tale. Four books to his name so far. Currently residing on a large Arabian horse ranch in the mountains of Oregon. Keating is the owner and operator of the Comtech Training Studio known worldwide as home to a vast array of fighters, fencers and fast guns. Keating has operated the training hall since 1972 when he first began teaching publicly. James Keating has trained in various combative systems since age 10. Just shy of being sixty years of hard work in the martial arts and tactical fields. His 2018 season of training seminars looks as strong as one of his hand made Bowie knives. His beliefs are as follows: " We advance together into the unknown future with the strength of our abilities sustaining us through thick and thin. Skill banishes fear. Skill is the secret, ...