Hand-to-hand in combat

[Timothy OConnor]

Hand-to-hand and CQB are two different types of action.

Yup, that's why I included both in the description

Hand-to-hand is the attempted use of lethal force, within arms reach, with or without firearms. It is very rare, and even more so, as part of planned action.

CQB is merely the close application of fire arms or hand thrown and projected HE. Generally characterised at under 25m and engagement windows of 2-5 seconds. This does occur on a regular enough basis that it requires training.

Yup, and for those who have been involved in the real thing that might well be an academic distinction without a difference.

But seriously, there's certainly a gray area. As the actual combat veterans decribe in the two books I reference above one man's CQB action...is another man's hand-to-hand action...is another man's confusion. A small unit such as a squad contained entirely within a single building can experience all within moments with some engaged in actual fisticuffs Captain Kirk-style (but more violent and bloody) while others are engaged in "firefights" through/around walls and yet others, just mere feet away, are left wondering what's going on.

As Ken and others have pointed out law enforcement and detainee situations are probably more likely to result in actuall hand-to-hand combat.

A friend who served in the U.S. army once engaged in what he described as "Roman-style" massed-combat against rioting Cuban refugees (I believe it was in Panama). His unit was given riot shields and clubs but were denied their firearms. The Cubans were armed with sharpened metal stakes/poles taken from their bunks and tents.

He and his comrades waded into the Cuban mob shoulder-to-shoulder with shields virtually touching. Soldiers in the front rank did their best to swing their clubs (difficult in the scrum) while those behind stommped on Cubans who had fallen and were overrun by his unit. My friend was stabbed in the lower gut when a "spear" got under his vest. To this day he suffers repeated hernias from the wound and now guards Federal buildings in DC (virtual desk duty). Both sides suffered horrible wounds in a very concentrated area. He said the carnage was just terrible.