APA – State of Mind
Success is the state of accomplishment whose attainment is governed by three conditions.
The first condition is Natural Suitability.
This is the sum total of a person’s positive compatibility in all that can influence achieving that which defines success.
The second condition is Perseverance.
This is the quality of persistent determination to endure adversity and challenge in the face of overwhelming hardship and against all odds.
The third condition is to find the right guide who is deeply aware, and whose clarity is complete.
How do you search?
Finding is through inquiry, deduction, consistency and discipline.
Inquiry brings refinement.
Deduction brings resolution.
Consistency brings opportunity.
Discipline brings freedom.
Freedom gives choice
What is the route to certainty?
Consciousness is faith.
Awareness is to know.
Harmony is to be at one with.
Conservation is consistent response to total responsibility.
How can you find your own?
Inspiration is to source the creative intelligence within you.
Precision is to affect by action of design.
Decisiveness is to have consistency within commitment
The Path of understanding is the accumulation of observation by experience.
The perceptiveness from direct experience gives intuitive clarity of the inner nature which is insight.
Knowledge is the result of perceptive reasoning through learning.
To act with Wisdom is to make a sensible choice in the midst of clouded preconceptions.
APA Family
Allow me to clarify the nature of APA. APA is a process of reasoning. The methodology is based on the Root Common Denominators of human posture, motion and dynamics. APA is not a style, it is an integration protocol. It belongs to each person who makes the contribution of creative energy to it. There is no real-world application; instead, APA is thresholds training and is always fundamental.
Over 40,000 security officers, 300 international special operations, 5000 tactical team members, 600 chief instructors, and the 150 plus multi-sector members have made APA an integral part of their training. There has never been a time where the more or the few in numbers of students have been cause for lesser or more dedication from me. During this last 25 years, many incredible lives have touched upon the APA, from the royal and famous, to the struggling. Soldiers and Officers both current and retired members of Intelligence, Drug Enforcement, National Security, Emergency Response, Rescue, SWAT, Surveillance, Close Protection, Navy Seals, Army Green Berets, Marine Recon, Veterans of Conflict, and Professionals. Teams and individuals from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, America, and Africa have made APA a part of their life. From all walks of life; Diplomats, Corporate Executives, managers from Nike, Adidas, Converse, Citibank, China Times, TV stations, Taxi Drivers, have come together under the open skies of the APA. Members of many styles sought from APA’s non-style methodology; including champions of Boxing, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Thai Boxing, Aikido, Shaolin, Kempo, Karate, Fencing, Wrestling, JKD, and Tai Chi. Each has made significant contribution to the program, each have displayed determination, inspiration, honesty, humility and even indulgence to my sometimes-difficult demeanor. The difference with APA is that authorization comes from the end-user.
The flight of APA has taken us to far corners, for myself North Africa and the Palace at Rabat, Morocco and the sands of Kuwait with Silvia and Eric. The program has taken me from the USA to the gray bliss of hermitage and the monk-like life while training the Special Anti-Terrorist Instructor’s Squad in Beijing.
So many have come to Taiwan; from Belgium comes the 3 times full contact champion, and from France and Africa, the man with the Heart and Gloves of Gold. The Saudi Special Forces Officers Tactical Training Platoon and the full compliment of over 100 Royal Guard of the King of Malawi have come to play the APA. Many too have left the APA behind not by choice. All our fighters have been pushed by the energy that pervades the APA. Everyone shares a bond that is incorruptible.
