Reality-Based in Italy
Jim Wagner
After spending an evening in Dusseldorf I caught a flight to Bologna, Italy via Paris the next morning on Saturday, March 26th. I was scheduled to teach a Level 1 seminar for a week and then a Wilderness Survival course on April 2nd and 3rd. During my Air France flight from Paris to Bologna I finished up Les Stroud's book titled SURVIVE! with a nice bottle of French wine. Of course having a little red wine on a French passenger aircraft is the proper thing to do, just like I couldn't resist having a traditional croissant and cup of coffee at Charles de Gaule International Airport before taking off.
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I thoroughly enjoyed Stroud's book and got a few new tips from it. I also finished up Bear Grylls' book Born Survivor before teaching my course. I recommend both books for anyone interested in surviving in the wild.
When I landed at the Marconi International Airport in Bologna Italian Reality-Based Personal Protection Director, Fabrizio Capucci, was there to pick me up. It was a gorgeous day and we spent a few hours in Bologna seeing some new sights before going to Ravenna.
The next day, my day off before teaching, Fabrizio took me to the incredibly well preserved medieval castle of Rocca di Gradara. Fortunately for me my good friend and business partner is also a history enthusiast, like Nicolas Marucci, and makes it a point to show me a new place every time I am in Italy. We first went to the Museo e Grotte Medievali, the local museum within the castle walls, to look at mostly torture instruments. Many are quite gruesome, but many modern versions are still used to this day by Al Qaeda (something I recently learned in a recent terrorism course I took in the States). We had worked up quite an appetite and for lunch we ate at the Mastin Vecchio Borgo Di Gradara ristorante that is actually part of the Gradara fortification. From our table next to the window and 800 year old walls we could see the southern castle protective wall and a picturesque view of the agriculture valley below. I had the local fish wrapped in eggplant garnished with tomatoes. The food was delicioso!
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The next day began with Defensive Tactics; everything someone needs to know when it comes to fighting in empty-hand conflict. One of my students was a young Venice police officer that I got to know pretty well during the week. He is a Polizia Locale; a "Local Police." In Italy there are four types of police. The national police is called the Polizia Di Stato; the "State Police." Then there is the Carabinieri. They are also a national police, but are part of the military. They are a military police that are nationwide and with powers to enforce the law and arrest civilians. They are much like the police in South America as far as how they are structured, but an American would just look at them as any police organization. Then there is the Polizia Di Finanzia, or the Financial Police (Officially known as the Guardia di Finanzia). These are the guys who go after tax cheats, money launderers, and fraud cases. In the United States they would be like the IRS with full police powers: police cars, uniforms, guns, and all. Finally there are the Polizia Locale; the Local Police, and every city has their own department. These are your traffic officers, tourist police, and minor crimes. Unfortunately the Polizia Locale officers are very well respected by the Italian population. For one reason their police training is only one week. That's right, one week! The government simply does not have enough money to train them properly. Well, you can imagine that one does not receive a whole lot of training in one week. By the time a recruit learns some basic laws, how to fire his or her service pistol, make arrests, drive a police car, there is little time for public relations courses, ethnic sensitivity courses, sexual harassment courses, just learning how to be a good police officer. I was shocked to hear this, but Fabrizio confirmed that this was indeed true. Well, needless to say, Reality-Based Personal Protection definitely helps to supplement a Local Police officer's training. The Venice police officer, who spoke good English said to me at lunch, "Now you know why I am here. We don't even get defensive tactics training or how to effectively defend against a knife. For firearms qualification we shoot once a year. Even your gun tactics in the Level 1 courses are much more than we receive."
However, the Carabiniari and the State Police do get a full year of good police training, although a little lacking when it comes to good defensive tactics according to those officers in those organizations who took my courses in Italy over the years.
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On Day One Fabrizio wore his British Special Air Service (SAS) sweat shirt that was given to him as a gift back in 2002 by the SAS. Although I can't really go into too much detail about Fabrizio's background right now, I can say that he has quite an impressive resume like many Reality-Based Personal Protection directors and instructors. When Fabrizio was working for the government on a protective services unit he was on "the inner perimeter circle" for United States Presidents Clinton and Bush senior, and Secretary of State Conaleeza Rice. Usually Fabrizio was the only good English speaker on the detail, and so he was always working the closest with the United States Secret Service. In addition to American diplomats he has also worked on details for the Pope and other heads of state. On one such mission he had a chance to work with a British SAS protection detail and became fast friends with a few of them. Like so often is the case when professional friends are made, Fabrizio was invited to some of their training in the United Kingdom. Fabrizio was thrilled at the opportunity and did five hard days of training with the Special Air Service.
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When I was having dinner with Fabrizio one night over some tasty pasta I told him about a Dutch student I had in my recent German Knife Camp who said to me, "Jim, I have read a lot of negative things about you on a few websites. It's because of these negative things that I said to myself, 'He must be good if they spend so much time talking about him,' and that is why I am here." So, I was joking to Fabrizio about him and his SAS training that he was just "a fake martial arts instructor just like me," because Fabrizio is also listed as a "fake martial arts instructor" by a few gossip blogs and websites. There's one particular unscrupulous site that copies and pastes all of my certified instructors on their website claiming that they too are "fake." Apparently anyone associated with the Reality-Based Personal Protection system is a fake. However, this same site lets anyone on the list know that they can be removed from the list if they would just renounce Jim Wagner and his system. How nice of the webmaster to do this. Well, I am quite used to these attacks, for they have been going on since 1992, and I am after all the founder of the reality-based movement that turned the martial arts world upside down, but the attacks on my students is quite deplorable. To say that Fabrizio Capucci is a fake is laughable. The tactical world is a small world indeed, and many within the SAS and United States Secret Service have some choice words for these rumor spreaders. So, needless to say, when Fabrizio and I are talking about agencies we've worked with or have personally trained we once in a while will jab at each other, "Yea, all these high speed organizations and we are only fake instructors." Well, when Fabrizio retires in several years he wants his entire resume put up on my website and the Reality-Based Italia website. It is quite impressive. Who Dares Wins.
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One of the
things I like about teaching in Italy is lunch. All the students like to eat
together, and they are like a big family. Then, after the food everyone has to
have a coffee before leaving the café. Most get an espresso, but I have become
partial to the Late Macchiato.
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The rest of
the week went quite well: Ground Survival, Knife Survival, Crime Survival,
finishing the week long seminar with Terrorism Survival. We had a new Airsoft
full-automatic AK-47 to try out, and it worked perfectly when simulating
realistic terrorist attacks.
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One of the
highlights for me was receiving a police hat; a Polizia Di Stato dress hat.
From time to time one of my police or military students will give me a hat,
shoulder patch, challenge coin, or t-shirt with the organization's emblem. When
I get such a gift it is special because it represents a brotherhood that is
only found among police officers and military personnel; and I'm sure fire
fighters have such a brotherhood as well, from what I have observed. This hat
will be added to my vast collection back home in California.
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