HA3 7.3 - Talk About Knife
For physical exercise and martial arts training, Hide didn’t see the need for him to guide Takeo. Other than sparring, he would leave Takeo to train on his own. And so, inside the marital gym the two trained in separate corner.
With ease, Hide completed the warm up, body stretching, and basic menu. Then, while waiting for Takeo to complete his training regime, he took his time to polish his knife throwing skill. As usual, it was underhand throw using nails as big as chopstick.
His target was 7x5 cm paper target he cut from newspaper. He stuck them on a wooden wall he built from used-wooden blocks, and would try to hit it from 3-12 meter distance. Then, Hide just put a new set of paper when Takeo arrived before him.
“Do the military personnel throw their knife like you?” Takeo curiously asked.
“No.” Hide casually replied. “They use overhand throw.”
“Why?”
“It’s the easiest knife throwing technique to master.”
Big question mark instantly popped up in Takeo’s forehead. “Why do they choose the easiest technique?”
“In average, basic infantry course last only for 4-6 months, and there are tons of things the instructors have to drill to the cadets’ body and mind,” Hide said. “If they have to put knife throwing in the menu, the instructors will definitely choose the easiest technique to master.”
“What about special force?”
“Mostly they also use overhand throw. Only a small number of specialists use underhand throw.”
“Why does specialist chose underhand throw? What advantage it has over the overhand throw?”
Hide could see that Takeo was very curious about knife throwing, and it seemed it had bothered him for a while. So, he decided to explain it as best as he could.
“Underhand throw doesn’t require big motion like raising your hand before making the throw. You can even do it using small concealed throwing knife. Therefore, the target won’t see it until it’s too late.” Hide showed the big nails in his hand to Takeo as he continued, “But, if the knife is too small to produce fatal wound, you have to pair it with lethal poison. That’s why, only specialist uses it.”
“In summary,” Takeo said. “It’s a throwing technique to ambush your target.”
“Sort of,” Hide said before reaching out for his smartphone and played a short video. “Check this out.”
The short video Hide showed to Takeo was a scene from Die Hard 2. It was when McClane went to Harlem wearing racist sandwich board. The local gangs then gave him a warm welcome. One of them even showed him a butterfly knife and a split second later it already stuck in the racist board hanging in McClane’s chest.
“So, something like this is possible to take place in real life,” Takeo calmly said.
“In real life, it will be more swift and silent,” Hide casually said. “The knife will also hit the target in the eye or jugular vein.”
“Can you do it?” Takeo curiously asked.
“I can.”
Wasting no time Hide stepped back five meters from the wooden wall, while Takeo moved aside. Hide then concealed one of the big nails in his hand at his lower back, horizontally. After that, he took a deep before reaching out for the concealed nail using his left hand and smoothly sent it to the wooden wall using underhand throw.
Tap!!!
Before Takeo realized that the nail had left Hide’s hand, it already hit one of the paper targets right in the middle.
“That’s pretty fast.”
“Yeah,” Hide casually said. “Now, let me show you the real value of underhand throw.”
Hide then walked back 25 meters away from the wooden wall. After looking at the ceiling, 6 meter high above his head, he then made four consecutive underhand throws. He threw the first nail higher than the second one, and so on. As the result, the nails made four different arcs, but landed on the wooden wall exactly at the same time.
T-ta-ta-tap!!!
Four nails were hitting four different paper targets perfectly. After looking at each paper target with wide eyes one by one, Takeo turned his gaze to Hide.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“That’s pretty amazing.”
“Yeah,” Hide replied while walking over to Takeo, and as soon as he arrived before him, he asked, “Do you remember the ambush on Toruma’s money courier in Tamie Alley?”
“Yeah,” Takeo firmly replied. “It’s the job where you accidentally encountered Shizuka.”
“I used this underhand throw to eliminate those couriers,” Hide casually said. “Three men, three nails, three kills from a dark corner 25 meter away.”
“I see.”
“At night and with application of correct poison, underhand throw is more effective than crossbow or silenced firearm,” Hide said as he recalled that in his previous life, at least a dozen or so of sleepy sentries died from his underhand throw. “It will kill your target almost in total silence.
And in outdoor, when I can throw the nail high enough, I can hit a human-size target from 40 meters.”
“I never thought a knife thrower specialist can be so lethal,” Takeo said in admiration.
Hide nodded before saying, “But they are very rare.”
“How rare?”
“Take Americ Delta for example,” Hide casually said. “They have a few hundred operators, but I believe only a handful masters the underhand throw to highest perfection.”
“What about 1st SFG from SDF?”
“Dunno.” A lie smoothly made its way through Hide’s lips. “They put lots of extra layer to cover their specialist in unconventional technique.”