Real Legends
I must say that of all the incredible fathers of Combat Training that I have been a student of, there are 2 men I walked with who were incomparable in magnitude of contribution and for the inspiration they gave by setting an example by the way they conducted themselves. By the strictest standards of discipline and character, they were epitomic. I am honored to have been under their tutelages. These two men had all the skills, charisma, perfect knowledge and mysterious power that you could only imagine. Grandmaster Chang Dong Shen and I traveled together as special envoy/trainers at the request of the King of Morocco and the Republic of China’s National Security Agency whose Secretary General was the indomitable General Chiang Wei Gwo, son of the Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek. Everyone knew the Grandmaster was unbeatable as he was the undefeated combat Champion of China at the age of 15. I saw a photograph of Grandmaster Chang at 16, and this “boy” had the shoulders and back of a hairless grizzly bear. He walked through China and accepted all challenges, not once was he defeated in hand-to-hand combat. It does not take an immense imagination to realize more were there pernicious plotters than honorable contenders. Though he is the father of Chinese Wrestling he shared with me the little revealed fighting secret of his awesome battle skills. It was his Internal Style that gave him the sensitivity and tactile base to take his rough and tumble art to the peak. I fought side-by-side with him, two against nine, while we were in Morocco. The action ended when he chopped down two attackers with a knife hand chop to the back of each of their necks, one following the other. It had so much impact and was such a stunning display of finesse and deadly skill that everything stopped instantly. What was probably the most unreal moment was watching the second man move in as if he did not believe what was about to transpire. While I used my spinning wheel kicks and vertical punching, Grandmaster Chang sidestepped left in a small circular arc and attacked at the same time, knocking out two of the four that were on him. It was a flawless simultaneous counter-attack. The second great teacher is the Grand Master of the Northern Shaolin Long Fist, Shen Ma Hwei. He showed me what the Long Fist meant and taught me the Eighteen Flying Legs of the Lo-Han. Just the intensity in his eyes alone were enough to stop a charging rhino. I saw what the actors in Chinese Opera were trying to imitate in his expressions. After our one-on-one lessons he would sometimes show me his incredible chi. He could hold a razor sharp samurai on the edge with thumb and forefinger and let it slide down the length of the blade. He could slap a football size rock cleanly into two pieces. On more than one occasion he showed his power to me, breaking a large rock that was resting partly on his hand and partly on the soft earth.
My friend and teacher and an A.P.A. student, Sifu Howard Brewer, introduced me to the Doctor of Internal School Healing, Teacher Huang Hsi I, who taught me to understand what the soft means. After twenty-five years of my own experiences, Master Huang took one look at me and told me that I was a waster of many years, and put me right back into a grueling 3 months of low horse stance. This is what I had to do when I started at eight, and again, during the early sessions teaching the Taiwan Special Weapons and Tactics Officers. Master Wang was my first Sifu when I was eight years old. My brother Sam and I were friends of the son of the American Ambassador to Taiwan, 1963, who asked for the services of Master Wang for his son. I got to tag along with my brother and friend and ended up staying on for life. He was the Head Chin Na Coach at the Police Officers School. Grandmaster Chang Dong Shen and Grandmaster Shen Ma Hwei were also head coaches for the Police school, at different but interlacing times. When I was authorized as the first Chief Instructor of the Special Tactical Teams I realized that I had completed my link in the chain of specially commissioned Head Instructors.
Of the various awards and commendations presented me there are two that mean the most. The first is a Medal of Meritorious Service awarded by the Commissioner Lo Chang for exceptional acts of duty under rare and exceptional circumstances. I imagine it was for the incredible actions and results of deeds accomplished by the SWAT teams, which in some way were accredited to my ferocious training methods of the APA. It is a rare honor, the first time ever bestowed to anyone other than a fully commissioned ranking Officer and never to an Instructor. The second is a Gold Plaque I received for saving the life of a news reporter who was critically injured in the early morning hours on a deserted road. As I compressed his head injury, his blood ran everywhere, and later I was informed by the hospital that he would have surely died as a result of blood loss and shock if I had gotten to him even a moment later.
