Is civilian Krav Maga diluted compared to the military form of the system?

There is a common misconception that military Krav Maga training is more advanced and more serious than Krav Maga that is being taught to civilians. The reality is that both deal with serious life threatening situations and dealing with an enemy combatant in a war zone versus a knife wielding attacker in a dark alley has lots of similarities. But the differences lie in the circumstances surrounding an attack on the street and an engagement with an enemy on the battlefield.

First of all military hand to hand training assumes that the defender is aware of eminent danger and has immediate access to a weapon that can be used to help neutralize or capture their enemy. After all you are in a war zone; so you are armed and are expected to be alert and ready for dangerous situations at all times. Attacks among civilians on the other hand, often happen when the defender least expects it. Furthermore civilian defenders are usually unarmed and cannot depend on anything other than their hands and feet to defend themselves.

So the training has to reflect these fundamental differences. This doesn’t mean that military Krav Maga teaches some secret hand to hand techniques that can kill an enemy instantly. In fact when it comes to preparing military personnel for combat, depending on the specialization of the person there is a lot of skills besides hand to hand combat that need to be trained. (Marksmanship, weapon handling, apprehension tactics, demolition, evasion, evasive driving, wilderness survival, communications, intelligence gathering, medical aid, foreign language, leadership, just to name a few) This leaves limited time for hand to hand training. And the little time that is left is mainly spend on basic fighting tactics that are routinely tested under conditions of intense stress and fatigue to simulate battle scenarios to ensure the will to survive and persevere. And since most military personnel are armed and depend heavily on their weapons to subdue or neutralize their enemy, they are taught to fend off the immediate attack to allow ample time to reach for their weapon and to neutralize the aggressor. Therefore techniques covered include striking and blocking with a rifle, weapon retention techniques, distance management, and depending on the specialization of the person, handcuff applications and restraining techniques.

None of these skills translate to a civilian world where defenders are unarmed and depend solely on their hands to overcome their attacker(s). So students learning Krav Maga in the civilian sector are taught a more comprehensive curriculum to ensure that they can protect themselves in the absence of firearms and other weapons. And similarly, these techniques are too tested under conditions of high stress. But the stress drills designed for civilian application have to reflect the nature of the attacks a civilian faces; unexpected, unarmed, and often outnumbered. And because civilians are under no time constraints associated with deployments they can invest more time in their training and benefit from a broader knowledge of Krav Maga.

It is often the case that many military and law enforcement personnel that have the time to devote to a more thorough self-defense and hand to hand combat training often seek out accredited civilian Krav Maga schools to expand their knowledge of unarmed combat. In fact our school has always had in the past and still has a significant percentage of students that are either military or law enforcement; from enlisted men and women to officers and even members of the SWCC and SEAL units. Regular ongoing training ensures that they are better equipped to handle the daily dangers associated with their jobs, as well as any other life threatening situation that may befall them when they are off duty and are going about their routine civilian lives.