“I see.” After a moment of pause, Take then gave Hide an expectant gaze. “Hide, teach me the underhand throw.”
Hide looked at Takeo for a moment and then nonchalantly said, “Don’t bite more than you can chew.”
“What do you mean?” Takeo curiously asked.
“Right now, you barely know how to use handgun, just starts learning precision shooting, and are still in the middle of physical and martial arts basic,” Hide casually explained. “Adding another skill you have to your homework won’t do any good. Even basic knife throwing will give you too much of burden right now.”
“I see,” Takeo dejectedly said but he didn’t argue. Then, he proposed another idea. “What about knife fighting?”
“Pretty similar to underhand throw, knife fighting also requires extensive training. It will take time more than the time you need to master handgun and carbine.” After a moment of pause Hide added, “But, nothing wrong to show you basic knowledge about knife user.”
Hide then took Takeo to armory and showed him the knife collection they had.
---
After arranging a number of knifes in the table, Hide took one of it and show it to Takeo, “This is Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife. British Commandos make it famous so some people call it British Commandos knife.
It’s designed to deliver lethal thrust, but it’s also perfect tool for silent killing.”
“Silent killing?” Takeo curiously asked.
“Yeah, silent killing,” Hide casually said. “The most basic way to do it is, approach your target from behind, and then cover his mouth while inserting the knife into his rib cage, from the back until it penetrates the chest.
If you hold the knife with right hand, go for the lung. If you hold it with left hand, go for the heart.”
While fixing his gaze on the Fairbairn-Sykes in Hide’s hand, Takeo asked, “What if the target wears body armor?”
“Go for major vein in the base of the neck. Insert the knife slightly diagonally from above.” After a short pause Hide added, “Or go for jugular vein. Insert the knife horizontally from the side, and then push it forward to make long and wide wound.”
“I see.” Takeo then pointed his hand at Ka-Bar in the table. “What about this?”
“This is Ka-Bar knife.” Hide put down the Fairbairn-Sykes and took the Ka-Bar while continuing, “It is already exist since WW II and Americ marines still uses it. You don’t need fancy technique to deliver lethal thrust or slash using Ka-Bar, brute strength alone is enough.
But this one is the version use by a platoon in Eisrel’s sayeret. They even develop a specific knife fighting technique to maximize its lethality.”
“How good is Ka-Bar?”
“The one used by Eisrel’s sayeret is very decent knife.” Hide took the Ka-Bar from its sheath as he added, “The blade is made of excellent material, lighter than other Ka-Bar, easy to stone, and once it’s sharp it stay sharp for long. The balance is also perfect.
As a fighting knife, it’s decent enough for both thrust and slash. As a multipurpose knife, it’s good enough to handle medium work.”
Takeo lightly nodded and then asked another question, “Are all special force folks good at knife fighting and knife throwing?”
“Definitely no,” Hide firmly replied. “Most of them know basic knife fighting. Some become master on it.
Some others prefer hatchet or short machete because it’s more useful when you need to clear vines, building shelter, or setting a trap. This folk treat their knife only as can opener or tool for small work.
Lots of Americ Seal and Green Beret chose hatchet or short machete in Vietnam, and the craft are being passed down to their specialist in jungle warfare as far as I know.”
“I see.”
“But, the one you should wary the most is knife expert who use small knife like this,” Hide said as he pointed at small knife with 4” handle and 3” blade. “They can make countless shallow but rapid slash and thrust.
If you let them to approach you, they will turn you into mincemeat in no time, and you will die from blood loss.
Usually, they are also really good at using their small knife for silent killing, by stabbing the spinal cord in your nape.”
“What about you?” Takeo curiously asked. “How good is your knife skill?”
“I’m good at close quarter silent killing and underhand throw, but I’m not a knife fighter,” Hide honestly admitted.
“Wait a second…” Takeo gave Hide a disbelief look as he continued, “How can you are not a knife fighter?”
“Simple,” Hide nonchalantly said. “It’s because I never have extensive training for knife fighting.”
“In that case,” Takeo said as he creased his brows deeply. “How do you handle a knife user in close quarter, without firearm?”
“I will use arresting art.” After a short pause Hide continued, “And I’m very good at it. I will put my opponent into submission if I want them alive.
When I want them dead, I will smash their head to the floor, break their neck, or stab their neck using their knife after I put them into submission.
I’m also really good at using small concealed knife to ambush careless idiot.”
Takeo nodded and said, “I see.”
After a moment of silence Hide said, “Later I will give you an extensive training on how to use baton stick to face both armed and non-armed opponent. But for now, let’s continue our spar as usual.”
“Roger,” Takeo calmly replied.
Wasting no time, the two then went back to martial gym.
*****