I was asked to lead a special platoon into what turned out to be the longest and most violent rioting on record. One platoon was asked to stay behind for an extra month after completion of Tactical Division 7 SWAT Training in-order to complete the APA Tactical Riot System I had just developed. Tactical Division 7 consisting of 240 officers, graduated on April 15. I worked with a select group of 43 officers every day for the following month. Just prior to the Tactical Division Seven graduation, APA Team Leader Jerry Chen and I approached Base Commandant Dzwang Hung Di and talked with him about what we felt was a very high probability of social upheaval and violent street action due to the lifting of Martial Law. Unbelievably we got the call on May 20 and because I was the only one to know the commands, I asked to go. When the platoon, which was 3 squads of 12 men, 3 squad commanders, one platoon leader and one platoon commander, saw me get on the bus with my gear they let out a cheer. They also realized during the early morning call to suit-up that I was the only one to know the commands that could hold the team in a safe formation no matter what conditions were present. During the 18 hours of running battles, we only suffered 2 injuries and accounted for 78 extractions. At one point, in order to extract what we targeted to be a primary instigator, we formed a center formation and asked for the barbed wire barricades to be swung open for 5 seconds. At the moment we moved in, about 150 rioters and 2 large trucks were charging the line. The Company Three Commander who was leading a company of Provincial Security Police Officers clocked our time during the assault. It took us 28 seconds to go in, separate the mob, extract the driver and 3 others and move back behind the blockade. When a detachment of 5 men was sent to escort the four we extracted back to the holding area, they were attacked by another rolling mob. By forming a simple hexagon and letting the team leader move them by tactile control, they successfully counter attacked I order to protect their prisoners while moving to their destination. Overall there were 128 persons captured and charged for violent rioting. Over 100 police officers were hurt many from projectiles being launched from construction sites and upper story buildings. Some were hurt from firebombs. That day was the first time tactical extraction methods were introduced into the operation of an on-going action.
Thanks to my Friends
A special thanks to Master Vic Leroux 7th Dan Kempo Karate, Master Chuck Sullivan 8th Dan Kempo Karate and LAX SWAT Sgt. Tyrone Tarvin "Big T". Big T was the LAX SWAT Leader. And it was from him that I learned the LA Metro school of tactical. Vic also introduced me to Master Steve Sanders and the BKF team, and most importantly to Sifu Jerry Poteet, my first JKD teacher. Sifu Paul Vunak was my most recent teacher of JKD. It is from Sifu Paul that I earned an instructors certification for JKD. Aikido Sensei Guilford Fitts is a powerful Reike healer and helped ease my pain after intensive spine surgery. I saw him in a dream in the middle of my pain soaked slumber, and the misery stopped. He is the closest of friends and my big brother from Cornell. In 1972 he was a great instructor of a very intense and special Karate, being protégé of Master Austin of New York. Sensei Fitts is highly active teaching Aikido. Both Vic and Gil used the same line on me the first time meeting; "I couldn't help noticing those big walnuts on your knuckles...”
One of my first APA partners, a great APA kicker is Jeff North, a 4th Degree Australian Tae Kwon Do Champion. We worked for 3 hours on end putting in hundreds of kicks and punches per night into a massive 100 kilo, 6 foot tall, double-sided canvas bag. Like myself he lived the APA.
Officer Jerry Chen was the first Assistant Instructor of the APA-ROC-SWAT. Together with the hand picked Assistant APA Instructors and Demo Team members, we taught thousands of SWAT officers and Chief Instructors from all over Taiwan. Eighty to one hundred and twenty hours straight per division, one on one, day after day, we gave the APA to the tactical and special operations teams. Our demos thrilled huge audiences with our ultra-violent brand of Tactical Close Quarters Combat. And officers would call or write with APA stories about their urban operations experiences, from gun extractions to knife reversals. A crowd of over ten thousand watched the first live APA-ROC-SWAT demo the first time Taiwan’s SWAT let everyone take a look at the new Tactical Teams’ skills created by Marine General Lo Chang, then Head Commissioner of Taiwan Police and supervised by Police Chief Ling Hung Hi who was in charge of the Training Department of the National Police Administration supervising the building of the Special Mobile Police Network. I later helped to establish the Taipei County Rapid Deployment Strike Force under Chief Ling’s command. The Taiwan Police continue to refresh the ranks of the SWAT teams and the spec ops teams from North to South. APA is still the only system that is considered their Close Quarters Combat System. The 33 APA Assistant Instructors Team taught what turned out to be a down line of over forty-thousand security and riot officers. I was busy with tactical support and response teams of the Provincial Police all over the Island.
