SCARS (Special Combat Aggressive Reactionary System)
American commercial close combat system by Jerry L. Peterson. Navy special forces used it in the nineties, but the extent of that use is disputed.
Quick Facts
United StatesCharacter & Origin
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for SCARS (Special Combat Aggressive Reactionary System)
About SCARS (Special Combat Aggressive Reactionary System)
SCARS (Special Combat Aggressive Reactionary System) is an American close combat system created by Jerry L. Peterson. Forbes magazine (2001) describes him as a Vietnam veteran of the army's 173rd Airborne unit who studied various martial arts after his service, built his own style from wartime experience and in the mid-eighties opened a kung fu and karate studio in San Diego. According to Forbes, the system rests on preemptive attack rather than traditional self-defense. It teaches a series of attacking maneuvers and exploits the opponent's predictable involuntary reactions. According to a report on the Fighting Arts website and to Wikipedia, it uses no blocks and consists only of finishing strikes. A 1994 letter from a Naval Special Warfare unit commander, whose scan the SCARS website publishes, states that the system was introduced into the Navy special forces community in 1989 and included in the first phase of BUD/S training. The training manual for instructors from the Naval Special Warfare Center dates from April 1994. Wikipedia, citing a document from April 1998, states that the course was cancelled by then, whereas the SCARS website claims the system was an official program until 2002.
History
Forbes (2001) states that Peterson's military service is verified, but the number of enemies he claims to have killed cannot be independently verified. According to the magazine, he opened the studio in San Diego in the mid-eighties. The SCARS website says of itself that Navy special forces headquarters in Coronado noticed Peterson in 1988, tests ran from November 1988 to February 1989, and around April 1989 the Navy signed a contract. A 1994 letter from the commander of Naval Special Warfare Unit TWO, published as a scan on the SCARS website, states that Navy special forces have no standardized close combat system and that SCARS was introduced into their community in 1989 and included in the first phase of BUD/S training. It identifies Peterson as the system's developer from Joyas Corporation. The training manual Trainee Guide for SCARS Level I Instructor, number K-431-0096, dates from April 1994 according to its title page. In February 1995 the Naval Special Warfare Group ONE command accepted an offer from J. L. SCARS, Inc. for the rights to reproduce the manual and a training tape. English Wikipedia, citing an internal document dated April 17, 1998, states that in the more than two years before no unit had completed the thirty-day SCARS course and that the course was cancelled. The SCARS website claims the system was an official program from 1989 to 2002.
How it differs
Forbes (2001) says that Peterson despises classical martial arts. The magazine quotes W. Hock Hochheim, according to whom it is impossible to guarantee how anyone will react to a fist, knife or pistol.
Technique
Forbes (2001) writes that Peterson's program teaches a series of attacking maneuvers and exploits the opponent's predictable involuntary reactions. In his vocabulary the defender is called a fighter and self-defense hostile control. Peterson told the magazine he teaches no punchy-kicky. In a report for the Fighting Arts website, Herb Borkland says that SCARS uses no blocks at all and consists only of finishing strikes. According to him, the system's core is the concept of autokinematics. English Wikipedia, citing Borkland, adds that strikes to vulnerable nerves replace blocks, the aim is to trigger a spinal reflex, and the main elements are geometry, physiology and physics without a spiritual component.
Training
According to Forbes (2001), the training often leaves participants bruised. One exercise involves firing a .38 caliber revolver at another person with real powder and foam plugs instead of bullets. According to the magazine, Peterson charged 1,800 dollars for a three-day seminar and 50,000 dollars for a one-day private lesson, and sold video sets for up to 1,130 dollars. Borkland describes for Fighting Arts a forty-hour camp for 5,000 dollars and travel expenses, and training tapes from 1993.
Today
Navy Times (2016) states that in 2011 Navy special forces commissioned close combat training from Linxx Global Solutions, which has a mixed martial arts academy in Virginia Beach. According to the article, before that they used the Close Quarters Defense system of Duane Dieter, adopted in 1989. The article does not mention SCARS. A thesis by Lorah from the Naval Postgraduate School (2010) states that SEAL units have no standardized close combat program and the training style depends on the hired instructor. The SCARS website says of itself that the system is still an official course because it has Department of Defense course number K-431-0096, and it offers seminars, online training and programs for the police.
Did you know
English Wikipedia states that the SCARS videos came out in 1993 as the most expensive collection of self-defense videos and earned a million dollars in the first nine months. According to it, a SCARS television show was written and cast in 1999, but it was never made. The expansion of the acronym varies. The 1994 manual and Forbes write System in the singular, the 1994 unit commander's letter writes Systems.
Frequently asked questions
Who created SCARS?
Jerry L. Peterson created the system, according to Forbes (2001) a Vietnam veteran who opened a studio in San Diego in the mid-eighties. A 1994 letter from a Navy special forces unit commander identifies him as the system's developer.
Do SEAL units still train in SCARS today?
Independent sources do not confirm it. Navy Times (2016) states that Navy special forces have trained close combat in a mixed martial arts style since 2011 and does not mention SCARS. The SCARS website claims the system was an official program until 2002.
Does SCARS use blocks?
According to Herb Borkland's report for the Fighting Arts website, no. According to him, the system consists only of finishing strikes, and Forbes (2001) describes it as a system built on preemptive attack.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.