With very rare exceptions, a legitimate testimonial should have a real name associated with it. That's our humble opinion. We're proud of the impact Coach Blauer's research has had on every sector of self-defense, combatives, defensive tactics and martial arts.
Here are a few of the letters we received that really made an impression on the BTS team.
"I want to make something perfectly clear. There is nothing, NOTHING! that I teach that was not taught to me. I have been honored to train some of the most elite military personnel in the world over the past 35 years. Not an individual, not a unit for one class, but control of all close combat training for all entry level personnel at the schoolhouse of three separate entities in three different services: The United States Marine Corps, The United States Army Special Forces, and the United States Air Force Special Tactics.
During this time, I have sought out several instructors to increase my knowledge and to make my instruction more beneficial to my students. Of all these instructors, one stands out. One man taught me more about the lead up to the fight and most importantly the first few seconds of the fight than all the others combined. That instructor is Tony Blauer.
Tony Blauer has dedicated not years, but decades to the diligent study of interpersonal violence and what happens for "real" and not only on the "mat". I use Tony's instruction and principles daily. I try to give credit where credit is due, but many times am guilty of not mentioning his name as often as I should.
I guess the most important thing that I can say is that if I had to send a member of my family to learn personal protective skills, that would be no hesitation, it would be Tony Blauer." - Ron Donvito USMC (Ret.), Founder L.I.N.E. SYSTEM
The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Forever My Coach Tony Blauer, this man has taught me more about actual "Coaching" Human Beings then almost everybody else combined. I've known Tony over 15 years now; long before either of us were involved in the CrossFit Community. Much of the success that I have had Coaching world class fighters can often be directly attributed to my years of training under this man whether you are one of my Muay thai World Champions, UFC Fighters, Kravists or CrossFit Athletes. When I coach, Im using many of his principals day in and day out. If I've helped you as a Coach through the years, you owe this man right here a heart felt THANK YOU!!! So say it with me, thanks Coach Blauer for being the trail blazer, I know it's a lonely road being an innovator...just know you are appreciated more than you know by the people that matter - Kirian Fitzgibbons, Head Coach CSA Gym
"Tony! I am a BIG fan of your work. I think that your contributions have taken the warrior community into an entirely new evolutionary step. And this new program of yours is a major step forward. In my science fiction series (The Two-Space War), set hundreds of years in the future, they refer to our current era as the "Warrior Renaissance." We have learned more about the psychology and physiology of combat in the last 50 years than in the previous 5,000 years put together. And in the distant future Tony Blauer is referred to as "Saint Blauer." This is an inside joke, half in jest between friends, but it is also half in truth. I believe that hundreds of years from now, when the history of this Warrior Renaissance, this Golden Age of Warriors, is written, that Tony Blauer will be remembered as one of the great pioneers who propelled us forward to the next evolutionary step in warriorhood. And you can quote me on that!" -Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, U.S. Army (Ret.) Director, Killology Research Group
"Tony Blauer's SPEAR System® is the new paradigm of combatives training. As a law enforcement officer, use of force trainer, and academician, I have studied the efficacy of use of force tactics and techniques for well over a decade and have concluded that the SPEAR System® is the most comprehensive combatives program currently available. The system has also become the genesis and springboard of my professional research and training. The reason is simple: the SPEAR System® is 'totality in training'. I will never again train or live without its principles." - Brian Kinnaird, Ph.D. Forceology Research Group
"I have been training in, and using operationally, the SPEAR System® for nearly ten years. Whenever I think of Tony Blauer I recall watching a TV programme about the people who broke the German Enigma codes in WWII, in which an interviewee was talking about Alan Turing; the man who invented the computer. To paraphrase what he said: "The difference between a genius and people who are just 'very clever,' or 'really clever,' lies, I think, not simply in their level of intelligence but in the level of abstraction in their patterns of thought. Turing was like this. Sometimes some of the answers he came up with were very simple, and once we were told the answers all of the 'very clever' people, (and we were all very clever around there), would say, "That's so obvious," but we couldn't think of it before he did, and wouldn't have thought of it if he hadn't been there. And it was often in the simple things that we found the most profound breakthroughs. But the 'really clever' people were the ones who can admit to themselves, "I could never have thought of that." I guess it takes a 'really clever' person to realize that, no matter how apparently simple Tony's concepts might appear, that we couldn't have thought of them without the help of a creative genius of a different level of abstraction, or maybe it just takes somebody with integrity to admit that they still have something to learn. Of course I do not believe that Tony's system is simple. The more I study it, the deeper and deeper I plunge down the rabbit hole. When I try to track down the intuitive leaps of thought he had 10, 15 & 20 years ago I find scientists on the cutting edge 'proving' what he said. When I study his drills and training philosophy I find 'emotional learning' is now at the cutting edge of skills learning, and that only now, with the benefit of MRI, are people learning how to take advantage of it; struggling to get to a place you left many years ago." - Jim Keenan, Police Inspector, Lincolnshire Police
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