There is strength in this vision. Its as if all the APA players, students and instructors together simultaneously look into your eyes. This is the feeling of time as it travels up your spine and down your arms, jumping right through you. That’s the speed time takes as it moves through space, in the moments of expansion and end up understanding what it is to experience “static adrenal states of the indicator at time zero”, and to understand the Simultaneity of the APA. All the while, words become encased by an ultra-logic I call the generic terminology.
The Players
APA is punishing treatment. We use full force compliance in order to reduce the occurrence of “accidental violence”. Accidental violence occurs when the extractor must use secondary violent force in order to re-implement threat-force compliance. Head and body protection is worn specially to allow full force strikes to be used during training. The ability to resolve full force impact from throws and falls on cement floors comes through intensive threshold conditioning. APA is considered extremely violent and intimidating. This is true; this is the norm for everyone.
APA CORE Team, from left to right
To my left
Fred O’Leary – Senior APA Member
Tony Fares – APA Senior Regional Instructor, 3 X Belgium Full Contact Champ, multiple high degrees, Osteopath, Chiropractor.
Patrick Parthonaud – Golden Gloves Boxer, Black Belt, Chef Extraordinaire
Steve Garenreich – Master wrestler, Attorney,
Big Jon Hatch - Kroll Assoc, Corporate Investigations, Attorney
To my right
Jean Francois – TKD Black Belt, French Attaché
Philippe – Thai Boxer
Laurent Solomon – Champion, Team France full contact Kyokushinki Karate Black Belt
Al Martin – Chief Instructor APA, Founder of APAUSA.
Al Martin is the Founder and Chief Instructor of APA USA
Fredrick O'Leary is the most senior APA player in the world. It is a great privilege to work along side Fred.
Tony Fares is the Senior Regional Instructor for the Middle East and Asia Pacific Regions.
Tony is the Three Times Full Contact Champion of Belgium. He is a combat veteran and a healer of great skill.
Laurent Solomon, Al Martin, Tony Fares and Patrick Parthonaud are without a doubt four of the most awe-inspiring members of APA ever.
Together they contribute nearly 90 years of combat training, expertise, experience and teaching. They always give 110%, without thought of reward. They are gifted masters, and represent the essence of APA.
For the Records
First National Special Weapons and Tactics APA Team
Gathered
at First Provincial Security Law Enforcement
Ministry of the Interior Tactical Training Base
First - on record– Chief Instructor Certification
Special Military Police Group of the Liberation Army Armed Tactical Police
Presented on 16th anniversary of SPG
Reducing resistance in China
CI Mar leading the Primary Rapid Reaction Strike Force for Taipei County
APACQC Tactical Riot Extraction, News documentation
First Provincial Security Law Enforcement Rapid Deployment Support Force Using “Two Man Outside-Seven”, these are 4th Generation APA students regenerating the APA proof of APA done By the Book
1989 World Martial Arts Competition
APA - the All events Championship
This is Jerry Chen, first APA National SWAT Assistant Instructor.
Honor Guard in background is from the Ministry of the Interior Tactical Training Base.
This is a live Nationwide Broadcast on China Television.
The first showing of SWAT CQC ever in public in the Rep. Of China
This is the APA Spec Ops team during a live broadcast presentation
for Presidential review on Taiwan’s Double Ten National Day.
We are performing for a crowd of 10,000.
66 members of APA SWAT Instructors Team
This photo represents the first ever-public display by Taiwan SWAT.
Given a standing ovation, reception, but later criticized
for the extremely realistic violence on National Broadcast.
APA
